Improve your English pronunciation! Whether you’re a beginner or looking to perfect your accent, this course is designed to help you speak clearly and confidently.

THE PRONUNCIATION COURSE

Resources:

• Audio MP3 (right-click to save the audio)
• FULL-TEXT PDF (right-click to save the TEXT)

Transcript:

Hello, everybody! I am Georgiana, your English teacher and founder of SpeakEnglishPodcast.com. My mission is to help you speak English fluently.

In this episode, I will be talking about how many times we have to repeat an audio material in English. After that, you practice your conversation skills with a new mini-story.

Ok, let’s get started!

As you may know, I always recommend you to listen to improve your English speaking. There are many studies, which suggest that there is a correlation between our level of the language and the hours we have been listening. In other words, the more you listen, the better. The more hours you spend listening, the quicker you improve.

Here’s an interesting question you might ask: “How many times do I have to listen to every piece of content?” Do I have to listen just one time? Or more than that?

What most students do is listen to certain content once or twice and then change to another material. The typical student thinks that the more variety, the better.

Well, variety is useful, but what you want is to consolidate what you listen to, and the most effective way to achieve this is through repetition.

So, let’s say you are starting with English. You’re a beginner. This is the situation where you need a lot of repetition. The reason is that you need to create the most common patterns in your head. That’s why you need to repeat many times. For example, let’s say you have a 5 minutes audio adapted to your level. Then, you can repeat the audio twenty, thirty, or even more times.

Yes! You heard me well! Twenty, thirty, or more times!

I’m not saying that you have to do it in one day. For example, you can repeat the audio three times every day for one week. This is only 15 minutes a day for seven days, which is 21 times. You can read and listen if you need to.
Yes, it seems crazy, but I can assure you that this is very effective. You can learn a lot! And the most important thing is that you’re consolidating the phrases, the vocabulary, and the pronunciation, and it becomes easier to use all of this in a conversation.

If you do this as part of your routine, and you dedicate one hour a day doing repetitions of different audios, soon you’ll notice a big difference. You’ll become familiar with many structures, and you will start to understand what you say without translation in your head.

Repetition is the key to consolidation. If you have an intermediate level or higher, you don’t need to repeat so many times. What you can do is: Always listen to the same person. Focus on just one material and then stick to it for a while. You might prefer some particular phrases, vocabulary, expressions, etc. So, if you listen to the same person, you’ll repeat more.

Another approach is to listen to the same topic consistently. Although you’re not repeating the same audio, you are repeating the vocabulary and expressions of the same topic.

This rule of repetition is not strict, of course. The important thing is to listen for many hours, and if you can repeat, much better!

Ok! Let’s move on to the next section.

 

Mini-Story 📖 (practice your speaking)

Here, I’ll use the question and answers technique.  It’s the perfect lesson if you want to speak English automatically.

This is how it works:

• I’ll give you some information. (A phrase or two).
• I’ll ask simple questions.
• After each question, there will be some seconds of silence: it’s your turn to answer the question! Just try to give an easy and short answer, not a complex one.
• After you answer, I’ll give you a correct answer.

This process will continue, and little by little, I’ll be telling a story using questions and answers.

Ok, let’s get started!

Peter, the penguin, wanted to become a broker at Wall Street.

Did Peter want to become a broker?

Yes, he did. He wanted to become a broker at Wall Street.

Did Peter want to become a police officer?

No. He didn’t. He didn’t want to become a police officer. He wanted to become a broker. A broker is a person who works at Wall Street, for example.

Who wanted to become a broker?

Peter. Peter, the penguin, wanted to become a broker.

Was Peter a penguin?

Yes, he was. He was a penguin. He was a penguin who wanted to work as a broker.

Where did Peter want to work as a broker?

Well, he wanted to work as a broker at Wall Street.

What did Peter want?

To work as a broker, or in other words, to become a broker at Wall Street.

His problem was he couldn’t speak English.

What language didn’t he speak?

English. The language he didn’t speak was English. He couldn’t speak English.   
Did Peter have a problem?
Yes, he had a problem. He couldn’t speak English!

What was his problem?

He couldn’t speak English. That was his problem.

Did he start to watch TV?

No. No. He didn’t start to watch TV. He started to listen to English audios.

Did he start to listen to English for ten hours a day?

No. He didn’t. He didn’t start to listen for ten hours.  He started to listen for twelve hours a day.

Who started to listen for twelve hours a day?

Peter. Peter, the penguin, started to listen for 12 hours a day.

How many hours?

Twelve. Twelve hours a day.

In only three months, his level of English was impressive.

Was his level impressive in four months?

No, it wasn’t. It wasn’t impressive in four months.

How was his level after twelve weeks?

Impressive. It was impressive. Twelve weeks are three months, by the way.

How many months?

Three months. In only three months.

He went to Wall Street to apply for a job.

Did he go to Hawaii?

No, no. He didn’t go to Hawaii. He went to Wall Street in New York.

Did he go to the United Nations in New York?

No. He went to Wall Street to apply for a job.

Did he go there to apply for a job?

Yes, he went there to apply for a job. A job as a broker.

What kind of job?

Broker. He applied for a broker. That was the job he applied for.

He couldn’t get the job, but now he happily works as a waiter in a fine restaurant.

Did Peter get the job?

No, he didn’t. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the job.

Who couldn’t get the job?

Peter. He didn’t get a job.

Does Peter have another job?

Yes, he does. He has another job, not in Wall Street but in a fine restaurant.

Does he work in a restaurant or in Wall Street?

In a fine restaurant. He happily works in a fine restaurant as a waiter.

Is he happy now?

Yes, he is. He happily works in a fine restaurant. It was not his first option, but now he is happy.

Perfect! It’s the end of this mini-story. As you can see, through questions and answers, you can practice and improve your speech just like in a real conversation.

If you want to get hours of audio with mini-stories and point of view lessons, I’d like to recommend to you my Fluency Course.

You can get it at Fluencycourse.com 

Well, that’s it for today.

Please help me spread the word about the podcast. Tell your friends about the show and leave a comment on iTunes when you have a minute. That would make me very happy!

I’ll be back next week!

Take care! Bye! Bye!