If you had to rate your speaking skills on a scale of 1 (not confident/poor) to 10 (extremely confident/fluent), how would you rate yours? Are you happy with your current level of speaking fluency? Most of my students, and even students I don’t personally teach but talk to on Instagram tell me that they want to improve their speaking skills. If you are one of these students, then this final week of your October Learning Plan is perfect for you!

Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and we’ve reached the end of my October Series. If you’ve been participating in this month’s daily lessons, then congratulations! I am sure you are feeling great and are happy with the improvements you have made. If you are just joining this plan, or if you haven’t started yet, that’s OKAY! There is still time. Take a look at everything you can learn this month (and beyond…)

Even though we’re officially kicking off (*starting*) week 4, you can still access the previous 21 daily lessons. The following links for all of the information, resources, and lessons are here, just click below:

Vocabulary: week 1

Listening: week 2

Writing:week 3

If you are ready to move on to this week’s plan and improve English speaking fluency, then start the lesson below with this 5 Minute English video. You’ll work on listening skills and hear some quick details about week 4’s daily lessons. Continue reading for the full lesson, which includes all of the necessary links, resources and material you need to get started.

Week 4: Speaking Fluency

Let’s take a look at what you’ll be doing this week…

Day 1: October 25

Find an English Conversational Partner

You need to practice speaking, so how are you going to do it? You are going to start the week off right by finding a conversation parter to communicate with! There are many, many benefits of having a partner, most importantly is being able to use your English skills and building confidence with the language. Many students think a non-native speaker won’t help them, but this is so, so wrong. A partner can correct you, teach you, and help you with language skills and you can do the same for them!

I’ve posted this image here on the blog, on Instagram and on Facebook. Anyone reading these posts can and will comment if they want to find a conversation partner. You can comment that you want one, and then connect with someone else who has commented as well. My biggest tip: find someone who does not speak your native language.

You can start with a short call on Skype, only about 10-15 minutes to get comfortable. Introduce one another, talk about what you do, where you live, and why you are learning English. Talk about some of your interests to find things in common (*things that are the same*). Use these interests for future conversations!

Decide together if you are comfortable correcting one another, which you definitely should be! Good luck!

Day 2: October 26

To Fluency: 3 Unique Ways to Improve your English

(click the title above [in yellow] to read the full lesson)

Connect with Jack from To Fluency today to improve your English skills. Jack’s tip for this lesson:

“Choose one these methods and try it this week. You don’t have to implement all three right now – instead, steadily do this over time.”

Click the link above to access his full lesson and try one of his methods today!

Day 3: October 27

Join a Conversation Club

A conversation club, like a partner will give you the opportunity to practice speaking with others in English. Remember, there’s no great secret to speak better English. In order to speak better, you must speak. So break out of your comfort zone and join a club! Where can you find clubs?

• Check your local library. I know several cities in the U.S. have free ESL classes taught by volunteers. Many of these are group conversation classes that meet weekly. Just type in Google: “free ESL class ____(city name) library”.  For example: “free ESL class San Diego library”
• Meetup.com – Although this website is most popular in larger cities, you should be able to find an English conversation club near you! Go to the homepage of the website, and type in “ESL” or “English” in the search bar and then type in your zip code/city name. If you live near Rio de Janeiro, for example, you will find over 10 local groups related to English and conversation exchange. (If you can’t find one, consider starting one!)
• italki.com – You used this website and its community features last week for your writing, but you can also find a group of learners interested in starting a language club! Start a discussion in the community section and start your own club this week.
• Englishclub.com – Create a profile, and join the public chat forum to find friends and many people interested in practicing English skills.
• English Outside the Box – want to connect with other “outside the box” learners, send me a message via the CONTACT form on the top of this website to join the club!

Day 4: October 28

Fluency MC: 34 Expert Tips to Speak English Fluently

(click the title above [in yellow] to read the full lesson)

Connect with Jason from Fluency MC today and get tips from expert teachers around the globe. With 34 tips, you can apply one every day to continue learning for the next month! Jason’s tip from this lesson:

“To cut through the noise [of the Internet’s overwhelming suggestions on fluency], I asked a number of the world’s leading language learning experts for their opinions. These are people I have been following, collaborating with, and learning from over the course of my 15-year career in English teaching. [And I asked them], “What is the most important thing to achieve English fluency?”

