Tag: tips

Tips for Encouraging English-Learners to Practice Speaking (Opinion)

As someone who has been learning Spanish most of my life, I know it can be challenging and scary to speak in a new language.

And I’ve seen my English-language-learner students experience similar feelings.

This multipart series will feature practical recommendations from teachers on how to encourage our students to get past that reluctance and develop speaking fluency in English.

Today’s contributors also participated in this 10-minute podcast.

‘Communication Cubes’

Laleh Ghotbi is a 4th grade educator in a Title I school in the Salt Lake City school district. She came to the United States in August 2000 and got two master’s degrees in English, her second language:

I am an educator from a diverse background, so this topic resonates with me on a personal and professional level. My own children are (former) English-learners, and I work in a Title I school where 11 out of my 17 students are English-learners. I have created a classroom environment where all of my students often raise their hands to share answers to the questions in discussions and offer insights about different topics.

Over my career working with kids from diverse backgrounds, I have learned that creating an inclusive and safe environment for students is the first step toward developing their speaking skills—a classroom free of judgment, where students can express their thoughts and feelings without the fear of making mistakes or being laughed at. To achieve this, from the first week of school, I hold weekly community/relationship-building circles with my students. I state expectations and give an example of how positive feedback can empower our peers. We talk about how we need to try to stay positive and not use hurtful comments. I share my personal experiences with learning a new language and talk about my own children who were sadly bullied for years because they were different. Kids can relate to these types of examples and show more empathy toward each other.

One strategy I use is to ask noncontent-related questions for building student confidence in participating in discussions. In my classroom, I utilize communication cubes in our community circles or whenever we have free time. Questions on the communication cubes are about students’ opinion or feeling about a certain topic, so there is no wrong answer. Each student rolls the cube, reads the question, restates part of the question as s/he answers to it. This activity allows students to practice their reading skills, make statement sentences they can use in writing prompts, and verbal communication skills.

The best part about the communication-cube activity is that the class is learning more about one another, which brings them closer together and fosters a supportive learning community. For example, when one of my very low readers read the question on the cube correctly, all the students started clapping for him. If he struggles with a word, a person close to him leans over and whispers the word, and he repeats it. I love watching my students supporting and teaching each other.

There are many strategies for supporting emerging bilingual students in learning academic language. A priority for supporting English-learners is building background knowledge. Students can speak about the topic of the lesson if they comprehend it. I often use visual vocabulary and videos to provide some background information about the topic. When I pose a question, I ask students to first talk with a partner before sharing their answers. Students feel more confident when they have the opportunity to share in pairs before the whole-class discussion.

Building students’ vocabulary bank is another way of developing language skills. In my class, we learn 8-15 new vocabulary words each week. Students learn the meaning of the vocabulary words through fun practices such as matching cards for pictures and the words, drag and drop activities where they use context clues to choose the correct vocabulary word, and their favorite, climb the mountain competition on Nearpod, which is on the last day of each week when they had enough practice to master the vocabulary words.

Another tool I use is Dyad reading. Students are paired based on their reading skills. A strong reader is paired with a high-medium reader and a medium reader with a lower reader. The stronger reader in each pair points to the words and tries to move his/her finger faster than the speed of his/her partner’s reading speed but not too fast that they give up. After each paragraph, they answer orally the questions about the text or summarize what they read in their own words. Dyad reading is an effective way of building reading, speaking, and writing skills.

From my many years supporting English-learners, I have learned we need a safe learning environment and a variety of fun and engaging activities for daily skills practice.

‘Creating a Safe Environment’

Anastasia M. Martinez is an English development and AVID Excel teacher in Pittsburg, Calif.:

We all know that acquiring language proficiency does not happen overnight; it is a daily intensive workout in reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills that would lead to language development. When I started learning English in elementary school, my teachers used a lot of grammar-translation methods, where students read and listened to texts and translated them into their first language. By the time I got to middle school, English was my least favorite subject; I could understand what I heard or read but could not say a word. It was that invisible wall in my mouth that just did not allow me to produce a sound.

