In order to be fluent in English you need to be able to “express yourself easily”. Although many learners only think of speaking skills when it comes to fluency and expressing oneself, this isn’t true! In order to be fluent, you have to master a variety of skills. You need to understand grammar. Your listening skills need to be strong enough to understand what people say, and you need to know how to respond with accurate vocabulary.
Writing is also a huge part of fluency, and is strongly connected with speaking accurately. If you make mistakes when you write, then you most likely make the same mistakes (and more) when you speak. So when you improve your overall writing skills, you will also speak better.
That is why we are doing a “best of 5 minute English” and reviewing some of my most popular 5 Minute English videos to help you improve your overall fluency.
Typically (on Tuesdays), a live “Everyday English” lesson is from 15-35 minutes. In today’s “best of” lesson, you’ll review a few 5-minute lessons to give you the same length lesson with a broader focus on your fluency. Today you’ll learn:
- listening + fluency tips
- pronunciation (speaking)
Let’s start with….
Grammar: So, Too, Neither, Either
This grammar point is something I hear a lot of students mix up a lot, specifically I hear most students incorrectly use “too”. This way of agreeing in English conversations is incredibly important and definitely worth your attention for overall fluency.
Listening + Fluency: 5 Tips to Improve Fluency
I recommend using this video to practice your listening comprehension skills by writing down the 5 tips that you hear. Practice listening by writing down what you hear with as much detail as possible. These tips come from a fellow English learner, so you can easily relate with the information!
Vocabulary: Confusing Words in English
If you confuse these words when you speak, you’ll experience… miscommunication! Don’t let yourself have that problem, review these confusions so you can use them more confidently in your next conversation.
Pronunciation: The “ER” in American English
Mastering this pronunciation is going to be the difference between sounding “American” and “British” and it’s going to give your listeners a clue into your accent if you don’t pronounce it correctly. As you’ll discover in this lesson, many different letter combinations create the “er” sound, so it’s commonly used throughout many (many) words in English.
Even though this isn’t technically one of my “5 Minute English” lessons, this writing series will give you the resources to get you writing more! You can include these tasks in your weekly study plan or do 5 minutes every day. Try and include as much writing as you can in your study plan, with as much as you can that’s realistic to your schedule. I’ve included the picture from one of my favorite “Creativity Tuesdays”; however, you’ll need to click here to read the full lesson and get more details about the task.
Practice Makes Perfect
Each of these lessons have practice exercises, questions, or a task for you to complete to master the skill. Your job today? Review these lessons and complete the exercises to continue your journey to English fluency.
Feel free to share some examples or tell me about your favorite lesson in the comments below!
Until next time,
Happy Studying! ♥
Do you want to continue learning with me? Do you need even more guidance and support to achieve English fluency? Join me in the Phrasal Verb Conversation Club – a monthly training program helping you learn, remember, and use more natural English. Get more information here…