大象传媒

May visits a beautiful fountain in Leeds

Question 1:
Dear May, Many thanks for your valuable suggestions. I will do as you tell me to do. I will make great efforts to create opportunities to improve my speaking and listening.

On the other hand, I have another question. Can I enhance my speaking by doing more writing?

Once a British English teaching expert told us: “The more you read, the better you will write. The more you write, the better you will speak.”

What do you think of this point of view? Please give my best regards to your family. Thanks for 大象传媒 Learning English website!
Yanfei, Shanxi province, China

May writes:

Hi, Yanfei,

Thanks for your question. I’m enjoying keeping in contact with you through my blog on the 大象传媒 Chinese Learning English website. I wish my students back home in Shenzhen would start to send me questions. I wish they were as keen on learning as you are!

Similarities  Writing and speaking are similar at least in one point: you write or speak to express yourself, to make yourself understood.   May Han Hong

What a smart English teacher you’ve got. The saying has some truth in my humble opinion: Reading promotes writing, and writing benefits speaking.

Writing and speaking are similar at least in one point: you write or speak to express yourself, to make yourself understood. I’m sure that if you work hard at improving your written English then your spoken English is likely to improve too.

I think emailing people is good practice with regard to improving speaking. When you email a friend it’s almost like you are talking to them, isn’t it?

On the other hand, most people find writing more difficult than speaking. I’m a good example of this. I got an 8 in IELTS speaking, listening and reading but just 6 in writing.

Getting good at writing requires a lot of hard work. To achieve a high standard I suggest your write in English every single day. Writing in English is exacting, you can’t get away with sloppiness.

Speaking is usually colloquial, a lot more informal. It seems a bit unfair if you follow this expert’s advice and try to improve your speaking through writing because it takes longer.

Think English  In my opinion, the easiest way to become good at speaking is to try to think in English in daily.   May Han Hong

Also, speaking is different to writing since it involves other elements like pronunciation, tones and accents. Take my husband, for example, he is extremely good at reading and listening, due to his work experience here in the UK but his spoken English still quite poor. His problem is that he wasn’t taught good pronunciation when he studied English.

In my opinion, the easiest way to become good at speaking is to try to think in English in daily, and to speak English as much as possible to as many different people as possible. You will then find yourself able to speak good English naturally and perhaps one day you will even speak it fluently.

Question 2:
Hi, May, Thanks for your answer. I am studying in foundation year just in Leeds. I have joined IELTS for 2 times without much success in China, so I am studying in the language centre in Leeds Uni. I am not so confident in taking my next IELTS. Can you help me?
Anonymous, Leeds

May writes:

Hi, Friend in Leeds,

Thanks for your question.

I am glad to know that you are studying here at Leeds University like me. Perhaps we could meet up for a chat?

I am sorry you don’t feel relaxed enough to take the IELTS exam. Probably you are not learning in the right way (sorry for saying so.)

Whenever I first start teaching a new group of students back home in China I ask them to think about why they are learning English and what they need to do to improve. Language learning isn’t so difficult if you can make sure that you practice daily.

Now here’s a surprise - language learning can also be fun! One of my students at Shenzhen Polytechnic is extremely good at listening and speaking. Do you know why? It’s because he enjoys watching Hollywood movies in English. Another one enjoys surfing the web for new online games. His English reading skills are good because he is forced to read game instructions in English.

The 3 'P's  What you need to bear in mind are the three ‘P’s’ - Practice, Persistence, and Patience.   May Han Hong

When you are preparing for IELTS, you need to practice a lot but you can easily pass IELTS if you complete the IELTS exercise books 1-5 published by Cambridge Press.

I also suggest that you try to make and keep to a daily schedule and set yourself tasks. Once you have done these tasks you will feel a sense of achievement. What you need to bear in mind are the three ‘P’s’ - Practice, Persistence, and Patience.

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