What changed was starting an English course in high school where students and teachers only interacted in English. I still have goosebumps remembering my first interaction with an English-speaking guest speaker there when I had the courage to raise my hand and ask my first question in English about a barbecue in the United States. Years later, I became a language-development teacher; however, I still remember what helped me break that invisible wall and start speaking English.

Here are some ways that could help students practice their speaking skills in any classroom:

  • Create a safe and respectful space

As a language learner, the safe space that my teachers created at my English school was one of the catalysts that helped me break that invisible barrier that stopped me from using my voice in the classroom. Creating a safe environment in my classroom that is free of judgment is essential for me as a teacher now. It helps students understand that we are all on our learning journey and mistakes are a part of our learning.

Allowing room for even small celebrations of students’ success boosts students’ confidence and encourages them to use the language in the classroom. In my classroom, we use celebration snaps (borrowed from AVID Excel) when students notice that other students use high-level words or target vocabulary in speaking, they do quick snaps to acknowledge that student.

  • Being mindful of reducing TTT

As teachers, we want to share everything we know with our students, but actually reducing teacher talking time (TTT) would benefit language learners and all students more. Teacher talking time is the amount of time a teacher spends talking in the classroom for lecturing, giving directions, or participating in instructions. To help language learners improve their productive language skills, they need more time in the classroom to engage in meaningful conversations where they can use the target language. This is exactly why the amount of time a teacher spends talking should be reduced. When teachers speak less in the classroom, their role changes into being a facilitator rather than a conductor.

  • Provide ample opportunities for students to practice structured conversations.

Giving students opportunities to practice new vocabulary in a structured conversation helps them not only remember the concept better but also practice the target language in a conversation. In my classroom, when students share with partners or in small groups, students have roles. For example, when partner A is speaking, partner B is listening with their whole body (eyes are on the speaker, body turned to the speaker) or listening and taking brief notes.

I usually provide sentence frames for students so that they know how to start their answers. Before students share with their partners, I give them a couple of seconds to create their answer with a sentence frame and target language, then students signal that they are ready (thumbs up, for example) and then share with each other. Allowing this wait time gives students a chance to have their answers ready, and they feel more confident when sharing with their peers and later with the whole class.

‘Building Background Knowledge’

Ivannia Soto, Ph.D., is a professor of education and the director of graduate programs at Whittier College, where she also coordinates the Bilingual Authorization program. Soto has authored and co-authored 12 books (and many articles), including Shadowing Multilingual Learners:

There are four important ways to assist multilingual learners (MLLs) in developing speaking skills. These include:

  • Creating a community for language risks and an assets-based approach.
  • Building background knowledge for authentic conversations.
  • Scaffolding language with sentence frames for a variety of purposes and intentional pairs or groups.
  • Creating authentic speaking opportunities.

Creating a community for language risks and an assets-based approach takes planning before MLLs are ever placed in pairs or groups to begin practicing speaking skills. As educators, we must have and hold high expectations that our MLLs can and will rise to the level of our discourse expectations. We must also want to disrupt silence. MLLs have been relegated to silence for far too long, and we must realize that the person doing the most talking is doing the most learning (Soto, 2021). We must plan for student talk to happen by intentionally embedding it into our lesson plans and hourly teaching goals.

Students can often only actively listen for about 15 minutes, so we must plan for ongoing speaking opportunities during each lesson. Creating a community for language risks also means that students know that the classroom will be a safe place to practice new language with each other. MLLs in particular need to know that they will not be made fun of or overly corrected but, rather, will be supported and encouraged.

Building background knowledge for authentic conversations is essential to developing speaking skills, as it provides MLLs with enough content by which to actually have an authentic conversation. Just as when students write, they need to adequately build background knowledge around a topic, so do MLLs need to build enough content to have a conversation that is sustained with multiple rounds of evidence and dialogue.

