Conversation Circle - coming up

Next weekend we will have our first conversation circle. I find that often speakers of English as a second language have been studying English for years but because of various life circumstances, they don't get a chance to just chat so they have trouble with fluency and lack confidence. These conversation groups are meant to address this need. I charge $5 to help cover my costs but if you are already one of my Business English clients, you can join us for free.
We will go to one of the lovely parks in the Pickering area or to a Tim Hortons if the weather is not good.
Stay tuned this week for a specific day and time

Accent Reduction

In Toastmaster magazine for June 2009 there is an article called Turning Accents into Assets. In it Sher Hooker points out that multilingual members [of Toastmasters clubs] bring a rich diversity of ideas to the speaking arena and that it is often exciting to listen to a speaker with a different vernacular and phrases we haven't heard before.
She points out though, that we can't enjoy a speaker if we can't understand them.
If your accent is so heavy that people can't understand you, you might need to do some work.
Here are 10 tips that come from Lisa Mojsin on her website http://www.accurateenglish.com/
"Observe the mouth movements of native speakers and try to imitate them.
Until you learn the correct intonation and rhythm of the language, slow your speech.
Listen to the "music" of the language.
Use your dictionary.
Make a list of frequently used words that are difficult for you to pronounce and ask a native speaker to pronounce them for you.
Buy books on tape.
Pronounce the ending of each word.
Read aloud in the language for 15 to 20 minutes a day.
Record your own voice and listen for pronunciation mistakes.
Be patient."
Lisa has a blog attached to her website where people chat about pronunciation. you might find it helpful.

English Conversation Group

Now that the weather is improving, it would be a great time to get out on some English Conversation Walks. If anyone is interested in going for walks in some of the parks around the Pickering area, I would be happy to walk and talk.

Here's a cute tongue twister

A tree toad loved a she-toad
Who lived up in a tree.
He was a two-toed tree toad
But a three-toed toad was she.
The two-toed tree toad tried to win
The three-toed she-toad's heart,
For the two-toed tree toad loved the ground
That the three-toed tree toad trod.
But the two-toed tree toad tried in vain.
He couldn't please her whim.
From her tree toad bower
With her three-toed power
The she-toad vetoed him.

Tips to increase fluency in English

Whether we speak English as a Second Language or as a First Language, we are all concerned with becoming more fluent. Fluency is the ability to speak without hesitation, without “ums” and “errs” and filler words.

Here are a couple of activities that will help you to become more fluent:

Get books on tape from the library. Read and listen to the tape at the same time.

The Jar Game: Write a number of questions on small pieces of paper and put them in a bowl or jar. Whenever you have a few spare minutes, pick one out at random and answer it. Repeat it until it is smooth. Check the grammar with a native speaker.

For questions to use in the Jar Game, get a book out of the library on the most common interview questions or use questions that someone might ask you at a party. Try to keep the answers to one or two minutes.

Go to the CBC website. There is a feature called “This I believe” There are 52 essays that you can read and listen to at the same time. Then try giving the same speech by speaking a fraction of a second behind the speaker
http://www.cbc.ca/thisibelieve/essays.html

Ungreat

I noticed that at Toastmaster meetings, we tend to use the word “Great” a lot. We use it to mean “very good” as in “You did a great job as evaluator tonight” So, the next time I was Grammarian of the evening, I exacted a one penny penalty for use of “great” and provided a list of alternatives. The following words have different shades of meaning so look them up in a dictionary before you use them. Send me any more that you can think of.

Able
Adept
Awesome
Capital
Consummate
Dynamite
Excellent
Expert
First-rate
Lovely
Marvelous
Masterly
Outstanding
Proficient
Skillful
Terrific
Transcendent
Tremendous
Wonderful