87. Learn to relax

By Olga Smith

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By Olga Smith
25 January 2021

Actors on stage have to learn how to physically relax, so that tension doesn't interfere with their performance or the voice. In fact, relaxation exercises are a very important part of their training

When one is tense the pitch of the voice goes up and gets high; people often are not in control of their bodies. If you feel tense lower your pitch down. You can practise the pitch of your voice with the app 4Ps, Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause.

Tension comes from anxiety. Our feelings of anxiety resemble a galloping horse. When a horse goes faster and faster it can be very scary for the rider, it feels as though you are against a force that is more powerful than you. Inexperienced riders when scared lean forward and thus speed up the horse. In order to slow down the horse, the rider should slow down his rising, deepen his seat and put his shoulders back. Similarly, when we are overcome with anxiety, we take control back by lowering the pitch, perhaps making longer pauses and allowing ourselves to breathe. In other words, we do the opposite to what our instinct is trying to do.

People who take elocution lessons learn how to become confident when presenting. Confidence comes only with practice. Practising your speech, its delivery and relaxation exercises on a regular basis will help, the more you practise the less you have to think about it when you need it.

You might have practised writing for many years and feel confident writing an essay, but if you have little experience in public speaking then you might not be as confident as you wish. Our blog about the spoken word might be a benefit to you.

To feel confident when presenting we recommend that you:

  • Think through what you are going to say. Prepare your speech in advance and rehearse its delivery several times using the 4Ps. When you are prepared you feel confident and more relaxed.

  • Practise articulation exercises on a regular basis and do an articulation warm up just before your presentation. This will ensure that your speech is clear and crisp. The best app and book for this is called Get Rid of your Accent and the video course Get Rid of your Accent Part One.

  • Practise relaxation exercises regularly and for a few minutes before presenting.
    Below are a few basic tips for relaxation:
    1. Check your neck, make sure it is not tight by rotating it to the right then to the left and up and down.
    2. Check your posture. In our blogs about posture, we explain how you can develop a balanced and graceful posture.
    3. Just think: I am letting go of all that tension, I feel grounded and in charge of myself. Stretching your body, free body moves and shakes will help a lot

It would be beneficial to take a few elocution lessons to practise speech skills and relaxation exercises which are so important not only when presenting, but also in any form of professional and social communication. Because when we are prepared and relaxed we perform at our best.

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86. Prevention is better than cure 

By Olga Smith

Many people who take our elocution lessons often tell us the same: I wish I had come to you five, ten, twenty years ago. When they started speaking English no one taught them English RP (Received Pronunciation) and they spoke with poor pronunciation for a long time thus developing bad habits. 

As you know, it is harder to get rid of a habit than to learn something new because old bad habits become second nature and we repeat them on auto-pilot almost unconsciously. 

A very important part of elocution lessons is working on breathing and good posture. In my previous blog, I talked about the main features of bad posture. I have been taking notes of the bad posture habits which people develop. For example, the following everyday actions create tension in the neck area: 

  1. When people feel cold, they often lift their shoulders

  2. When people use iPhone or iPad they tend to bend their head down thus creating neck pain

  3. When they sit with uneven shoulders height

All the above-mentioned habits may lead to: 

  1. Change in shape in their upper back and a tendency for slouching

  2. Blocking the energy flow

  3. Incorrect breathing

  4. Imbalance in their entire body

  5. Feeling tension in their face and jaw

  6. Tension when presenting in public

People might feel that it is easier to speak with poor pronunciation and slouch instead of keeping a straight back. But if you think about the unfortunate consequences of letting things drift uncontrollably, you might regret it in future.

It is very easy to fall into bad habits. It takes time and effort to fix them. Therefore, I recommend that you pay attention to the way you speak and to your posture all the time. By that, I mean regular daily posture and speech exercises.  Elocution apps will be very helpful for it. The more you practise, the sooner good posture and good speech become second nature.

Good posture will help you to look professional, feel relaxed and confident which is particularly important when presenting in public.

Good speech will help you in job interviews, in fact in any form of communication be it professional or social.

85. Posture speaks louder than words

By Olga Smith

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22 December 2020
By Olga Smith

One of my friends went to a polo match where Prince William and Hurry were playing. She said that they were the only ones who played with a straight back, the rest of the players were slouching on a horse in the attempt to hit the ball. Indeed, good posture and straight back are associated with Royal bearing.

