LEARN ENGLISH PODCAST: 6 POWERFUL TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR WRITING

- [Jack] Hello, this is Jack from tofluency.com.

And this is episode 16

of the To Fluency Podcast.

And like the title say's,

we are going to talk about writing today

and more specifically, six tips to help you

improve your writing.

Now, before we go into those tips, it's important to know

that writing is one of the four skills of English,

where we have reading, writing, listening and speaking.

So reading and listening, are both input skills

whereas speaking and writing are output skills.

And obviously, when you're having a conversation

with somebody, you're speaking and listening

at the same time.

And this is a difficult thing to do

so when you think, I can't speak in English,

it's difficult to have conversations in English.

Know that is normal

because what you're having to do

is to think about the grammar, the vocabulary,

the way you speak, the sounds of English

and you also have to listen

and understand what the other person is saying.

Whereas when you're reading,

you can take your time to understand something

and look up new words and phrases.

And if you want to learn about my reading method,

then listen to episode, I'll put it in the description too.

I'm just looking at up now,

episode 10 of the To Fluency podcast

if you're listening on iTunes or elsewhere.

Now, with writing, I think it's a great skill

to practice for a few reasons

because when it comes to writing

as an output skill

but you can take your time,

where when you're speaking

if you're having a conversation

and you're obviously having to speak

to people in a spontaneous way to adapt,

to think about what you're saying

and to speak more quickly.

Whereas when it comes to writing,

think about just sitting in your office

or in your bedroom or at school,

wherever it is, at your kitchen table

with a computer or a pencil and pen.

And just taking your time to create sentences

to write paragraphs, to keep a diary

if that's something you want to do.

where you can go into Google,

look up new words and phrases,

type in a phrase into Google

to see if it works

and also use different apps

which we're going to talk about later.

So I see writing as a great skill

to help you formalize

which means create your own sentences

without feeling rushed,

without having to do this quickly within a conversation.

So think about how you can implement more writing

into your daily schedule

and enjoy it.

Don't feel pressure, feel like what you can do

is take what you have learned recently

and try to create your own sentences from it.

So let's go into the six tips now,

and like I say,

be sure to check out the description

for some of the links I'm going to mention.

Now, the first tip is going to be quite specific,

especially if you're studying for the IELTS exam,

or if you're using English in a very specific way,

for example, for your job.

And this is to focus on the writing style you need.

So focus on the writing style you need.

So think about the way you're going to write in English

if you need to do this for a specific reason.

So if it's for the IELTS exam, focus on that,

if you have to write speeches for work, focus on that.

If you need to write emails at work, focus on that.

But also, if you want to learn conversational English,

then you can write

like you're having a conversation, okay?

So just some ideas for you.

You can make a story, you can create a story.

If it's a conversation English,

you can also write in like a diary

to write your thoughts about your day.

And I think this is a great thing

to do for any learner.

I do this on a daily basis,

just as a great exercise

where I talk about my day, what I did yesterday.

I talk about my, write about my goals.

I write about what I want to do.

For example, yesterday I wrote, let's write some reels

or shows for the next week

which shall be mini videos

for Instagram and YouTube.

And I'm saying do three to four this week

and get another podcast done.

One that focuses on how to learn English

which is what I'm doing right now.

So this is something I wrote yesterday.

And just doing that on a daily basis

will help you just get

into the habit of writing for English.

So tip one is to focus on the writing style you need

if you are going to write specifically for something,

but then if you're just wanting to improve your English

in a general sense,

I highly recommend doing a daily diary

so it makes you do it on a daily basis.

And then also thinking

about ways to write something conversational.

And another thing to do

is then to, if you watch a YouTube video

of one of mine, for example

like one of our conversations,

then you can write some thoughts

about that YouTube video.

Now tip two, is to find examples of text and copy them.

Now, what I've been talking about so far with writing

is more of a creative role

where you're writing in your diary,

your putting your thoughts across,

your creating a story, that type of thing.

But another way to improve your writing

is to imitate of the writers.

Now, if you follow me for a while,

you'll know about my method,

that will help you

with your general English

and especially your speaking

where you listen to an audio phrase,

you repeat that phrase, you record it.

So then you can listen back to it

and then you compare your version

to the original and think about making changes.

That's the speaking method

that I've been teaching for a long time,

but we can do this for writing too,

where what you do, is you just find

any kind of text and you copy it down.

I like to do this, or I think a good idea

if you're thinking about the text to find is,

for example IELTS exams, get the IELTS model answers.

If you're doing it for like emails,

find email templates and just copy them down.

What I'm saying here

is not to copy them for an exam

or copy them for your specific email,

but the way I like to see

is you put on some relaxing music,

you get a cup of tea

or your favorite type of drink.

And then you simply read a sentence

copy the sentence, read a sentence, copy the sentence.

And you don't focus too much on the language here,

you're not trying to memorize anything

instead, you're just writing things down

and copying things.

And I think this is a great method to try

because you're going

to naturally internalize sentence structures

and writing styles.

And if you do this again for specific purposes,

that's gonna be great,

but you can also just do this

with any sentences that you find online.

For example, let's say I do a video on 10 key phrases.

You can take those phrases, write them down,

copy them down in a notebook.

And then, if you want to then expand on this

and create your own sentences,

then use the app that we're going to talk about later.

But this is a great way

to internalize sentence structures, word order,

and also powerful way to learn grammar too.