MLLs can build background knowledge around a topic via multiple short reading selections (that eventually become longer), short video clips around a topic, or a series of photos (especially helpful for lower proficiency levels). Using multiple modes for building background knowledge will also engage students. Building background knowledge becomes the content scaffold that MLLs need to engage in conversations.

Now that the content scaffold has been developed, MLLs will also need language scaffolds in the form of sentence frames. The sentence frame should match the purpose of the conversation that the MLL is engaged in. For example, if the purpose of the conversation is to express an opinion, then it is fine to use a sentence frame such as, “In my opinion . . . “, or “I think or believe that. . . .” However, sentence frames used should also vary according to the purpose of the conversation. MLLs should also be given other sentence-frame tools such as predicting (“I hypothesize that. . . .) or co-constructing ideas (“My idea builds upon ___ idea. . . .” Additionally, MLLs will be most confident using sentence frames and taking language risks when they are paired with a partner or in a group that is one linguistic level above them. We certainly want language models for our MLLs, but we don’t want a partner who will take over the conversation. As such, it will take time for the teacher to plan pairs or groups by reviewing language-proficiency results for appropriate groupings.

Once all of the pieces of having a conversation are in place, teachers should create authentic speaking opportunities. This may also take some planning as it may take MLLs outside of the classroom. For example, perhaps MLLs in the upper grades can be paired with MLLs in the lower grades, and they can support their learning. Or, within one’s own classroom, MLLs can prepare for a debate in groups, where they share the background knowledge and evidence that supports their claim. MLLs can make presentations to an administrator on campus or record a conversation that they had at home with their parents or siblings.

Teachers and students should be patient with themselves as they begin to use the above tools. There may be times when things like noise levels become frustrating or sentence frames don’t quite work. Eventually, as teachers listen to rich student conversations, they will realize it was worthwhile in building MLL confidence and knowledge.

‘Peer Practice’

Jody Nolf is an associate language and literacy specialist at Vista Higher Learning. For more than 20 years, she taught English and reading to middle and high school students. Six years ago, she transitioned into the world of ESOL as a full-time coordinator and advocate for multilingual learners, creating professional development and working with educators around the United States:

English-language learners (ELs) come from diverse backgrounds and experiences, and not all of them are eager to practice their new language. Oral fluency combines both active (speaking) and passive (listening) skills, and whereas listening is usually the first to develop in proficiency, speaking does not always come so easily. The key is for educators to provide opportunities for ELs to practice their communication skills in a low-stress environment. Several examples of such opportunities include teacher-led choral responses, classroom practice with peers, and web-based practices.

Teacher-led choral response is a great first step to encouraging ELs to practice speaking skills. When students aren’t singled out to speak, the affective filter, i.e., any barrier to learning such as anxiety or lack of confidence, is lowered. For example, if the teacher is modeling the use of a new vocabulary word, she will ask the students to repeat the word back to her in unison. Even if the EL is a newcomer who only whispers or mouths the word so as not to draw attention to herself, she has still taken the first step of forming the word in her new language.

Another way that educators can help ELs develop their speaking skills is peer practice. This method encourages students to engage with one another, usually in small groups or pairs. These small groups reduce the affective filter because the EL student only needs to practice with one or two other students, rather than an entire classroom. For example, ELs might not readily volunteer to present in front of the class where all students focus on that one speaker. Instead, teachers can have students practice with a simple sentence frame of fill-in-the-blank interview questions that students can practice with a shoulder partner. This method is especially beneficial for students to acclimate to one another, thus lowering the affective filter even further. It also enhances listening skills. Students learn about each other while discovering interesting background details about their peers.

A third way that educators can help ELs develop speaking skills is to use web-based practices. The internet is filled with great tools for ELs to practice their new language skills, including speaking. These exercises are usually one-on-one experiences, thus lowering the affective filter while providing excellent learning opportunities. Flipgrid and Speakpipe are fun, easy-to-use resources that allow students to record themselves. The students can play back their recording and then self-evaluate, rerecording if desired.

Thanks to Laleh, Anastasia, Ivannia, and Jody for contributing their thoughts!

