How to improve writing skills in english

How to Improve Writing Skills in English | 10 Easy Steps

How to Improve Writing Skills in English

The question is, either will we find a solution or not as far as writing skills are concerned? We will get many ways to find an easy solution to improve writing skills in English. Today we’ll discuss some methods by which you may find the best ideas to improve your writing skills in English. So without wasting time, let us discuss ten easy steps to improve writing capability quickly.

10 Easy Steps to Improve Writing Skills Easily

Follow these below ten easy and essential steps to improve your writing skills efficiently and accurately:

1. Emphasize Reading Skills

However, you may execute those ideas in your writing as a supplementary. You can follow individual writing patterns, making you a good and unique writer. Let us see how to improve the capability of reading comprehensive texts:

Try to read everything accurately before leaving. It helps you to understand the articles better and better. You will also write similar articles more accurately when you know the articles correctly.

2. Reading Books

Do you love to read books? If the answer is negative, then please start reading books immediately. Without reading books, you cannot improve your writing skills properly. It will help if you read books by different writers that help you be a good writer.

Further, you will get much knowledge when you read different types of books by various writers, and you will get the key to being a unique writer. Let us see how to read books in proper ways:

3. Learn the Language Properly

Many people make the mistake of wanting to be a good writer, but they do not learn the language properly. When you want to be a writer of the second or English language, you must have enough knowledge about the particular language.

We have to memorize the unknown vocabulary more and more. However, when you read an article, you may note the unfamiliar vocabulary and remember those words. You will be a good writer for sure if you can acquire all the skills in English.

4. Try to Use Grammar Accurately

Sometimes a little mistake changes the whole meaning of a sentence. For instance, if you wish to explain a sentence in the present tense but write past tense instead, then the sentence’s meaning will be changed for no doubt. Try to practice essential grammar rules with examples that may help you write every sentence more accurately.

5. Utilize Your Leisure Time

Nowadays, we waste our time without any reason. Smartphone addiction is one of the main reasons to give up writing regularly. We do not want to utilize our leisure time properly. As a result, we can not improve our writing skills. Suppose sometimes you don’t have anything to do, then you may start writing something. It can be any topic or incident. Your primary purpose is to improve your writing skills.

We may choose a topic and try to write some sentences when we don’t have anything to do. We can utilize our leisure time and make ourselves good writers.

6. Improve Speaking Skills

Practicing your targeted language through spoken will help you make yourself a good writer. Many people face the problem when they learn their targeted language only because of spoken practice. A fluent speaker always gets a lot of ideas by speaking with different speakers. Let’s try to improve your speaking skills.

Find a friend or a partner for speaking practice. Sometimes when you get a chance to start a conversation with him. Here you get two benefits: you can improve your speaking skills, and another is you can get many ideas from your friend. Later, it will be effortless to write something about the topic you choose for a conversation with your friend.

7. Improve Your Vocabulary

A writer needs to know more and more vocabulary. Many people face the same problem when they write something in English because they don’t learn enough vocabulary in English. You can use a dictionary, and a dictionary may help you improve your vocabulary faster.

8. Focus on Your Spelling

Spelling plays a vital role in writing a paragraph correctly. A writer needs to spell accurately in a sentence. Wrong spelling can change the meaning of a word. For example, you intend to write ‘night,’ but subconsciously, you write ‘knight’ instead of night. The pronunciation of these words is very similar but different in meaning.

However, try to focus on your spelling whenever you wish to write something. It would help if you practiced more and more. Otherwise, it will be challenging to remember the exact spelling for every word. If you can write correct spelling, you will be a good writer for no doubt, and improve your writing skills quickly.

9. Straight on the Topic

Sometimes we move forward from the exact topic to another irrelevant incident, and this can decrease the readability of our writing. That’s why we need to be straight on the topic and explain the selected topic elaborately with relevant information.

You can describe the topic in conversational ways, and it will help you connect with your audience more closely. For example, you may add examples of real-life situations in your writing.

10. Try to Use Simple Sentences

The purpose of your writing is to convey information to your readers. But if your readers fail to understand your sentences, will it make any sense? Absolutely not. Your sentences should be simple and easy to understand.

You have to remember that you need to reach your audience. Further, you should make sure that they can understand every sentence.

Sometimes we are getting scared of whether we will be able to improve our writing skills. In some cases, we become frustrated and give up writing, and unfortunately, it happens because of the lacking of confidence and consistency.

