Name : Prameswari Bulan Samudra

NIM : 183221016

Class : 3A

HOW TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS

1. improve your listening skills first.

Some students try to practice Imitation when their listening skills are still poor, so they
have trouble doing it because they don’t understand the person they’re imitating (or they often
encounter words or phrases they don’t know.) This is not good. In order to practice Imitation,
your English listening skills must already be quite advanced. (You should be able to understand
most native speakers.)
The goal of doing Imitation is to turn your passive vocabulary (words you know but can’t
use in speech) into active vocabulary (words you can use in speech). It’s a speaking practice, not
a listening practice. So, if your English listening is poor, you must improve your listening skills
first.

2. Don’t imitate in the third person.

This is imitating in the third person :

 Speaker: “I go to the beach every day.”

You: “He goes to the beach every day.”

 Speaker: “But my brother hates going to the beach.”

You: “But his brother hates going to the beach.”

Before, I thought that imitate in the third person was more challenging than repeating
after the speaker word for word. However, I don’t recommend doing that anymore because of
the following problems:

a. Imitating in the third person can cause you to make mistakes, especially if you’re a
beginner. For example, you might say “He go to . . .” instead of “He goes to . . .”. So,
it’s much better to just imitate the speaker word for word. This ensures that you will
speak English like native speakers.
b. Turning a statement in the first person into a statement in the third person makes
you think about grammar. For example, you might think, “OK. The subject of this
sentence is ‘he,’ so I must use ‘goes’ not ‘go’.” This is not good. You should never
 think about grammar when practicing. If you do, you might develop the habit of
thinking about grammar when having real conversation.

Because of these two problems, it’s better to imitate the speaker word for word. Don’t
worry if the practice seems too easy. As long as you understand what you’re repeating (the
content), the practice is working and effective.

So, when you practice, just repeat after the speaker word for word:

 Speak: “I go to the beach every day.”

You: “I go to the beach every day.”

 Speaker: “But my brother hates going to the beach.”

You: “But my brother hates going to the beach.”

3. Practice to speak English and don’t think in your native language

When someones try to speak English, they think in their native language first. This
happens when they practice Imitation as well. When they hear a sentence in English, they
translate it to their native language (it happens automatically in their mind). And when they try
to recall the sentence, they translate the sentence from their native language back to English.
This is not good. If something like this happens to you when you practice Imitation, you
must stop practicing immediately. If you find yourself thinking in your native language (or
translating), you must fix this bad habit first. It’s impossible to improve your spoken English
unless you get rid of this habit.

4. Pausing when you try to imitates long sentence.

Always pause several times when you imitate each sentence. After a few words have been
spoken, pause and repeat after the speaker immediately. Don’t wait until the speaker completes
the sentence before you repeat after the speaker (unless it’s a very short sentence).
Then, after you’ve imitated the last part of the sentence, try to recall the whole sentence by
saying it out loud. If you cannot do it, that’s OK. Go back to the beginning of the sentence, and
imitate that sentence again (don’t forget to pause several times). Keep repeating the sentence
until you can recall the whole sentence.

5. Expect the practice to be difficult.

When some people start practicing Imitation, they find it very difficult; they can’t
pronounce words like native speakers, they have trouble remembering sentences, and it takes
them a long time to form a simple sentence. This makes them lose confidence and motivation.
They feel like the practice isn’t working. They don’t feel like the practice will improve their
spoken English.
If you have these problems, let me tell you something that might surprise you. If you
find the practice difficult and challenging, that’s actually a good thing. Before you started
practicing Imitationin order to quickly improve a skill, you must practice something difficult,
something that would make you feel uncomfortable and frustrated. That’s the fastest way to
push yourself to the next level. So, during you practice, if you felt like you was practicing
something difficult, that’s when you knew you was doing the right thing.

This mindset will made you embrace difficulty. didn’t see difficulty as something to
avoid. saw difficulty as a signal that you was on the right track. if you keep going, a year from
now, you would speak English much better. Don’t avoid difficulty. Embrace it. It’s an indication
that you’re pushing your spoken English to the next level.