Saturday, September 29, 2012

Listening to improve your speaking skills


 Groan!
This is the usual reaction I get from the class when I suggest that we do a listening activity. It is the part they find most difficult and unanimously dislike about learning English. "But they speak so fast", "I don't understand", "It's too difficult", "They use vocabulary I don't know" they protest.

Well, how are you meant to improve if you don't practise. The only way a spoken language can enter the brain is through the ears, so if you don't practise listening, then spoken English will always be too fast and too difficult and if you don't learn to recognize the sounds of spoken English, you will never understand it. It is really that simple. How do people think they are going to participate in a conversation if they only practise what they want to say, communication is also about listening to what others say too.

Strangely, Spanish schools teach primarily using written grammar exercises rather than spoken or listening exercises. Reading or writing in the form of filling in the blanks or conjugating verbs is the principle way of learning a language. Reading and writing skills are distinctly different from listening and speaking skills, they can help to increase and memorize vocabulary but they are of no help whatsoever for helping speaking skills, which are sorely neglected and so students suffer immensely as after long years of study they find themselves unable to communicate and unable to understand what is being said to them. They can read it but not use and communicate with it. Fortunately, schools nowadays are changing, but still not enough emphasis is put on listening skills as an aid to speaking.

English, unlike Spanish, is not a phonetic language and although there are phonetic sounds, they are rarely taught and moreover, there are so many exceptions that the only way to really become familiar with English pronunciation is by speaking and listening to the language. To familiarize yourself with how the words sound when spoken not simply to recognize them on paper, which in some cases have nothing to do with the construction of letters used. Take the 'ight' combination of letters, which are pronunced to a Spaniard as 'ait' whereas English-speakers would have used 'ite' as a synonymous way of pronouncing those letters, ('might' and 'mite' are pronounced in the same way). However, it is not so simple as we have now come across the phenomenon of the 'silent E'; or the horrible 'ugh' combination which can be pronounced a whole host of ways, such as 'though', 'thought', 'rough', 'bough' and so on. Difficult eh! How would you know how to pronouce those without listening to them first.

There are those people who naturally have a good ear and who can easily pick up languages. Lucky them! But more often than not, those with the best ability to speak and understand English are those who have gone out and practised; as by using it they have learned it. It doesn't have to be in a native-speaking country but of course this does make it easier. Of course, not everyone has the chance to spend time in the UK, for example, to practise but there are other ways to improve your listening and speaking skills.

A good way is by watching TV shows and films in the original version, in English. Most people who do this tend to do it in the wrong way. After a long day in the office or at school or University, they sit down exhausted in front of the TV with the intention of 'studying English' or 'practising listening' while watching TV. After about ten minutes of squinting at the TV straining to understand what is being said, they switch back to Spanish feeling like a complete failure with terrible English as they have not been able to understand the dialogue. They vow to try again tomorrow, but the reality is that English has become something to be endured. Learning English, especially improving listening skills does not have to be a form of punishment. There are umpteen reasons why you could not understand; you were tired, maybe the English was particularly difficult or the accent was an especially difficult one or simply one that you were not familiar with. Many native speakers struggle when listening to an unfamiliar accent and there are a LOT of English accents. In the UK alone, not only are there regional accents with each town often having its own accent but each class also has its own one too (I know it's not fashionable anymore to talk about the class system, but these differing types of accents still exist). In the village where I grew up there were four: the upper-class, middle-class, working-class and farmers' country accents and you could tell a lot about the type of person by how they spoke.

Instead, the best idea is to get into the habit of putting the TV on in English but with Spanish subtitles, for example. That way you can enjoy the programme in a relaxed way whilst reading the subtitles. The important thing to remember is that the ear does two functions: it hears and it listens. Even when the ear is not focused on something - it is not listening - it still hears; so the brain is still working and processing the information.  You are giving the brain a chance to familiarize itself with the language without the stress of making a big effort, you are using a natural process. After a while you will be surprised when suddenly your brain tunes into the English and you can understand things seemingly effortlessly, maybe not a lot at first but it will continue increasing until you find you are relying less and less on the subtitles and more on your own listening skills. It is important to accept that this is a process and it takes time, so patience is necessary but once acquired, these listening skills are not lost so easily especially if the habit of watching TV in the original version is kept up.
But why wouldn't it be kept up? You are not spending a lot of effort.
You cannot teach listening skills, it is a natural ability that you are exercising not something that is acquired.


Another idea is to put on the radio through the internet. Try http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/ * while you are working, cleaning or relaxing at home. Again, don't listen. Have it on as background noise and focus on whatever else you are doing. Again, you will be surprised at how often you will start tuning in and understanding the language. Primarily, try not to give yourself stress or worry about how long it is taking you to understand. It will happen, everyone has their own time. Of course, it doesn't harm to have those occasions when you do want to practise listening and use the radio or TV as an opportunity to focus on improving your listening skills, just don't do it to the extent that you give up watching/listening to the TV in English.

One thing a lot of people who have good pronunciation and listening skills have in common is a love of music, especially British or American pop songs. Enjoying music is a pleasurable way to practise listening and to learn a great variety of new vocabulary and expressions in a natural context, the music and rhythm are also a great help for pronunciation and intonation.