We need more patience to improve our writing skills. However, these ten easy ways will help you improve your writing skills in English easily and accurately. Just try to implement those steps in proper ways.

Tips on How to Improve English Writing Skills

Do you want to know how to improve your English writing skills? Do you want to know how to write correct sentences without it being a painful task?

Here are some tips to help you feel more confident with writing, and improve your English writing skills:

1. Read as much as you can

Just as we say that listening is closely related to speaking, reading is closely related to writing so our number 1 tip for improving your English writing would be to read as much as you can! This will help you improve your vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, and show you there are many different ways to communicate ideas. For example: If you need to write a description of a house or a bio of yourself, a great idea is to read some other bios or house descriptions, from books, magazines, brochures, the internet or whatever source you can think of. After having read others, then you can attempt to write your own. You’ll realize it’s much easier than trying to write without any previous input! Why not read some more posts on our blog to start?!

2. Keep an English dictionary

You’ll be able to look up words to clarify their meaning and to learn antonyms and synonyms so as not to repeat words or phrases, which will better your communication skills.

3. Brush up your grammar

Even though you don’t have to “study” grammar, your English writing will improve a lot if you work on grammar exercises. Also, remember that grammar is more important when you write than when you speak because it is usually more formal and more structured.

4. Check your spelling before and after writing

How do you feel when you read something full of spelling mistakes in your own language? Poor spelling can spoil an otherwise interesting piece to read, and we generally write for other people to read what we’ve written.

5. Keep a diary in English

It will make you write every day to turn writing into a routine activity. Besides, you are “writing to yourself”, which can make you feel liberated and satisfied. You don’t need to write elaborate sentences: you can keep them as simple as you want.

6. Learn how to expand your basic sentences into more elaborate ones

There are five basic sentence structures in English:

Here are a few examples of how you can expand them:

7. Learn how to organize a paragraph

An useful way to improve your English writing skills is to start your paragraphs with a topic sentence: i.e. a sentence that explains what you are going to write about. Continue with supporting sentences: i.e. sentences that provide more information about the topic. Finish with a conclusion: i.e. it is generally a summary of the ideas developed in the body of the paragraph. Learn how to make transitions between paragraphs to signal relationships between ideas so as to create a fluent body of text.

8. Write an outline

Even in a very simple piece of English writing you have to keep some kind of an organization to convey the message you want in a clear orderly way. There are many different ways to write outlines and these have much to do with the way you organize things in your mind.

9. Try to get someone to read what you’ve written

A teacher, a tutor, a native speaker: whoever masters the language and can help you understand and correct whatever mistakes you may have made both in grammar or spelling and in the way your paragraph text has been organized.

Writing in English is not really something you can achieve immediately, but with hard, efficient work and gradual improvement you should definitely get there. Start writing very simple sentences and then get the challenge to write more elaborate pieces. Just give it a try!

Why not try our English Test to find out how good your English skills are?

16 Easy Ways to Improve Your Writing Skills

Nothing strikes fear into the heart of a marketer quite like being asked to write a blog post. Some marketers would rather wrestle with pivot tables (or grizzly bears) for days on end than write a blog post – but why?

Writing doesn’t have to be this painful.

With content marketing shaping up as one of the most important marketing skills to have on your resume, getting a handle on writing could really benefit your career as well as the obvious benefit of increasing traffic to your company’s site.

Writing is intimidating to a lot of people, particularly those who don’t write for a living or on a regular basis. The good news is that writing doesn’t have to be agonizing, and almost anybody can improve their writing skills with a little discipline and a willingness to learn. Want to become a better writer? Here are 16 ways you can start improving your writing skills right now.

1. Brush Up on the Basics

Before you can start writing incredible content, you’ll need at least an intermediate understanding of the basic principles of writing.

This doesn’t mean you need to enroll in a prestigious creative writing program at an Ivy league university, but you will need to know the basics of grammar and spelling. Every writer should have a copy of “The Elements of Style” by Strunk and White on their bookshelf, as this small but invaluable book is one of the most comprehensive resources on the correct use of grammar and other helpful topics.

For quick and easy online resources, bookmark Grammar Girl and, of course, Merriam Webster.

2. Write Like It’s Your Job

If you want to get better at something, you have to practice – and writing is no exception!

Unfortunately, there are few shortcuts that can transform you into an amazing writer overnight, and even the most talented writers had to learn their craft over a period of many years. It’s admitedly even harder to write while considering SEO and how to drive traffic to your post.