The new question of the week is:

What are the best ways to help English Language Learners develop speaking skills?

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at lferlazzo@epe.org. When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo.

Education Week has published a collection of posts from this blog, along with new material, in an e-book form. It’s titled Classroom Management Q&As: Expert Strategies for Teaching.

Just a reminder; you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email (The RSS feed for this blog, and for all Ed Week articles, has been changed by the new redesign—new ones are not yet available). And if you missed any of the highlights from the first 11 years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below.

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Professional Development Tips for Supporting English Learners

The English learner population is expanding but the amount of specialized instructors for them and training for common schooling teachers who do the job with them is lagging.

Researchers and educators say qualified progress for all instructors and faculty leaders rooted in finest methods for English learners is wanted to fill in the hole.

But, if a district or faculty have been to invest time and revenue into establishing these types of teaching, where by would they get started, and what are some of these best procedures that really should be protected to make sure the very best return on investment decision?

Diane Staehr Fenner, the president and founder of SupportEd, a consulting business targeted on English learners’ education and learning, and Rebecca Bergey, a senior researcher at the nonprofit American Institutes for Research, give some recommendations.

What to do just before commencing skilled enhancement

Here’s a sample of what to go over ahead of rolling out specialist enhancement throughout a faculty or district.

Accept that educational institutions and students are distinctive

Each individual English learner is one of a kind, just as educational institutions can be exclusive in how very best to serve their learners.

“So you want to [first] look in classrooms and see what’s occurring, what is heading very well, and what may possibly want to be improved,” Staehr Fenner claimed.

Use classroom observations and data

A demands evaluation, that commences with college leadership, must involve observations of numerous, diversified lecture rooms. Depending on the university, that could suggest a 3rd quality English/language arts class, a 7th grade math course, and a specialized English-as-a-second-language course time period.

In these observations “typically you’re searching for scaffolding, peer-to-peer interactions, [use of] oral language, tutorial language, formative assessment, culturally responsive training,” Staehr Fenner said.

In the desires evaluation, you also have to have to evaluation facts this sort of as how pupils are doing on English language proficiency exams, and break down material place info by English learner subgroups.

Get teacher input

This preliminary evaluation stage need to also include inquiring lecturers where they feel they want additional assistance and even hosting scholar target groups for their input as properly, Staehr Fenner additional.

Having trainer input is a important aspect of how university leaders can cultivate “a lifestyle of continual improvement and steady mastering inside their site” said Bergey with AIR.

With that mindset in area, standard education or articles region instructors, even other staff members users this sort of as arts lecturers and P.E. coaches, can have a lot more get-in to schooling and much more quickly see English learners as their shared responsibility and not the sole obligation of specialists.

Roll out specialist progress in phases

When the demands evaluation is entire, university leaders ought to agree on what matters will need to be lined in college extensive skilled progress.

The next stage must invite a team of equally basic instruction and English as a next language instructors, already invested in going the needle at their faculty, to pilot the experienced advancement. From there, a small team of academics can endure the teaching and then it gets rolled out throughout the whole college, Staehr Fenner stated.

Very best procedures that ought to be covered in instruction

Even though each individual school’s demands could be distinctive in conditions of what matters should be lined in experienced development on doing the job with English learners, in this article are a couple that normally must be accounted for based mostly on most effective procedures rooted in research:

Scaffolding: Make certain that all instructors know how to scaffold instruction, specifically in the educational information spots, to assure that English learners can have interaction with grade-degree get the job done alongside their non-English learner friends.

Tutorial conversations: Teachers will need to be capable to established up English learners with the appropriate chances for training academic discussions in course. “[Teachers] just cannot just say ‘Hey, switch and talk,’ that’s not truly going to perform with our English learners, you’d have to provide them support so they’re coming to discussions prepared,” Staehr Fenner explained. That could contain presenting structured discussion guides for learners to use with peers.

