How to improve your writing skills - tips for self-learners

Learning any foreign language is a very complex matter. To be able to understand and communicate in your target language we shouldn’t forget to include any of the for skills below:

reading - writing - listening - speaking

The first part of this miniseries ‘Tips for self learners’ was about reading. Today I would like to share some tips how to improve your writing skills. From my own experience, writing is the skill which students like the least. It depends on the content, of course. Students usually like different kinds of ‘fill the gaps’ or an interesting dictation exercises. However, if students are supposed to write down a longer piece of text on a certain topic, they usually keep postponing it or never do it. I totally understand it as I sometimes do it, too, with my Spanish homework ;-)

Writing is a time consuming process – first you need to think about what you actually want to write about, you need to sum up your thoughts and find out if you have the vocabulary needed and only then you can start writing. Of course, some students find writing easy and like putting their thoughts down deliberately and often. But those are quite rare.

So, how do we start? How do we force ourselves to practise writing skills? Writing is not only about reviewing vocabulary but you practise grammar and word order, too.

Let’s have a look at your options:

• Start with short texts or words only. Take your diary or calendar in your phone/computer and put down the notes for each day in your target language!

• If you can write text messages in the target language do it! If you do not have anyone to chat with there is an app called Texting Story where you can write and create dialogues with an imaginary friend. Or, find a pen pal online in apps such as Bottled or Slowly.

• Does it make you happy when you receive a post card? Do the same – send someone a post card (or a letter)! It is only a few sentences, you practise your writing and make someone happy. You don’t even need to go to a post office nowadays, most mail services (e.g. Ceska Posta) have an option to choose and write a post card online and they just deliver.

• Take every opportunity to improve your writing skills…. Write an invitation to a party, a birthday or Christmas card, fill a form….

• Are there words which you keep spelling wrong or you cannot remember? Make your own word cloud! You can use apps such as Word Art or Word Clouds. Write down the words of your choice, choose an image and let the application create the word cloud. Print it out and place it somewhere you can always see it, maybe a toilet door?

• Write a letter to your future self. You can save the letter in your files and read it later. In the future you can check what progress you have made since the moment you wrote the letter. You can use the app Future Me – write yourself an email and have it delivered on a future date you set yourself.

As you can see there are plenty of options, this is just to name a few. Although some are more creative than others, they have one thing in common - they force you to write.

If you like my tips but you still do not know where to start, check our language couching program – we would be happy to guide you! We will tailor the activities to your particular needs, motive you and support you on your journey to better English or Czech.