Writing in English
Many people ask me about writing and how they can improve their English writing skills. I’m going to spend some time talking about why you might want to improve your writing and many ideas on how you can do this.
Why Practice Writing?
Improving your writing skill will allow you to consolidate what you know in English. Remember, writing it an output skill – this means you are being actively creative with the language rather than always having input (reading and listening). Output is much harder to practice, so make sure you have a good level of input and output.
Writing will actively help your spelling, grammar and acquisition of new words.
My Practice
I write a story every night using the vocabulary and grammar I’ve learnt recently.
I use a website for corrections (Lang-8) although I believe they are not open to new members now.
You could create an agreement with a language partner where you correct each other’s work or even pay a teacher to help you. I offer this service to students too.
For a free, easy version, use Grammarly to correct most of your work automatically.
Other Ideas
- Write a daily diary, talking about your day and plan for the future (great for beginners)
- Dive deeper and explore your feelings and deep thoughts (more advanced)
- Write about a topic that interests you. Imagine you’re explaining it to someone new
- Write a story and make up some characters. Each day you could add a little bit more to expand your story. Make it fun!
- Write letters to an imaginary friend or a real language partner – maybe even write physical letters to a penpal across the world (this won’t be daily)
- Write poems or music lyrics
- Start a blog (the possibility that other people can read it might make you more careful with your writing)
- Write on Instagram with daily photos, Facebook, etc. You could even add a video of you reading your writing to practise pronunciation too.
- Join online forums – if you’d rather actually communicate with real people. You can discuss English and anything you like on the Level Up English Forums.
Bonus Tips
- Read! Reading is a great way to improve your writing because you are witnessing other people’s writing. You can use what you learn in conjunction with your own writing practice.
- Keep a record of new words you learn, then use them in your writing
- Learn punctuation – very important!
- Learn from your mistakes (review and learn)
- Learn conjunctions to expand your writing (While this is good, that is better. Even though…)
Summary
Like with any English skill. Staring anywhere is better than nowhere. It’s not bad to think about your method, but it’s important you start today rather than continuously thinking about the best way to go about it and wasting time or delaying the inevitable. Start today and you’ll thank yourself a year from now.
“Education without application is just entertainment”
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I must use writing in college 😭 , so there is no way for me to ignore writing, usually I write the advantages and disadvantages of different matters, for example, the advantages and disadvantages of travel or learning a new language …etc.
Sounds similar to some writing tasks in the IELTS exam. It may be a bit dull, but I’m sure it will do wonders for your English!