You've been working very hard to improve your spoken English, practicing those new sounds whenever you have the chance, but it's hard to remember to use your new English pronunciation in everyday conversation. What can you do to remind yourself to use your new skills when talking with friends or discussing a project at work?

It's really a matter of developing a new habit, and it works much the same as any new habit you might try to learn, like making your bed in the morning or unloading the dishwasher before bed. The hard part at this point is not figuring out HOW to do it, but consistently remembering to do it every day.

Research has shown that it takes 21 days to develop a new habit, so if you want to improve your spoken English in everyday life, you need to remind yourself to use the new pronunciation for at least 21 days. Of course, you will feel overwhelmed if you try to remember every sound you've learned all at once.

So, here is my recommendation. Pick one sound to focus on at a time.

Now, you need to figure out the best way to remind yourself to use that new sound. We're going to discuss how to use your senses to do just that.

Unless you have a disability, you use the five senses of seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling every day. You probably prefer one sense over another, but you may not know which one helps you remember the best.

Every day for a week, I want you to try using a different sense to remind you to practice your new sound. By the end of the week, you will know which one worked the best for you and which one to use as you continue to improve your spoken English.

Here's how it works:

Choose one sound to work on for the week as you explore different sensory cues.

Day 1: Sight You need brightly- colored sticky notes. Write your target sound on 10 sticky notes and put them all over your house. Every time you see one, it should remind you to practice your new sound.

Day 2: Hearing You need a watch with an alarm or a timer. Set your watch or timer to chime at set intervals of 30 minutes or so. Each time it chimes, practice your sound a few times. This keeps it in the forefront of your memory, and you are more likely to use the sound correctly in conversation throughout the day.

Day 3: Touch You need a small smooth pebble or other object to carry in your pocket. The pebble will be your reminder to use your new sound when talking with others. Each time you put your hand in your pocket and touch the pebble, it will cue you to practice your sound and think about the correct pronunciation.

Day 4: Taste You need some strong mints or sour candy. Keep these in an obvious place on your desk where you will be reminded frequently throughout the day to eat them. As you suck on the candy, think about the correct pronunciation of your sound so that each time you taste it again, you are reminded of that sound.

Day 5: Smell You need perfume, after-shave, or scented lotion. If you regularly wear a fragrance, choose something new for this experiment. It needs to be a smell you don't smell every day so that your brain will register it as something different to pay attention to. Place a small amount of the fragrance on your wrist. As you go through your day and you smell that aroma, you are reminded to practice your sound.

How did it work for you? Did you find that one sense was much more effective than another? Now you can improve your spoken English even faster by using your newly-discovered sensory cues to help you!

Looking for more personalized tips to improve your American accent? Why don't you take my free online speech and accent screening at http://www.losemyaccent.com?

I am Lisa Scott, a nationally certified speech pathologist who specializes in English pronunciation training. I am passionate about working with you to remove communication barriers so that people hear YOU and not your accent. To receive my free guide, How to Speak English Like an American, or to learn more about my classes via Skype, visit http://www.losemyaccent.com.

[Edited by Administrator (admin) 2014-04-12]