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  • Hi! It's Lisa Scott with losemyaccent.com, where I help you speak English clearly and

  • confidently and be understood more easily. If you want to improve your spoken English,

  • you know you need to practice. The more you listen and speak, the more you improve. But

  • youve got to remember to use your new pronunciation skills when carrying on conversations every

  • day. Google calendar can help. And so can your

  • watch. You can use your sense of hearing as a reminder to speak more clearly. How can

  • that help, you wonder?

  • Just listen to these examples:

  • Beep! Beep! Beep! You reach over and turn off the alarm that has just awakened you,

  • and you get out of bed. Youve just used your sense of hearing to help you accomplish

  • the task of waking up at a certain time.

  • Ding! Ding! The oven timer goes off, reminding you to take your dinner out of the oven before

  • it burns. Your sense of hearing has helped you get dinner cooked correctly, before your

  • sense of smell had the chance to tell you that it had already burnt.

  • Buzzers,timers, and alarms are part of our everyday life these days, but have you ever

  • thought about using your sense of hearing as a reminder to help you improve your spoken

  • English? Of course, you use your hearing to listen

  • to other speakers of English and to listen to yourself as you practice sounds and words.

  • But, how could listening to the beep, buzz,or ring of alarms and timers be helpful?

  • Because what your mind dwells on is what it does well.

  • If you focus on your pronunciation, you will improve your spoken English. If hearing an

  • alarm or beep reminds you to focus on your speech, you will improve if you hear the alarm

  • often enough.

  • I want you to try an experiment to see if this technique is helpful to you.

  • Choose one sound that you are trying to learn really well. Make a list of 10-20 words that

  • include that sound and keep it with you. Find a watch with an alarm or a timer, or use Google

  • calendar reminders if you are at your desk all day. Set your timer to ring or beep at

  • 30 minute intervals during the day. Don�t forget to plan around meetings, as you don�t

  • want your alarm interrupting your boss�s presentation!

  • Each time the alarm sounds, practice 5-10 words from your list, out loud but quietly

  • if you work in a cubicle. Even if you can�t practice aloud, think about the words and

  • the correct pronunciation of the sound. This activity brings this new sound to the forefront

  • of your brain, so when you are conversing with co-workers or family and that sound appears

  • in a word, you are much more aware of it and more likely to produce it correctly.

  • Experiment with different sounds and different intervals of time between alarms. Within a

  • very short time, you should see a significant improvement in your ability to remember to

  • use your new pronunciation skills. If you're not sure exactly which sounds you

  • should be practicing, then take my free online speech screening at losemyaccent.com.

  • I'll see you next time!

Hi! It's Lisa Scott with losemyaccent.com, where I help you speak English clearly and

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