Teacher Joe's Three Steps to Success

Step 1: Input - Listen and read!

The more you listen, the better your speaking will be. The more you read, the more
vocabulary you will have. Listen to songs, DVDs, or Joe's Jokes. Read newspapers
and magazines on the Internet. Let the world be your teacher.

Step 2: Processing - Think!

Don't just listen and read passively. THINK about the meaning - the deeper meaning
of words and expressions. Make an IMAGE in your brain. Think about how you can
use the words and sentences in the future.

Step 3: Output - Respond!

Respond by speaking our writing. You can talk to your friends or even talk to
yourself! Write an email to a friend, or keep a diary every day. Or you can practice
"rapid response" by playing one of Joe's Games.

Problems to avoid when learning English

Do not memorize word lists. You will forget most of the words and will not be able to
use the other words correctly. Instead, learn words IN CONTEXT - learn by reading
and listening to stories.

Do not try to use difficult vocabulary too soon. If you do, you will make many
mistakes. Start speaking by using basic vocabulary and sentence patterns.

Do not recite out loud, unless your pronunciation is already very good. If your
pronunciation is not good, you will be practicing mistakes! Instead, listen and repeat
English until you can pronounce smoothly.

How to Control a Conversation

The key to controlling a conversation is using questions well. Good students know
how to ask the right question at the right time. After reading this article, you will be
able to start conversations easily and keep the conversation going smoothly even
when you don't understand everything.
The best way to begin a conversation is by using "yes / no" questions. The goal is to
find some common topics of interest, so that your conversation is enjoyable for both
partners. Think about a topic that interests you, and which you think might interest
your conversation partner. Use "yes / no" questions to find out if your new friend is
interested in the same thing. For example, if you like a particular kind of music, you
could ask questions such as these:

Do you like blues music?

Have you ever listened to B.B. King?

Do you know where I can listen to live music?

Are you interested in jazz?

Any question starting with "Do", "Did", "Are", "Is", "Can", "Will", or "Have" can be
a good start to a conversation. However, such questions are just the beginning. You
must listen for your partner's answer, then "follow-up" with a more specific question,
usually using "what", "when", "where", "who" or "why". So, if your partner says that
he or she does like the blues, you can then ask, "Whose music do you like?". If your
partner does NOT like blues, then you might ask something like, "What kind of music
do you like?". You must always have a "follow-up" question ready. If not, the
conversation could come to a quick end.

Now, as the conversation moves along, you might have some communication
problems. What should you do then? Again, asking the right question is very
important. Here are some key questions that you MUST use whenever you have
trouble:

Could you repeat that please?

More informally, we can ask, "What did you say?". Often with friends we might only
say "What?". Even if you use informal language, you can make it polite by starting
with "Excuse me" or "Pardon me".

Could you speak more slowly please?

This is obviously a good question, but don't use it too often. If you really have trouble
understanding somebody, you might think about buying some good cassettes and
working to improve your listening comprehension skills. DVDs and VCDs are also
good practice for advanced students.

How do you spell blah blah blah?

Maybe you know the word, but you've only seen it in writing. If you hear the spelling,
you might understand.

What does blah blah blah mean?

If you can't catch the word exactly, you can say "that" instead of the word. (Don't
really say "blah blah blah"! That's just a "filler"!)

Do you mean to say blah blah blah?

If you think you understand, but you're not sure, you can repeat your partner's idea in
different words. Then you will know from his or her response whether you were right
or not. If instead you just say, "I don't think I understand", then the conversation will
come to a stop.

Paraphrasing

During our previous lesson, we explained how to control a conversation. By using

questions skillfully, you can keep a conversation flowing smoothly. However, what
happens when you forget a word? Many times, when a student can't remember a
word, the conversation comes to a sudden stop as he or she seeks the right word. This
is totally unnecessary. All you need to do when you are stuck is to paraphrase, that is,
you need to use other, simpler words to explain your meaning.

