I am Japanese. For me, English was considerably difficult to learn. Particularly, English conversation was extremely hard. I think that I can speak English fluently now. It took me a long time to be able to speak English with foreign people. Here, I would like to describe how I practiced speaking English in the past to improve my speaking skills. This method is useful not only for learner but also for teacher of English or foreign language.

As you know, you need some ability to speak English in order that you have English conversation with someone else. Thus, you need some self-practice of speaking English before you practice speaking with someone else. However, it is extremely difficult to practice English conversation alone. Normally conversation requires at least two persons.

Then, I hit on a good idea to practice speaking English alone. Simply speaking, you say what you can say rather than what you want to say.

Please see a sentence: “This is a pen.” This is the first sentence that Japanese students traditionally learn at school. Maybe nobody uses this sentence in daily life. This sentence looks unpractical, but I found it useful for speaking practice.

Keywords: say what you can say rather than what you want to say

Please add or change with words that you know. That is, please change this sentence within your knowledge. For this speaking practice, you do not need to care about the content, meaning, or grammatical error of sentences that you make.

Keywords: add or change with words that you know

For example, if the pen exists far from you, this sentence will be, “That is a pen.” If there are two pens, you can say, “These are two pens,” or “They are two pens.” You can also say, “There are two pens over there.”

Next, please try to explain about the pen or pens using easy words. For example, “I buy two pens.” If past sentence is possible for you, it might be better to say, “I bought the two pens.” Then, please add some information as to the purchase of the pen, such as the time: “I bought the two pens yesterday.” Then, please add information about the place: “I bought the two pens yesterday at the station.” You can also add the reason why you bought the two pens: “I bought the two pens yesterday at the station because I have a test today.” You are just imaging a story, which is not a fact.

Although it is not normally used for speaking, you can combine the two sentences as practice: “These are two pens,” and “I bought the two pens yesterday at the station.” If you have advanced grammar knowledge, you can say as follows: “These are two pens which I bought yesterday at the station.”

For conversation, it might be better to say in the end: “There are two pens over there. I bought them yesterday at the station because I have a test today.” In fact, this is just one example. It is totally up to you how you arrange the first basic sentence. You can also say, “I have three pens here. I bought them this morning because I take a class after lunch.”

I hope that this presentation is also useful for your speaking practice. Please pick up a basic sentence and try to build up a more advanced sentence from the basic sentence, just using words that you know. You will find it a good practice for speaking.

Keywords: pick up a basic sentence