Click the link above to read all the tips now!

Day 5: October 29

Weekend Plans: Record yourself Speaking

You’ve found a partner and you’ve already joined a conversation club, but sometimes you only have time to self-study. How can you practice speaking on your own time? You can record yourself! Most smart phones have a “memo recorder” or some kind of voice recording application, so use this to record yourself speaking. This is a great way to check your progress, because you can save the audio from today, continue practicing and improving your language, and then rerecord yourself in 1 month to see the differences!

It’s also helpful for you to overcome any shyness because you’ll be producing language, out loud, getting yourself more comfortable with English. For today’s lesson I want you to talk about your weekend plans. Imagine you are having a conversation with me, and telling me about what you are going to do. Practice the future tenses, new vocabulary, and don’t forget about pronunciation!

Additionally, you can record yourself repeating what other native speakers have said. For example, you can watch 10 seconds of a TV show, pause it, record yourself saying what you hear, and then listen back to check pronunciation and accuracy. It’s fun and effective!

Day 6: October 30

10 Tips to Improve Speaking Skills and Get more Daily Practice

(click the title above [in yellow] to read the full lesson)

If you don’t live in an English speaking country, it can be hard to expose yourself to English. However, the more English you have around you, the faster you are likely to improve. This is why living abroad is best for language development, because you’re constantly surrounded by English, hearing it, reading it, speaking it, etc..

That doesn’t mean you can’t learn and improve quickly if you live in a non-English speaking country! Today’s lesson will give you 15 ways to surround yourself with English starting today, and 9 additional tips and activities to get more daily use of English in your life.

Start applying some of these tips today, and you’ll definitely be speaking better within a couple of weeks.

Day 7: October 31

Instagram/Facebook/YouTube Speaking Challenge

It’s the final day of your October Learning Plan, hasn’t time gone by so fast? You’ve accomplished so much and now it’s time to show off your abilities (*impress others with your abilities*) in this speaking challenge. It does require some courage and bravery, because you are going to record yourself speaking and then you’re going to share it with the world!

Why do I want you to share your recording? I want you to share because it’s difficult! However, English and speaking a new language is difficult, so this activity will help you step outside your comfort zone and do something different, which will help you achieve different (BETTER) results. Sooner or later it will be necessary to use your English in front of others, whether native or non-native speakers, so isn’t today a great time to start?

Your task: record yourself answering the questions below. First, introduce yourself and say where you’re from. Then share the video on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube and tag me (@ jenESL760) if you can! Otherwise you can also use the hashtag #OLPchallenge4 so we can see your posts! When you finish, pat yourself on the back, give yourself a high-five, and feel so proud of your success!

• what did you learn learn this month?
• what did you enjoy with this learning plan?
• what was your biggest challenge?

And, you’ve made it to the end! You’ve completed all 4 weeks of your October Learning Plan. You have a new range of vocabulary, listen better, write faster and more accurately, and are on your way to a new, higher level of fluency. It feels good, right?

If you have any questions or comments about this week’s lesson, the month’s activities, or anything you’ve seen throughout the October Learning Plan, let me know below in the comments! Did you have a favorite activity or resource?

About the Guest Authors:

Jack from tofluency.com helps intermediate speakers reach an advanced level of English. He is from the UK but lives in Asheville, NC, USA with his family.

Jason R Levine (Fluency MC) has eighteen years of experience as an English teacher, teacher trainer, and materials writer. He has led student workshops and teacher training programs in sixteen countries in Europe, the Americas, Africa, and the Middle East. He is the creator of the English Workout Method, an approach to English language learning based on the songs he writes and performs as Fluency MC.

Did you enjoy this week’s October Learning Plan activities and lessons? What about the entire month’s learning plan, do you feel proud of all that you have accomplished?

 Please take a moment and share this lesson with a friend or a colleague, help others feel as proud as you do!

Even though this is the end, you can still access all of the previous week’s lesson to continue learning.  Get Week 1 here, Week 2 here, and Week 3 here.

Until next week,

Happy Studying ♥