How do I breathe correctly for speaking?

I am afraid of public speaking – how can I overcome this?

I often run out of breath when I am speaking, especially if I am presenting and have a lot to say. Also people say I speak too quickly. How can I control my breathing and the pacing of my speech?

I do not make enough use of body language when I speak and sometimes talk in a flat tone. How can I enhance my use of body language and improve the tone and colour of my voice?

People say I speak too quietly. How can I control the volume of my voice more effectively?

Sometimes I speak on a very low pitch and I tend to mumble. How can I ‘warm up’ to speak more articulately with a clearer, more connected voice with better pitch variation?

• About Simple vowels
• About Diphthongs
• About Consonants

Audio vowel & diphthong studies of:

• a, ar in match, march in17 accents
• o, our, ar in cot, court, cart in17 accents
• e, a in lend, land in 17 accents
• a, u, e in cat, cut, get in 17 accents
• a, e, a in mate, met, mat
• e, i, a in letter, litter, later in 17 accents
• eer, are, e in sheer, share, she in 17 accents
• a, e in Mary, merry in 17 accents
• ee, i in sleep, slip in 17 accents
• es, ers in teaches, teachers in 17 accents
• u, a, a in much, match, mature in 17 accents
• ur, or in turn, torn in 17 accents
• o, or, ur in hot, torn, turn in 17 accents
• o, a, ear in other, China, early in 17 accents
• u, o in hut, hot in 17 accents
• u, oo in luck, look in 17 accents
• u, oo in pull, pool in 17 accents
• o, or, o in cone, corn, con in 17 accents
• ow, aw, o in down, dawn, don in 17 accents
• ou, a, o in house, has, hose in 17 accents
• oy, ore in employ, implore in 17 accents
• our, ore in tour, tore in 17 accents
• i, i in fine, fin in 17 accents

Audio studies of consonant sounds in:

• 'y' from 'yield' in 17 accents
• 'h' in hit, it in 17 accents
• 'l' in leaf, feel in 17 accents
• th, th, t, d, s, z in thin, this, tin, din, sin, zip in 17 accents
• t, d, n, l + th in 17 accents
• ch, j, t, s, c, s in cheap, jeep, nation, Asia, rice, rise in 17 accents
• s, z, ss, s in soon, zoom, pressure, pleasure in 17 accents
• p, b, f, v in pay, bay, fine, vine in 17 accents
• w, v in wary, vary in 17 accents
• k, g, ng in keen, green, sing in 17 accents
• 'm, n, ng' in some, son, sung in 17 accents
• 'n, l' in nine, line, nil in 17 accents
• 'r, l, t' in right, light, tight in 17 accents

• How does English speech rhythm work?
• English speech rhythm - the weak or 'schwa' vowel
• English speech rhythm - word stress
• English speech rhythm - stress on word sequences
• English speech rhythm - sentence stress
• English speech rhythm - tone units
• Word linking in English
• Intonation