Teacher Discussion Forums

I know that is not proper to post my words here, but I really want to listen to your advice.

I am a third year undergraduate student at a Canadian university. My listening and reading have no problem now, however, I just don't know why my spoken English is so poor. Some people told me that you only need to keep talking while others urge me to memorize sentences from books. That really makes me confused. I feel that I am shooting in the dark. I don't know where to go. My pronunciation is good, but somehow when I talk to people, my sentences lack of sequences. People I talk to always interrupt me by ' I am sorry, can you say that again?'. I really expect that there is an expert who can point out my weakness and give me some suggestion. My mother tongue is Mandarin. I've studied English for 5 years. My major is Linguistics, so I would like to help people who want to learn English in the future.

Best.,

Feng Qin
Toronto

I'm interested, if you say your sentences lack sequencies, how long did it take you to write this thread?

Dan

Dan,
Thanks for your reply.
I feel writing is different from speaking. When I am writing, I can take my time to phrase what I think. But when things come to speaking, I do feel that I have no time to think things over. As a result, I always make mistakes.
Sigh.
Feng Qin
Toronto

I'll be moving to Toronto next year with my girlfriend. Beautiful city. Will be involved in the flying bit of aviation when I get there

Anyhow, it might help if you read written texts aloud, preferably your own. I mean, is the problem when you panic and worry about prepositions etc, or verb conjugations, or is it
simply that you 'could' speak with confidence but its more of a personal thing. Like a stress you feel as if you have seconds to live if you do not get the sentence out?

I speak clearly. I think about what I want to say before I say it and then say it. Do not feel that people have seconds to spare, and that you must rush through the sentence structure, making mistakes.

When has rushing ever helped anyone? (ok people, dont be too pedantic, im speaking generally). Take a deep breath, compose your sentence, and say it with proficiency. People are aware you are not of "native english" origin and will not (unless they are very rude and unworthy of discussion) leave you of boredem!

Recording shows and playing them back, pausing every so often to repeat what they said will also show a recognisable increase in proficiency within weeks

Bonne chance (Good luck).