Below are the advantages of having good posture:

  1. People with good posture look powerful and graceful.

  2. Good posture is a sign of balance in your body which ensures good blood circulation and high energy.

  3. Good posture helps you to own the room you walk into and create an impression of a confident person.

  4. People with good posture can look straight and create good eye contact.

Bad posture is a sign of imbalance in your body and mind.  Bad posture can lead to tension in your body and health problems in future.  No wonder that bad posture is associated with lack of confidence, bad health, unhappy life and low spirit. The main characteristics of bad posture are:

  1. Slouching

  2. Body tilted backwards or forwards

  3. Lifted shoulders

  4. Looking down

  5. Toes pointing left and right, looking like a penguin

  6. Both toes pointing inside and heels pointing outside

  7. One shoulder is higher than the other

  8. Hunched back

  9. Humping on one leg


    In our book Get Rid of your Accent Part Two and in the app Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause we talk about posture preparation as part of working on your voice power. The basis for all speech is breath and before starting breathing exercises we recommend that you always check your posture. Below is a checklist for having good posture:

    1. Your back is straight

    2. Your shoulders are relaxed and look even height

    3. Your chin is parallel to the floor

    4. Your toes are pointing forward, not outwards or inwards

    5. You put your weight mostly on the balls of your feet.

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84. Think and speak with power and persuasion

By Olga Smith

Our speech is the reflection of our thinking. It tells a lot about us. To be successful we must learn how to form our thoughts and speak with clarity, power and persuasion.

This article is particularly useful for public speakers who present in a court of law, Parliament, or Senate, on TV, Radio and YouTube. The material for this article comes from years of experience of our elocution tutors who worked with actors, diplomats, politicians and top-level professionals on their speech mastery.

Thinking process:

  1. Always start with a powerful and engaging beginning. You have 5 seconds to impress and engage your audience.

  2. Get to the point. Avoid beating about the bush.

  3. Create messages that are of benefit and interest to your audience. The human brain has a tendency to listen to something that is entertaining, vital, or helpful for their life. Make sure that your audience is engaged throughout your entire speech.

  4. Avoid parasite words, swear words, and fillers like “so, you know, basically, like, em, ah”. People use these words when they are thinking and speaking at the same time. Simply substitute these unnecessary words with pauses.

  5. Think before you speak, formulate your thoughts first in your head, and use pauses before phrases and sentences which allow you to create a really good phrase or sentence and prepare a beautiful delivery.

  6. Do not jump from one topic to another, use logic and finish one thought at a time.

  7. Avoid repetitions, use synonyms and antonyms.

  8. Speak directly and categorically, and avoid words like “might, maybe, perhaps, it seems, would”, etc.

  9. Speak about profound things using simple language. Avoid speaking about shallow /primitive things using sophisticated words; it is useless and a waste of time for your listeners.

  10. Delete unnecessary words and sentences, and deliver the quintessence of your thoughts with clarity, emotion and high energy.

Speech delivery:

  1. Make sure that you have good articulation and clear speech.

  2. Stress key messages and “throwaway” unimportant words saying them with lass power, quicker and liaising words.

  3. Use pauses.

  4. Pay attention to your intonation/inflection.

  5. Use your own emotions to connect to your audience’s emotions.

  6. Do not copy TV newsreaders who read prepared scripts and just present the facts in an emotional way. It is boring and sounds almost subhuman.

  7. Make sure that your hand gestures, posture and eye contact add to your message and empower it.

  8. Use 4Ps, power, pitch, pace and pause and avoid monotonous speech.

  9. Project your voice, avoid speaking too quietly.

  10. Avoid shouting, use intensity of your voice instead

  11. Avoid high pitched voice; it sounds childish and can be perceived as a weakness.

  12. Make sure your voice is strong and comes free from the stomach. Straight posture and correct breathing help with it.

  13. Avoid speaking too slowly or too quickly. Develop a good natural pace.

    You can master your speech delivery and voice modulation with apps and books in the series get rid of your accent and by taking elocution lessons based on RP.

    More on https://www.batcsglobal.com/elocution-lessons

83. How can one become a happier person

By Olga Smith

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Who we are?

We are what we think and feel.
I feel happy when I think beautiful thoughts. I love to surround myself with beautiful people. I am constantly falling in love with men and women. Love thoughts about them make me feel happy and alive. I am also in love with myself, some people even laugh at me when I start praising myself. Some people tell me that I am arrogant. But I do not really care about what others think or say about me. I love to admire myself the most. My grandfather, his name is Semen was admiring me from morning till night and that became my habit since I remember myself. In fact, my grandfather had never said a bad thing about anyone and was admiring people around him for whatever he could. My grandfather was captured by nazy Germans and taken to Germany to work for 3 years. When he returned back he told his family in Ukraine that the Germans didn’t want to let him go back to Ukraine, they offered him a house and a good job, in other words, they fall in love with him.