If you want to improve your writing skills, writing on a regular basis will not only diminish your fear of the blank page (or blinking cursor), it will also help you develop a unique style. So, even if nobody reads it, keep writing. Practice makes perfect.

[ Learn how to write better ad copy with our free guide: 10 Tricks to Get the Click ]

3. Read Like It’s Your Job

The best writers are also keen readers, and reading on a regular basis is an easy way to start developing your writing skills. I don’t just mean blog posts, either – diversify your reading material. Expand your horizons to more challenging material than you typically read, and pay attention to sentence structure, word choice, and how the material flows.

The more you read, the more likely you are to develop an eye for what makes a piece so effective, and which mistakes to avoid.

4. Find a Writing Partner

If you work at a reasonably sized company, the chances are pretty good that there is at least one other person who is also wondering how to become a better writer. Although writing is typically considered a solitary activity, the best writers know when it’s time to get much-needed feedback on their work.

Talk to your coworkers (or friends) and ask someone if they’d be willing to cast an eye over your work – they may spot mistakes that you overlooked.

Finding a writing partner is also a great way to hold yourself accountable and keep going.

5. Join a Workshop or Take a Night Class

Most people balk at the idea of standing in front of a room full of strangers and baring their soul to the world, but joining a writing workshop can be immensely beneficial – and a lot of fun (if you manage to find a good one).

You don’t need to have an unfinished novel hidden away in your desk drawer to join a workshop. These days, content marketing meet-ups and professional development groups are becoming wildly popular. Join one of the many content marketing groups on LinkedIn to meet like-minded writers, or search for writing workshops near you on sites like Meetup. Pick a topic, write something, listen to the feedback of the group, and then revise it. Rinse, repeat.

6. Dissect Writing That You Admire

Most people read the same blogs or sites on a regular basis because the material appeals to them – but fewer people understand why their favorite blogs are so appealing.

Find a handful of recent blog posts you really like, then print them out. Next, just like your high school English teacher did, take a red pen and highlight things you liked: certain sentences, turns of phrase, even entire paragraphs. Examine why you like these elements, and see if there are any common threads in your favored reading material. See how writers take one subject and transition into another. Apply these techniques to your own work.

Let’s take a look at a particularly powerful (and memorable piece) from Copyblogger that serves as a great example of this.

Immediately, you’re hooked by Morris’ opening. You can’t not read to see what happens next. The pacing is excellent, it grabs your attention, and best of all, it keeps you reading. This piece was first published back in June, and I still remember it. Read the full post here, and see how Morris masterfully tells the story of a band named Death and how this relates to writing content.

7. Imitate Writers You Admire

Before we go any further, a disclaimer – imitation is not the same as plagiarism. Don’t rip off anyone’s work. Ever.

Just as you probably have a list of blogs you read often, you’ll likely also read the same writers on a regular basis. Identify what it is you enjoy about their work, and see if you can use it to improve your writing skills. Does a writer you like use humor to spice up dry topics? Try it. Do they use pop culture references to make their work entertaining and useful? Try that, too.

When I first started writing, I imitated some of my favorite nonfiction writers and essayists, such as Joan Didion, Truman Capote and Bill Bryson. I also attempted (and failed) to imitate writers such as Dave Eggers and Dan Kennedy, but soon realized that I wasn’t funny enough and gave it up. Over time, I eventually developed my own style, but reading the works of these writers and seeing how they constructed their essays and books was immensely helpful to me as a writer (see tip #3).

8. Remember That Outlines Are Your Friend

The blinking cursor of a blank page is a considerable foe, even for the most experienced writers. Before putting pen to proverbial paper, sketch out an outline of what you plan to write. This will be your battle plan, and it will help you win the war. Very few – and I do mean very few – writers sit down to write anything without a solid plan in mind.

An outline doesn’t have to be complex. A simple framework of which sections should appear in a particular order, along with a few sentences about what each section contains, may be enough. If the topic you’re tackling is a little more complex, your outline might have to be, too – but having an outline before you write is like having a roadmap in the glove box of your car before a road trip. If you start to feel lost, refer back to your outline and get back to kicking ass and taking names.

Let’s take a look at a real example – one of my own outlines:

Introduction

Brief summary of the post

Section 1 – What is Brand Voice?