So, there is a lot that can be done, try to make language learning as pleasurable and relaxing as possible. Listening to a language being spoken does not have to be torture or a highly stressful affair. It is a question of habit forming and most people, once they start watching films in the original version cannot go back. Why do Portuguese people have such good English? One of the reasons is that there is no dubbing done in Portugal, everything is shown in the original version and people get used, at a very young age, to hearing or listening to another language, so it becomes second nature to them. My nephew was over visiting me in Madrid a few weeks ago and I put on some cartoons in English for him with the TV set for the original version, however after a while some French cartoons were shown followed by some Spanish ones, he did not notice at all that the language had changed.
That is the reality; young children notice the images, noises, gestures and intonations rather than listen to the words spoken. They start focussing more on the words as their vocabulary improves so it is not hard for them to watch cartoons in English.
It's true that it is hard at first to get used to reading subtitles, if you have been always used to dubbing, but only for the first ten minutes or so, we quickly adapt so there is no excuse.

* Some BBC Radio recommendations:
Radio 4: in general, specifically 'The Today Programme', 'Woman's Hour', 'A Point of View', 'Any Questions?', 'Book of the Week', 'The Bottom Line'.
Radio 4 extra: for theatre, plays, reenactments, books and dramas.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Interview Techniques


Nowadays with the increase of people in Higher Education getting University degrees and training qualifications, the job interview is even more vitally important as the means to distinguish yourself from everyone else.

It is your opportunity to sell yourself.

Who else is going to do it if you are not prepared to do it?

Therefore, it is essential to get over the mind-block many people have in these situations: you are not being arrogant when you say what you are good at and why they should give you the job. Yet, so many people cannot do it. It's not simply that, many people are not even aware of the need or have considered that it is necessary to do so.

It is vital to think about it - what am I good at? why should they give me the job? why am I the best person for the job?
It is vital to plan for the interview, to prepare what you want to say and practise how to say it.
The biggest mistake in an interview is lack of preparation, which results in a lack of clear, concise thought, so answers become long-winded and meandering, with often the inability to answer the actual question or else the answer becomes lost in the middle of the waffle. This means that you have missed the opportunity to sell yourself.

An interview is essentially an exercise in communication; you are communicating with your potential future employer about why they should hire you.


It is unlikely that you will be the only person they are interviewing and the interview will most certainly have a time-frame, which means that you need to communicate your ideas briefly and succinctly, transmitting your sales-pitch at every opportunity. You need to be very clear about what you want them to know about you and what you want or need to transmit, so you can be flexible about getting this information into an answer from a range of possible questions. The Internet is full of web-pages of interview questions, but you cannot predict which ones are going to be asked. However, there is an underlying trend in a lot of the questions which by looking at them and thinking about your answers you can see. It is essential, also, to be very clear about the brief for the job and to read carefully any correspondance you receive in relation with the interview and the company website, as clues to what type of person and what kind of skills they are looking for will often appear. Therefore, opening the possibility of matching your skills with what is demanded.
You need to practise, practise, practise!


As I mentioned before, there is often a time-frame for the interview so you cannot give long-winded answers. The classic question 'Tell me about yourself' is one of those which causes the most problems. Some people see this as an opportunity to give a long life history. Do they really think the interviewer is interested? No. What the interviewer wants to know are things that are beneficial for the job on offer; academic and work history - but not everything, only that which can be related to the job, and maybe some extra information that can demonstrate concepts such as responsibility, commitment, dedication, initiative and so on, as long as the job requires these qualities. All must be expressed briefly, so again I say, preparation and practise are necessary to weed out unimportant pieces of information, waffling and long-windedness. It will make sure that you actually answer the question that you have been asked. People are nervous in interviews, it is natural, but preparation and a clear idea about what you want to say will help calm the nerves and help maintain the focus on what you are saying and how you are saying it.
Although you might fully answer the question, abet in a convoluted way, the interviewer might not see it that way. The information is clear to you as you are the one who has lived it, but it is often confusing to a person listening and they will be lost in the deluge of relevant and irrelevant information. Clear, succinct answers are necessary to steer the interviewer in the direction you want to take him or her. This takes practise.



Don't forget to sell yourself! People become incredibly modest when faced with interviews and feel uncomfortable about showing themselves in the best light. "Oh, I'm not that kind of person" they say. If you were Head Boy at school, Captain of the basketball team, won a design competition, were congratulated or recognised for a work project, won an award or have any other good qualities or experiences, tell them. If you do not, nobody else will. These are all distinguishing points to help you stand out from the competition. By practising your answers and by being clear about what you want to say, you enable yourself to relax and give yourself the chance to be more natural, yourself in fact, in the interview. Your personality is what will also distinguish you from the rest.

So, to recap:
Preparation: know what you want to say, what the company is wanting, practise answering questions clearly communicating briefly all you need to transmit. Relate your skills, experience and strengths to the job, sell yourself honestly - don't lie!
Practise: get someone to listen and answer critically with constructive feedback about what you have said. Is it clear and concise? Does it match what was asked and what is expected of me? Does it sound convincing? Did I sell myself well? What is the general impression that I transmit? Do I sound like someone you would want to employ? Have I done the best possible job?


At OSL The Language Boutique we have had a lot of success guiding people through interview preparations, making people aware of how they transmit themselves and communicate their ideas, enabling them to demonstrate the best of themselves. We believe that everyone has the answers to how best do the interview within them, but that they do not always know how to best go about demonstrating it or sometimes cannot see the best direction to go. Our aim is to give people the confidence they need to find the way and show themselves at their best.

Check out the webpage: www.entrevistasmadrid.com