161. Android Apps to master English speech

British English:

Elocution Lessons - Apps on Google Play
This app is ideal for children and people who just started learning English. This app has 48 lessons. It contains short, commonly used phrases, sentences and verses that are easy to repeat and it also has useful tips for teachers of English. It is actually useful for everyone as it contains essential, everyday English.

Get Rid of Your Accent - Apps on Google Play
This app is ideal if you want to get rid of a regional or foreign accent and to speak with Standard English or RP (Received Pronunciation). It has 42 lessons; it contains effective practical exercises to perfect all English sounds and perfect your articulation.

Fluent English Speech - Apps on Google Play
This app is a follow-up to the Get Rid of your Accent app.  It is ideal if you want to develop fluency in English and sound more like a native English speaker. It contains exercises for difficult and connected speech patterns, natural flow of speech, intonation, sentence stress and onomatopoeia. 

Business English Speech - Apps on Google Play
This app was designed for top-level professionals, diplomats and lawyers. It is the only app on the market that has both English pronunciation and business vocabulary training. It contains 43 lessons with material gathered from interviews with CEOs, CFOs and MDs of global companies and helps to develop proficiency in English.

Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause - Apps on Google Play
This app is ideal if you want to get rid of monotonous speech and become a successful presenter and public speaker. It contains practical exercises for voice modulation and the use of pauses.

Get Rid of Chinese Accent - Apps on Google Play
This app is the same as the app Get Rid of your Accent with an additional bonus - Chinese translations.

General American English:

American Accent App - Apps on Google Play
This app is ideal if you want to get rid of a foreign or regional accent and master Standard American accent. It has 42 lessons. It contains effective practical exercises to perfect all American English sounds.

Fluent American Speech - Apps on Google Play
This app is a follow-up to the American Accent App. It is ideal to develop fluency in your American English speech. It contains exercises for difficult and connected speech patterns, natural flow of speech, intonation and sentence stress

More on www.batcsglobal.com

158. Stop sounding boring and depressing!

Many of our students are high achievers, and they want their speech to be as sharp as a sword with which they conquer the world. They take our elocution lessons to feel confident to: - run meetings, - speak in front of a large international audience, - present sales pitches, - dominate in political debates, - speak in the High Court of Justice, - create educational video courses in the world's top universities, and so on. In other words, they want people to listen to them. We first work on the clarity of their speech and help them master RP (Received Pronunciation, actors master RP in drama schools in order to play upper-class characters in classic plays).

However, intonation and inflection are even more important if you want to sound interesting so that others enjoy listening to you. Here is just one example of how different patterns of inflection can be used. Most of the time we would use a simple falling inflection at the end of a sentence. Within a sentence that has separate phrases, we would use a rising inflection at the end of each phrase and finish the sentence with a falling inflection. Here are a couple of examples: “The plane, which is flying to America, was delayed.” ”The giant, who was called Bill, was very frightening.”

Using rising inflection where appropriate will make the speech much more interesting.

Usually, people sound really boring and even depressing if they constantly use a simple falling inflection. What I have noticed is that often people from a particular culture have a habit of using simple falling most of the time (for example, in an authoritarian culture like Russia). When I asked them to say something differently (with simple rising inflection or circumflex rising) they told me they felt unnatural. Indeed, our intonation and inflection are influenced by the environment we grew up in. Often, we outgrow or change our childhood environment and lift ourselves to the next level. Therefore, one might ask: Is the way I speak fitting my current environment?

When we record our students’ speech, they are often shocked to hear the way they sound. They want to do exercises that can help them sound more interesting.

I want to share these exercises with you.

1. Listen to good RP speakers; a small section at a time, a minute long or less

2. Analyse their inflection and make a note of when it rises and when it falls

3. Copy them

To eliminate the habit of constantly using simple falling, try this simple exercise: instead of telling people what to do, ask them to do it, and instead of demanding, ask for a favour. When we ask a question, our inflection rises.