I feel happy when I smell good scents around me. My favourite smells are freshly cut grass, pine trees after rain, Autumn forest, and some nice French, English and Italian perfumes. I only buy things that smell beautiful: only scented soaps, oils, shampoos and creams. I love water, long showers, long baths and swimming in the sea. makes me feel fresh and crisp.

We are what we eat and drink.
We eat food, we eat with eyes, ears and nose.
I feel happy when I eat fresh organic food with nice herbs and spices. My favourite drink is water and tea. I am a huge tea lover. I feel happy when I eat using silver cutlery and beautiful crockery.

I feel happy when I surround myself with art, beautiful things, wear beautiful things made of high-quality cashmere, silk and cotton which are so light that I almost feel I do not have any clothes on.
I feel happy when I see and wear beautiful colours. Colours connect me to my emotions. One day felt miserable. By instinct, I went to the shop and bought a pair of Miu Miu shoes, they were orange with a flower on top. As soon as I put them on I immediately felt amazing! Every morning I make an important decision: what colour of my dress will make me feel happy today.

We are where we live and stay.
I feel happy to live in a period building on an elegant street close to nice parks and gardens, shops and restaurants, theatres and museums; or in a nice period house with a beautiful garden big enough for my horse (to say that I love horses is to say nothing, I am crazy about them), a conservatory, an open-air pool and sauna nearby, and a tennis court. I love to say at places by the sea with long sandy beaches around, or a lake near the forest.

I search for beauty in museums, nature and places I travel to. I love the art, culture and nature of Italy, Greece and France.

We are what we do.
I feel happy when I do what I like and follow my instincts. I love to sleep till 11 am. I love playing tennis, riding horses and running. I love English pronunciation and I made it my business. My own dancing and performing, in general, make me happy. Whenever I hear music I want to dance.

We are what we say.
I feel happy when I discuss nice things in a nice way. Often people try to involve me in negative discussions. I try to escape such conversations by not responding much.

I feel happy when I learn languages, particularly pronunciation (I find grammar very boring). When I speak in a beautiful way I feel happy and even a little excited. I mastered my speech by taking elocution lessons.

We are what we hear and what information we absorb
I feel happy when I sing and listen to good music. I feel happy when I hear a beautiful voice
For example, I feel unhappy when I hear BBC news constantly trying to put fear in peoples’ heads, so do not listen to them.

I feel happy when I hear a good clear speech.

Part of my work is helping others master their speech. My team has developed nine iOS and nine Android apps to help people master beautiful English speech.

More on Get Rid of your Accent | Elocution Lessons

82. My first public speech

13 November 2020
By Olga Smith

I joined the oldest public speaking club in London in 2004. People in my club were seasoned public speakers with very sophisticated English. I, on the other hand, had a very quiet voice, a strong Russian accent and monotonous speech. People always asked me to repeat what I said as they didn’t always understand what I was saying. On top of that, I didn’t have a job and had very limited resources which were depleting very rapidly in London. The level of my confidence was not the highest at that time. But I knew that I had to deliver my speech.

I prepared it and booked a timeslot for its delivery in the club. Everyone’s first speech in the club they called An Icebreaker. It is a speech where I presented myself to my club members. I vividly remember the night when I was presenting this first speech. I called it “Born behind the iron curtain”.

As I walked to the podium my legs were shaking. I had humming in my head, and when I finally faced the audience I could not see their faces. All the people looked to me like a big white mass. I had a short blackout. I was constantly thinking: I need to speak louder than usual so that people can hear what I say.

I started my speech. My voice was so loud that people in the front seats almost jumped. They were so surprised and looked quite shocked. I continued my speech and even started to smile towards the end of it. When I finished my speech I received a big round of applause. People in my club were so supportive and helpful, so positive and kind. Even now I can still feel enormous gratitude towards them.

I can compare this experience to jumping from a high cliff and being scared of the unknown, that was my fear - the unknown. On reflection, I can say that when I was overcoming my fear I felt so much alive and energised. The aftermath effect was that my confidence jumped to a much higher level. The 3 minutes speech was more effective for my confidence than anything else I had ever done. I continued to deliver my speeches and with each delivery, my confidence grew and grew.

