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The main reason why you can speak spontaneously or fluently is that you are translating English words into your own language or you are thinking in your own language before speaking in English.
That is a big problem, especially when you are taking a speaking English exam because you will end up hesitating or confused about how to express your thoughts better.
All effective English speakers do not think in their own language but they think in English when they are speaking in English. They know in the first place that if they translate words into their own language before speaking in English, they will mess up.
So, in this video, I share the ways that I did to help me think in English whenever I speak in English. Watch the video so you will get an idea of how to speak in English. Improve your English skills by thinking in English.
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The first practical step for you to start thinking in English is to practice passive listening
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Well, what is passive listening? It is simply listening to a native English speaker speaking
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or delivering a speech without asking a question, without interrupting, or without even minding
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carefully of the things that the speaker is saying. The main purpose of this is to simply get
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used to the sounds of English or to get accustomed to the way native English speakers speak
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You do not need to understand the things that the speaker is saying because we are not working on
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our comprehension skills here. We are just wanting to get used to the way native English
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speakers speak. And of course, to get accustomed to the sounds of English
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One example of this is when I was preparing for my IELTS exam, what I did was I listened to
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three different radios. First is ABC radio from Australia. Second is BBC radio from the UK
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And the third one is VOA or Voice of America from, of course, America
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For example, when I was cleaning my room, I just played one of those radios in the background
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and listened to it without carefully minding what the news presenter was saying
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or what the DJs were talking about. I was just listening passively and I just really wanted to train my ear or my
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brain to understand how native English speakers speak and you know what that
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was really good because I was able to pick up the different accents that I
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heard from those at three radios which was really helpful when I took the IELTS
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listening test because I wasn surprised at the different accents that I heard from the audio from the IELTS listening test Thanks to listening passively to those three radios I was able to understand the conversations
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in the IELTS listening test despite having different accents. Again, passive listening will definitely train your brain to start thinking in English
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And the more you do that, the more your brain automatically thinks in English
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So start doing passive listening now. The second practical step is to be an active listener
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This is the opposite of passive listening. Here in active listening, you need to carefully listen to the speaker
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Understand the things that he is saying. Well, of course, especially if you're a beginner
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you will not be able to completely understand the things that the speaker is saying
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But that is fine. No pressure. what i really want you to do is to list down the words that are new to you because that's what i
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actually did when i was preparing for my exam i did active listening listening to different speeches
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and listed down the words that were new to me now don't stop there so once the speech is over
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after you listen to the speech, what I want you to do is to assess yourself, assess your understanding
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What have you understood upon listening to the speech delivered by a native English speaker
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And after that, I want you to summarize the things that you understood
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Say it in your own words. That's an effective way to start thinking in English
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That's what I did. And it did really help me. So there's no reason why it won't help you think in English
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So what's the third practical step to help you think in English
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Well, based on my experience, journaling in English. Well, I've been journaling for years now and it does really help me
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Of course when we journal or when you journal you think of the things that you want to write in your journal It could be aspirations or just simply describing the things that you actually do
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all throughout the day. So, when you do that, of course, you start thinking. And that is a beginning
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to thinking in English. Now, when you continually journal, like every single day, you will be able
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to become more comfortable in thinking in English. Now, I have here with me my journal. I write my
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aspirations, my goals, and sometimes I just write the things that I actually do in a day here. And
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And it does really help me because somehow it trains my brain to think in English
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So when I write something in my journal, I don't think in my own language
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I don't think in Filipino. I think in English automatically because basically I've been doing this for years
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So it has become a habit. So don't underestimate journaling because it can definitely help you improve your English
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communication skills that of course help you think in English. So you know learn step one, step two
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and step three. So what's the fourth practical step to really help you think in English? Well
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talk to yourself. Talking to yourself is not only helping you to think in English but also helping
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you to start building your confidence in speaking your thoughts in English. Well, especially if
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you're a beginner, speaking with other people in English can be very intimidating. So I want you to
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start talking to yourself first in English because it is a start of you develop confidence in speaking
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the english language when you do that you're already training your brain to think in english of course at first
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it's going to be hard because it's a new thing for you but once you
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habitually do that you be able to develop that particular skill in thinking in English Now what will be the things that you going to talk about Start with the basic For example
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you can talk about likes and dislikes, or you can talk about your interests. And once you're
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feeling more comfortable with it, then you need to step up your game. Challenge yourself to talk
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about some social issues or talk about something that you can see on the news, maybe current affairs
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and things like that. When you continually do that, you'll be able to build your confidence
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and at the same time improve your way of speaking and in thinking in English
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That's what I actually did and I can say that it did really help me improve my English communication skills
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And that's because I don't translate words into my own language now
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I just automatically think in English. At this moment, I am just thinking in English
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I don't think in my own language. And you know what? I achieved this because I spent time and so much effort applying all those things that I have shared with you
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Because I really wanted to improve my English communication skills. Of course, it doesn't happen overnight
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It will take time. However, if you have the determination to really improve your English communication skills, then you really need to face a challenge to spend more time and more effort for you to achieve thinking in English
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Always remember to not aim for perfection. Instead, aim for improving yourself
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Watch the video that appears on your screen right now because that is an example of a story that is not perfect
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but it is well delivered because in the first place, I thought in English when I developed that story
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You will learn so much from that video, so don't miss it
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Till next time
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