I haven't been around for a long time. You may wonder: Why?
Because I've been involved in another project. It's called English in Guía and we're working in 3 different blogs, one for each level:
English for students of Nivel Básico
English for students of Nivel Intermedio
English for students of Nivel Avanzado
Please feel free to drop by and leave us some comments. Welcome to our new sites!
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Writing. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Writing. Mostrar todas las entradas
1/6/08
Summer ideas
Hi dear all!
The summer is near, and that's great, isn't it? However, "4 months without English" is not such a great idea...
I'd like to give you some tips so that you can practice a little bit of English these months. Don't start the next course feeling lost!
I firstly recommend you to read this post: "Cómo aprender inglés sin dinero para cursos". The teacher here suggests interesting things for a linguistic immersion. For example, she talks about language exchanges. Why not start one now? We can do that on the Internet, without having to travel! She and her readers suggest the following (I know this is not the first time we talk about this):
- Shared Talk
- My Language Exchange
- Language Exchanges
There you can practice your the 4 skills!
I do agree with her opinion on Listening everyday. If you try and listen at least 5 minutes, you'll get used to the sounds of English and it'll become easier and easier. My recommendation here is for you to download i-Tunes (it's free!) and subscribe to podcasts (that you can later transfer to your MP3 player!). All you have to do is (once you get the program) click on i-Tunes Store, later on Podcasts and then browse according to your interests: you can select the language, the channel or the topic you are interested in. Then you subscribe to the podcasts that you like: their updates will be downloaded immediately everytime you connect to i-Tunes again. Isn't it wonderful?
More ideas on Writing: apart from checking the websites checklisted in this blog, you could also start a journal in English or even a blog yourself! (Try blogger) If you write on a regular basis, you'll need to use a dictionary and thus will learn new things everyday.
Finally, what about Reading? Are you thinking of taking some English book to the beach with you? Good idea. Why not visit the library downstairs? You can borrow books for the whole summer now. Otherwise, you can buy them online; Amazon is quite fast with deliveries and they also offer you the possibility of buying second-hand books for really reasonable prices!
Short of ideas? Here you are some suggestions (light and fun reads, I think):
- White Teeth by Zadie Smith
- The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend
- Sushi for Beginners by Marian Keyes
- Completely Unexpected Tales by Roald Dahl
- Eureka Street by Robert McLiam Wilson
- Changing Places by David Lodge
- The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Have fun, then. See you around this week.
The summer is near, and that's great, isn't it? However, "4 months without English" is not such a great idea...
I'd like to give you some tips so that you can practice a little bit of English these months. Don't start the next course feeling lost!
I firstly recommend you to read this post: "Cómo aprender inglés sin dinero para cursos". The teacher here suggests interesting things for a linguistic immersion. For example, she talks about language exchanges. Why not start one now? We can do that on the Internet, without having to travel! She and her readers suggest the following (I know this is not the first time we talk about this):
- Shared Talk
- My Language Exchange
- Language Exchanges
There you can practice your the 4 skills!
I do agree with her opinion on Listening everyday. If you try and listen at least 5 minutes, you'll get used to the sounds of English and it'll become easier and easier. My recommendation here is for you to download i-Tunes (it's free!) and subscribe to podcasts (that you can later transfer to your MP3 player!). All you have to do is (once you get the program) click on i-Tunes Store, later on Podcasts and then browse according to your interests: you can select the language, the channel or the topic you are interested in. Then you subscribe to the podcasts that you like: their updates will be downloaded immediately everytime you connect to i-Tunes again. Isn't it wonderful?
More ideas on Writing: apart from checking the websites checklisted in this blog, you could also start a journal in English or even a blog yourself! (Try blogger) If you write on a regular basis, you'll need to use a dictionary and thus will learn new things everyday.
Finally, what about Reading? Are you thinking of taking some English book to the beach with you? Good idea. Why not visit the library downstairs? You can borrow books for the whole summer now. Otherwise, you can buy them online; Amazon is quite fast with deliveries and they also offer you the possibility of buying second-hand books for really reasonable prices!
Short of ideas? Here you are some suggestions (light and fun reads, I think):
- White Teeth by Zadie Smith
- The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend
- Sushi for Beginners by Marian Keyes
- Completely Unexpected Tales by Roald Dahl
- Eureka Street by Robert McLiam Wilson
- Changing Places by David Lodge
- The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Have fun, then. See you around this week.
19/4/08
Looking for a job
Long time no write and all that!
Here we are again, this time to look at how to find a job in an English-speaking environment.
I already gave you some websites where to look for jobs. Here you are some websites that help you write a cover letter + design your CV + prepare for your interview:
- Cover Letter Etiquette
- CareerBuilder
- Jobsearch.about
- Videos about news on the jobs world
Plus the videos you were expecting:
- how to apply
- general tips for the job interview
- how to handle the questions during the interview itself
Good luck!
20/3/08
New Writing Exercise!
Do you remember Essay Punch? The website that helped us write a paragraph about who you'd take to Hawaii? Did you find it useful and/or enjoyable?
I've just found out that they have a new (and free!) exercise available for you. This time the instruction is the following:
"One of your friends knows all about dolphins. Another can sing all the songs Michael Jackson ever wrote. Almost everyone has an interest, talent, or hobby that makes him or her an "expert" in some area. Describe an activity or area about which you are especially knowledgeable."
Would you like to try writing a new paragraph with them? Remember: you just have to go to the home page, select "Start Writing Now" (which is on the left, at the beginning of the list), and follow the instructions.
