Posts with the Tag 'speaking practice'

Amelia on January 25 2011 4

Improve Your Speaking Skills by Surrounding Yourself with Opportunity

Pushing yourself to take risks and achieve goals can help you improve your skills with a foreign language, but sometimes too much pushing just gums up the works. I noticed a good example of this recently when I spent some time with an acquaintance and her young granddaughter.

When we met up, my acquaintance mentioned [...]

Amelia on May 05 2010 0

Fear of Speaking a Foreign Language? Consider This When You Travel

Linguist and researcher Stephen Krashen has a theory that most language learners go through a “silent period” during which they either can’t or don’t want to talk. It could last a day or a month or more.

More importantly,

Amelia on April 04 2010 1

Learning a Language in a Bilingual Culture: Getting the Locals to Talk with You

In some places, native speakers of the local language can be pretty insistent on “saving you the trouble” of struggling with their language. Even if you speak fairly well, any sign of hesitation or confusion and people switch to a language they feel would be less of a strain for both of you.
This is [...]