At St George International, we understand that learning a foreign language can sometimes be frustrating. We also know that if you actually enjoy the experience of learning to speak English, you are more likely to practise outside the classroom and improve your standard of English.
With this in mind, we’ve provided some simple, fun and effective ways to develop your ability to write in English.
Playing Word Games
Word games are a great way to develop the key skills you will need to boost your writing ability. Those words that you learn in playing game will help to improve writing. To begin with, you can explore these games on your own, but as you develop your abilities over time, you can challenge friends and classmates and even play people over the internet to ensure you continue to make progress.
We’ve found a few great resources to get you started. If you’d prefer to stick to online games, a great source is ESL Games World. Many of their games are targeted at kids, but we’ll let you in on a secret: we still enjoy some of them from time to time!
If you would like to play with friends and classmates in person, here is a list of 20 word games that you could borrow or buy. One great tip is that you can often buy these sorts of games in charity shops for under five pound , and often for only one or two pounds.
Reading Regularly
One of the key areas you will need to work on is increasing your vocabulary. By reading regularly, you can do this whilst enjoying some great content. The more you read, the better you will write.
We would recommend finding books, blogs or news articles written by trusted sources and authors who write well. By selecting subjects and content that interest you, you will enjoy the process of learning so much more.
You will encounter words that you do not understand. When this happens, do not be frustrated, as this is simply part of the learning process. If you want to develop a greater understanding of the meaning of words, look up what they mean with the Oxford Dictionary Online.
When you are more advanced and wish to develop your writing style for professional purposes, it may be wise to consider alternatives to words you know and frequently use. When you are ready for this, the Power Thesaurus is a great way to find alternative words that you could use in your writing.
Chat Online
If you are looking to improve your understanding of slang or informal English so that you can write to your friends, learning to chat online is a great way to develop your confidence.
As with the suggestion to read more, we’d recommend picking subject matters that interest you and then finding Facebook Groups or Twitter Chats related to topics you care about. This will make it more enjoyable, but also ensure that when you are learning new phrases and vocabulary they are relevant to the kinds of things you are likely to write about in your everyday life.
Alternative Ideas
If you are still short on practice or would like some other ideas for how to improve your writing, you could consider some of these:
- Write emails to people in your industry
- Read a story and write a brief summary
- Watch a film and write a review
- Read a book of English jokes and tell them to your friends
- Write a to-do list every day in English
- Keep a journal in English
- Start a blog about a topic you love
When learning English, there are a number of key skills that you can develop. By using these approaches to learning, you are far more likely to practise out of class and perfect your ability to write in English.
More often than not, the students who put in the most practice are those that pick up the language and can apply what they’ve learned most quickly. By learning English within the context of a subject you love, you also ensure that you are exposed to industry- or hobby-specific slang that might not feature as heavily in classroom teaching. This makes these alternative learning methods the ideal support for a more traditional teaching programme.