Academic language: Tutorial language—distinct from day-to-day, social language—isn’t restricted to vocabulary. It necessitates college students to fully grasp how sentences and discourse perform in a given area of examine such as the educational language of conveying a math dilemma as opposed to that of a debate in record class. Education needs to protect how to very best help English learners’ enhancement of educational language in course.

Culturally responsive educating: All instructors must operate to make relationships with English learners at their university and aid them experience welcome. 1 way to do that is to ensure that instruction for these students is infused with culturally responsive teaching, Staehr Fenner reported. Broadly talking, culturally responsive teaching is a form of training that uses students’ customs, properties, ordeals, and views as applications for instruction. Training need to support teachers comprehend how to use this educating method with their English learners.

Collaboration: Training really should emphasize alternatives for collaboration in between English learner experts and all other educators in a faculty. This would ensure that these students are appropriately supported in all classrooms with grade-degree articles.

“Ten or 20 decades ago, there was the considered that students discover English initial, so place them in the ESL classes, when they get sufficient English, then let’s start off teaching them written content, let us force them out,” Bergey explained. “And we know now that which is not the situation, that pupils are studying both equally English and material at the same time.”

Universities with English learner professionals must leverage their know-how by offering them time and opportunities for collaborative discussions to choose spot, she extra.

Interim casual examine-ins by teachers observing other teachers to see how the expert progress is heading, and other types of coaching along the way could help lecturers integrate new approaches in their instruction as instruction carries on, Staehr Fenner mentioned.

Formative evaluation: Language improvement is a process and a way to enable all teachers comprehend this is by producing confident they 1st know what English learners are analyzed on in language proficiency tests, Bergey mentioned. The Accessibility for ELLs exam for instance, employed in 36 states, assessments college students in 4 language domains: studying, crafting, listening, and talking.

Studying much more about the check and how students are scored can assistance instructors ideal know how to assistance students in class. For occasion, they might have an English learner who listens nicely and actively participates by speaking in course, but they could use added guidance and possibilities to practice their reading through and producing expertise.

In standard, lecturers should have strategies and instruments at their disposal to see how their English learners are accomplishing, and then be equipped to consider the info and adapt their instruction appropriately, Staehr Fenner explained.

Trying to learn a language? This polyglot’s tips will help

Arieh Smith is a YouTuber and content material creator with practically 10 million subscribers across his channels.

Arieh, also known as @Xiaomanyc, lives in New York and is very best known for his movies astonishing folks with his language capabilities. And it’s not just your vintage French and Spanish – even though he does converse excellent Spanish. Arieh has mastered Mandarin Chinese and dabbles in Yoruba, Navajo, Fuzhounese, Wolof, Hindi and a great number of far more.

So what is his top secret?

How Xiaomanyc found out his adore of languages

Arieh grew up in your regular loved ones. Just a person language was spoken at house and he wasn’t especially fascinated or successful in the languages presented at school.

Immediately after he finished substantial faculty even though, Arieh was seeking for anything interesting to do for the duration of the summertime and uncovered a flyer for free Mandarin Chinese courses. Following discovering some basic principles and practising in New York’s Chinatown, he was hooked.

“I believe the reason why I continued learning it to the extent that I did was […] I got quite good responses from Chinese people today, extremely early on,” Arieh tells Euronews Vacation

While in college, Arieh ongoing his reports and gained a scholarship to devote a yr researching in China. This involved a two month programme with other American college students in which they have been forbidden from talking to just about every other in English.

“I tried out to create a accurate immersion atmosphere for myself… I was at a college in Beijing that had a good deal of overseas college students but I truly tried to segregate myself and I claimed, right, I’m only going to dangle out with Chinese men and women,” clarifies Arieh.

“If I did hold out with foreigners, I tried using to cling out with individuals who did not talk very excellent English.”

Why learn a language?

Studying a language not only opens the door to easier vacation , it also creates a deeper comprehending of a nation and its society.

“I assume individuals want their culture to be seen and read,” says Arieh.

“I consider if you know how to say anything in their language – or if you even know that their country, tradition and meals exist – it is a indicator of regard and men and women genuinely value that.”