When you think that your paragraph is ready, just send it over to me and I'll have a look.
Good luck!
4/3/08
Writing Week (II)
Here we go again. I found some "jewels" to keep on working in this "writing week". Let's see some of them:
PARAGRAPH WRITING (revision)
If you want to remember what we did the last day, there is a website for children where you can watch this video about how to write a paragraph. Then you can take a quiz, why not? To test whether you got the idea. Here is an
"easy" one and here you are a "hard" one.
CHOICE OF LANGUAGE
Choosing one or another word has a direct effect on the text you're writing. We'll work
on it in class, but here I collected a series of tales that were written "in a different way". They're the "Politically Correct Bedtime Stories", by James Finn Garner. The words in these tales are carefully chosen! Some examples:
- Politically Correct Three Little Pigs
- Politically Correct Little Red Riding Hood
HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR VOCABULARY
- Reading lots and lots.
- Doing specific exercises. More exercises here. You need a lifetime to do them all!
- Going to specific websites. Examples:
*how to record vocabulary
*how to improve your vocabulary
*dictionary entries
*finding new ways to say something
PUNCTUATION BASICS
You can have a look at a very useful site you might already know: click here for a thorough explanation of the comma, the period, the colon, etc.
More explanations and exercises on commas here.
Easy exercise: capital letters and full stops. Another one on commas. REALLY NICE!
Medium difficulty exercise: apostrophes and commas.
Hard exercise: look at a text with and without punctuation.
Punctuation games by the British Council: punctuate different texts correctly.
Exercises on commas.
After having overcome your "commaitis", you can try to write longer sentences here.
PARAGRAPH WRITING (revision)
If you want to remember what we did the last day, there is a website for children where you can watch this video about how to write a paragraph. Then you can take a quiz, why not? To test whether you got the idea. Here is an
"easy" one and here you are a "hard" one.
CHOICE OF LANGUAGE
Choosing one or another word has a direct effect on the text you're writing. We'll work
on it in class, but here I collected a series of tales that were written "in a different way". They're the "Politically Correct Bedtime Stories", by James Finn Garner. The words in these tales are carefully chosen! Some examples:- Politically Correct Three Little Pigs
- Politically Correct Little Red Riding Hood
HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR VOCABULARY
- Reading lots and lots.
- Doing specific exercises. More exercises here. You need a lifetime to do them all!
- Going to specific websites. Examples:
*how to record vocabulary
*how to improve your vocabulary
*dictionary entries
*finding new ways to say something
PUNCTUATION BASICS
You can have a look at a very useful site you might already know: click here for a thorough explanation of the comma, the period, the colon, etc.
More explanations and exercises on commas here.
Easy exercise: capital letters and full stops. Another one on commas. REALLY NICE!
Medium difficulty exercise: apostrophes and commas.
Hard exercise: look at a text with and without punctuation.
Punctuation games by the British Council: punctuate different texts correctly.
Exercises on commas.
After having overcome your "commaitis", you can try to write longer sentences here.
2/3/08
THE WRITING WEEK
Hello everyone! I know you can't wait for "the Writing Week". This week we'll be looking at:
- Brainstorming and drafting techniques
- Basic paragraph writing techniques and exercises (select "Start Writing now")
- Revision and error analysis strategies
- Punctuation basics
- Vocabulary improvement
Finally, I do believe that one of the best ways to improve your writing is WRITING. Especially writing to English-speaking people. So a very good idea is to find a penpal that's learning your language, and collaborate to unite efforts in your learning process. Therefore we'll also have a look at:
- Social Networks to learn English, namely:
Language Exchange Community
Italki
place4langs
Friends Abroad
TalkConmigo
Huitalk
xLingo
WeLang
Never before has it been so easy to practice a language! Hope you make the most of it.
12/1/08
Editing your written texts
Dear students,
Here I am, on this grey Saturday, busy with your compositions. I'd like to share my thoughts with you... What am I feeling? What am I worried about? Let me put this briefly: I am thinking it would be a good idea if we came back to "the very beginning" and started looking at basic tips to improve our writing. Mmmm... Let's see.
A wonderful website to start with would be this one; but specifically, I'd recommend you to go straight to the Editing section, which is really helpful to revise (or to learn) essential basics on the Writing Skill.
So, my dear students... I think my weekend experience with your compositions might change our schedule for next week. We'll talk on Monday about it.
Here I am, on this grey Saturday, busy with your compositions. I'd like to share my thoughts with you... What am I feeling? What am I worried about? Let me put this briefly: I am thinking it would be a good idea if we came back to "the very beginning" and started looking at basic tips to improve our writing. Mmmm... Let's see.
A wonderful website to start with would be this one; but specifically, I'd recommend you to go straight to the Editing section, which is really helpful to revise (or to learn) essential basics on the Writing Skill.
So, my dear students... I think my weekend experience with your compositions might change our schedule for next week. We'll talk on Monday about it.
8/10/07
Writing links for advanced students
- BASIC TIPS FOR WRITING:
Very basic pieces of advice here and here. And a more academic link if you click here.
- SPELLING:
- English spelling rules here and here.
- Spelling game.
WRITING COURSES:
-Writing e-mails.
-Paragraph writing tips.
-Complete writing course online.
-How to improve your writing in 5 minutes.
-Interactive exercises.
PUNCTUATION:
- At last! Punctuation rules and exercises explained here and here. And why not try this other link? Finally, you also have some activities here.
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