Journey from A Regular to an Effective English Speaker

At Speechify, majority of our students seek assistance in spoken English training. Most online English classes provide a variety of spoken English lessons, even the controversial crash courses that leave the student more confused than before.

Online English speaking courses in India also offer accent polishing courses. However, learning effective English speaking is much more than pronunciations, accents and spoken English fluency.

What is effective speaking?

Effective speaking means being able to say in such a way that it is heard, makes an impact and acted upon. Communications in its multiple forms pervades today’s environment. With many meetings, job interviews, and presentations, it has become vital to develop good communication skills. Thus, the rise of multiple online spoken English classes.

English speaking not only increases your productivity but also establishes greater credibility. Being a good public speaker can enhance your reputation, and open up countless opportunities. As an online English tutor, I believe that any person with thorough preparation and practice, we all can overcome our nervousness and perform well.

Let us look at the three major aspects of Effective Speaking:

Choose Your Words Wisely- Choosing the right words is essential. Whatever you are saying, it should be clear, crisp and precise. It is indispensable to choose the right words carefully, especially when you are saying something important. With the language, take a note of the audience’s overall level of understanding of the subject. Additionally, try to use simpler and shorter sentences. Short sentences are easier to process and are well understood by the listeners. You can also try a lot of quizzes on forums to learn English online.

Your Voice- Your voice can reveal a lot about your personality. It can provide clues to one’s emotional state. A person who is confident is more likely to have command of their voice and clarity of speech. Therefore, having a command over your voice and honing the skill becomes absolutely necessary to boost your confidence and speak English properly in front of the audience.

Non-verbal communication, particularly body language- We all know how important body language is while speaking which includes tone of voice, pace, usage of hands, eye contact and facial expressions. Studies reveal that over 50% of our communication is non-verbal. It can enhance a person's ability to establish meaningful interactions in life. Moreover, it may help you to strengthen relationships with others.

To develop good speaking skills, it’s vital to speak regularly with English Spoken Experts, even an online English teacher will help. Besides, you can also try this exercise to help develop your effective speaking skills:

Find a document which is about two pages in length for reading. You can use the first few pages of a book. Read your document silently first and read it aloud in your normal speaking voice. Keep reading till the end. Don't worry if you stumble, just continue to read till the end. Read those pages again but this time you need to record your voice. Always read normally and slowly.

This will help you to introspect what you have spoken. Speeding up can make you feel nervous and difficult to understand. Therefore, read, pause and project your voice through this exercise. Anyone can improve the quality of their voice and speaking through a few exercises, like the one stated above.

Simple tips to become a better Speaker:

Next are a few simple ways to become a better Speaker:

● Never Memorize Your Lines

We often think rote- learning or memorizing the lines is the best way to give a great speech. Most of the self-proclaimed “best online English speaking courses in India “advocate it. However, this is one of the worst things to be done while giving a speech. When you memorize something, it never comes out naturally and you are in some cases, not able to connect to the people. Moreover, if you forget, your mind gets blank, you lose your pace and eventually, you will land in a very awkward situation which can lead to panic and unconsciousness.

By memorizing, you’re adding burden to your own speech. It is always better to memorize only the key points in your speech. You can do this by creating bullet points of your key messages, data and stories that you want in your presentation and share with the audience. This will allow you to adjust and adapt to your audience and retain flexibility to switch if you forget something.

● Make Use of Audio and Visuals

Giving presentations and speeches can be monotonous if the speaker is speaking for an hour. Nevertheless, you can make it interesting by embracing audio-visual tools. You need not read from the slides, but you can add those “key-notes” which will not only help you to recall what needs to be spoken next but also keep the audience engaged.

● Practice in a Noisy Room

To be able to work through distractions, try and practise where people are plenty. You will be able to learn to tune out the distractions while working in a room full of people. This is because anything can happen in a real public speaking event from ringing of cell phones ringing to people shouting feedback from the audience. Therefore, working in a noisy environment can phase you during presentations.

● Make Your Speech Interactive

Using pauses and pitching are important features of a great speech. To make your speech interactive, try using these characteristics. You can also add personal touch, life experiences according to your topic, audio- visuals to keep the audience involved in your presentation, which is naturally more fun and also gives them devices to remember the material. Pre-plan your speech and when you do that, think about where you can involve the audience and what things and devices you can incorporate in the presentation so that you can devote some time to talk with them and take feedback.

● Task is to Serve the Audience

By serving the audience means providing valuable information to your listeners. For that, you need to forget focusing on your performance and concentrate on serving your audience. If your audience leaves with new and useful information, your job is done. Relax, talk or chat with the people before presenting a speech to warm yourself up. You can also add your personal experiences, stories and humor to make your speech more enriching.

An important part of preparing for your speech is researching your audience. Connect with the audience, articulate your words, and use gestures as you present your speech. To appeal to the audience, you need to tailor your speech in order to get them to respond to your ideas. When you prioritize on making your speech conversational, you are a step ahead to becoming an effective public speaker.

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