Guidelines for Powerful Listening, 1-3

1. Show interest in people and what they say.
2. Make eye contact and focus your attention on the other person.
3. Give all of your attention to what is being said. Looking at the person will help you focus!

Accent Reduction: Best Strategies for HOW To Learn Accurate, Clear English Speaking

Before we get to the best strategies for HOW to learn accurate, clear English speaking, let’s ask the important WHY question.  So why do you need to know how to learn the skills  for reducing your accent and making your English easy to understand?

The answer comes from research on academic learning. Teaching students good learning strategies enables them to know how to acquire new knowledge, which leads to  better learning outcomes, writes lead author Helen Askell-Williams of Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia.  Studies bear this out.  Askell-Williams cites an example of a recent finding by PISA,  the Programme for International Student Assessment, which administers academic proficiency tests to students around the globe. “Students who use appropriate strategies to remember what they learn, such as underlining important parts of the texts or discussing what they read with other people, perform at least 73 points higher in the PISA assessment – that is one full proficiency level or nearly two full school years – than students who use these strategies the least,” the PISA report reads.  (See Annie-Murphy Paul’s summary in Smart Learning Strategies, in her “The Brilliant Report” of Oct. 7, 2013.)

You need to know how to learn to speak clear English,  so the learning is efficient AND long lasting.  These are strategies that work:

• It takes 70 days of practice every day to change your habits from accented English to clear easy to understand English.  That is 10 weeks of learning.
• Do  a full diagnostic assessment to know what you already know, such as  accurate speech sounds, and to know what your errors are.  That way you can focus on what you need to change.  That’s efficient learning!
• Do daily practice of a minimum 5 days a week, at least 30 minutes of English speaking exercises
• Take every opportunity  in daily life to practice the tactics for clear English pronunciation and other intelligibility skills.  This way you learn to adjust your mouth movements and loudness of your voice to the circumstances.  And you learn to think and talk clearly at the same time.
• Use clear talking visual learning and visual models (for example, video lessons using a human teacher)  in addition to voice only recorded lessons to give you the biggest gain.
• Get periodic checks to be sure you are using your speech muscles in exactly the right way.  For most people, once or twice in a week feedback during coaching works perfectly.
• Get specific training advice on exactly what to do with your speech muscles.  Remember, it is not practice makes perfect, but perfect practice makes perfect.

Remember the 1000 and 10,000 practices you need to make clear accurate English a habit.

Be sure to watch our English Speech Tips videos and Accent Reduction Tip videos  for more English pronunciation and accent reduction exercise.

Check out our new advanced weekly speech tip program, our new subscription called ClearTalk Weekly, www.subscription.cleartalkmastery.com

Listening & Sharing= Master Networker

Listening, sharing, and passing useful information along to others is the mark of a master networker—a person who grows and nurtures relationships.

Public Speaking-  Top Tips for Practicing Your Speech

What to do when you are invited to do a speech?

The general rule of thumb is to begin practicing your speech at least several days before you are scheduled to deliver it.  Many expert speakers recommend practicing your speech about five times in its final form.   Given that few speeches are longer than twenty minutes, and most are shorter, this represents a maximum of two hours of practice time – time that is well spent.

Here’s a checklist for Practicing Your Speech.

1. Practice with your speaking notes.
2. Change the parts of your speech that aren’t satisfying, revise your speaking notes as you go.
3. Focus on communicating your speech ideas, not on yourself.
4. Visualize the setting where you will speak as you practice, projecting your words to different parts of the space to reach audience members.
5. Time each part of your speech – introduction, body, and conclusion
6. Practice the speech under realistic conditions, paying attention to projecting your voice and working with your speaking notes unobtrusively.
7. Some people like to audio record and/or video record the speech and review to determine your likes and dislikes.
8. If possible practice in front of at least one volunteer, and seek constructive feedback of what she likes or dislikes.
9. Schedule your practice sessions early in the process so you have adequate time to prepare.
10. Practice your speech at least five times.

Be sure to watch our English Speech Tips videos and Accent Reduction Tip videos  for more English pronunciation and accent reduction exercise.

Check out our new advanced weekly speech tip program, our new subscription called ClearTalk Weekly, www.subscription.cleartalkmastery.com

Barriers to Offering Information

People sometimes hesitate to offer information or ideas to others.   They may think, “It is not my business” or “They didn’t ask, so maybe I shouldn’t offer information.”

However, if you offer information with no expectations of reciprocation, I think you will find most people receptive and appreciative.