Short answer
Practise speaking in a way you can review: record a short answer, listen for one feature to improve, and try again. In S06E08, Gav groups several ideas under H: hear yourself, have a structure, hold eye contact, harness pauses, handle nerves and hook your listener.
You do not need to work on all six at once. Choose one habit for a short story or answer, then notice whether it helps you communicate more clearly and confidently.
Try this in your next lesson
Give a learner 30 seconds to describe a familiar place, choose one focus together, then record a second version and compare.
👇 Scroll down for our practical checklist or activity and download.
Listen to the whole S06E08 discussion in our podcast episode guide here🔊.
Hear yourself and have a structure
Record a short response, such as describing a recent holiday, and listen for one useful point about pronunciation or organisation. Give your answer a beginning, a middle and an ending so the listener can follow the idea.
Use pauses and manage nerves
A pause gives you time to gather your thoughts and can make speech easier to follow. If nerves make it hard to begin, choose a small routine that helps you settle before speaking. There is no single strategy that works for everyone.
Help the listener follow
Eye contact can support a face-to-face conversation, but it should feel natural rather than fixed. To hook a listener, open a story with a question or a detail that makes them curious, then follow through with the story. The aim is connection, not performing a trick.
Make one change observable
We do not need to turn a speaking task into a six-part performance assessment. If the focus is structure, listen for a beginning, one detail and an ending. If it is pauses, listen for whether a brief pause helps the listener follow the next idea. Choose a focus the learner agrees is useful.
Our suggested adaptation is a short description of a place, process or fictional event. Listen once for the message, then discuss the chosen feature and try again. For online lessons, an audio recording is enough. Eye contact is an option from the episode, not a compulsory behaviour or proof of confidence; learners can communicate successfully in different ways.
Our suggested classroom adaptation of the episode discussion.
Gav and Em suggest: one speaking habit at a time
- ☐ Record a short answer.
- ☐ Listen back for one feature only.
- ☐ Choose one change, such as clearer structure or stronger ending.
- ☐ Record the answer again.
- ☐ Compare the two versions instead of trying to fix everything at once.
📥 Download the free teacher practice card (PDF)
Related teaching ideas
📚 Take a Look at More Related Articles on Speaking, Communication & Confidence