Imagine you are talking to someone from another country. He does not speak Chinese,
so you cannot explain in your mother tongue. You have forgotten the word
"impossible". Maybe you say "intentional" or "imperfect" by mistake, and your
partner doesn't understand you. How can you paraphrase the idea? You might say, "I
mean, when something cannot be done, or there's no way to do something". You
might give an example. "We can fly in an airplane, but there's no way we can fly by
using our arms, right?". I think your partner can guess that you mean "impossible".

Let's practice with some easy words. How could you paraphrase the words below in
the simplest, most direct way? Think about each word before looking at my answers.

banana ..... camera ..... run ..... hello ..... tomorrow

Here's how I would explain these words:

1. banana: it's a long yellow fruit, often eaten by monkeys.

2. camera: it's a little machine for taking pictures.
3. run: we can walk slowly, but if we are in a hurry, we can pick our feet up and move
very fast.
4. hello: it's the first thing we say when we see someone; the opposite is "good-bye".
5. tomorrow: this is the day before today; it's the opposite of "yesterday".

Do you get the idea? Now practice with a friend using some of the words below.

apple ..... orange ..... cat ..... elephant ..... yesterday ..... France ..... Australia

sing ..... read ..... hungry ..... thirsty ..... white ..... father ..... sad

happy .....radio ..... ice cream ..... wine ..... paper ..... television

laugh ..... sleep ..... yes ..... eat ..... stars ..... meat

You can practice with a friend anytime by thinking of your own words. Here are some
things to keep in mind when you try to paraphrase:

1. Start with a broad, general description. Don't be too specific at first.

2. If your conversation partner does not understand immediately, give more then one
clue.
3. Use examples or opposites to communicate. Do whatever it takes to communicate
successfully.

Paraphrasing not only helps you to keep the conversation going, it is also a good
learning technique. Often when you paraphrase, the person you are talking to will tell
you what the correct word is. You can increase your vocabulary quite quickly by
speaking often and using paraphrase when appropriate.

Vocabulary Development

The very best way to improve your vocabulary is through reading. Any time you learn
in context, you understand words better and remember words longer. You should
read many different types of materials and you should read often. Fortunately, you
have access to an amazing variety of reading materials in today's world. First, you can
read the many wonderful articles in College English Magazine. Then, to further
develop your knowledge and vocabulary, you can go on the Internet to read
newspapers and magazines, as well as do research on any topic you like.

So, what specific steps can you use to help you build your vocabulary? In my classes,
I bring students through a four-step process that helps them learn quickly and
remember what they've learned. Try following this process and let me know how you
like it. (Leave comments on my message board!)
Step One: Learn Words by Understanding and Imagination

The first thing you must do is use your imagination, along with the context provided
by a story, to help you understand new vocabulary. Many students try to remember
words from a list, translated from Chinese into English. There are two problems with
this approach. One problem is that students can't see HOW the words are used from a
list. The second problem is that it's much harder to remember a list of words in the
long term. Let's look at some real examples of learning in context, so that you can see
how useful it really is.

Go back to College English from April, and look at the story starting on page 7,
entitled "A New Story of a Tortoise and a Hare". Start with the second paragraph. Do
you see the expression "shot ahead"? ("The hare shot ahead and ran briskly for some
time.") From the context, you know that the hare is faster than the tortoise. You know
from the previous sentence that the race was just beginning. So, you can imagine the
hare running very fast at the start of the race, leaving the slow tortoise behind. You
might imagine the hare "shooting" like a bullet out of a gun, he's so fast! Now that
you have that picture in your mind, you can easily remember the meaning of this
expression.

In the third paragraph, look at the expression "plodding on". The context shows you
that this refers to the tortoise, so you know he's moving slowly. You can imagine the
feet of the tortoise seeming to be heavy, compared to the hare, as each step seems to
be almost painful. Isn't it easy to remember the image of the tortoise walking so
slowly? If you only learned the word "plod" from a list of words, you would have
trouble remembering it and using it correctly.

