It's easier to have a conversation if you have a reason to speak – something to talk about. These ideas all give you a reason to speak with another person. Here are some ideas on how you can practice your English:

1. Start a film or book club
Invite people to discuss a film that you all watch together, or a book that you are all reading. Prepare questions before, to help people talk about specific aspects.

2. Volunteer to help other people
Does your town or company often welcome foreign guests? Can you offer to translate for them? Or perhaps you can offer to help children or students with their English homework.

3. Take part in a film conversation
Watch a film on DVD, and decide in which part you can speak with the film character. Listen to what the character says (and the reply) then rewind, and either mute or pause the DVD after the film character speaks. Take the other character's role, and reply to the first character. You can also find film scripts on the imsdb site. Print it out, then practise taking a role in the film.

4. Use skype
Chat with other people in a penpal forum via Skype. You can get to know them first by writing to them, then invite them for a conversation.

5. Take English lessons
This is the most effective option, joining for private or group lessons is a good way to regularly practice your English. If you have a job, maybe your company can also arrange lessons for you.

6. Before you start speaking
- Try to plan what you want to say. Make sure you know the most important words or technical terms that you'll need.

- Practice standard expressions. For example, "Pleased to meet you", or "How are you?" Getting these expressions right makes you feel more confident to continue the conversation.

- As well as concentrating on what you want to say, also concentrate on listening to the other person. Give your full attention, and make sure you understand by using clarifying expressions such as "Sorry, do you mean…" or "I'm sorry, but I don't understand. Can you repeat that please?" Don't forget: being a good speaker also means being a good listener. People will want to have conversations with you if they know you're interested in what they say!

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It can be difficult to keep a conversation going. Even if you understand what the other person is saying, you can feel "blocked" or "frozen" when it's your turn to speak. The words or phrases you need don't often come quickly enough to mind. The more opportunities you can get to use and speak English, the easier it is to find the right words when you need them.

Here are some ways to make you sound like a fluent, confident speaker of English without saying very much:

1. Show interest in the other speaker
You don't need to say much. Often just one word is needed to show you are interested and listening. Try "Really?" (with a rising intonation), "Right" or "Sure". You could even show you are listening with a non-word such as "Mmm" or Uh-huh".

A: "I hate watching rubbish on the TV."
B: "Right."

2. Use a short phrase to show your feelings
For example, "How awful", "Oh no!", "You're joking", "What a pity" etc.

A: "My neighbour had a car accident yesterday."
B: "Oh no!"
A: "Yes, but thankfully he wasn't hurt."
B: "Mmm."

3. Ask a short question
You can use an auxiliary verb to make a short question which will encourage the other speaker to keep talking:

A: "We tried out the new Chinese restaurant last night."
B: "Did you?"

A: "I'm going to Paris next week on holiday."
B: "Are you? Lucky you!"

A: "It's snowing again."
B: "Is it?"

4. Repeat what the other person said
-Do this especially if the other person has said something surprising.

A: "He won two billion yen on the lottery."
B: "2,000,000,000 yen!"

A: "I'm going to Paris next week."
B: "PARIS!"

Adapted from:
English At Home


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