Don't focus on words or grammar rules (do this instead...)

Over the next four days, I'm going to share with you my best tips for improving your English speaking. Let's get started! Here's one reason it can be hard to speak English. You might know a good number of English words... but then it's difficult to put them together into sentences when you speak. First of all, it's a LOT of work to put together an entire sentence word by word. It takes a lot of time, and it makes your speaking slow. Second, a lot of questions come into your mind:

• Am I using the right words?
• Is the grammar in this phrase correct?
• What if I make a mistake? Will the other person laugh at me or not understand what I'm trying to say?

These doubts and worries can STOP you from speaking, or make you nervous to try! So my first tip that will help you speak English fluently and confidently is NOT to focus on memorizing words or grammar rules.

Instead, focus on learning phrases.