Next, consider word "moral" in the fourth paragraph. The sentence clearly shows
"moral", a noun, as the subject of the sentence. The verb "is", shows us that an
example of the meaning of "moral" follows. Pretty easy, right? "Slow and steady wins
the race" is the lesson we can learn from the traditional story of the Tortoise and the
Hare. The context teaches us that the moral of the story is a kind of lesson. When you
imagine the slow tortoise winning the race, it burns that lesson, and also the meaning
of "moral", into your brain.

Step Two: Vocabulary Self-Study Quizzes

After you have read the whole story and understood it, you can start practicing new
words and expressions with your friends. To begin, you and a friend should each take
a blank sheet of paper and fold it in half from top to bottom. On the left side, write
down all the new words and expressions that you want to remember. From the above-
mentioned article, you would write a list such as "shot ahead", "plodding", "moral",
"version", "Root Cause Analysis", "lax", "take something for granted", "go all out",
"climb the organizational ladder", "formatted", etc. Then on the right side of the
paper, write the meaning of each word or expression. Make sure the meaning is
directly across from the word. It might help to put numbers next to each word, starting
with "1" of course, then put the same number next to the corresponding meaning. Try
to write the meaning in English if you can, using the paraphrasing technique we
discussed in July, but if it's too difficult, you can write the Chinese meanings on the
right.

When you've finished your list, your friend should look only at the words, while you
look at the meanings. Your friend can read off one word from the left side at random
(not in order, but instead choosing words from anywhere in the list). Then you have to
tell your friend what the meaning of that word is. After that, it's your turn to read the
meaning of a word, and your friend has to tell you which word it is. If you want, your
friend can ask you ten words, then you can see how many you can guess right. You
can follow with ten meanings, to see how many words your friend can guess right.
Practice this way just a little bit every day, and you will remember many new words
"in no time". ("In no time" really means "in a very short time".)

Step Three: Learn Vocabulary by Reciting Sentences

Another step you can take, if you're really interested, is to write a list of the key
sentences from a story. This is much better than making a word list, because you can
still see the context which shows how the new words are used. When you've
completed your sentence list, you can carry it around with you and recite those
sentences when you're walking, when you're on a bus or train, wherever you go
during a typical day. My students learn many new words this way, and they know how
to use the words naturally.

Step Four: Review Vocabulary in Context

The final step is really very simple. After you've finished the first three steps, go back
to the original story and re-read it. See how easy it is now? You can really see your
progress using this process. Now you can make an even stronger impression on your
brain, using your imagination and the context, as you read the story again. At this
point, you can learn new words just as a native speaker does! Congratulations!

All About Non-Verbal Communication

When we speak, we use much more than just words. We also communicate with our
face, our hands, and even our own body. This kind of communication can be called
"body language" or "non-verbal communication". Non-verbal communication not
only includes how we move our body, but also hand gestures, facial expressions
including eye contact, and how we use our voice. Psychologists estimate that between
60% and 80% of all of our communication with other people is non-verbal. We
communicate a wide range of information non-verbally. We also show our feelings,
attitudes, moods, hopes and wishes far better with non-verbal language than with
words.

Not only is a large QUANTITY of communication non-verbal in nature, but the

QUALITY is high as well. For example, if a person says something positive while his
face looks negative, which are we more likely to believe? In most cases, we will
believe the non-verbal facial expression. In the end, his words will not succeed in
communicating his message. If we want to succeed in our everyday conversations, we
really must learn to "speak" with our body well!

Let me begin by giving you some general advice. The main thing is to relax and be
natural. Trying too hard to use "body language" will make you seem a bit strange.
Instead, you should allow your body language to naturally follow your words. If you
say something positive, then your face, body and hands should show it too. If you are
expressing a sad or worried feeling, then your face, body and hands should change
with that feeling. As you think about it more and consider how you can use your body
to communicate, you will become more and more natural.

