How Do We Improve Our Spoken English?

We spend much of our lives trying to communicate ideas.

I've approached that challenge in different ways: as a songwriter, as a teacher in the state school system, and now as the founder of Skool Cornwall - a language school for adults in Cornwall. Although those roles seem very different, they have all brought me back to the same question:

How do we improve our spoken English? In our age, the answers to difficult questions are often presented simply. I don't believe it is possible to answer complex questions simply. Whenever it is done, it is a kind of blindness. Today, because it is on my mind, I want to offer my impressions on how we improve our spoken English, and how we take the leap to confident communication in English.

Small classes are key to learning English I spent many years teaching in the English state school system. I taught more than two hundred pupils a week, sometimes more than thirty in a class. I don't want to start a pedagogical war, but I do believe that teaching this many pupils at once is the enemy of education. If I were in charge, this would be the reform. If you are asking yourself how to improve your spoken English, I would answer with certainty: learn in small classes. You need personal attention. You need to be listened to, corrected, and encouraged. I am sure there are excellent schools teaching English all over the UK. At Skool, we believe that one of our guiding principles is that we remain small, and purposefully so. We manage this smallness. We limit our class sizes. Excellent English teachers make all the difference

Another crucial element is the need for excellent teachers. In order to improve our English, we must be taught by teachers who are in love with learning, by professionals who remain learners themselves. Communication must work both ways. Didactic teaching is the enemy of education.

Learning a language should be joyful. There should be delight, wonder even. Improving spoken English should be life-affirming. Education is for the rest of your life. We should celebrate learning not simply to pass an examination, but because weare enriched by it. Our clients are between thirty and seventy-eight. At Skool I have witnessed real pleasure in learning, and we really try to cultivate that delight.

I think context matters a great deal too. Place matters. Learn somewhere beautiful if that is where your mind becomes attentive. Give yourself space to think, to struggle, and to be astonished. What we have learned is that people speak more freely when they feel comfortable. They need to feel able to make mistakes without shame. To speak well, we must have something worth speaking about

Language is not simply about naming the world. It is about connecting with other people, and connecting ideas. And use your ears. This is crucial. Language is physical, but your ears are your greatest teachers. Would you like to know more about Skool and how we teach?

Contact us today