How to start talking a new language

First of all, you need to have a reason to do it. Perhaps you’re likely on a large trip or want to shift overseas, or probably you want to examine your favorite e-book in its primary language. Regardless of what it is, uncover your cause.

In accordance to Arieh, when he 1st begins with any language he has a checklist of phrases that he constantly learns and commits to memory:

  • Do you communicate X language?
  • I do discuss X language.
  • I really don’t understand.
  • How substantially is this?
  • Do you have this?

Arieh thinks, if you want to communicate, never be concerned about learning grammar intensely, just practise speaking and the mechanics of the language will occur obviously.

And frankly, how usually when you are in the grocery store overseas do you want to explain to a person you have eco-friendly eyes, straight brown hair and two brothers? Neglect your faculty textbook, emphasis on the useful things.

“I assume travelling is so great for the reason that it truly can make things adhere in your brain a whole lot improved, so if you can incorporate both equally language understanding and travelling, I consider it’s seriously the most effective factor.”

Enjoy the online video higher than to see far more from Arieh.

Pronunciation tips for learning a new language

In your language-learner dreams, you may be asking a local what time the train is coming in a perfect Parisian accent, or ordering scialatelli as if you’ve spent your entire life vacationing on the Amalfi Coast. But knowing the words is one thing. Sounding like a native is entirely different.

If you’re learning a language that doesn’t share roots with your mother tongue, pronunciation can be hard. So hard in fact, that it may hinder the learning process altogether.   

“We learners hold ourselves to these really difficult goals that aren’t always very realistic,” says Cindy Blanco, managing editor of learning content at Duolingo. “People feel so self-conscious about how they sound when they’re speaking a different language that they don’t get the practice, learn new vocabulary, or try out new grammar.” 

Some general recommendations

Different languages pose different challenges to learners. Mother tongues can also make picking up new lingo simpler or more difficult; it’s easier for an English speaker to learn the similarly-rooted German, and harder for them to learn Italian. But regardless of the language you’re trying to shove into your brain, there are a couple of things you should keep in mind to make learning easier for you.

Keep your eyes on the goal 

Every language has its own music, and many learners consider being able to speak with the same cadence and intonation as a local as the ultimate goal. It’s not, though. 

“From a learning perspective, you don’t need to sound like you have lived in Paris your whole life in order to speak French and be understood, and have a great time communicating,” says Blanco.

[Related: The language you speak changes your perception of time]

It’s totally valid to want to eventually pronounce everything perfectly and have people ask you if you’ve spent a lot of time abroad. But the true goal of learning a second or third language should be communication, which is often unrelated to pronunciation. 

Choose your battles

When it comes to communicating, pronunciation is only important when changing a sound changes the meaning of a word.

Consider the words “this” and “these.” For Spanish speakers, these words are tricky because the “I” sound in “this” doesn’t exist in their native language. They tend to pronounce it as “these.” Here, the shape of your mouth is crucial to get meaning across, but that’s not always the case. If you order tacos in Mexico using the American “oʊ” vowel, you’ll definitely sound foreign, but no one’s going to bring you a plate of spaghetti or a bagel. The same happens with the French “R”—it sounds lovely, but if you have a hard time pronouncing it, you’ll still probably be able to communicate with locals during your trip to the Pyrenees mountains.  

So the next time you’re having trouble with a particular sound, ask yourself if it changes the meaning of words at all. If the answer is no, your attention and focus will be better served elsewhere. 

Go slow

This tip doesn’t have any unfamiliar sounds, but it still has two meanings: speak slower and give yourself time to get better. 

Most people think that to be successful at language learning you need to speak fast and be as competent in your new lingo as you are in your mother tongue. That’s what some people mean by “speaking natively.” But learning a new language is hard on your brain. 

Blanco explains that communication generally happens in two layers: first, you think of a concept or desire, then your brain translates that into words you can express to others through sounds. 

“When you’re learning a new language, we don’t automatically map the new words to the concepts, we map them to our own language. So we create an extra layer,” Blanco explains.  

