Online Spoken English Classes: Become a Better Listener and Speaker with these Great Ted Talks

Which is the most common form of communication- speaking, listening, reading or writing? Well, you might think it is speaking, but it isn’t- it is LISTENING. From birth, listening plays a key role in developing language comprehension. Babies listen to words spoken by their parents before mimicking sounds and speaking their first words. Listening is, therefore, one of the major skills required to develop a complete understanding of the English language.

To learn English online, listening is one of the four major skills in language acquisition. Although the three other skills, namely- reading, speaking and writing are crucial to develop language proficiency, listening contributes chiefly for language expertise. The sound, stress, and intonation of the language can only be adapted through listening.

As an online English speaking course in India, we have noticed one crucial factor that affects English proficiency amongst most learners. Most people in India speak English as a second language. Thus, their pronunciations and accents are culturally influenced. There is no harm in having an accent, we have covered a detailed blog on this topic. Pronunciations if not sharp should be correct.

And this is where online spoken English classes will come to your rescue. Regular practice with certified online English tutors goes a long way in building consistency in your English speaking practice. You can learn more about our methods here.

What is a TED talk?

TED stands for technology, entertainment, and design, started in 1984. Well, TED Talks are all about experiences. It is an effective medium where the speakers share lessons they have learned and convey understandable information to a target audience.

TED talks can be really useful and motivational as one can relate to the speakers. These speakers often provide practical tips that can be used to improve life accordingly. The speakers give transcripts for all talks and every TED video has a script uploaded in many languages. It can be great for the learners who are practicing reading skills as they can practice their reading comprehension and listening while watching the videos. Generally, TED speakers provide a list of books and articles related to the topic they speak about. This can help the readers to gain comprehensive information for reading practice.

Popular TED talks to learn English online:

Here is a list of the most popular TED talks:

• How to Live Passionately- No Matter Your Age by Isabel Allende

Isabel Allende is a well known Chilean author who has written masterpieces such as The House of the Spirits and City of the Beasts. She gave an insightful perspective on how to live your life in this TED talk. She talks about embracing the joys of life and shares her plans of living passionately. She shatters the negativity of aging and recommends everyone to live life with enthusiasm.

• What Makes a Good Life? Lessons from the Longest Study on Happiness by Robert Waldinger

Robert Waldinger, an American psychologist and professor at Harvard, discusses some secrets on how to be happy. He states that many young people tend to think that fame, fortune, and hard work will bring joy, nevertheless it’s the social connections that are vital for our well being and happiness. Nurturing close relationships is good for our health too. He offers some practical guidance on how to live a fulfilling life.

• The Happy Secret to Better Work by Shawn Achor

Shawn Achor, the CEO of Good Think Inc., an American author and advocate of positive psychology, gives a speech on the psychology of positivity and how happiness can make work productive. Shawn inculcates his speech with plenty of clever stories. He states that happiness does make people more successful and people never really see themselves as ‘successful’.

• How Great Leaders Inspire Action by Simon Sinek

Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful idea, the "Golden Circle" which he calls "a naturally occurring pattern". He argues that great leaders and organizations focus on "why" they do instead of "what" they do and "how" they do it. His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers which he adds act and operate in a similar manner.

• The Thrilling Potential of SixthSense Technology by Pranav Mistry

Pranav Mistry, a PhD student in the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT’s Media, demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data. He argues that SixthSense has the potential to keep us more connected to the physical world, and keep us human rather than a machine in front of another machine.

• Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are by Amy Cuddy

Amy Cuddy, a Social Psychologist, speaks about body language and how power posing such as standing confidently can raise testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain can impact chances for success. She believes nonverbal communication impacts the way we judge each other and affect things like who we hire or promote.

• The Art Of Misdirection by Apollo Robbins

Robbins, an intelligent scientist is able to manipulate the minds of people in his speech by using misdirection in order to act right under their nose without them even knowing. Robbins talks about the simple mechanisms of the mind that can be easily manipulated. This TED Talk opens up some of the cognitive concepts of how people pay attention and how some can easily be distracted from his sensory duties.

• How To Speak So That People Want To Listen by Julian Treasure

Julian Treasure, the chair of the Sound Agency shares why people often fail to communicate in such a way that the peers would like to listen to us. He talks about the power of certain words and phrases and teaches the audience to carefully listen to others when they speak. He discusses six vocal warmup exercises before you talk. This includes breathing, making noises with lips, ‘raspberries’, lalala on tongue, practising a rolled ‘r’, and moving through the whole range of pitch.

• How To Make Stress Your Friend by Kelly McGonigal

Kelly McGonigal, a health psychologist, discusses three studies that throw light on the stress response, and how to reprogram our thoughts to make it healthier. She shares inspiring new research showing that stress may only negatively affect your health if you believe it will. She provides some strategies to cope up with the dress in order to build resilience and stay fit.

• Your Elusive Creative Genius by Elizabeth Gilbert

Elizabeth Gilbert is an American author, essayist, short story writer, biographer, novelist and memoirist, discusses the unfortunate reputation of creative minds. She talks about the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius. She inspires everyone to act and contribute in whatever they are doing.

TED Talks not only give you motivation but help you expand your perspective on different topics. Above are some various inspiring TED talks which can be really useful for each and everyone.

Keep watching! Keep learning!

Contributed By- Anjana Dutta

Related Articles: Listening skills for learning English