by Gourab Modak

Created on: February 23, 2010

Being a high school student whose main language is Bengali, speaking English in a way that doesn't sound ridiculous is kind of hard. No matter how many ESL classes you go to, getting up to par with all my friends in speaking English was always hard for me. Even as a US born citizen, English came as my second language. What a shame.

While ESL classes do help you learn basic grammar and sentence construction, it doesn't help you learn how to speak English very well. Writing, reading, and understanding English are the only things that an ESL class helps you do. Learning how to speak English in a way that doesn't make you look like an idiot, on the other hand, is something no class can help you do. In order to learn how to speak English well, you need to go beyond the classroom, and do a lot of hard (but fun) work.

Reading Aloud

At first, reading loud so that everyone can hear you might seem ridiculous. However, you only need to do this until you understand the art of speaking English, so you don't have much time to be embarrassed about reading aloud. You just need to read a book with modern English to yourself for ten to twenty minutes a day for a month or two, and you should see your English speaking skills dramatically improve. Make sure that you articulate every syllable in the way that they should be pronounced, and read slowly at first. As you get along better with English, you can speed up a little bit, but make sure that you can understand what your saying. Again, this might seem a little embarrassing, but it won't be as long as you read aloud away from public places,

Make Friends

You should never stay isolated whether or not English is your first or second language. You should always be with your friends whether or not you came from a foreign country. Even it you just recently moved to the United States, you should still try to make new friends, regardless of race or nationality. Talking to them, and listening to each word they say will not only help you learn how to speak English, but it will also help you develop a great new friendship. But you should always remember that friendship shouldn't be abused in a way that you take advantage of your friends to learn a new English.

Write

Writing is a great way to learn any new language. That's how I learned the basic parts of English speech. If you can write English the same way you speak English, your English skills will increase dramatically. I can't write enough about how great of a tool writing is for learning English. It's one of those things you need to try in order to understand.

So there you have it. Try doing these things, and you should be able to learn English faster than you've ever imagined.

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