Hey everybody, hi. We are going to go over the first speaking tip that you can do to practice speaking by yourself. And, actually, it's not to speak, believe it or not! So, listening is the best way to improve speaking - it really is - and the more you understand English, the more clear English is when you hear it, the better your speaking is going to be. So, the first thing - the first thing I recommend is just to listen and to speak inside your head. Don't actually speak with your voice just yet, because sometimes when you speak with your voice first you can develop bad speaking habits - you will not speak correctly. So, what you can do is speak inside your head and try to mimic, or try to copy, the voice you hear on the tape.

So, for example, let's say I do number three, here, 'Imperatives'. So, I'm gonna listen, and there will be a short gap - actually, I'm sorry, it's this one right here. There will be a short gap, and I want to just hear it and think of it in my head - say it in my head, don't speak it out loud. Here we go.

'It is easy to stay healthy.

Please listen to this message...

...and follow my ideas for being healthy.'

OK, so, as you can see, I am just listening and I'm repeating in my head. Now, this is the first thing you can do. It really does help you to hear everything clearly. You want to hear what people are saying and you want to try to copy their intonation, how they push words together, things like that. So, that's the first thing you can do, is just listen. The more you listen, the better your listening becomes, the better your speaking will be. So, you always need your listening level to be ahead of your speaking level. And, as your listening goes up, your speaking level naturally should go up, too.

So, that's tip number two - I'm sorry, that's tip number one, tip number one! Next, we will look at speaking - you will speak - and that is in tip number two.