It will also be useful to get rid of negative words in your vocabulary. Think about how you can avoid sounding negative. For example, instead of saying "We had another slow day", just say what happened: "Today our sales reached the same levels as yesterday".

You can learn and practise intonation/inflection and voice modulation with the apps Fluent English Speech and  Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause. The functionality of the app is ideal: you can listen, repeat and compare your pronunciation and intonation with the model.

More on www.batcsglobal.com/elocution-lessons

156. Tips to improve public speaking skills and boost confidence

You can boost your confidence by realising that you are a unique human being and that your contribution to this world is welcomed. What you do and say matters and has value. Do not try to copy others, develop your style, have fun and be happy.

What I have noticed is that people who lack confidence are not happy with their physical appearance. Such people are often victims of the beauty industry and spend a fortune on plastic surgery and procedures.

By daring to be your natural self, having a haircut that you fancy but that may not be in fashion and clothes that others might find odd-looking will boost your confidence; it will shout out “I don’t care what you think of me”.

Secondly, educate yourself and master the skills that you want to have and that might be of value to others. Monetise these skills and become prosperous. Money is a huge confidence booster.

To become a good public speaker, work on straight posture, correct breathing, speech, voice, use of gestures, and visual aids to boost your presentations.

Here are a few public speaking tips:

1. Practise articulation exercises regularly. This will help you to have clear and crisp speech

2. Use pauses. It is one of the most effective means in public speaking; it separates ideas, creates a dramatic effect, creates anticipation and so much more.

3. Stress key messages. This technique helps to make your speech easy to listen to

Click the link below if you want to find out more

https://www.batcsglobal.com/public-speaking

154. How to prepare for a presentation?

We recommend that people who take our elocution lessons should practise their presentations in the following order:

1. Firstly, write the structure of the presentation in key messages, introduction, body, and conclusion. For example: - in the introduction, you can greet your audience and say what your presentation is about; - in the body of the presentation, you will discuss examples and statistics which support the topic and purpose of your presentation; - in the conclusion, you will call for action.

2. Then read the presentation three times, and then record yourself reading it. Listen to your recording and make a note of your mistakes, then practise again until you are satisfied with the results. It would be useful to perform articulation exercises with the app Get Rid of your Accent for a few days before your presentation.

3. Finally, practise it in front of the mirror and make a video recording of yourself presenting

Practising in front of the mirror is helpful for public speaking because you will see how confident you look, and you will also see your posture and gestures. All three, confidence, posture and gestures, can support your presentation or distract from it.

The main characteristics of bad posture are:

1. Slouching

2. The body tilted backwards or forwards

3. Lifted shoulders

4. Looking down

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

6. Both toes are pointing inside and heels are pointing outside

7. One shoulder is higher than the other

8. Hunched back

9. Humping on one leg

Stay straight and create zigzag eye contact with your audience. Do not walk to often from one side to another as it can be destructive. Use zigzag eye contact with your audience. Download the app 4Ps, Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause, to practise posture preparation, use of pauses and voice modulation. These useful skills will help you improve your presentations.

Below, I list gestures that weaken your presence and your speech delivery.

1. Lack of gestures resulting from the stiffness of the body. Sometimes a person feels so nervous. They hold their speech in their hands during their entire presentation. This creates a closed body posture and shows a lack of confidence.

2. Scratching your head, nose, or any part of the body can look a bit distracting and even inappropriate.

3. Trying to adjust your clothes and moving a ring on your finger are also gestures that indicate that the person feels somewhat nervous.

4. Touching and trying to improve your hair shows that you are not sure of your looks and feel you are not confident enough.

5. Too many gestures and repetitive gestures show you are trying too hard to compensate for a lack of confidence.

I recommend using descriptive gestures. Consider how your gestures can help your audience easily absorb the information. Using visual aids is also very powerful and brings an element of play into your presentation. Just 15 minutes before presenting, perform body relaxation exercises so that anxiety does not interfere with the smooth delivery of your presentation.

You can find out more tips for speech mastery and public speaking on www.batcsglobal.com