So, you think of a concept, then think of the words to express that concept in your mother tongue, and then you consciously look for the equivalent of those words in the language you’re learning. And that’s just at a conceptual level. Once you have the words, your brain has to tell your face muscles to overcome decades of use and move in strange and unfamiliar ways to emit the sounds of these new words. It’s a lot. 

Slowing down on the spot will give you more time to manage the internal process of thinking and speaking in a new language, while slowing down across the board will give your brain time to better adjust to something new.  

“The goal of learning is to have so much practice with the new language that you start mapping it directly to the concept. That’s what people mean when they talk about thinking in the language—you want to skip the translation in your head,” says Blanco. 

Thinking about your brain as a muscle and a new language as physical activity might help—picking up swimming when you’ve been running your entire life is hard. Muscles you didn’t even know you had will be sore, and maybe you won’t even know how to breathe correctly. Don’t worry—your skills will grow with time and practice.  

Listen as much as you can 

Blanco explains that listening to a language also helps with pronunciation because the movements your mouth makes to produce the sounds are connected to what your brain knows about the sounds. 

“In linguistics, we call it perception and production—so it’s the hearing, but also the speaking, and these are two parts of the same skill,” she says.

Luckily, listening is easy. Streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have a lot of non-English content you can browse. There are also countless videos you can watch on YouTube, as well as music and podcasts you can listen to on your favorite platform. If you’re worried about finding something that matches your learning level, don’t fret too much about it. 

“In the beginning, it’s totally normal to not understand much or anything. That will come with practice,” Blanco says. 

Eventually, you’ll be able to pick out words, phrases, and then sentences. And if you think it’ll help you, you can listen while reading the words. The lyrics feature on Spotify, for example, can come in handy—find it by tapping the microphone icon in the bottom right corner of your screen on the desktop app, or swiping up on the player screen on the mobile app. If you’re listening to a podcast, you’ll find that publishers will often post the transcripts for it. You can usually find these links in the episode description, but a quick web search will also do the trick.

How to better pronounce a foreign language

Since learning challenges are language-specific, we decided to focus on the most popular languages people are learning in the US according to Duolingo’s 2022 report: Spanish, English (for Spanish-speaking learners), French, Japanese, and German. 

Tips for pronouncing Spanish

You may have never thought about it, but the sounds—or phonemes—in Spanish are widely different from those in English. It’s true: English has around 42 (20 vowel sounds and 22 consonants), while Spanish only has around 24 (five vowels and 19 consonants). This is the equivalent of using all the crayons in a box to draw a picture and then being told to do the same but with only half of them. Oh, and also using some entirely new colors, because some Spanish phonemes just don’t exist in English. 

When it comes to vowels, Blanco recommends that English speakers think of these sounds as shorter and sharper. For example, the Spanish “O” sounds like only half of the aforementioned English “oʊ” phoneme, which in turn sounds like the pairing of two Spanish phonemes: “O” and “U.”  

For English speakers, there’s no doubt that the Mount Everest of Spanish pronunciation is the rolling or trilled “R”. If you’ve felt the frustration of not being able to replicate this sound, Blanco says you can just skip it. More often than not, an inability to trill your Rs will not affect communication. Yes, you’ll sound like an American speaking Spanish, but locals will still be able to get what you’re saying. 

If you’re going to stress over Rs, your energy is better spent mastering the single “R” sound in Spanish—the one you’ll encounter in words like “para” and “arena.” This one’s especially tricky because it actually exists in English, but under a different letter, Blanco explains. 

“We just don’t think of it being an ‘R’—we think it’s a double ‘T’ or a double ‘D,’ like in ‘ladder’ or ‘matter,’” says Blanco. 

In cases like this one, turning off the subtitles and skipping the transcripts when you’re listening to Spanish content can be a good idea, as it will let you concentrate on the sounds and not get tricked by the words.  

Tips for pronouncing English (for Spanish speakers)

The sheer number of new sounds Spanish speakers need to learn to properly pronounce English is absurd. To continue with the crayon analogy, a Spanish speaker learning English is like a master of black-and-white art suddenly needing to paint in technicolor. There are sure to be some bumps in the road. 