Paragraph(s) explaining the key principles behind brand voice (style, tone, and messaging)

Examples of each

Section 2 – Developing Brand Voice with Content

Explanations of how to develop brand voice using content (written, visual, video)

Considerations for content producers/marketers to bear in mind when producing content (strategy, goals, overall brand messaging)

Section 3 – Examples of Content That Builds Brand Voice

Several examples (three or four) of content that aligns well with marketing positioning and branding of recognizable brands

Conclusion

This outline eventually became my recent post about brand voice. I deviated from my initial outline slightly, but the overarching structure was always there to keep me on target.

9. Edit Your Work Ruthlessly

So, you’re writing every day (or regularly, at least), and you’re feeling more confident about your work. Awesome! Now you’re going to become your own harshest critic.

Editing is a tough skill to learn for beginner writers, because they place immense value on the time and effort they put into writing in the first place. However, a lot of writing is actually rewriting, and this is where the cold, hard eye of an editor will serve you well.

Develop the discipline it takes to eliminate extraneous words (more on this shortly). Resist the temptation to wax lyrically and get to the point. Not sure if a paragraph works? It probably isn’t. Be tough on yourself, and know when to delete or rework something. Your work will be much stronger as a result.

10. Accept That First Drafts Are Almost Always Crap

The best writers make it look so easy. After reading a great post, it’s tempting to imagine your favorite bloggers effortlessly turning in incredible posts with minimal effort before spending the rest of their day reading obscure books in a quaint corner café somewhere. Take comfort in the knowledge that this isn’t how writing works.

First drafts are almost always crap, and that’s okay. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t create a masterpiece on your first attempt – chances are, you probably won’t, and that’s okay, too. Just get your ideas down on paper first, then go back and start cleaning up. Writing is an iterative process, and even the best writers have to spend a lot of time reworking material they were probably too embarrassed to show anybody.

11. Find a Good (Patient) Editor

Whether you’re trying to make the case for a content strategy to your manager or want to start guest blogging on your favorite sites, finding and working with a good editor is one of the best things you can do to improve your writing skills. I’ve worked with dozens of editors over the years, and in my experience, the best are those who show you why something doesn’t work, rather than just telling you that it doesn’t.

Allowing someone else to read your work can be brutally difficult for some writers, especially when they’re just starting out, but it’s crucial that you develop good habits from the outset and learn to accept constructive criticism about your work. Remember – writers are desperately needy creatures who need to be constantly reassured that they’re the creative geniuses they believe themselves to be, but you’ll need to develop a thick skin if you’re serious about your work, and a good editor is invaluable when it comes to toughening up.

12. Eliminate Unnecessary Words

Another common mistake among beginner writers (and some more experienced writers who should know better) is writing overly complex sentences in an attempt to “sound” more authoritative.

In many cases, shorter sentences can have a greater impact. You may have heard of a six-word story that was supposedly written by Ernest Hemingway, which reads, “For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.” Whether Hemingway wrote this or not is irrelevant – the power of these six words shows that brevity can be a powerful tool when used correctly, and not every sentence needs to be overwrought to get your point across.

Let’s look at another real example from one of my posts – my very first post for WordStream, as it happens. This lengthy sentence is a prime candidate for a ruthless red pen, even if my lame jokes were intended to give it a little more flavor. I’ve edited the sentence to show you how you could edit a similar line in your own work (additions italicized).

“Whether you’re a newcomer to Google Ads (formerly known as AdWords) or have been running PPC campaigns for years, you’ve probably given a great deal of thought to about which keywords will result in more clicks and higher conversions – not to mention that vacation home in Lake Tahoe you’ve been dreaming about.”

13. Take a Stroll Down Memory Lane

I’ve been writing professionally, in one way or another, for the past ten years. When I look back at my early work, which I do every so often, it literally makes me cringe. I don’t do this because I’m a masochist, but to remind myself how far I’ve come.

Writing should be fun, and along with the thrill of seeing your byline for the first time, seeing how far you’ve progressed is one of the most satisfying parts of being a writer. Every now and then (but not too often), re-read your earlier work and marvel at how much better you are now than you were then. Pat yourself on the back. You’ve worked hard, so don’t be shy – congratulate yourself.

14. Don’t Be Afraid to Say What You Think

Most content on the web is bland and dreadfully boring. This is because far too many bloggers focus on regurgitating the same news as everybody else without bothering to add their own opinions. Obviously you don’t want to fall afoul of libel laws, but that doesn’t mean you can’t (or shouldn’t) say what you think.

Once you’ve started to discover your own “voice,” don’t be shy about sharing your opinions. This makes for more interesting reading. Don’t be contrarian for its own sake, and don’t set out to purposefully piss anyone off, but make sure there’s enough of you in your writing to make it a worthwhile read for your audience.

