Improving English speaking skills requires self-confidence, practice, and openness to feedback, but professional guidance from a reputable language school like the College of English Language in Santa Monica is essential for faster progress.Practicing English language sometimes boils down to learning grammar, learning new words, and giving it your all to combine those two into a coherent piece of language. And that’s fine, that’s how all of us have started. But sometimes, people stop at that, they think they’ve reached their desired level and that there’s nothing left to improve, nothing left to learn at a Santa Monica language academy.

But what about trying to speak with confidence, trying to improve your presentation skills, trying to speak more effectively, and trying to enhance the many different speaking skills one should possess? Yes, there’s more to speaking than just, well, speaking, so let’s see if you can do all of that at home.

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How can I be a more confident speaker?

Watching and listening a masterful speaker is a pleasant and engaging experience. However, doing so can sometimes demotivate a person, making him or her think “Oh, I’m never going to be that good.”. And yes, it does seem so more often than not.

The confidence these people ooze seems unattainable as you long for it with every word they utter. But it’s not like that, not like that at all. Not everyone is born ready to become part of the UCLA Department of Linguistics. However, you can become just as confident as them, and here’s how.

• Be yourself - OK, you’ve watched a great speaker, you come home and you start imitating the moves. Don’t! Never try to be somebody else, because you will never find your sweet spot by doing so. Play to your strengths, and be original.
• Know your topic - But don’t memorize, as you’ll lose the natural tone of the presentation and you’ll sound robotic. Instead, know the ins and outs of the content you’re going to be speaking about, and try to remain as natural as possible.
• Be bold - Never be afraid to try out something new, be it a new word, a different intonation, or a change in pace and volume. Playing it safe leads to stagnation.
• Practice - A rather self-explanatory point, but a highly important one nonetheless. You can never be over prepared, so put in the effort and reap the results.
• Be open to criticism - Listen to what every piece of advice people give you, think about it, and then work on remedying it. Nobody is perfect from the get-go, and criticism is an invaluable part of learning.

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How can I improve my English speaking skill at home fast?

To be completely honest, you can polish your speaking skills at home only to an extent. At a certain point you’re going to plateau, and it is at that time you need professional guidance, ideally at an English language school in Santa Monica. But, until then, here are some things you can do on your own.

• Work on your language every single day.
• Write down a couple of new words every day, then go over them tomorrow.
• Set goals you can strive towards.
• If you’ve got nobody to speak to, speak to yourself.
• Try to think in English as often as possible.
• Keep an audiolog of your daily activities.
• Read as much as you can as often as you can.
• Chat with people online.
• If you feel up to it, start a blog or a vlog.
• Sing in English, it really helps with inflection and intonation.
• Watch films, TV shows, and listen to music.
• Place post-its on things around your home to remember words.
• Keep track of your progress to never lose motivation.
• Write down every mistake and try to correct it.
• Never give up!

There are many more ways of improving your English, and we could list hundreds and hundreds of them. The trick is to try all these things, find the ones that work for you, and just keep at it!

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“I want to improve my speaking with help from a good teacher!”

Good teachers are a rare commodity these days, but, luckily, at College of English Language, the finest language academy in Santa Monica, your English-learning efforts will be facilitated by the best teaching staff around. If you’re ever in Tongva Park, take a walk to our school and book a course. You won’t be disappointed.