Retelling a Story helps You Improve Speaking Skills

You sometimes have to read a story whether you like it or not. You sometimes feel obligated to read it on a regular basis. By the way, What do you read for fun? You know what? A Story can help you with English fluency. It sounds weird, doesn’t it? So are you curious about what to do with a story to help you practice speaking English on your own? I’m super excited for it. Let’s jump into it!

 

This video tells you how to imorove speaking skills as well as reading skills at the same time.

 

Did you ever do anything specific for English speaking skills? You might come up with an idea of what is known as speaking activities. You mostly tend to see a story as something related to reading skills or vocabulary. Listen! How about we see a story as something to boost up speaking skills. This is where retelling a story comes in. It allows you to learn to organize and describe events, which enhances reading comprehension and speaking skills at the same time. It doesn’t matter if you are not fluent in English, because technically retelling a story is just like telling it again or differently. It doesn’t matter if your vocabulary is limited, because you can use all the same words out of the story you read. It doesn’t matter if you read other kinds of things like news articles, a journal or something, because you can also summarize those things as well. I have most recently read my son a story called “Mr. Putter and Tabby Pour the Tea”. So I’m going to retell you the story, so you can see how it works. I don’t want you to feel kind of bored with what I’m doing. Let me retell it real quick. 

"There lived an old lonely man in a village quite long. His name was Mr. Putter. He had no one to live with. He felt like having some good company to share his favorite stuff with, because He was tired of living alone. So Mr. Putter wanted a cat. He went to the pet store, where he didn’t find any other cats than kittens. Mr Putter was told to go find a cat at the shelter then. He got there and saw an old yellow cat with which he found a lot in common. He named her Tabby. Their new life began for pleasure. Mr. Putter shared everything with Tabby all day long. He couldn’t ever imagine being apart from her. Mr. Putter wished for his happy life with Tabby to stay on track and last for good."

Done! I used the same words for the most part during the retelling. You might say that this is not suitable for beginners since my retelling seems not easy. It‘s O.K.! No problem! You don’t have to be anxious about your current English level. If you think you are a beginner, You would rather speak simple words by avoiding difficult ones like prepositions, relatives, and a group of difficult words in and of itself. So again I’m going to retell the story with simple words for the beginners.   

"An old man, Mr. Putter, lived alone. He wanted some good company, so he could be happy. So Mr. Putter wanted a cat. He went to the pet store, but he didn’t like kittens. He went to the shelter and saw an old yellow cat. Mr. Putter liked her. He named her Tabby. Their new life began. Mr. Putter and Tabby did everything together. They lived a happy life."

I used easier and simpler words. I even used fewer words. It should be a piece of cake. What do you think? Please give it a try. It will be of some benefit to you guys. If you want to speak English fluently, you then need to keep your mouth going like a regular talking machine. If you are keen on practicing speaking English on your own, you just go for it. We all live in a non-English speaking country, which literally means we cannot expose ourselves to an English-speaking environment 24/7. You can’t expect it to happen, not by a long shot. It would take a while to speak English fluently. The retelling can be a good alternative for you guys, although it is not the best strategy for another English part like listening skills. But It somehow helps you keep talking in English for yourself. You should consistently try to make time for the retelling. You are bound to speak English with confidence to say the least.