Written By: Tim Johnson
ESL + Business Instructor | Aston American University
Over my 10 years of teaching ESL (English as a second language) students, I have seen many instances where ESL students can listen, read, and speak English well, but write... not so good. Many ESL teachers do not teach writing skills, and this is due to the fact that most students want to focus on one or more of the other basic English skills.
But if students are preparing for a certificate such as Cambridge’s ESL exams (KET, PET, FCE, etc.) they will need to know how to write. I have recently started to prepare several students for such exams so writing is taught quite often now. Many exams will require students to write at a minimum level, which is usually around 60% or the entire exam is a “Fail.” Then students lose their money and must retake the entire exam again in the future.
Here are three suggestions on how to improve your writing skills:
- 1. Write about a topic which could be on an English certificate exam and have a native English speaker read it. Ask them to explain your mistakes and tell them to give you a “grade.”
- 2. Short and simple sentences: Avoid using language or words that you do not fully or properly understand. Most language certificates just want you to write the basics. As an ESL student, until you are in the B2 level, such complicated language is not necessary.
- 3. Copy a book by writing it down. Start with a book that is at your English level. Look at the structure of the sentence and try to understand it grammatically. Do not move to the next sentence until you understand the reason for its structure. Move on to harder books when the books you are using become too easy.
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