Writing
Many students complain that writing is difficult, but a simple way to improve writing is by reading. Reading and writing are interconnected.
The more you read, the better you'll write.
So, if you want
to improve writing, here are some tips.
Read sophisticated texts
I like to read articles from the New York Times. If it's too complex for your
level of English, start small, read just the headlines.
Every day, until you're confident enough to read the first paragraph or the second.
A cool website to notice the difference between levels of sophistication in texts is newsinlevels
In the website newsinlevels, you'll see 3 labels: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3
A good way to use this site is to start from level 1 and read the text and watch the video for level 1. If you think it was easy, on the following day, you read the text and watch the video for level 2. And move on to level 3 on the following day as well.
Why 1 level a day?
Because it will probalby take you 20 minutes to do this exercise.
If you spend 20 minutes on level 1 on Monday, 20 minutes on level 2 on Tuesday and 20 minutes on level 3 on Wednesday, you will have practiced 60 minutes of reading during the week.
The secret to improve your reading and writing skills is = FREQUENCY.
Read texts in your area of expertise
Your company's website is a great way to start. Read their page in
English. This way you can learn more about the organization you work for and also improve your
English.
Write
Every day before you go to bed, take 10 minutes to write 50 words
about anything. It can be about an interesting article you've read during the
day or something about how you feel. Send it to a nice friend you trust who speaks English.
Tell them you want to practice more and ask them to give you some constructive feedback.
Read and write e-mails in English
Observe the e-mails you've received and check how the person
started and finished the message or how they’ve presented their ideas, problems or requests.
Magic words
There are some simple magic words that can help us better express our ideas. They’re called ‘conjunctions’ and are used to link ideas.
Some of these magic words are:
in
addition (add more info)
therefore (show
a result)
however
(show a contrast).
Examples about the trendy topic of 2020 covid-19 using conjunctions:
Examples found on the website: Symptomate
Examples found on the website: Symptomate
"In addition, other
symptoms may occur, such as muscle pain, fatigue, increased phlegm production,
headache, sore throat (at the beginning of the disease), chest pain, or
coughing up blood (5% of cases). Some patients (10% of cases) also present
gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea."
"Social distancing of a meter away from an infected person is
key to preventing infection. The virus has been found to survive on surfaces
for several hours, even up to several days. Therefore,
practicing frequent handwashing upon coming into contact with these surfaces,
i.e., door handles, railings, elevator buttons, etc. may help to prevent
yourself from getting the virus.”
“Catching COVID-19 from someone with no symptoms is not very
likely. However, many people
with COVID-19 experience only mild symptoms. This is especially true at the
early stages of the disease. It is, therefore, possible to catch COVID-19 from
someone who has, for example, just a mild cough and does not feel ill. Some
reports suggest transmission of the disease may occur before symptoms are
evident. However, this is not
believed to be the main way the virus spreads”.