I felt I would definitely benefit if I improve my pronunciation and someone in the club recommended that I take elocution lessons. The elements of elocution are voice control, articulation, and good pronunciation. Exactly what I needed to become a good public speaker.

I started my elocution lessons with a top speech and drama tutor Linda James in 2004. We started with mastering my RP ( Received Pronunciation). Then moved to intonation, stress, liaising - all that we teach in our books. In parallel, I had been delivering my speeches on a regular basis which was a great practice of all elocution techniques I had been learning with Linda.

In 2006, together with Linda, we co-authored our first elocution book. Later we produced four more books and converted them into apps. We have based our apps and books on years of practical experience and made sure to include all elocution techniques in them.

In conclusion, I can say that my first speech was the beginning of my success.

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81. 6 Benefits of reciting poetry for your speech

By Olga Smith

Poetry is an art form that exists since ancient times. Aristotle's Poetics describes the three genres of poetry: epic, comic and tragic. Aesthetics, colourful language, compactness of expression and the use of metaphor make poetry a source of enormous pleasures for us. It helps us to become more human, it enriches our soul, develops our creativity and so much more.

Reciting poetry is crucial in mastering speech, that is why speech tutors often use poetry in their elocution lessons. It is poetry that has undoubtedly contributed to the enormous popularity of our apps, books and elocution lessons.

I will outline six main benefits of reciting poetry for speech mastery.

N1: Reciting poetry helps to make your speech more fluent. You will learn very quickly how to liaise the words in each line, glide from one word to another without pausing. You see poetry is closely related to musical traditions. Each line in a poem is bound by a meter and it has a certain rhythm. The words in each line should be linked like in a song.

N2: Speaking in a connected way will also help you to learn how to “throw away” unimportant words, such as articles and prepositions and use dramatic stress. Learn more about “throwing away”, a term used by actors in our blog about fluency.

N3: Particular poems are wonderful for articulation, such as Major General from W. S. Gilbert for example. You can find Major General in lesson 32 in the app Get Rid of your Accent. Good articulation is crucial for your speech clarity. It makes your speech more energised.

N4: Poetry is fantastic for practising power, pitch, pace and pause of your voice to make your speech interesting to listen to. Many students who take our elocution lessons complain that their speech is boring and monotonous. We created a wonderful app entitled Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause to help you make your speech interesting to listen to.

N5: Speech is a very technical subject. It requires a tremendous effort from both sides of the teachers and the student in order to make good progress. Using poetry makes this process more light-hearted and entertaining. When students have fun they are more likely to enjoy working on their speech.

N6: Reciting poetry will immensely enrich your English vocabulary. We recommend that you memorise new words, phrases and metaphors in the context, then try to use them in your speech.

In our apps and books, we start each elocution lesson with a bit of theory. Then we follow up with practical exercises such as words, phrases, sentences and prose passages. As a rule, we end each lesson with a poem or two as a reward for our hardworking students. In our apps you first listen to an actor reading a poem, then you can read it yourself and record it. Then you can compare your reading with the professional actor’s reading. We recommend that you copy the actor’s pronunciation and intonation.

We also offer one to one sessions on Skype. Read the feedback from our students.

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80. Sources of strength

By Olga Smith

What makes us strong? Obvious things like good sleep, good food, sun, vitamins, etc. Yet, there are people who seem to have a great lifestyle but nevertheless look empty. What makes people look empty? There can be a number of reasons: lack of purpose in life, lack of self-confidence and low self-esteem. But what can be the cause of all these problems?

Let’s think about what we consist of. We are children of our parents. Our parents are only humans, they have their strengths and weaknesses. As their children, we inherit both, their strengths and their weaknesses.

As we grow up once we have recognized our parents’ weaknesses, we often criticize and reject them. So-called experts in psychology tell us that we should honour our feelings and respect our boundaries and if we do not love or respect our parents we have the right to do so.

Indeed, our parents might have hurt us, and we can feel pain as a result. But does the rejection of our parents and focusing on their weaknesses benefit our life today?

I came to the conclusion, that it is more productive to see our parents as humans and focus on their strengths. If we focus on their strengths it can become a tremendous source of strength for us.

79. The difference between the spoken word and the written word

By Olga Smith

The difference between the spoken word and the written word

Many tech people make a common mistake: they write their speeches as if it is a technical article. As a result, when they start to deliver their speech, their audience could find it convoluted and boring.

