1.

Improve pronunciation and diction

There are a few tricks to making a vernacular accent more globally understandable.

~ Try making sure that 'air' comes out of your mouth when saying the letters, 'T, P, K' and
the sound 'Ch'.
~ Focus on elongating your vowel sounds. This will also automatically slow down your rate of speech.
~ Sing English songs out loud!
~ Watch news shows on channels like CNN and BBC.
~ The web site www.m-w.com is great for pronunciation help.
~ I would also suggest buying books on pronunciation and language that come with audio cassettes.
A good book that I found really useful was Better English Pronunciation by J D O'Connor. It is part of the
Cambridge series, and some of those books come with cassettes.
2. Spruce up your writing skills
~ Believe it or not, you have to Read More!
~ Well-written magazines, like The Economist and India [ Images ] Today, are great to read not only to
improve language skills but also to learn more about the world.
~ In terms of books, read what interests you. The basic goal is to read as much as you can.
There are a plethora of good authors who are popular today. Some good writers whose language is easy
to follow include Vikram Seth, Jhumpa Lahiri [ Images ], Paulo Coelho, J D Salinger, Albert Camus and
Roald Dahl.
~ People tend to forget basic grammar when writing e-mails. An e-mail is nothing more than a letter which
is sent electronically.
Make sure salutations and content are professional. Use special phrases when attaching documents. For
example, "Please find attached with this e-mail a report on..." This helps you sound professional.
3. Five exercises to practise every day!
i. Pretend you are a newscaster and read out the newspaper to your mirror.
ii. Do not read local newspapers. Focus on national newspapers.
iii. While reading a book, underline all the words you do not know. Look them up in the dictionary.

iv. Make a list of these words, and make sure you use at least five of them in a conversation during the
day.
v. Most important, make an effort to speak in English to your friends and family

body language
Facial expressions
Voice culture
Gestures
Eye contact
Spatial arrangements
Patterns of touch
Expressive movement
Body language
Of all the non verbal factors mentioned here, one should be aware of body language, as beyond
the words this speaks volumes. Thus, one needs to learn how to effectively use their body to
communicate better.
Take for instance, eye contact. Eye contact is an important channel of interpersonal
communication. This factor helps regulate the flow of communication. It signals interest in
others. Furthermore, eye contact with the audience increases the speaker's credibility. It is also
an important part of effective team communication skills.
Another instance are the varied facial expressions. Take for example, the importance of the
smile... it is regarded as a powerful cue that transmits: happiness, friendliness, motivational,
warmth, liking, affection, etc. With a gentle smile on the face one is sending out a friendly signal,
which is almost always reciprocated in a positive manner.
Gestures are another important part of non verbal communications. If one fails to use gestures
while speaking, they tend to be perceived as boring, stiff and unanimated. A lively and animated
teaching and speaking style captures the audience attention, at any given point. For example,
nodding the head, communicates positive reinforcement, indicating that the speaker is being
heard.
Other aspects of the body that are important in communicating is the posture of the body; as
well as the proximity being maintained. For instance, while listening one should lean a little
forward to show that they are interested in the conversation.
Gnglish speaking
The basic underlying factor for learning any language - written or spoken - is its grammar. Thus,
any trainer involved in teaching English speaking prepares are module, wherein grammar is the

larger chunk of learning. What follows here, is a typical English speaking learning module...
Basic Grammar: Under basic grammar the participant is taught the Parts of speech, which
includes the following:
Noun - a word used as the name of person, place, animal, bird, object, etc.
Pronoun - is a word used instead of a noun.
Verb - is a word which expresses action or state of being.
Adjective - is a word used to add something to the meaning of a noun or pronoun.
Adverb - is a word used to add something to the meaning of a verb, an adjective
or another adverb.
Preposition - is a word used with a noun or a pronoun to show how the person or object denoted
by the noun or pronoun stands in relation to something else.
Conjunction - is a word used to join words or sentences
Interjection - is a word that expresses some sudden feeling
Sentence Construction: The basic factor taught here is SVO (subject-verb-object) pattern of
sentence construction; wherein the verb is always between the subject and the verb.
Grammatically incorrect sentences take the form of SOV (subject-object-verb).
Advanced Grammar: This includes the following Agreement of the Verb with the Subject
Articles
Special usage
Tenses
Questions tags
Active and Passive Voice
Direct and Indirect Speech
Vocabulary: This includes topics such as:
Commonly misspelled words
Irregular nouns
Irregular verbs
Interesting and challenging words
In some training programs voice and accent become a part of the training, with emphasis on
accent neutralization.
One can find English speaking courses in Pune, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkatta, Hyderabad, and other
major and smaller cities of India.
Spoken English

In order to be able to learn any language whether spoken or written, one needs at least 60 hours
to 72 hours teaching-learning time. This is the principle followed by every language trainer.
Where spoken English is concerned, one needs to undergo an entire language learning course.
This course is designed in such a way that one understands the essentials of grammar, sentence
construction and vocabulary.

Some trainers go a step ahead and add modules for accent neutralization, so that the student
can speak English without the mother tongue effect. This is important, as people in India have
strong mother tongue effect where their accent is concerned, because of which it becomes all the
more difficult to understand them when they speak basic, survival English.
Another additional module is that of written English. However, written English is taught in detail
in advanced English language classes. In the basic class the student is taught basic written
English, which will help them correspond basic written communication messages.
Given here is a typical spoken English training program:
Grammar:
Parts of Speech
Noun
Pronoun
Adjectives
Verbs
Adverbs
Conjunctions
Prepositions
Interjection
Articles
Tenses
Verb-Tense Consistency
Sentence Structure
Punctuation
Vocabulary:
Basic English Keywords
Vocabulary Builder
Abbreviations
Practical Vocabulary
Weather Vocabulary
Numbers
Time
The World
Phrasal Verb Vocabulary

Pronunciation:
Commonly Mispronounced Words
Sentence Stress
Pause Management
Conversation Skill:
Conversation as communication
Assertive/Aggressive/Submissive Communication
Non-verbal Communication Skill