Step up your English speaking with this essential tactic

One reason why people don’t sound as good as they could when speaking is that they haven't warmed up first, especially before saying something important.

Meeting a client for the first time, introducing yourself at a networking event and presenting your new service or product are all moments when you want and need to make a good impression.

As speaking well is a skill, it needs preparation and practice.

To prepare for speaking, jot down key words and practise by saying out loud what you need to explain or describe – actually moving your mouth works better than just talking in your head (but talking in your head is better than not practising at all).

You can take this training one step further by using the 3-2-1 technique.

Here you record yourself talking out loud for 3 minutes, next listen to the recording and notice any problems, then record yourself repeating the same information in only 2 minutes, listen again and check for mistakes, finally record yourself talking on the topic for just 1 minute and listen.

The added time pressure pushes you to think on your feet – like in real life. The repetition improves fluency and also reduces mistakes because the brain is reminded of the correct structure, which it usually already knows but forgets to use.

Apart from a phrase or two, don’t memorise everything you want to say because your tone can become flatter and thus less interesting to listen to when reciting from memory.

So maximise your speaking performance by warming up what you want to say beforehand, either at home, in the car, or in your office.

Do you have questions about speaking in English? Please get in touch.

Back to The Trunk