More specifically, let's talk about hand gestures. Using our hands, we can emphasize
our main points, remind our listener how many main points we have, and let our
listener know when we are changing topics. A dramatic movement of the hand or
moving our hands wide apart can signal how important something is. We can even use
two fingers, either close together or far apart, to show how big something is. To show
VERY strong feeling we could clap our hands together loudly or make a fist (put our
fingers in a ball as though we want to hit someone) and hit a table or desk. To show
that we welcome someone, on the other hand, we can hold our hands out with the
palms up, and maybe move them towards a chair to invite someone to sit next to us.

Of course, we can also use our fingers to count, but be careful. People in some
countries do not count the same way as in China. In France, for example, people do
not count "one" by holding up their first finger, called the "index finger". Instead, they
hold up their thumb. In Japan, some people put their thumb DOWN (with the four
fingers up) to mean "one"! This can create confusion sometimes, so be sure not to use
only non-verbal communication. Use words too, so that your listener will be sure to
understand you.

Some hand gestures that are popular are waving to someone as a greeting or holding
your index finger and thumb into a circle to mean "okay". However, there are some
countries where these can have bad meanings! It's important to be careful when using
certain common gestures. Don't assume that everyone in the world understands one
gesture in the same way. Still, you can use basic gestures most of the time, then when
you see a strange reaction from your listener, you can make sure to emphasize your
real meaning by using words and a different hand movement.
Facial expressions are a very common way that we use to communicate every day.
When speaking English, it's generally good to smile at your listener from time to time,
especially when he or she has made an interesting comment. Also nod your head up
and down to show you are really interested. From time to time, you can add a sound
of agreement, such as "Uh huh" or even just "mmmm", to show you are listening.
Above all, it is important to maintain eye contact while listening. Sometimes it is okay
to move your eyes away when you are speaking, because you do have to think about
what you want to say. However the listener should almost always look at the speaker
without moving the eyes away (without "averting" the eyes).

If you are speaking to someone while standing, it is important to stand neither too
close nor too far from the speaker. Stand at a position that is comfortable for both of
you. Again, though, you must be careful when talking to people from different
countries. People from some southern European countries, such as France or Spain,
often stand closer together when speaking than do Chinese people. And people from
Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia stand even closer! You do not always have to
adapt your behavior when you meet people from around the world, but you should be
aware of potential misunderstandings.

If, instead of standing, you are speaking to someone while talking, you can show your
friendliness and "openness" by leaning a little bit toward the speaker. Try to avoid
folding your arms in front of your chest. Many people consider folding your arms as a
cold, "protective" gesture. Instead, you could have your hands on your knees, or one
hand on your knee and the other at your side. You can fold your arms sometimes if
you wish, but don't hold them there for a long time. As long as your hands move from
time to time, the listener will not think that you are unfriendly.

Besides all of the obvious physical ways to communicate non-verbally, we have our
voice. We use "intonation", loudness and "pitch" (how high or low our voice sounds)
to change our meaning. Even when our voice does not make an actual word, it still
can communicate feeling and attitude. Combined with the words we use, our voice
can be a very powerful way to express what we mean. A strong voice can
communicate confidence while a quiet voice communicates intimacy or some secret
message. A loud, high pitched voice (similar to a girl screaming) can communicate
nervousness or excitement, while a deep voice might mean we are tired or not
enthusiastic.