Now, another way to, this is tip three

is basically about how you can improve your writing, okay?

And it's using a different skill.

And the tip is this, to read a lot.

So to read a lot,

because this is will be one of the most vital ways

for you to help become familiar

with the way that English is written

and it's also gonna help you spot the mistakes

you're making in the moment.

And if you copy passages from what you're reading,

it can also help you overcome mistakes

that you're making.

And I think graded readers is a great place to start.

And again, go to episode 10,

to learn more about reading.

And I'm not gonna talk much about this

because as a learner,

you'll probably know the power of reading

and how it can help you

but it's gonna help your writing too

because it's gonna give you the input you need

to then create something.

But like I say, also just copier.

So whenever you read something,

think about copying a few paragraphs,

especially ones that interest you

or paragraphs that contain the type of language

that you think is relevant.

Tip four, is about practice and getting feedback.

So it's important to get feedback on your writing

so that you can overcome mistakes.

Now, tip five is gonna give you an app

that will help you with this.

But here, what I wanna get across in tip four,

is just to feel

like practicing is a good thing to do,

and to implement this

into your daily routine

or your learning routine.

So after trying the copying tactic,

while you copy text,

and you start to feel a little bit more confident,

do some writing exercises

and try to find a teacher

or somebody who can correct you.

Now, there are ways to do this for free.

There are different apps

that you can use for this

and I'll leave some of them in the description below,

but also join the group,

Learn English With Jack on Facebook.

So search for, Learn English With Jack on Facebook

and copy or write in texts into there

and ask for people to give you feedback.

You can do this on different forums as well.

But there are apps you can use for this

or you can pay a teacher

who's gonna just give you that extra attention

and go through the writing tasks that you do.

And this is especially important

if you're doing the IELTS exam

and you need to get that feedback for your exam

or if you're given a speech,

or if you're writing an important proposal

for your work,

or a writing project for your work.

Where you can get somebody who really goes in there

and corrects things for you.

Now tip five, is to use apps

that are not just going to correct your spelling,

but they're also going to correct your grammar.

Now I'll leave a link in the description

for my favorite one here.

And it's an affiliate link,

it's free to use

but if you decide to get the paid version,

then I will get a little commission

if you use my link.

So feel free to use that link.

But this is an app

with a web browser extension

and also an app.

And it also integrates into your email, Facebook, Instagram,

different apps that you use

so that when you're writing,

let's say you write something like, he has

or let's think of a mistake that is quite common.

I enjoy to go to the beach.

It will say, not to go, but I enjoy going to the beach.

So it's gonna help you

with the patterns, grammar, prepositions.

If you use the incorrect preposition, it will tell you

so it's gonna help you improve your grammar

as you're writing,

but it's also gonna give you tips

and advice and more examples

so that you can just remember these rules in the future.

I think this is an output that everybody needs.

So definitely check out the description

under tip five

and use the link that I leave there.

Now, tip number six, is to take your time

and search for new sentences

to learn and practice, okay?

So take your time when you're writing, enjoy it

and also search for the sentences and phrases

that you want to use.

In a way to search for a phrase

is to use things like dictionary apps

and things like that.

But also, you can just type things into Google.

You can either do this in a general sense

or you can put the quotation marks over it.

So it's an exact phrase.

So if you insure about something

like I just did a lesson on everyday versus everyday,

and I'm just gonna do this,

you can hear me typing.

If I type in, I learn English every day, is two words.

Then I get off, I just say,

"I learn English every day," sorry.

Yeah, I get 94,000 results.

And then if I type in I learn English every day,

one word is 28,000.

And in those cases, it shows you that the one

with the more results, generally means it's the correct one.

But also, the app in tip five

will help you with that anyway.

And what you can do here,

is when you type phrases into Google,

a lot of the time, you can put ESL on the end

and it's gonna give you articles or forum posts

that we'll talk about that phrase.

And it will give you that phrase

and it will say, "Write it like this,

or write it like that."

And this is what I mean by taking your time.

So you can look for the correct phrase

and websites that are gonna help you with that,

so that when you're writing,

you are making sure it's correct as you write,

and then obviously getting feedback

or using an app to help you with that.

So those are the six tips.

What I recommend you do again,

is I think one of the best things you can do

is to keep a daily diary or journal

where you just put down your thoughts about anything,

what you did yesterday,

what you want to do today, what you're grateful for,

what you're happy about, your goals, et cetera.

And that just gets you into the habit, right?

Of using everyday English,

in a way that you might talk about to other people.

So you can even just write about

what you enjoyed about the TV show you watch last night.

Just anything, your thoughts on anything

but especially things that you like to talk

about in daily conversations,

because that's the type of English you're going to use.

And then use the copy method

where you can just absorb English

and learn it in a natural way

especially if you want to learn it for a specific reason.

And then use the app that I mentioned in tip five,

so that it gives you instant feedback

on the way you're writing,

and if you're writing in the correct way.

And then get feedback from a teacher

if you really wanna get that specialized feedback.

So I hope you found that useful.

If you were listening on one of the podcast platforms

and please leave a review

and also share it with your friend.

And if you watch on YouTube, welcome to you as well,

I'll leave some links in the description

especially the links I've mentioned

and then feel free to watch another video after this one.

Okay, well, thanks for being here today

and I will speak to you soon, bye bye.