Chapter 7: Success in Spoken English Study

Chapter 7: Success in Spoken English Study

Chapter summary:  This chapter will encourage you to be persistent in studying spoken English. Staying at the task will be your greatest difficulty.     This chapter will also encourage you to improve your spoken English fluency by reading newspapers. The chapter closes by telling you that you can expect success as you study spoken English.

   
Remember the four rules
    In order to succeed at learning to speak English fluently, you must remember the four rules previously given in Chapter 2:

1. To learn to speak English correctly, you must speak it aloud.
   
2. To learn to speak English fluently, you must think in English.
   
3. The more you speak English aloud, the more quickly you will learn to speak fluently.
   
4. You must never make a mistake when you are practicing spoken English.
   

    Now, let's add another new rule — Rule #5:

5. Your success will depend upon the amount of time you devote to spoken English study.

    There is no alternative to spending a great amount of time in spoken English language study. If you are devoting full time to it, then try to spend a full eight hours a day, five days a week on language study. Ideally, that will be eight hours devoted to actual speaking while using either the Spoken English Learned Quickly lessons or reading the newspaper aloud. If you are enrolled in an English class, you will need to supplement your class and preparation time with additional newspaper reading and spoken exercises for a total of eight hours of study each day.
    In all probability, however, you are not studying English full time. Whatever your schedule permits — from one hour a day to eight hours a day — bring as much spoken language into your study time as possible.

Be persistent
    Lack of persistence is the largest reason why you would fail to learn fluent spoken English. Though grammar-based study is ineffective, it is usually easier for a student to do written English grammar assignments than spoken drills. (Written grammar assignments are also used because English classes are often too large for spoken language study, students do not have recorded audio lessons or audio equipment, written assignments make it look like more was accomplished, and because English teachers themselves often do not speak English fluently.)
    Many Spoken English Learned Quickly students fail because they assume that when they understand the meaning of all the sentences, and know the meaning of all of the vocabulary words for a lesson, they have finished that lesson. You will not succeed, however, until you have repeated the spoken English exercises frequently enough so that you can pronounce each sentence exactly like an American. That will take far more time than merely learning what each sentence means.
    Another reason Spoken English Learned Quickly students fail is because they feel they are too advanced for these lessons. "After all," they think, "I have already studied English for two years, and I already know the meaning of these sentences." They are making the same mistake. They are confusing their understanding of grammar with their ability to speak. I have had these "advanced" students come to one class and then quit. Yet, they could not speak fluent English. They needed to do the exercises from Spoken English Learned Quickly just as much as the beginning students, though they probably would have progressed much more rapidly than others in the class. This is why Spoken English Learned Quickly is so valuable as a self-study course — each student can progress at his or her own speed.
    In fact, practicing the drills until you can really speak fluent English will be the most difficult part of these lessons.

But don't try too hard
    You need to be persistent. But trying too hard to learn spoken English can also hinder your progress. When you studied for important English exams in school, you worked hard to memorize grammar rules, you lost sleep in order to study, you worried about your grade, and you were anxious during the exam. As a result, stress was often associated with English study.
    On the other hand, when you and a friend were talking in your own language about a soccer game, you were excited about your favorite team's victory. But you were not anxious about the language itself when you were speaking.
    To use this new Feedback Training Method to its full advantage, you must hear yourself speaking English correctly. If stress accompanies the language learning process, your spoken English will not be normal.
    Be persistent in spending the time necessary to learn spoken English. But avoid becoming stressed. Whether you are reading a newspaper aloud or repeating drills from the Spoken English Learned Quickly lessons, forget that you are studying English and speak naturally just as if you were talking to a friend about a soccer game.

Continue reading the newspaper
    You will have more time to study spoken English with newspapers after you finish the Spoken English Learned Quickly course. However, even while you are studying these lessons, you may add variety by reading an English newspaper. Always read aloud using full voice volume.
    Then, when you have finished all of the Spoken English Learned Quickly lessons, you should continue practicing spoken English at least five days a week. A simple way to do that is to read an English newspaper aloud for one hour each day. Continue to use a vocabulary notebook and learn the pronunciation and meaning of new words.
    If you are not certain that the English newspapers published in your country use good English (many do not), then go to the internet to find newspapers published in English-speaking countries. If you are studying American English, be certain to use newspapers which are actually published in America in order to get the vocabulary and expressions you want to study.
    You may want to use the following internet sources. You can usually print newspaper articles from the internet for your study. If the normal print function on your computer does not work — or if it prints more than just the article you want — you can drag your cursor over just what you want to save to highlight it, click copy, and then paste it into a new document on your computer.

2. Some U.S. newspaper web sites.
   

   www.oregonlive.com,   www.startribune.com,   www.journalnow.com,   www.oaklandtribune.com,   www.seattletimes.com,   www.denverpost.com,   www.mcall.com,   www.theoutlookonline.com,   www.argusleader.com,   www.chron.com

3. Web sites listing other U.S. newspapers.
   

   www.hometownnews.com,   www.dailyearth.com,   www.smalltownpapers.com,   www.50states.com,   www.usanewspapers.com

Expect success
    Learning to speak any new language is a difficult task. But it is not impossible. The Spoken English Learned Quickly lessons will make it much easier for you.
    However, language learning always seems to move in steps. You will study for a period of time and then reach a plateau where it seems as though you are not making further progress. Then, suddenly, you will realize that you have once more made excellent progress. Then, for a time, it will again seem as though nothing is happening.
    This is a normal process. These stair steps in spoken English fluency will be much more apparent to you than they will be to someone who speaks English well. If you are studying diligently, a first language English speaker will undoubtedly hear regular progress in your ability to speak English, even when you think nothing is happening.
    Be persistent! You can learn to speak English fluently if you work diligently.