OK, you’ve lived in China all your life, and you say you don’t have many (any?) native English speaking friends to practice with. Also, your corporate situation gives you little chance to listen to and speak English each day … so what can you do?
Besides reaching out to make new friends from the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia, you can use this strategy now, with Chinese friends and colleagues of your same English language level, to make great listening progress.
First, find someone (or a few people) equally enthusiastic to improve their oral English skills. Then, at least twice a week for 30 minutes each time (every day, one hour is better!), sit together with your partner to share the following:
- each bring 2 paragraphs of English writing about an interesting topic you found online, or in a newspaper, magazine, company materials
- practice “reading and re-telling” the writing out loud together:
- one partner “reads” 2 sentences aloud, twice, without the second partner seeing the words (second partner listens)
- second partner, in their own vocabulary (doesn’t need to memorize every word), “re-tells” what they heard … the reader can say the sentences a third time or give clues to help the listener remember
- speaker and listener do this again with the next 2 sentences, and repeat the process until the 2 paragraphs have been completed
- speaker and listener switch roles, with second person’s material.
If you can find more than one partner to practice with, that’s even better, since you’ll have the opportunity to hear different speaking styles. Also, try not to use your electronic dictionary until after you’ve made every effort to ask each other to explain
a new word or phrase … you’ll be amazed at how many answers are inside you and your partner waiting to come out! ...
please reference “Brotherly Love” posting below for proof of this.
Happy Listening, Mark