5 Ways to Improve Your English Writing (ESL) 1. Read I bet that you think the first two points are kind of obvious. But some people really don’t realize how important reading is to good writing. Think of how a child learns his first language. He listens to his parents talking all the time for many months before he even opens his mouth. Just like listening is important to become better at speaking, reading is vital to become better at writing. When learning a new language you must OBSERVE and REPEAT. Observe and repeat. Observe and repeat. Again and again. This is at the heart of learning any language. So, master this – get really, really good at it and you will be an amazing language learner. When you read you observe someone else’s successful style—how their language flows from sentence to sentence, how they use different vocabulary, how they can paint a picture with their words. The more you read, the better you’ll be able to emulate this. Any great writer has a huge collection of books for exactly this reason. George R.R. Martin has a quote that I love about this: “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” You need to collect books. Find styles that you like. And then mold your own style from these. You’ll be impressed by how much your writing improves by reading more. If you love books, you should join Good Reads. There you can make a list of books you’re reading, you’ve read, and that you want to read and get recommendations for other books you’ll like. In addition to this, you can have discussions about books and even join book clubs. So you can read with a group and experience the book with them. Not sure how to start reading more in English? Check out this article. You’re already doing a great job by reading this blog 2. Write Yes, if you want to become a better writer you should probably write. A good first step is reading, but if you just read, your writing obviously won’t improve by itself. But what should you write? Well, take a moment and reflect. What do you like to read? If you enjoy blogs like this, then start your own. There are dozens of websites that let you start a free blog. And you can write about ANYTHING. People will find it and start reading it, and some will surely find what you’re writing about interesting. If you enjoy fiction and novels, then write a story. Again, it doesn’t have to be a masterpiece (a work of genius). The important thing is that you’re writing. You’re practicing. And you’re building you confidence. If you enjoy prose and nonfiction, then why not research something in English and write about it. If you still go to school, you could do this for an assignment and then translate it to your native language before giving it to your teacher. Or you could share it on a blog. A lot of people have this idea that they have to speak and write perfectly. But native speakers don’t even do this. It’s only important that you communicate. You express yourself. As long as you’re doing this, make as many mistakes as necessary, and don’t feel bad about it. Want more ideas about what to write? Comment down below and we’ll give you some advice. In a moment I’ll show you some ways in which you can share your writing. 3. Keep a journal If you don’t feel like sharing your writing with anyone yet, then a journal is a great way to make writing a daily habit. When I lived in Spain, I knew many Americans that liked to keep a journal in which they wrote about their experiences. This was an opportunity for them to practice writing in Spanish and it’s also something that they’re going to love rereading later in life. There is no reason why you can’t do the same. Grab a notebook and write every night before you go to sleep and/or every morning when you wake up about whatever you have on your mind. You can write about your dreams first thing in the morning. You can write about your goals, or you can write about what you did that day. It doesn’t matter what you write, just that you’re making a habit of writing every day. This will probably be hard at first. You might even feel awkward, or not be sure about what to write. This is normal, and it will quickly become easier and easier. 4. Online There are millions of places online where you can write. You just need to find the right ones for you. Let me share some of the best online resources with you. Italki In my article on speaking, I talked about what a great resource italki is for finding people to converse with. But it’s also an awesome website for writing. First, you can find people to exchange messages or chat with. This is a good way to practice conversational writing. But italki also has great resources if you want to try more formal writing. You can write a notebook entry. This is a way to practice your writing and get corrections and comments from other users. You can write about pretty much whatever you want. And you’ll be improving your English with the feedback you get. You can also ask a question. This is great if you have a certain doubt about grammar (for example, how to use commas in English). If you have something interesting you want to talk about you can start a discussion (you can also do this on Duolingo). And other people will share their thoughts. This is a good way to develop your ideas about a subject, and then write about it more in a notebook entry, in your blog, or somewhere else. 5. Get a Pen Pal A pen pal is basically someone with whom you exchange letters. There are several websites to do this online. You can either exchange letters online, or via snail mail (regular postal service; called snail because it’s slow). Snail mail can be fun because it allows you to hold a letter in your hand. It’s more old-fashioned. And it’s always exciting to get something in the mail from a far away place. Two good websites for Pen Pals are PenPal World and InterPals. And if you want a snail mail pen pal, check out Reddit. Writing letters is a great way to practice formal writing habits and to make friends around the world. So try it out! Like and share support us :)
Posted on: Wed, 26 Feb 2014 11:08:47 +0000
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