How to practise English speaking alone (10 minutes a day)

You don’t need a conversation partner to get better at speaking. You need real sentences, honest feedback and repetition. Here is a routine that fits into a coffee break.

The 10-minute routine

1. Minute 1 — Choose three sentences you’ll really say this week. A meeting update, a question for your landlord, a café order. Real stakes make you remember.
2. Minutes 2–4 — Listen and shadow. Play each sentence slowly, then at normal speed. Say it at the same time as the model (shadowing). Copy the rhythm, not just the words.
3. Minutes 5–7 — Record and check. Read each sentence at your normal speed. Look at which words were flagged and what they were heard as.
4. Minutes 8–9 — Fix one sound. Pick the single sound that came up most. Do the physical tip ten times on the word alone, then in the sentence.
5. Minute 10 — Re-record. Compare. Write the sound you worked on in a note so you can see it shrink over the week.

Why this works

“My biggest complaint about Duolingo is the lack of feedback about how to improve,” one learner wrote on Hacker News. Apps that grade you without explaining leave you repeating the same mistake. This routine forces a loop: hear → say → see the exact miss → fix the mouth movement → say again.

Sentences to start with

• “Could you repeat that a bit more slowly, please?”
• “I’ve been working on this project for about three months.”
• “Thanks for having me — I’m really looking forward to this.”