15. Do Your Research

Aside from plagiarizing someone else’s work, nothing will undermine your credibility faster than failing to do your homework.

In their eagerness to be done with a blog post (or even major newspaper article), many writers try to take shortcuts with the facts. This can range from accidentally fudging a statistic out of haste to being lazy when it comes to sourcing or attribution. Not only can this land you in big trouble with your editor/content marketing manager/other boss-type person, it also makes you look like an amateur.

Everybody makes mistakes, and you don’t need to spend weeks cross-referencing every last statistic (see the next tip), but common sense should prevail here – don’t rely exclusively on sites like Wikipedia, and use current, primary sources whenever possible.

16. Remember Done Is Better than Perfect

You should definitely take the time to write as well as you can, proofread and edit your work thoroughly, and ensure that your piece flows logically from one point to the next.

However, this doesn’t mean you should take weeks to write something.

No piece of writing will ever be perfect – you have to know when it’s time to let it go. This is especially important in content marketing, because you’ll rarely (if ever) have the luxury of crafting agonizingly beautiful blog posts full of poignant sentences and evocative imagery. As you become more confident, the “writing” part of writing will become easier and faster, but never lose sight of the fact that deadlines, or editorial calendars, are just as much your masters as any boss or manager.

As for me, I’m going to take my own advice and call this post done. I hope you find these tips useful, no matter how long you’ve been writing.

Summary: How to Improve Your Writing Skills

Meet The Author

Dan Shewan

Originally from the U.K., Dan Shewan is a journalist and web content specialist who now lives and writes in New England. Dan’s work has appeared in a wide range of publications in print and online, including The Guardian, The Daily Beast, Pacific Standard magazine, The Independent, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and many other outlets.

See other posts by Dan Shewan

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How to improve writing skills in English

Writing is one of the most important skills English as a second language learners must master, particularly for students and working professionals. That’s because unlike in speaking exercises, when you write you leave a lasting record of your language.

Mistakes in spelling, grammar and word choice are immediately evident. And while literacy skills are not a reflection of intelligence or knowledge, poor writing can cause a student to receive lower marks, even if they know a lot about the subject of the assignment. In a professional context, people may judge you as lazy or untrustworthy if you send poorly written emails full of mistakes.

They are also likely to assume your spoken ability in English is quite low, though this may or may not be the case. That’s why it is important to improve writing skills in English before they prevent you from reaching your full potential at school or in the workplace.

Fortunately, the more often you write, the easier it will be to access the English you are looking for and express yourself accurately and fluently. Researchers know that if you are a strong writer in your first language, chances are you will also be a strong writer in English.

That’s because strategy use transfers. However, you can always learn to be more strategic as a writer and improve your skills by signing up for a class.

A composition course, even one aimed at native speakers, will help you improve the way you react to different texts, organize your ideas and bring together vocabulary, grammar and tone to enhance your writing. Spelling and fluency, when it comes to the actual process of putting words on paper, can be improved by taking an online course.

Keep in mind that you can’t learn how to write overnight. It’s a process and the more you write and receive feedback on your written work, the stronger you will become.

How writing works

Reading is a receptive skill that requires an individual to make meaning from the language input to which they are exposed. In writing, learners must actually create meaning and produce their own language. That’s why writing is so hard, even for native speakers.

It begins with translating ideas into language and moving them around so the reader can follow your train of thought. Next, comes the process of revising to find the most precise and convincing wording that renders ideas clearly and concisely. Finally, you need to make sure there are no grammar, spelling or formatting errors which will distract the reader from what you are saying.

Top tips to improve English writing skills

4 Tips for English teachers

Help students overcome their fear of a blank page by starting off your lesson with an activity that helps them generate language and ideas for their writing. This is a top down strategy that will allow them to activate prior knowledge and personal experiences that relate to the topic.

Research shows that strategy use transfers from a learner’s first to second language after they have reached a certain ability level. For those learners who are not strong writers in their first language, introduce and model writing strategies.

Be on the lookout for learning difficulties. You may think spelling mistakes and poorly organized text are a result of lacking English skills but there may be another issue such as dyslexia, dyspraxia or dysgraphia that is causing the problem. The earlier a learning difficulty is diagnosed, the sooner a student can learn strategies to overcome it.

Go over the difference between written and spoken English. Every language learner eventually discovers that not everything we say in conversation is acceptable in written form. Beginner learners might need you to call their attention to some common examples (such as writing going to instead of gonna).

