Arrrgh!! The exam was very difficult! Frustrating! I'll never be able to understand those horrible videos! How can I improve my spoken English? I hate writing!
OK, calm down and take it easy. Language learning has to do with
patience, regularity and love (yes, love) rather than trying to learn it all in a couple of days/weeks/months.
You know that class time is
NOT enough, so you'll have to use English at home, in the street, driving to work... you have to live it, you have to love it, you have to make it yours.
Below you'll find some tips that you'll have to adapt to your own habits (like talk to yourself!). Language skills are obviously connected and part of a whole - the time invested in reading, listening, writing, and working on 'use of English' will sure contribute to your speaking skills-and vice versa.
And a very important one:
KISS (Keep It Short and Simple), which means
DON'T get lost in your own story -generally because you wanted to translate word by word from your mother tongue.
You don't need to do this. You know a lot of things by now, you know more than you think you know, so use the things that you know, not the things that you don't know.
So don't translate. Forget about your mother tongue, forget about yourself. Be another person, be an actor, be an actress, be a comedian, and speak ENGLISH.
There is a saying in Czech that goes :
" Learn a new language, get a new soul"
Sorry there's no pill. Or rather, the only pill is
regular practice and patience. But you know all that jazz, don't you? After the mock exam, put things in order, revise aspects we've done in class, revise things that are not clear, catch up with things you missed, organize your work, organize your life, ask for help if you need it, and promise you'll be in contact with English at least 10? 20? minutes a day.
Of course,
frustration may be part of the process, but it's
transitory AND normal. So don't worry too much. As they say,
keep calm and carry on:
...and you can always scream and shout in this blog if you need it. If you have any other useful tip, please let eveybody know!
