Well hey there! I'm Emma from mmmEnglish.
In this lesson I've got some very practical tips
to help you improve your English writing skills
so stay tuned!
Before go anywhere in this lesson, let's just all agree
that the skill of writing in English is an incredibly
valuable one to have at any level.
With our words we can persuade people, we can
convince people and we can entertain people.
Being able to write well, it really is a superpower,
whether you're writing in your native language
or in English or in any other language
but as your English teacher,
I'm going to focus on your your English writing skills
today but you can apply the tips
that I teach in this lesson to any language
that you're learning
and even your own native language.
I'm going to spin right on in here with a super
important announcement for you.
If you've been watching my channel recently, you will
already know that I'm a big fan of Lingoda.
Not only because they make it possible for me to keep
bringing you free English lessons right here
on my Youtube channel but more importantly because
they support you in improving your English.
Lingoda provide online language classes
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And right now the biggest opportunity of the year
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You can find loads of their stories on Lingoda's
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In fact, keep your eyes open for my story
on their Instagram page too because guys,
I'm doing the marathon as well!
And I'm so excited by this idea that I've created a private
Facebook group just for mmmEnglish students
who are also doing the marathon
so that we can do it together
and help each other get through.
I'll be in there every day to hear your stories
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but I want you to help me stay motivated too.
I really want to push my Spanish skills
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Check out this video right here for full details on
how it works and how to register.
You can also find those details in the description below.
But make sure you hurry, registrations are closing
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I'll see you at the starting line.
Your English writing skills are obviously important
if you're sitting an exam.
Are you studying English for an exam like IELTS
or TOEFL?
They have written sections in their exam, right?
So writing skills are important for exams but let's look
further than that right now.
Being able to write well in English is a skill
that can really make you stand out
when you're looking for a job.
Your writing is the first thing that your future employer
sees about you when you submit your resume, right?
And you write a cover letter,
your well-written professional emails that you
send it in will display the English skills
that your employer is looking for.
For those of you who plan to study abroad,
maybe you have to write your application in English.
Many scholarships or competitions that you might
want to enter will ask you to write a creative essay
when you apply or at least
answer some open-ended questions in English.
I mean do any of these things sound like
something you're dealing with at the moment?
Which one is something that makes you worry
about your English writing skills?
And even if none of these things specifically apply
to you, practising your writing skills is a surefire way
to improve your English level.
So I hope that you're ready for a mini writing workshop
today because that's what we're going to do right now.
I've got some tips to help you improve your writing
and the first one is to start small.
Now you don't need to write a novel
every time you practise.
This needs to be something that you can achieve
every day.
So keep things simple and start small.
Why? Because I want you to bring your English
writing practice into your day every day.
Now if that sounds daunting or boring,
well, I bet you actually do it more than you think already.
Between the text messages that you write to friends
or emails that you send to colleagues at work
or comments that you write on Instagram.
You probably spend more time writing in English
each day than you realise.
And yes all of these things do actually count
as forms of writing.
Writing doesn't mean that you sit down and write
ten pages or even one page.
So I'm saying that your English writing practice
can mean all sorts of different things.
You could write a Facebook post every day in English.
Set yourself a challenge or at the end of a work day,
just hang around for an extra ten minutes
to translate one of the emails that you've
written that day into English.
Whether you actually send it to anyone or not,
it doesn't really matter.
You're probably already writing WhatsApp messages
in English to your friends, right?
Or if you're not, maybe you should.
But I also want to introduce the idea of a
daily journal to you because this can be
a really fantastic way to get daily practice.
Just write down what you're grateful for
or something new that you learned that day
or even just write about what you did,
report about what you did.
No one else ever has to read it ever.
It's not about publishing this text, it's just for you.
Don't underestimate the power of writing a few short
sentences every day. It's an excellent habit to get into.
Tip number two.
Accuracy is important.
Now in some areas of English like listening or speaking,
you can get away with a little less accuracy
but writing is not really like this.
And I think that's one of the most daunting things
about writing.
Once you put your words on paper,
it's recorded in history.
Everyone can see what you've done, right?
Especially if you post it on social media.
It's where everyone can judge you because
your mistakes are very visible
so your grammar choice and your word choices
are really important.
Now finding someone to review what you've written
and show you how you can improve it
is obviously really helpful.
And that can be part of your learning experience.
It's not just about removing the errors but it's about
you learning how to correct your work
and understand the mistakes that you've made
so you don't do it again.
So if you can, taking an online course or working
with a writing expert or a teacher
would be a really awesome step,
if you can possibly do it.
I've shared a few links to some of my favourite courses
and teachers that I know in the description below
this video so if you're looking for some expert help,
I would suggest you start down there.
But if that's not an option for you, then you must
take the time to review your own writing.
Question the grammar and the word choices
that you've made.
And do some research to try and confirm the choices
that you've made. This lesson right here is a useful one
to help you check for the ten most common mistakes
that English learners make.
It's going to give you some useful tools to help you
make corrections in your own writing.
Tip number three.
Read.
Why would I tell you to read in a video about
becoming a better writer?
Because reading is one of the best ways
to get used to different writing structures and formats
that you can then use in your own writing.
So pay attention to other writers.
What kind of tone do they use in their language?
How do they structure their writing?
Notice the vocabulary that they've chosen.
Is it quite formal or is it informal in that type of writing?
You could even practise imitating your favourite
writers or bloggers. Careful, I said imitate not copy.
You need to use your own words and ideas, right?
But there is nothing stopping you from writing
your own material while using another piece of writing
as a structural guide to help you.
Reading can definitely help you to improve your writing.
So when you get a chance, then I want you to check out
this video here that's specifically about
how to improve your reading skills.