How to use an English Dictionary

I once heard of an Australian man in France, who had an amazing memory. He could
remember large numbers of words. He succeeded in memorizing a whole English-
French dictionary. If someone asked him the meaning of a word, he could tell them.
However, he could not have even the simplest conversation in French! Learning
words from a dictionary, by itself, cannot help you to speak, but a good dictionary is
an important tool if you use it well. How can we use a dictionary to improve our
speaking? Just follow the rules below:

1. Be sure of the "part of speech".

Sometimes, when you look up a word in the dictionary, you find more than one
meaning. How do you know which one to choose? One thing you can do is see if the
word is a noun, verb, adjective or adverb. If you find "fast" as a verb, it means "to not
eat anything for a period of time". On the other hand, if you find "fast" as an
adjective, then you know it means "quick".

2. Look at BOTH the English to Chinese meaning AND the Chinese to English
meaning.

Another strategy, if you're using a Chinese-English dictionary, is to use a "reverse

search". By "reverse search", I mean you should go to an English-Chinese dictionary
to confirm the meaning. (If you're starting with an English-Chinese dictionary, then
you should check the meaning with a Chinese-English dictionary.) Many times I look
up an English word, and find a Chinese word that I THINK is good, but when I look it
up the opposite way, I find that it's a rather rare word that I should not use in spoken
language. By using both methods, you can get a better understanding of the real
meaning of the word.

3. Buy a dictionary that shows how to use words.

Look at any sample sentences if your dictionary has them. If your dictionary doesn't
include sample sentences, perhaps you should consider buying a new one. "Learners
Dictionaries", available from Oxford University Press or Longman, have many
sample sentences to make the meaning of the word clear. The main thing is, be careful
about using words that you have found in a dictionary. Until you've seen the word in
context (in some kind of sentence or story), you cannot be sure that you are using it
right. We need to see vocabulary in context, so that we know HOW to use the words.
Some words go together well, such as "play" and "instrument", but others do not, such
as "beautiful" and "man". Experiment in using new words, but be aware that you
might be making a mistake. Then you can adapt your vocabulary in the future.

4. Be flexible. It might take time to find the right word.

Sometimes, dictionaries give old meanings, or rarely used meanings. For example, my
students often look up the Chinese word "dofu" in their dictionary. Dofu, as you
know, is very delicious to eat, and nutritious too. My students usually come back after
looking in their dictionary and talk to me about "bean curd". Although "bean curd" is
the dictionary meaning for "dofu", it's not what we say in real life. In real life, we say
"tofu"! If you go to a supermarket in another country and ask for bean curd, I don't
know what you will get. If you want "dofu", you have to ask for "tofu", even if your
dictionary tells you it's "bean curd". That's why you must wait until you've heard
words in context before using them. Then you'll know what people really say.

5. Do not translate directly when speaking.

Words cannot always be translated directly in another language. For example, "play"
is not the same in Chinese and English. It always sounds funny in English to say that
you spent the weekend playing. It's all right for children, and we can play a sport or a
musical instrument, but to just play, it would be better to say something like "have
fun", "enjoy yourself", or give specific examples of what you did.

One of my students gave me a sad example of misusing a word by using a dictionary.

He told me that I am a good "impersonator" of a teacher. I'm sure he was trying to say
something good, but an impersonator is someone who copies another person but is
NOT that person. So I felt like my student was saying I talk like a teacher, but I am
not a real teacher! I was very disappointed to hear that, but then I realized he didn't
really know how to use that word. Dictionaries can only give you some information,
you must be careful when you use that information!

6. Move up to a "monolingual" dictionary as soon as possible.

I know it seems easier to use an English-Chinese dictionary. Using a monolingual

dictionary, where the definitions are given in English only, is very difficult at first.
However, if you keep trying, you'll soon get used to it. When I did that in French, I
found that, after a while, I started THINKING in French. Then your English will
really start to take off!

How to Tell a Joke

Do you often tell jokes when you speak English? Very few students even try to do it.
There are two reasons for this. One is that they have trouble remembering jokes and
stories. The second reason is that they don't tell the jokes in a natural, funny way. Let
me show you how you can tell jokes and make people laugh in English.