What is the difference between a technical article and a speech? Below are a few essential tips to prepare a good speech:

  1. The focus is not simply on words and phrases but more importantly on how you say it and how effectively you deliver the speech to engage the audience with the use of pauses, changes in the power, pitch, and pace of your voice.

  2. When delivering your speech you need to use short sentences and short punchy words as opposed to long sentences and long words which we use when writing an article. This technique will help your audience to understand your speech and enjoy listening to it, otherwise, they might not get your point and lose interest quickly.

  3. When we write an article, our language contains much more details, whereas speeches tend to have the main ideas presented in a powerful way.

  4. It is useful to get rid of unimportant words in your speech because the main idea might be drowned in a sea of unnecessary words.

  5. Download the app Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause and have a few elocution lessons to master the 4Ps of public speaking.

  6. Download the app Fluent English Speech to master sentence stress and intonation.

  7. If you use abbreviations and technical vocabulary, make sure you explain them first so that your listeners can follow what you are saying.

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78. Why is language considered crucial to human development?

By Olga Smith

Language is a mystery to me.

Some writers believe that language is given to humans by God, scientists suggest that language is a part of human evolution. I agree with both viewpoints. I will explain why. When I read masterpieces of literature I feel the magic and beauty that cannot be connected just to the brain. At the same time, I see how our brain development is mirrored in the language we speak.

We communicate our thoughts and feelings through language. From our childhood, we learn by means of language. Later we understand the abstract concept by means of language.

When I was a secondary school pupil my Dad would not let me go out to have fun unless I read 50 pages a day. I was a hyperactive child and that felt so boring for me. However, today I am grateful to my Dad as I understood that reading was crucial for the development of my soul, my character, my personality. Reading helped to expand my imagination, my consciousness and to become creative.

Since I was a child, I started to learn foreign languages. To date, I speak five languages and I have co-authored five books on English speech. Due to their enormous success, the books were converted into nine iOS and nine Android apps.

Our books help people to master English pronunciation, fluency and vocabulary. Our books also help with the use of 4Ps, Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause; techniques for voice modulation and public speaking. 4Ps help us to connect with our feelings and our unique way of expressing ourselves. 4Ps help to communicate in a beautiful and artistic way.

I regularly receive feedback from the students who study with our apps and books and see, how with their help, they grow as humans, professionals and leaders.

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77. The most effective method of teaching English pronunciation

By Olga Smith

There are a number of different strategies for teaching English pronunciation. I would like to offer the method that we use in our apps and books. It was developed by Linda James, LRAM, R.A.M. Dip. Ed. Linda has been teaching speech (Received Pronunciation), which in the past was called the Queen’s English, Oxford English or BBC English) in leading London drama schools for more than 20 years and elocution lessons to foreign professionals for more than 30 years.

In our elocution apps and books, each lesson begins with an illustrated description of the speech organ position, followed by practical exercises. The exercises consist of words, phrases, sentences, tongue twisters, verses and passages.

Here are some essential tips for teachers of English pronunciation:

  1. Start slowly with the list of words and concentrate on the target sound, then move to phrases and sentences without losing the sound

  2. Use the rhythmical exercises to develop fluency

Students who took elocution lessons based on our apps and books told us that they really enjoyed them due to the following reasons:

  • Its' an amazing language from classical literature and poetry as well as everyday English which students find extremely effective and interesting.

  • Each chapter has a substantial volume of exercises to master one English sound or a particular speech pattern such as consonant elision, for example.

  • The way this book is written is fun, easy and effective. Many English textbooks are written in a dull and boring way. We use non-predictable sentences and lots of rhymes which are wonderful for teaching English pronunciation.

In conclusion, I would like to say that when students have fun when they find the material interesting and amusing they are more likely to enjoy the learning process and to achieve better results.

More on Get Rid of your Accent | Elocution Lessons

76. What are my 12 rules for life?

By Olga Smith

  1. I always have goals and tasks to achieve these goals. Small steps or tasks to achieve my goals should be performed on a regular basis until the goal is reached.

  2. I value my time and ask myself a question: does what I do now lead me towards my goal or away from it? Time is the most valuable resource, or as they say: time is money. I would add to that time is also an opportunity in a certain period of time.

  3. I focus my attention and energy on my goals and get rid of people and actions who take you away from your goals. In the time of the internet, social media and access to millions of people there is a danger that I can be strayed away from my goals and end up wasting my time on other people goals.