Moving your face and mouth muscles in a way that may feel exaggerated is necessary for good English pronunciation. And even if it feels like you’re doing a Jim Carrey impersonation, you’re not—you’re just moving your face in an unfamiliar way. The other problem is that mastering English vowels is necessary because unlike the rolling Rs in Spanish, these sounds can change the meaning of a word, like in “bit” and “beat.”

“You can kind of cheat by using what you’ve got but making it long or short,” says Blanco. So, “bit” has a shorter vowel sound than “beat.”

When it comes to consonants, a tricky one for Spanish speakers is the “Th” sound (as in “thespian” and “thistle”), mainly because it’s a sound that doesn’t exist in Spanish. This is when looking at the mouths of English speakers can come in handy: paying attention to how people put their tongues between their teeth can help your brain visualize the movements of your own mouth much more easily. 

Tips for pronouncing French

You’d think that French has more phonemes than English, but you’d be wrong (36 vs. 42, approximately). What’s tricky about French is not the number of sounds but the number of new sounds, which forces English speakers to learn 10 new phonemes. 

Blanco explains that the main challenges are rounded vowels. These are the sounds that require you to round your lips, which can feel extremely unnatural for English and Spanish speakers since these sounds are nowhere to be found in those languages. 

To get better at this, your best bet is to observe the mouths of francophones and try imitating them. Blanco recommends streaming a French show and paying close attention to how people move their lips when they speak. You can also have a mirror at hand and try to imitate the sounds and movements on the spot. Don’t do this without a reference—you want to be able to compare the correct form to what you’re doing and tweak it as necessary.  

Just like Spanish speakers learning English, English speakers learning French will feel like they’re contorting their muscles a lot more, which can lead to feeling self-conscious. But there’s no need to—you’re probably not moving excessively, just moving in a way you’re not used to. Keep at it until it becomes natural. 

Tips for pronouncing Japanese 

Believe it or not, Japanese is very similar to Spanish. Well, at least as far as sounds are concerned. Both Japanese and Spanish have five vowels, and a similar number of consonants (14 vs. 19, approximately), so English speakers will have some of the same challenges learning Japanese as they do learning Spanish. 

But there’s a catch—or more. While Spanish is a category 1 language on the difficulty scale, Japanese is a category 8 (the highest). Among the reasons for this discrepancy are stress patterns, long vowels, double or geminated consonants, and rhythm.  

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Japanese has a different stress pattern than English, explains Blanco, and while Americans usually stress one syllable, native Japanese speakers tend to stress syllables more consistently throughout, making words sound somewhat flatter. Geminated consonants, also present in Italian, add to longer vowel sounds that prolong the basic phonemes to create new ones. And if that’s not enough, the rhythm of Japanese is completely different from English, which forces learners to unlearn even how they breathe when speaking. 

Doing a lot of listening and thinking about intonation and rhythm can help, Blanco says, as it can make it easier for a Japanese listener to break apart what you’re saying.

Tips for pronouncing German

Luckily for German learners, this lingo shares its Germanic roots with English. While there are some new sounds you’ll have to learn (some borrowed from French), you may have an easier time trying to pronounce Goethe’s mother tongue. 

Blanco recommends focusing your attention on watching native speakers’ mouths, and listening exercises. This time, forgo any transcripts, as German has sounds that are present in English but are represented by different letters. This can result in written words being more confusing than helpful. 

Just like in French, the German “R” can be tricky for English speakers, but will seldom change the meaning of words. If you’re having trouble with it, you’re better off saving it for another day, says Blanco. 

Regardless of the language, you’re learning, it’s important to remember that there’s no single, unified way native speakers sound, and there’s nothing wrong with having an accent. Your brain and body have spent years, even decades perfecting communication in one language. Repeating the process (with the added difficulty of having a mother tongue) can be slow and challenging, so be gentle with yourself and, above all, be patient.