The basic idea is to do exactly what you do when you tell a friend about a movie or
TV program that you saw. You don't try to memorize the whole movie or TV program.
Instead you tell your friend about the most important things. You start by telling your
friend who is involved in the story. Next you describe the situation. You continue by
talking about what they did, which is the action. Usually you finish by talking about
the exciting ending of the movie or TV program.
Let's apply this same technique to telling a joke. You don't have to remember a joke
word for word. Instead, do as above and start with WHO, the characters. For example,
there was a story about a teacher who was teaching little children. It doesn't matter
how you say it, as long as the listener understands who is involved. You could say
very simply "There once was a teacher who was teaching small children". That's
enough. Or you could give more details by saying something like "There was a kind
and beautiful young teacher named Miss Applebee, who was teaching a group of
twenty very eager children of about four years of age". Or you could really build up
the listener's curiosity by describing the people in even more detail, by saying "I heard
a funny story about a very kind and beautiful, but inexperienced teacher who taught in
a big city. Her students, about 20 in number and around the age of four, were all very
cute and eager to learn". You can tell the story like this, but you don't have to. The
first example, though simple, is just as good, and your listener will understand what
you mean.

Moving on to describing the situation, we could start by simply saying "She was
teaching her students the names of animals". Of course, you could give much more
detail, but this is enough. Just as an example, let’s try something more detailed: "This
teacher had planned a lesson in which she enlarged some photographs in order to
teach the students the names of all kinds of animals". Whatever you say, simple or
detailed, the listener should always understand the situation.

The next part, the ACTION, is a bit longer, but as long as you describe the main
points, then the exact words are not important. Let's try it like this: "The teacher
showed the students a picture of a deer and asked one little boy, 'Bobby, what is this
animal?' Little Bobby looked at the picture with a confused look on his face. He
replied 'I'm sorry teacher, I don't know'. The teacher did not want to give up, so she
found a way to help little Bobby. She asked another question. She said 'Well Bobby,
what does your Mommy call your Daddy?'

Now at this point, you have told your listener how the teacher is teaching. You
mentioned the pictures and that she is trying to get the little boy to understand "deer"
by remembering the similar sounding word "dear". As long as you explain these basic
things, any words you use are okay. The listener will have a good image in his or her
head of who is involved, where they are, and what they are doing.

Now, however, comes the hardest part, called the "punch line". The "punch line" of a
joke is the very last line. It is the part that makes the story funny. You can describe the
people, the situation and the action in many different ways, but usually you cannot
change the "punch line" or the story will not seem funny. So, you should memorize
ONLY the final line, the "punch line" of a story.

Here's the "punch line" of our story: "Bobby looked at the teacher and asked, 'Teacher,
is that really a pig?'. Of course, your listener will expect the boy to say the animal is a
deer, because we can imagine the boy's mother calling the boy's father "Dear". The
boy's surprise answer is what makes people laugh. As with the other parts, you could
introduce the "punch line" with more detail. Maybe you could say "Little Bobby
thought for a moment, still confused. Suddenly a bright look appeared on his face as
he asked the teacher..." and then you can give the same punch line "Is that really a
pig?".

Be sure to practice jokes before you tell them. Especially practice telling the "punch
line" because that's the most important part. You can find many jokes throughout
"College English Magazine". Find some that you like, and just remember WHO is
involved, WHAT the situation is, the ACTION, and the PUNCH LINE, and you will
be able to entertain your friends every day.

Public Speaking - How to Give a Great Speech

Most successful people in the world all are very good at "public speaking". They
know how to get up in front of a crowd and give a "formal speech". They know how
to move people, how to get them to take action. It's not easy to do, but you can learn
the basics of public speaking in this article.

To speak well, you need to start with two things. First, you must have a clear goal.
You must be very sure about what you want to communicate. Second, you must know
who your audience is. When you know who your audience is, you can then find a
good way to communicate your message to them. You should not speak to a group of
businessman the same way you would speak to a group of students.