  4. Honour my feelings. All I have is a present moment. What do I feel right now? Am I comfortable? What can I do to feel even better? Am I relaxed or tense? Feeling good in the present moment improves the quality of my life.

  5. I do sport for 1–3 hours a day. It is an investment in my health and beauty, looking and feeling great.

  6. I immediately defeat the fearful thought. Fearful thoughts are the most dangerous foe a person can have.

  7. I make decisions quickly and act confidently. I might make mistakes along the way which I can correct. When I feel that my thinking process becomes too long and leads me to inaction and paralysis I decide and act. This way I avoid being just a dreamer and become an achiever.

  8. If I have nothing nice to say I say nothing. I avoid discussing negative things and do not allow other people to drag me into negative discussions. The thing is that I want to stay in high energy and do not want negativity to lower it.

  9. Business first, pleasure second. I prefer to complete my business tasks first and use pleasure as a reward for my work.

  10. I sleep a lot. Fo me, my sleep is the source of good mood, good health and beauty.

  11. I follow the sun. I make sure to spend time in the sun, it is the source of my happiness.

  12. I am honest with myself and sincere with others.

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75. The way to enhance our self-esteem and social standing

By Olga Smith

What is the best way to feel good about ourselves and stand out in a social or professional environment? 

How can we upgrade ourselves? There are several tools people often use: they buy a house in a smart area, or a fancy car, a new suit or shoes. They go to Cambridge or Oxford. I can continue this list. But, when they open their mouth and start speaking their image and social standing can be destroyed if their speech is uneducated or dull and boring. On the contrary, if you possess the art of rhetoric and have beautiful speech, people will inadvertently respect you almost on a subconscious level. In England, speech stamps a person’s identity like a brand. It reveals our social and emotional intelligence, education, social class and economic position. That is why people have elocution lessons.

What are the aspects of speech we need to think about to enhance our social image and increase our self-esteem. I would like to online two main aspects of speech: 

  1. What do we say?

  2. How do we say it?

The number one skill to develop is to think before we speak. 

Before we start a sentence, let’s answers a few questions first: 

1. What outcome do we want to achieve as a result of what we say? 

2. Will our words be appropriate in the current situation and for people in this situation? 

Sometimes it is best to not say anything and just remain a pleasant listener. Often it is better to answer a question with “I don’t know”, instead of saying something in a rush.

The second thing to consider is our vocabulary. Do we use vivid language, metaphor and specific descriptive words or do we just use a minimalistic vocabulary? A minimalistic vocabulary will be understood by most. However, if we want to sound specific and articulate, express a certain range of feelings and emotions we need more words.

Tried and tested method to enrich our vocabulary is reading books, writing down new words and expressions and using them in our daily speech. Having elocution lessons is another way to master your speech. I have recently purchased a dictionary of metaphors because I realised that using a metaphor and symbolic language is a perfect way to sound interesting, be understood and influence others on a deeper level.

How you say it can be more important than what you say. Let’s consider a few questions. 

  1. Is our speech clear and easy to understand?

  2. Are we often being asked to repeat ourselves because people cannot understand what we said? 

  3. Do we speak too fast or too slowly? 

  4. Is our voice too loud or too quiet? 

  5. Do we use pauses or speak in paragraphs?

  6. Do we know how to stress key points in a phrase or sentence or do we drone on in a monotone and don’t stress anything or stress everything?

  7. Is our speech interesting and engaging or dull and boring?

  8. Is our tone of voice pleasant or there is something offputting about it?

How can we answer these questions? Very simply: choose a topic to talk about and records your speech. Then playback your recording and answer the questions above.

Speech mastery is a skill and it takes time and effort. To help you with this skill we have developed 9 iOS and 9 Android apps based on our bestsellers in the series Get Rid of your Accent. We can help you on this journey with your individual speech analysis and elocution lessons.

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74. Speech fluency in English

By Olga Smith

By Olga Smith

In this blog post, I will outline a very important area of elocution lessons: techniques for developing fluent and connected English speech. There are three main skills you need to master in order to speak fluent English:

  1. Contractions

  2. "Throwing away" skill, an expression used by actors.

  3. Connected speech patterns or liaisons

1) In good fluent speech the particle “not”, verbs “to be” (“am, is, are”), “to have” (“has, had”), “will” and “would” are shortened. The shortened version of a word is called a contraction. It’s important to use contractions if you would like to sound fluent, natural and more like a native speaker of English. Contractions are not usually used in written English except in dialogues and in informal writing.
There are several types of contractions. Here are examples from our book Get Rid of your Accent for Business and our app Business English Speech, a contraction of the verb “will” becomes a contraction ”ll” :

“You’ll need to find a better way to deal with your boss.”