Learn to type

Taking a touch-typing course like Touch-type Read and Spell’s can be a great way for an English language learner to improve his or her writing skills.

Not only does touch-typing provide a more automatized way of expressing thoughts in English, but the process of learning the keys can involve dictation exercises which reinforce phonics and spelling. As English is a notoriously difficult language to spell, this can be important in building confidence in writing and facilitating sight-reading at the same time.

Touch-type Read and Spell takes a modular and multi-sensory approach and is also a solution for English students who struggle with learning difficulties, such as dyslexia.

Learn more about helping English language learners in the classroom.

Do you have any tips on improving writing skills? Join the discussion in the comments!

English Writing Practice: 16 Daily Ways to Improve Your Writing Skills

Writing will improve your vocabulary and grammar, help you become a better reader and teach you to express yourself clearly in English.

So say goodbye to boring English writing assignments, because here are 16 fun ways to practice writing in English.

Note: Many of these will take less than five or ten minutes. So use a mix of these suggestions to write in English every day—even if it is just for five minutes.

Contents

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

1. Write Daily Lists and Calendar Items

If writing in English is still scary for you, an easy way to start is with short lists.

Start by making to-do lists in English of the things you need to do each day. This can be on scrap pieces of paper, or even on an app like Todoist or Wunderlist.

Then, begin writing your grocery lists in English. This is great practice for food items, and also to get you thinking in English when you normally are not. You will probably buy many of the same foods week after week, so the repetition will be really helpful. Beginners might like using this complete list of foods from grocerylist.org when starting out.

To help you switch over to English, and if you want to spend a little money on this project, you could buy a new pad of paper for grocery lists, like this one. When the list title is in English on every page, you should remember to write your list in English every time.

There are even grocery list pads of paper with 100+ common food items on each page, next to a check box. These pads of paper are called “All Out Of” pads. So when you are all out of apples, for example, you put a check mark next to the word “apples.” Simple!

If you love apps, use a grocery list app in English, such as Buy Me a Pie! This app has a word prompter, which means it will suggest words as you type. For example, if I start typing “yog-,” the app will prompt “yogurt” and fill in the rest of the word for me.

If you keep a daily or monthly calendar, write your appointments and events in English. Like with the grocery list, you will probably use some of the same words over and over. And if you prefer apps, use your phone’s calendar app in English or download a free one.

2. Keep a One-sentence Journal

Another easy way to start writing more is by keeping a one-sentence journal. The idea is simple: You write one sentence in a journal every day. You do not need anything special—just a notebook and a pen or pencil.

Put your one-sentence journal somewhere you will see it, and try to write at the same time every day. For example, you could keep your journal next to your bed and write before you go to sleep each night. Or you could keep your journal on your desk at work and write a sentence during your lunch break.

Writing one sentence does not take a lot of time, so this is a great habit for beginners. If you are more advanced or simply want to write more, you can definitely write more than one sentence each day. But you must try not to miss more than one day in a row, when you forget to write your sentence. It is better to write just one sentence every day than to write two pages once, and stop writing for weeks. You have to be consistent to make improvement!

If you would like, you can buy this five-year one-sentence journal, created by author Gretchen Rubin.

3. Comment on Online Content

You watch YouTube videos, don’t you? Of course you do! The next time you watch a video on YouTube, write a short comment below. You could write a new comment, or reply to another user’s comment. (Hint: If you watch videos in English, the comments will likely be in English too!)

Start doing the same for other content online. Did you read a cool blog post? Leave a comment in English. Did you see something awesome on Facebook or G+? Comment on it!

4. Write a Haiku

A haiku is a poem with three lines. The first line must have 5 syllables, the second line has 7 syllables, and the last line has 5 syllables: 5-7-5. For example, here’s a funny haiku I like from the t-shirt company Threadless:

Haikus are easy
But sometimes they don’t make sense
Refrigerator

Let’s break it down into syllables:

Hai-kus are ea-sy = 5
But some-times they don’t make sense = 7
Re-fri-ger-a-tor = 5

If you are not sure how many syllables a word has, you can type it into this syllable dictionary at How Many Syllables? (You can also use their handy guide to learn to count syllables on your own. The lightbulb at the bottom of each page will have a link to the next page.)

Until you get used to the format of haikus, you can write your haikus here at Write a Haiku. The simple online tool has a blank space for you to write your haiku. As you write each word, it tells you how many syllables you have.

Share your haikus with others at Haiku Village. For a big challenge, you could even write a haiku every day for 100 days, like Courtney Symons did!

