Practical Guide to English Speaking Skills and Pronunciation Correction

Now, you try making a point. Pause before the main point. Stress the important words. Use falling intonation. Then listen and repeat. Don't forget time is money. Here's the bottom line. We should all work together. So my advice is, don't wait. Let's get started now. Why is this important? Because our city needs tourists. What's the main problem? Money. This is probably a good time to talk about syllable stress within words. I once had a student who gave a presentation about the world water crisis. An important word in the speech was desert, the area of land without water. The only problem was that he pronounced it dessert what we eat after dinner. So here are some things you can do. Write a list of the most important words in your presentation, especially words in your topic, your introduction, and your main points. Then check an electronic or an online dictionary for pronunciation. Mark the stressed syllables in your notes. Ask for help if you know someone with good English pronunciation to record the words for you. Listen and practice them in your sentences.

When we give talks, sometimes we assume that everyone knows what we do. For example, if I talk about ELT, do you know what I mean? Probably not. I have to explain. ELT stands for English language training. But even then, some of my colleagues use ELT to stand for English language teaching. The point is that it's important to be clear. This is also important because you may pronounce the abbreviation differently than people are used to. To explain an abbreviation, use the expression stands for, or is short for. CEO is short for chief executive officer. You can also introduce the meaning with a phrase like, that is, CIO, that is chief information officer, is my title. Sometimes abbreviations are spoken as words, and other times as letters. For example, in my field, our International Professional Association is called teachers of English to speakers of other languages. That's really long, isn't it? So we just say, T-SALT. That's called an acronym. Letters that are pronounced as a word. But with ELT, English language training, we pronounce each letter. That's called an initialism. With an initialism, the last initial has the most stress. So we say, IT, IBM, the US. Let's look at a couple of other examples. You may study in a MOOC. It's a massive, open online course. So is the word MOOC an acronym or an initialism? It's an acronym. But what about something that you might study like an MBA? Is that an acronym or an initialism? It's an example of initialism.

Next, I'm going to talk about a very common feature of conversation, which is fillers. A filler is a sound or word that fills in a space. A filler like um, or, ah, can be okay in between sentences. Let me see, ah, okay, here's an example. But fillers can be very distracting, even irritating to your audience, if you use them in the middle of phrases. So you know this is what I mean. You know, it's a good thing. It's like, you know, a big problem. So you see what I mean. We use fillers a lot in everyday informal conversation, but they do not help you appear professional, and definitely should not be a part of a presentation. Most of the time, we're not even aware how often we say these words. So here are some ideas for controlling them in your speech. First of all, you have to identify them. You could ask your friends to listen to you for one minute, and raise a finger, or say ding, or something every time you use that filler. Another possibility is to record yourself having a conversation in English. Then write exactly what you said, and circle any of the sounds or words you use as fillers. Are they between phrases or sentences, or are they in the middle of phrases? How many are you using? Then here are some ideas for controlling them. With a friend or in a recording, try to speak for 15 seconds without using any fillers. I heard of one person who slapped herself every time she used one. Another idea is to think of a word like think every time you want to use a filler. Basically, slow down and think in silence. Don't be afraid of silence. Use silence as a pause when you would normally use a filler.

So now it's time to practice. Read this short paragraph. Think about the meaning. What's the main point? Identify words that go in chunks, and what words should you stress? What are the most important points? Pause before and after them. Now listen. Why is our city the best place for your convention? It's one of the most beautiful cities in the world. But more than that, we have the best convention center and hotels in the country. And we have the staff in our tourist center to help you with every step. But don't just take my word for it. Come and see for yourself. Did the speaker chunk, pause, and stress words in the same way you expected? Listen again. And this time, read along with the speaker. Why is our city the best place for your convention? It's one of the most beautiful cities in the world. But more than that, we have the best convention center and hotels in the country. And we have the staff in our tourist center to help you with every step. But don't just take my word for it. Come and see for yourself. You can practice reading along with the speaker on your own too. One of the best ways to do this is with a TED Talk, filmed presentations on all kinds of subjects. So search for TED Talks online and you'll find them. The people who give official TED Talks practice for as long as six months. So they're very proficient. And the website also has a script of the talk. So you can listen and talk along with the speaker. You don't have to do the whole speech. Just do a minute at a time. And just for inspiration, watch Steve Jobs introduce the iPhone back in 2007. You can find it by searching for Apple's iPhone introduction. Notice his use of pauses and intonation in the first four minutes of his speech. Very simple, but very effective.