When you are clear about your goal and have some idea who you want to
communicate the message to, you can start to be more specific. In order to succeed,
most people need to spend a lot of time preparing their speech. Some few, special
speakers are able to speak without a definite plan, but for almost all of us, a plan is
absolutely necessary. Your plan should include every important point you wish to
make to your audience. You can begin by making a list of every thing you want to say.
You can imagine you are speaking to just one person, having a normal conversation.
What would you say to that person to convey your message? Write down every
important idea until you are sure you have everything.

When you have a list of all the things you want to say, you can then organize your
speech. When we have a normal conversation, we might jump from one idea to
another. In a conversation, our listener can stop us and ask questions, or we can see on
his or her face if we have not communicated clearly. In formal speaking, however, we
must anticipate every possible problem. The way to avoid miscommunication is to
talk about one idea at a time. While planning, take each idea one at a time and write
down specific examples to show what you really mean.

After you've written down examples or explanations for each point on your list, you
can think about how to connect them. Your listeners will have to concentrate for a
long time. Listening to all of your ideas can be tiring. By making clear "transitions"
from one idea to the next, you will help your listeners, and be sure that they really
understand your message. What is a good transition? Any sentence or expression that
shows you are moving on to something new. For example, I have used transitions in
this article. I began the third paragraph of this article with "When you are clear about
your goal", which connects the third paragraph with the second. After talking about
the list of ideas in the third paragraph, I started paragraph four with "When you have a
list...", so you can see the connection again.

Now you should have a list of items that you want to communicate, with specific
examples or explanations. In addition, you know how you want to connect each idea
so that you can move smoothly while speaking. Next you need to think of a good
introduction. The opening of the speech will either get your listeners' attention or put
them to sleep. To get people's attention, you need to begin with a "hook". A hook
could be as simple as a question. Or it could be a statistic that makes them think about
what you are going to say next. Another kind of hook is a joke or story that is
appropriate for your message. Without a good hook, you listeners might never really
hear what you say during the speech.

So, you've gotten your listeners' attention with a hook and presented your points
clearly, one by one, with good transitions. To finish, all you need is a strong
conclusion. Too many students end a speech with "I'm finished" or "That's all". They
miss a chance to leave their listeners with an idea firmly fixed in their mind.
Psychologists have discovered that with almost any information, people remember the
first and last things the best. So, if you have a strong conclusion, your listeners are
more likely to remember your message. In a simple informative speech, a conclusion
can just be a quick summary of the main points. When you are trying to persuade your
listeners, you can finish with a call to action, encouraging your listeners to do
something. (Maybe to buy your product or accept your idea.) As with the opening, a
conclusion could be a story or joke that illustrates your message well.

With a good beginning, a good middle, and a good ending, you now have a potentially
great speech. Why potentially? Because you still have to go in front of people and
speak! This is where many students make a big, big mistake. They write out every
sentence they want to say and memorize the whole speech word for word. Then when
they speak, IF they remember it well, they sound like robots speaking. Instead of
memorizing everything, you should just memorize the key words from your speech. It
will not only be easier to remember everything, but you will also sound much more
natural when you speak. You can adapt what you say as you observe the audience's
reaction.

Many great speakers practice their speech by speaking out loud. Some even prepare in
front of a mirror! Try it and see if it helps you. When you speak formally, you will
probably have a time limit. In this case, you should practice your speech with a timer.
You will probably find that the speech you prepared takes more time than you have.
You will have to cut things that are not so important. Usually, if you think about it,
some ideas that you thought were important at first, are not really so important after
all. Be sure you communicate the most important ideas first, and cut anything else.

One last point: when the time comes for you to speak, you may feel a bit nervous.
That is normal, almost everyone feels it. One thing you can do is realize that nobody's
perfect. Everybody makes mistakes, so you can too. Just do your best! Another thing
you can do is take three deep breaths. Inhaling brings energy to every part of your
body, while exhaling helps to relieve tension.