If you do not use contractions in your speech, you will not sound like an advanced English speaker.

2) In natural speech, it’s important not to emphasize or stress too many words in a phrase or sentence. As a general rule, English tend to pick out the words which convey the meaning and lean on them, giving them a little more vocal energy. The rest of the words, English “throwaway”, an expression used by actors. This often means neutralising vowels, increasing the pace and diminishing the volume. In other words, “throwing away” means these unimportant words are not given the same length and vocal energy. “Throwing away” is a skill and it takes time and effort to master it. We deal extensively with this skill in our book Get rid of your Accent Part Two, Advanced Level and in our app Fluent English Speech. Here is an example of “throwaway words” which are underlined:
”At the end of the day, Linda was right about that.”

As you can see from this example, unimportant words are often articles, prepositions and verbs “to be", etc. To sound fluent connect prepositions and articles to the main word and pronounce them as one word.

3)The English tend to speak in phrases, often linking the words together. To sound fluent in English, liaise words that belong together in a phrase gliding from one word to another, almost pronouncing them as one word. How to liaise? It is very simple, connect the last sound of the first word with the first sound of the next word. In our book Get rid of your Accent Part Two, Advanced Level and in our app Fluent English Speech we outline several types of liaisons that you need to master to sound fluent.
Below is an example of one:
Liaise preposition to the following word: ”in addition, from London, in town, from home, in context

In our elocution lessons, we teach students all these skills:

  • contractions

  • which words they need to “throw away”

  • how to connect words in a phrase or sentence

  • what to stress in a phrase or sentence

We have also published a video course with elocution lessons to master fluency. In conclusion, I want to stress the importance of connecting words in English speech. Quite a few of our students were under the impression that separating words in a phrase or sentence makes their speech more clear which is wrong. In order to develop clear and crisp English speech, you need to work on phrase and sentence stress and articulation and at the same time linking words.

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71. How do you run an English corner in China?

By Olga Smith

You can run an English corner with apps in the series Get Rid of your Accent. I recommend offering the app Elocution Lessons to people who start learning English. There are also tips for teachers in this app for various group activities. You will master the most commonly used words and phrases, verses and passages with correct pronunciation and perfect use of English. You can listen, record yourself and then compare your speech with the model - all in one app.

I also recommend that you use the app Get Rid of Chinese Accent to bring your students’ English to the next level. With Fluent English Speech, they will master connected speech patterns and sound more like a native English speaker, because English speak linking words in a phrase. They will also learn lots of idiomatic and colloquial expressions used by native English speakers with this app. Many students make the mistake of memories separate words and create expressions with them. We believe that it is more useful to memorise phrases to avoid phrasal mistakes.

Once they sorted out your fluency, vocabulary and pronunciation, I recommend that you download the app Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause to master your presentation skills in English necessary to advance in your career and study.

Get Rid of Chinese Accent is the number one app to master articulation and clear speech. Students need to have at least an intermediate level of English to work with this app as it was designed for native English speakers who go to London drama schools to master Received Pronunciation; it contains lots of verses and sentences from English literature. This app will immensely enrich your vocabulary as well.

To get the best results with these apps, download the video courses Get Rid of your Accent Part 1 and Get rid of your Accent Part 2.

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70. Turn a boring way of speaking into an interesting one

By Olga Smith
26 July 2020

In many professions and in social life, the way we speak often defines our success. In this blog post, I will first outline the main features of a boring way of speaking. Secondly, I will give you practical tasks from our elocution lessons to turn your speech into an interesting one.

What makes us sound boring then? Below, I would like to layout 7 reasons that make one sound boring:

  1. When we speak too slowly

  2. When we have poor articulation

  3. When we use a lot of empty words, words fillers and parasite words and predictable cliches

  4. When we speak monotonously, without emotions and feelings

  5. When we are not connected to our listeners on an intellectual and emotional level

  6. When we do not get to the point and, to coin a phrase, go in circles without really saying much

  7. When we speak on one level of pitch and never move the voice up and down

How do we change that? How can we speak so that people listen to us with interest and attention? An obvious answer is taking elocution lessons. Below are the tips from our elocution lessons.

  1. Stress important words and messages. I recommend that you sentence stress and use schwa to “throw away” unimportant words such as auxiliary verbs, articles and some prepositions like “for, from, to, of”.