5. Tweet

Tweets (on Twitter) can only be 140 characters long. Writing tweets (or tweeting) is therefore another nice step to get you comfortable writing in English in small amounts.

You can definitely keep your account private if you want, but it might be more fun to make it public. That way, other people can see your tweets and reply to them. Remember, you do not have to use your real name when you create a username!

Twitter is meant to capture what is happening now. Here are some ideas of what you could tweet:

Here are 42 more ideas of things you could tweet about!

If you have a native English speaking friend, ask them to follow you. If you want to improve faster, ask him or her to please correct your tweets if they see any mistakes.

6. Decorate with Inspirational Quotes

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

That quote by Mahatma Gandhi is perhaps one of the most well-known inspirational quotes to date. Inspirational is used to describe something that gets you excited and gives you hope. Gandhi’s quote above inspires people to make positive changes in their actions.

Find some inspirational quotes that you really like, and then write them down. Here are some sites where you can find great quotes:

If you have a Pinterest account, that is another great place to look for these quotes. If you prefer quotes about happiness, friendship, love or another topic—that is okay. The point is for you to find quotes that you like. You can also look for interesting quotes (not just inspirational) as you read in English.

Look up any unknown words and make sure you understand the quote’s meaning.

Then, the next step is to rewrite the quote by hand. If you want to get out the markers and crayons, feel free. If you prefer to write in black pen on a white notecard, go ahead. Do whatever you prefer.

Next, put up the quotes somewhere you will see them every day. You could decorate your bedroom walls, a notebook, your bathroom mirror—wherever you want. Every time you look at the quote, read it aloud or say it in your head.

It is really great practice to write these quotes out by hand, but you can also easily make beautiful quotes online. Quozio and Canva are two sites that let you do this.

Then, you can set these as your computer background, share them on Facebook, pin them on Pinterest, etc. Add five new quotes to your collection every month.

7. Write Love Letters for Your Community

Now that you are in an inspired mood, you can also participate in this letter-writing project: “The World Needs More Love Letters.”

Created by Hannah Brencher, here is the main idea: The world needs more love letters, so write a love letter to a stranger.

Not a romantic love letter for couples, but a nice letter from human to human. Write a letter that will make someone happy. Then, leave the letter in a public space for someone to find. Here is a quick guide with more details about leaving love letters. There are many sample letters on the site, so you can use them for ideas.

But what if no one speaks English where you live? Not to worry—there is another way you can participate in this wonderful project! Every month there is a featured love letter request.

You will see the person’s name, a paragraph about them and a mailing address for their “bundle” of letters. (The recipient does not know they will be receiving love letters; usually a friend requests it for them.) Send a love letter to that address before the mailing deadline. You can see the current love letter requests on this page.

For more information about this project, you can read about how it works here or watch the creator’s short (4:52) TED Talk here.

8. Participate in a Postcard Exchange

While it is nice to make a stranger happy with a letter, it is also fun to get a response to something you mail. A postcard exchange is a great way to send and receive mail in English!

Post Crossing is a site that organizes international postcard exchanges. Here is how it works: You sign up and receive an address. Send a postcard to that address. Once the recipient receives your postcard, you will be the next person to receive a postcard.

One of the Post Crossing Community guidelines is to use English. So in addition to writing your postcard in English, you will also get to use English when you create your account and when you browse the website.

And there are some pretty interesting parts to the site, such as meetups (events), a forum (where you can have written discussions with other members), postcard statistics and more.

9. Dictation

To combine writing and listening practice, you can do a dictation. (If you need to work on your spelling, listen up!) A dictation is when you listen to some audio and write down exactly what you hear.

To do this on your own, you will want to use audio that has a transcript (a written copy of all spoken words from a piece of audio). For example:

Do not try to write out an entire TED Talk or a full book chapter. (That would take forever, even for a native English speaker!) Instead, do just a minute or two from the audio clip. If that is too difficult, try just 10-30 seconds of a recording to start.

When you are finished, compare what you have written with the transcript. Check for spelling errors or completely wrong words.

10. Send a Letter to Your Future Self

This next one is an activity that I like to do at least once a year myself. Using the site futureme.org, you can send an email to the future! You write an email to yourself, and then choose the date that it will be delivered. I recommend sending it six months or one year from the current date.

It is a fun surprise when the email arrives a year later. You can see how you have changed.

What could you write about in the letter to yourself? Really, whatever you want. But here are some ideas:

If you want to get some fun reading practice too, you can read real letters that people have written to themselves on the site.