Tip number four and one of my favourite tips of all time
is learn to pre-write.
Now I'm going to admit something openly
here on Youtube.
I pre-write all of my birthday cards and my post cards.
It's true. This is the type of person that I am.
Does anyone else do that? Surely it's not just me, right?
I do this because I want to make sure that I've got
enough room on the card
for everything that I want to say.
And I want to think carefully about the words that I use
so that my message is clear. Might be a little bit
over the top, a little of a perfectionist
but that's me.
This is a good habit to get into when you're starting
your own daily writing practice.
It's one of the best things about writing.
You get time to think about what you want to say
and plan it out.
And this preparation is what's going to help you improve
the quality of your writing overall.
The skill is especially important to develop
if you are taking a test that has a writing section
so if you need to write anything long like an essay
or a report or something like that,
this is a super skill to develop.
And there's lots of different ways that you can plan.
You might complete an outline.
Or if that feels a little rigid, then maybe a mind map
or a web, vocabulary web.
Maybe you just want to write down a list of important
vocabulary words or thoughts
that you'd like to include.
And no matter what you do, just spend a few minutes
thinking and planning about that
before you jump into writing.
Your writing will be more organised,
you won't forget to say something important
and even better, you won't have as much editing
to do later on.
So it's a good idea.
Number five.
Think in the language that you're writing in.
So if you're writing in English, think and plan in English,
not in your native language.
There are so many grammar structures and words
that don't translate well from one language to another.
So for example in Spanish, verbs don't change
whether the sentence is a question or a statement.
But those sentence structures
are very different in English
so if you're thinking in your own language first,
then trying to translate, you're much more likely
to end up making mistakes or errors.
So try to switch your brain over.
Think of each word or phrase that you want to write
in English.
This part is not easy, right?
It takes practise but the more you practise,
the more you do it, the easier it will become
so it's really good training for you.
Make mistakes.
And be cool with it. If you get caught up trying to write
perfectly on your first try,
you're really not going to get very far. Plus mistakes
are some of the best ways to learn and improve
in the future.
Now the beauty of writing is that
it's not set in stone.
It's not like when you say something out loud
and everyone hears you
and you can't take that sentence back, right?
Take advantage of the fact that you can write it,
you can read it again,
check it, erase it, edit it and rewrite it.
Now if you aren't sure of the exact
phrasing or grammar rule, investigate!
There are so many options to help you correct
your mistakes.
Obviously, you can ask a teacher or a native speaker.
If you can.
You could also ask a friend to read your writing
and give you some advice
but if you're on your own or you're feeling a little shy
or a little nervous about sharing your writing,
then use Grammarly or a tool like it.
Now I use Grammarly all the time, I use it
for everything that I write online.
It's a really fantastic tool that's going to help you
see the errors that you're making
and give you suggestions to improve it.
So I'm talking about spelling errors
but also grammatical errors as well,
which is why this tool is so useful for you.
If you want to try it out, see what it's like,
you can check it out for free using the link
in the description below.
Of course, computers aren't always right,
but they do offer you some great tools for practising
when you're doing it on your own, right?
So don't be afraid of making mistakes,
the more mistakes that you make the more
opportunities you have to improve your writing.
This is the mindset that you've got to get into.
And this brings us to our final tip of the day:
to find a writing partner. Now this may be my last tip
but it's my favourite tip.
If you don't do anything,
if you haven't listened to anything that I've said so far,
pay attention to this one
because finding a writing partner is probably the best
thing that you can do to improve your writing skills.
A writing partner isn't a teacher.
And they're not just a friend who reads
your writing for you.
Your writing partner should be someone who is also
trying to improve their writing.
Someone who you can share with and rely on.
Now it's really simple.
You both agree to each write something.
You can decide on a specific topic or a specific length
or just leave it open
but choose a date to finish the writing.
Then exchange.
Notice what you like about each other's writing
and make sure you share that
but then also help each other to find
and correct mistakes.
Now there's multiple reasons
why this is a good habit to get into.
Having a writing partner is going to keep you on track,
it's going to force you to stick to a schedule,
you'll be more likely to follow
through with your writing practice if you know
that someone is there waiting for you
to swap and exchange right?
Now working with someone else,
who's at a similar level as you are can also seem
a little less scary
to take risks and make mistakes in your writing.
They're not going to judge you for making mistakes
because they've probably made mistakes in their own
writing too and the purpose is to find them
and help each other.
And finally, correcting someone else's work or at least
trying to correct it
is an insanely good way to practise your own
English skills. right? Just think about it.
You've got to read their writing and then think about
are those grammar rules correct?
Maybe you have to research to find out if that
collocation works or not.
Teaching someone what you know yourself
is a really good way to help you improve.
So you could do this with a friend
who's at a similar level to you.
You could also use the comments under this video
to try and find a writing partner.
And for something a little different, there are loads
of pen pal exchanges online where you could
write to someone who's actually learning
your own native language so then you can
share and exchange your writing and get them
to correct it for you.
So I've left a couple of links in the description as well
if you're interested in checking out some of those
options to find a writing partner.
So for your first writing task, your first writing
homework task, I want you to tell me in the comments,
which tip was most useful for you and how are you
going to put it into practice this week?
That's what I love to do here on my Youtube channel,
get you excited about practising English
because with practise comes confidence
and with confidence comes fluency.
So make sure you subscribe to my channel
if you haven't already just there.
I make new English lessons every week about grammar,
pronunciation, language skills
and a little motivation to keep you feeling good
about your English and all of the progress
that you're making.
So remember, with writing, start small.
And what are you waiting for?
I'll see you in the next lesson!