To correctly express your thoughts, you need knowledge of words, grammar, the absence of a language barrier, which can be caused by the fear of making a mistake. In addition to the above, regular practice is important and, of course, the presence of the thoughts themselves.
Here's an effective way to improve your speaking skills. Keeping such a journal will activate vocabulary and will help you get rid of barriers.
What to record?
It is not necessary to conduct it in the same way as usual, recording the past for the day, your impressions, plans. Here he is needed in order to write whatever your heart desires.
The main task
Such a diary is not kept in order to develop the skill of artistic writing. Only if you are not a writer :) The main task is to learn how to express your thoughts with the help of those language tools that you own. Having mastered them and transferred to the active stock, then you can use them at any time and move on to a new level of learning English.
Where and when?
Records should be kept every day. This may take 10-20 minutes, but it is imperative to allocate time, having previously planned it. For example, you can make an installation: fill out the diary immediately after breakfast. Another option is to "bind" this action to a specific location (at home, while studying or working).
Recording volume
Write as much as you want, but the main thing is at least 5 sentences. At first, you will probably find it difficult to squeeze these lines out of yourself. Give yourself time: later you will start writing with pleasure, because you will notice progress in learning the language.
How to start?
At first, it will be difficult not only to extract thoughts from yourself for recordings, but to compose them in English. Try to start with a grammatical base - subject and predicate. You should not translate from native language into English: it is a bad idea to formulate in your native language and then translate into the target language. The sentence can be difficult for your vocabulary. And most importantly: your goal is to learn not only to speak, but also to think in English. This is the only way to make progress.
The point is to master the existing vocabulary. Not enough words? Try changing the wording. Use dictionaries only as a last resort. Following these recommendations, you will get a decent result!
What to do about errors?
Mistakes are not important as long as you learn to express your thoughts. During a conversation with a friend, what do you think is important for him: to understand you or not to catch mistakes in speech? Once again: the main task is to write so that you can understand the essence.
The main advantage of this method is communication with the diary, that is, with oneself. The mistakes made are not important here, and you have no reason to be afraid of them. After a while, opening old records, you yourself will begin to see your previous mistakes, which will speak of greater progress.
The advantage of written errors is that they are recorded, so there is an opportunity to work on them in the future. Using spoken language, we rarely notice them. It would be ideal for a specially hired teacher to review these texts, but there are also free options. While browsing your old posts, you can use these services:
- lang-8.com
- italki.com
- sentencechecker.com.
How long should you do this?
To make progress, you should keep a diary for at least 3 months. Seeing how great the skill has improved, you yourself want to keep this habit.
And yet - what to write about?
When we talk about keeping a diary, we mean that it should be routine, obligatory. Express your thoughts, absolutely any. You can, for example, make a list of topics in advance that you like to chat with your friends.
Sample list of topics
If nothing comes to mind at all, or the planned topics have already been exhausted, keep this useful list:
- Review of the viewed film / TV series
- Commentary on current news
- Write about a new experience, if it was
- Make a detailed plan for the day
- The last (and not only) journey
- Write about your favorite book
- Expand the meaning of the aphorism.
+ Use a service that gives ideas for writing: daily-writing-prompt.com.
Good luck with your English!