Well, there you have it - the basics of giving a good speech. It's not easy, but if you
put in the effort and do the things mentioned in this article, you will surely succeed!

Learn to Listen to Natural-Speed English

I know you want to learn to speak English better. Do you want to know the very best
way to improve your speaking? LISTEN! Yes, that's right, listen! You should listen to
English at least a little bit every, single day. I give this advice to all of my students,
and when they are smart and decide to follow my advice, they make very steady
progress. Some students' speaking skills improve dramatically in a very short time,
ONLY by listening to English every day.

How does listening help speaking? We learn best by example. You learned Chinese by
listening to your parents, neighbors, teachers and friends speak. You listened as a
baby, and tried your best to repeat, even though you couldn't at first. You kept trying
though, and you finally were able to speak fluently. Without good examples, you can't
know how to speak smoothly, correctly, and effectively. With good examples, you
learn how to say exactly what you want to say, in a way that everyone can understand.
It takes some time, but if you begin today and keep with it, you will see a big
difference in your speaking ability.

My students often ask me, "what should we listen to?". In today's world there are so
many things you can listen to. Most textbooks today come with a cassette player or
CD. I like cassettes better because they are easier to rewind when you want to hear
just one word or sentence again. Besides textbook materials, you can listen to songs or
DVDs in English. Those are great ways to improve not only your speaking ability, but
to learn about other cultures at the same time. If you live in a big city, you can watch
TV or listen to the radio in English too.

The next question my students ask me is "HOW should we listen?". This seems like a
simple question, but in reality, it's not. There are two general approaches to listening.
One is called "intensive listening" and the other is called "extensive listening". The
first one, "intensive listening", is what students usually learn in the classroom. The
teacher plays a cassette or says a sentence and the students must try to understand
100% of what they hear. After listening, student can repeat what they heard, either
speaking out loud or speaking quietly to themselves. Sometimes students write the
sentence (a dictation) or write a response. With "intensive listening", you can learn to
say the sentences very precisely. The problem with "intensive listening" is that it takes
a lot of time just to learn a few sentences. It can also be very boring if you do too
much at one time.

Students need to do a lot of listening in order to really learn well. The way to listen to
a lot of English is to do "extensive listening". When you do "extensive listening", you
do NOT have to understand 100%. You only have to try to understand MORE than
you did at the beginning. So, if you understand 20% the first time, and then
understand 25% after listening a few times, then you have succeeded. Or if you
understand 90% at the beginning, then 93% after studying is good. Students
sometimes feel uncomfortable if they don't understand 100%, but this kind of
listening is very valuable.

"Extensive listening" is not only more interesting than "intensive listening", but it
gives you the opportunity to hear so many different voices, so many different styles. It
also helps you get used to the natural speed of spoken English. As you listen to more
and more videos and songs, you will see that the most important words and sentence
structures come up again and again. You will be able to learn them naturally. On the
negative side, students who do only "extensive listening" sometimes get lazy when
they speak and make too many mistakes. That is why students must do BOTH
"intensive listening" and "extensive listening".

I think students know how to do "intensive listening" quite well, because you have
done it in your classrooms. Basically, you just listen, repeat, listen, repeat, listen,
repeat! However, students are not so used to doing "extensive listening", so here are
some tips to help you:

1. Find something you enjoy, and just enjoy! Because you enjoy it, you will probably
listen many times, which will effortlessly improve your English.

2. If you are using a DVD or VCD, use the subtitles to help you see which words or
sounds are difficult for you.
3. After you have advanced a bit, turn the subtitles off (or cover them) to really test
your listening ability.

4. When something seems very fast to you, just focus on the rhythm of English, then
worry about the individual sounds later.

5. Try "shadow practice" as you listen. That means you should try to move your lips
as you listen. In this way, you can do speaking practice and listening practice at the
same time.