11. Remember Your Dreams

For this idea, keep a small notebook and pen by your bed. You could even call this your “Dream Journal” if you want.

Then, if you wake up one morning and can remember parts of your dream, write it all down right away, in English. If you wait until later, you usually forget your dreams.

By writing down your dreams, you get in some English writing practice before you even get out of bed.

Dreams are often bizarre (crazy), so you will use a nice variety of vocabulary. Plus, I think it is super interesting to know what we dream about!

If you do not usually remember your dreams, deciding to do this will make you more likely to remember them. It is true—putting the notepad by your bed and thinking about remembering your dreams will actually help you remember your dreams!

12. Gratitude Journal

Another type of journal you could keep is a gratitude journal. Gratitude is a noun that means a feeling of thanks or appreciation. It has the same root as the word grateful (thankful). So, a gratitude journal is a place where you write what you are thankful for.

In a notebook, write what you are thankful for every day. Just like with some of the other ideas on this list, it will help if you do this at the same time every day. Keep the notebook out where you will easily see it.

If you use a smartphone a lot, try this Gratitude Journal app to develop the habit. It will ask you every day for a quick list of five things you are thankful for. You can even add photos you have taken. It will be fun to look back and have positive memories every day.

13. Become a Redditor

Reddit is a website where members can post content and comment on it. Users can “upvote” or “downvote” any post or comment if they like or dislike it. On the front page of Reddit, you will see the content with the highest number of upvotes that day.

Content is organized into subcategories called “subreddits.” There are subreddits for every interest possible! For example, a few subreddits are TIL (Today I Learned), News, Jokes, DIY (Do It Yourself), Science, Personal Finance—and even English. If you want to start with less text, begin by commenting in subreddits like Pics and Gifs.

Create an account and then subscribe to subreddits that interest you. While this alone will be great reading practice, commit to commenting on at least one post a week. Comments do not have to be long, but they can be long if desired. Later on, challenge yourself to write five comments on Reddit each week.

14. Start a Blog

When you are ready to write a bit more than a tweet or a short Reddit comment, start your own blog. Blogger is a really easy blogging platform to use, and it is made by Google. WordPress.com is another site where you can make a free blog.

What should your blog be about? Here are a few ideas:

But your blog does not need one central theme—you can write whatever you want any day! I do recommend starting with a schedule, though: Write at least one post per week.

If you are not sure what to write about, there is actually a subreddit called Writing Prompts where you can get ideas!

15. Create Stories with Strangers

Storium is a really neat online writing game. You write a story with a group of real people at the same time.

Here is how it works: Each player chooses a character and gets a set of cards that influence how the story develops. The players take turns using their cards and contributing paragraphs to the story. It feels like a board game or video game—but you’re writing a creative story together.

You are working with others and it is just a game, so it is low-pressure writing practice. Plus, at the end you will have a full story that you helped write!

You can learn more about the game here.

16. Get Corrections from Native Speakers

Finally, no matter what you have written, it is normal to make mistakes. As English learners, it is hard to spot these mistakes on your own. At Lang-8 you can share a piece of your writing and native English speakers will correct it for you! In return, you can correct writing from people learning your native language.

Submit a piece of writing to Lang-8 at least once every two weeks. After it is edited, make a list of the types of mistakes you made. Then, after you write your next blog post, journal entry or anything else in English, use that list to check for your common mistakes.

Keep all of your English writing together in one place. After three months of using Lang-8, compare your level to when you started. You will very likely see improvements. Use this as motivation to continue learning English and writing.

It is important to remember that even native speakers make mistakes, so make sure you understand why your mistakes are incorrect. It may also help to use a professional online editing service like Editorr. They will accurately edit a piece of writing for you within a few minutes. Editorr uses real editors—most of them have a master’s degree or higher! You can use the changes they make to your writing to help you understand how to write better.

For the more informal writing you do every day, you can use Grammarly, an online grammar checker. Grammarly corrects some of the most common grammar mistakes you make while you are typing online (writing emails, tweeting or doing anything else on the internet). No automatic grammar checker will be able to help you with your writing as much as a native speaker, but Grammarly can still help you develop good writing habits without too much effort.

So grab a pen, find some paper and get writing.

There are new friends to meet, people to make happy and a world to change!

Rebecca Thering is a writer, editor and English teacher who has lived abroad in Spain, South Korea and France. She helps English learners improve their language skills with a growth mindset at English with Rebe.

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