  2. Make sure you have crisp consonants. Practise muscular, rhythmic and articulation exercises with the app Get Rid of your Accent. Read our blog about articulation.

  3. Record your speech for 5-10 minutes and check that you do not use a lot of words and phrases that do not carry important meaning; those are parasites words and cliche phrases. For example, my parasite word is “basically”, my cliche phrase is “do you see what I mean”. I repeat them like a parrot thus making myself sound a bit boring. I have decided to start collecting, creating and using metaphors instead.

  4. Avoid speaking monotonously, learn how to modulate your voice using the 4Ps, power, pace, pitch, pause with our app.

  5. Take into account your listeners, do a bit of research about them and practise 3D listening, Try to connect to their level. NLP will give you more techniques about how to do that.

  6. When you speak, stress your key messages, practise speaking in a concise way.

Read our blog about the 5 top benefits of elocution lessons to get more insights. More on www.batcsglobal.com

68. What are some fun ways to teach advanced English?

By Olga Smith

By Olga Smith

14 July 2020

The most fun way to teach advanced English is with the app Get Rid of your Accent UK1. Your students need to have at least an intermediate level of English to work with this app as it was designed for native English speakers who go to London drama schools to master Received Pronunciation; it contains lots of verses and sentences from English literature. This app will immensely enrich students’ vocabulary as well. You can also teach your students Business English with the app Business English Speech. It is written in the style of The Economist and Financial Times and helps with very advanced English.

After you drill sounds and articulation with your students, I recommend that you teach them how to speak in a connected way with the app Fluent English Speech. With Fluent English Speech, they will master connected speech patterns and sound more like a native English speaker linking words in a phrase. You will also teach them lots of idiomatic and colloquial expressions used by native English speakers with this app. As you know, many students make the mistake to memories separate words and creating expressions with them. Of course, it is more useful to memorise phrases. to avoid phrasal mistakes.

Once your students sorted out their fluency, vocabulary and pronunciation, I recommend that you teach them with the app Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause to master your presentation skills in English which you need if you want to advance in your career and study

To get the best results with these apps, recommend that you and your students download the video courses Get Rid of your Accent Part 1 and Get rid of your Accent Part 2 in order to see how speech organs are used in English. These video courses are recorded by a teacher teaching her student and you can pick up useful techniques from them.

In the app Elocution Lessons, there is a whole chapter called Tips for Teachers. In this app, you can learn what activities to use with your students.

More on Get Rid of your Accent | Elocution Lessons

67. What's the most useful tool to learn English?

By Olga Smith

By Olga Smith

  1. Write 8–10 sentences a day on a particular topic. It can be emails, letters, or your thoughts. Do not worry too much about grammar mistakes, they can be corrected by Grammarly, just practise, practise practise…

  2. Read small articles or passages daily

  3. Practice daily for 10–15 minutes with professional apps based on RP.
    The most useful tool for learning English is the app Elocution Lessons. You will master the most commonly used words and phrases, verses and passages with correct pronunciation and perfect use of English. You can listen, record yourself and then compare your speech with the model - all in one app.

Once you have mastered your use of English and pronunciation, I recommend that you download the app Fluent English Speech to bring your English to the next level. With Fluent English Speech, you will master connected speech patterns and sound more like a native English speaker, because English speak linking words in a phrase. You will also learn lots of idiomatic and colloquial expressions used by native English speakers with this app. Many students make the mistake of memorising separate words and create expressions with them. We believe that it is more useful to memorise phrases to avoid phrasal mistakes.

Once you sorted out your fluency, vocabulary and pronunciation, I recommend that you download the app Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause to master your presentation skills in English necessary to advance in your career and study.

Get Rid of your Accent UK1 is the number one app to master articulation and clear speech. You need to have at least an intermediate level of English to work with this app as it was designed for native English speakers who go to London drama schools to master Received Pronunciation; it contains lots of verses and sentences from English literature. This app will immensely enrich your vocabulary as well. In all these apps, there is a link in “How to use this app” to the page: the difficult sounds typical for your nationality. Click on your nationality to work effectively with a more focused approach.

If you want to bring your English to a professional level download the app ‎Business English Speech. It is written in the style of the Financial Times and Economist. With this app, you will learn words and expressions that will help you read high-quality journalism and speak like a CEO.

To get the best results with these apps, download the video courses Get Rid of your Accent Part 1 and Get rid of your Accent Part 2.

More on www.batcsglobal.com