- Hello everyone and welcome back

to English With Lucy.

Today I'm going to give you 10 tips

for practising your speaking and hopefully

they will make you improve

in a very short amount of time.

Also, in case you didn't already know,

I've started a second channel.

This is a personal channel called Lucy Bell Earl.

I've linked it down below.

On this channel I'm sharing personal things,

things that you request like hair,

beauty, Q and A's,

videos with Will,

Vlogs, anything really.

So make sure you check it out

and if you like it then you can follow it.

Right, let's get started with the lesson.

Number one is practise tongue twisters.

Now, tongue twisters are really fun anyway

but they are an amazing way

of practising individual sounds, individual phonemes.

There are lots of phonemes that are really hard

for people from specific countries

or that speak specific languages.

The only way that you can train your tongue

to make these sounds is to practise the sounds

over and over again, repetitively.

Tongue twisters are your best friend.

So for example,

if you're struggling between the difference

with eh and E,

which I know a lot of people struggle with,

especially speakers of Spanish

because you only have the E sound,

you don't have the short eh sound.

Well, if that's the case for you,

you could practise this one.

I slit a sheet.

A sheet I slit.

Upon a slitted sheet I sit.

Be careful, it might make you swear.

(laughing)

I have left a link in the description box

to loads more tongue twisters.

But really, all you have to do is search

on Google, tongue twisters for practising English.

If you would like me to make a video

on some of the most difficult tongue twisters,

a video that you can practise along with

let me know in the comments down below.

I'll definitely do that because I love tongue twisters

and I think they're amazing

for practising pronunciation.

Number 2 is lessons with natives.

And this section of the video is sponsored

by Lingoda and the Lingoda Language Marathon.

This section could be really,

really important for you if you were

to practise your speaking every single day.

So Lingoda is an online language academy

where you can learn English,

French, German,

Spanish and Business English at any level

and they run a very special event called

the Lingoda Language Marathon.

So what is it?

Well, you study every day unless you take

the half marathon where you study slightly less.

And if you complete the marathon you get

a 100% refund on your classes

or a 50% refund if you do the half marathon.

This marathon starts on the 27th of May

and finishes on the 24th of August.

You have to participate in an agreed amount

of classes each month in order to succeed.

That's 30 classes a month for the full marathon

and 15 classes a month for the half marathon.

You can take only one class per day, every day.

So how do you participate?

Well, you sign up for the marathon

before the 13th of May.

After paying the entry fee that secures your spot

in the marathon you automatically sign up

to a three month subscription.

I however, have a special discount for you

and you don't have to pay that entry fee.

All you have to do is click on the link

in the description box and use this code

when you sign up for a 100% discount

on your entry fee.

To get the refund you'll need to show up

on time for the classes that you book

and actively participate.

If you book a class and miss it

or fail to book a class at all

you can still finish the marathon

but you won't qualify for the refund.

Remember that places in the marathon are limited

so you need to reserve your spot now

to avoid disappointment.

Also make sure that you check the terms

and conditions and familiarise yourself

with the rules.

Previous marathon graduates have said

that this is the key to getting the refund.

The Lingoda Language Marathon

is an incredible opportunity to take your language

to the next level fast.

Alternatively, if you don't think that the marathon

is for you you can check out Lingoda

and all of their flexible subscription packages

and book a private trial class for free.

If you do fancy the marathon click on the link

in the description box and use my code.

Right, now let's discuss tip number three.

Tip number three is sing along to English songs.

Now, this tip is especially useful

if you want to practise an American accent.

The reason for this is that many British singers

actually sing with a slight American accent.

So sometimes songs sung by British singers

aren't actually a true representation

of their own accent.

If you listen to,

I don't know,

One Direction or a British boy band

they'll often sing with an American accent.

Even Ed Sheeran does it sometimes.

Someone who does sing

with a very strong British accent is Lily Allen.

She does not go into the American territory at all.

So she's a good one to listen to

and sing along with if you want

to practise speaking or singing in this case.

Music can be a really,

really great way of practising every single day

because it's so enjoyable.

It doesn't feel like it's a chore when you do it.

It's a great way to learn lots of slang,

lots of colloquial language as well.

It's also a really good idea to look up

the meaning of song lyrics.

That way you can really find out

if they've used bad grammar,

because sometimes they do to make

it fit in with the rhyming,

if they've used idioms or slang

and it's just really nice to know

what you're singing about?

But singing along with English songs

is a fantastic way of practising your speaking

and it will help you become more fluent.

Tip number four could be slightly controversial

but I think it's a really good tip

and I always used to tell my students

to do it in London.

So lots of students struggle to meet

and find native speakers to practise with.

They often also have a hard time actually talking

to natives 'cause they're so nervous

or they take a little bit longer

to understand what they say.

I would say that a great step to precede talking

with natives is eavesdropping on natives.

To eavesdrop means to listen in

on someone else's conversation.

So if you're in an English speaking country

or you know there's a specific bar

or restaurant where English speakers tend to go,

maybe try going there with the intention

of just overhearing other people's conversations.

If they say something you don't understand,

search it on your phone.

Just drink in the atmosphere and you'll just take

in a lot of vocabulary