STRATEGIES TO DEVELOP WRITING SKILLS: POWERPOINT PRESENTATION

STRATEGIES TO DEVELOP WRITING SKILLS

WRITING

Not everyone is able to write perfect. But if you want, you can improve it.

Now, I will give you some advices to make it better:

1. Have a look and search how the structure is, because every writing has a different one (It also depends of your purpose).
2. When you are going to write, you have to know what it is going to be about and make notes, but not much, only the important things. Then, write a draft, but in English, not in your language (so you do not waste time looking at dictionaries for the translation), with the ideas you have thought before, typing it in double-spaced because it is more comfortable if you have to correct something. Thirdly, revise what you have written and change what you think it could be better and add in if it is necessary. And finally, write the final version but when you think it is well-written.
3. Search for references, so you have them if you practice. Think about what you have learnt before and practice it, because you will be able to correct your fails in your writing.
4. Read! it is useful to learn new vocabulary and new expressions that you can put in your writings.
5. Work with a partner. It is usually said that it is better to work alone, but if you have a partner, you can share ideas and look for the mistakes.
6. Practice and practice. The more you write, the more you will improve.

Now, let’s write a bit! 😉

LISTENING

If you are not good on listening, then, there are some advices that will help you:

1. Practice every day, because there could be many things that you probably do not understand, or that you will miss.
2. Define your listening objectives, because it is not about on understanding all the words.
3. It is also good to predict and anticipate to understand.
4. Don’t translate everything to your mother tongue.
5. Watch movies or TV series that you like and put subtitles in them. You will understand better what is told and it will make you improve.
6. Listening to music. Search for the lyrics on internet and listen at the same time. Probably at the first time you listen, you probably won’t understand all but when you have listened it many times, finally you memorize it! (if you like it, obviously).

* QUOTE: “When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.”- Ernest Hemingway *

SPEAKING

Speaking in public can be a difficult task for someone who is shy, afraid or nervous when there is a lot of people in front of him/her.

To avoid that (or trying to do it), you can follow these advices:

1. Before your presentation, do relaxation exercises and take deep and slow breaths. It can also help you visualizing yourself doing it good or achieving a confident posture.
2. The best way to be confident with yourself is practising every day, because you are talking about something that you really know!
3. When you are in front of the public, you have to look at their reaction and maintaining eye contact with them.
4. Visual help can be an option to make the audience to understand better your presentation.
5. Also, emphasize your idea and use an adequate vocabulary to make an intereseting presentation.
6. Use appropiate clothes. Be careful with the audience you are speaking, so avoid track-suits or sporty shoes.
7. Make jokes, but not much. Only a few can be perfect to entertain the public.
8. When you are ending, emphasize it and thank to the audience.

The most important is: BE CLEAR AND UNDERSTANDABLE! Don’t talk slow or/and low, people have to understand what you are saying.

Following these advices, your speaking will be the best 🙂

READING

Sometimes, reading could the most difficult thing because you don’t like it or it seems bored, you leave it and then, you will have difficulties later.
To improve this aspect, I will give you some advices:

1. You must not read word by word, because makes the reading slow down, do it In chunks because it has many advantages: your eyes move in short quick jumps, so you read more than 100 words per minute. Then, you understand the meaning of the text quicker and your eyes muscles don’t get so tired because they don’t do a lot of mental-physical work. So, if you want to be a good reader, you have to reduce back-skipping, to read in chunks of 4-5 words and to reduce the time between them.
2. You must not see it as an obligation, so you have to choose something that you like.
3. Do not search in a dictionary every word you do not understand. It is not good at all because it becomes bored and makes the reading slow, so you can select something easier to understand a minimum of the 85% of the text.
4. Search for information about what you are going to read. This will make you know the context and it will make you understand it better if you have doubts.
5. Have a look at the connectors of the text. They are the ones who connect the ideas, so you have to be careful if it is a conclusion or an addition, for example.
6. Read in a place you know you won’t be disturb by people or any sound, so you can concentrate on what you are reading.

** CURIOUS ASPECT! If you read a word which has an incorrect order of the letters but the first and the last letter is correct, you can read it correctly.**

And now, have fun reading! 🙂

VOCABULARY

Vocabulary looks like it is not difficult because it normally has no rules, but for a language you must know the words that are used.

Here it is some advices to learn vocabulary more effectively:

1. Write them with your language translation and definition and repeat the words many times to memorize them. When you have finished, ask someone if they can make you questions.
2. Differentiate them for groups. (for their use, size…) or make associations with similar words.
3. Read a lot. More you read, more you will improve your knowledge of vocabulary. But if you are reading and there is a word you do not know the meaning, do not waste time looking up at the dictionary. You have to still reading at the text because it can be explained later. If it does not happen, you must look if there is a picture to help you to understand; a similar word in a known-language (Catalan-Spanish); if you ever seen that word before or a part of it is a prefix, suffix, etc. that you know;  if it is related to another part of speech or to another word by a linking word; what the sentence structure is; if there are some words related in meaning; or looking if I know something about the topic that could be helpful.
4. Practice and take tests on internet: When you have been learned some words, then you can check it doing exercises.
5. Every word has its context. Search for the ways it is used to avoid a mistake when you are writing or speaking with someone who knows that language very well.

You must be careful with false friends! There are many words that look similar with our language and this makes us to do some mistakes with the meaning. (For example, when we see the word “fabric”, we assume that means “fabrica” in Spanish, but its meaning is “tela”-> the correct translation for “fábrica” is “factory”).
**In these websites there are many common false friends in English: http://mentalfloss.com/article/57195/50-spanish-english-false-friend-words // http://www.saberingles.com.ar/curious/falsefriends.html **

GRAMMAR

It is not important to learn grammar if you want to study a language because you will find difficulties. It is not your mother tongue and you cannot dedicate all your time to learn only that thing. But on the other hand, it is important because it makes you improve your communication in a language and can make you learn fast.

So, here it is some examples to learn grammar:

1. Look at how similars and different can be the rules from your language to the new one you’re learning and the way it is used. It will make you learn more easily. (Check articles or personal pronouns)
2. There are many aspects of grammar that you will find more difficult. Concentrate on them and practice what you think you will be wrong to avoid mistakes and do exercises.
3. Learn irregular verbs. This will make you not to feel confused when you have to use them and not knowing it.
4. Read a lot! This is the best thing, because at the time you’re reading, you are learning new forms of expressing.
5. Look for the patterns of the language (not all the languages have the same). Then, you can make deductions based on some examples; do possible explanations; and prove your hypothesis to see if you are right or wrong-> but it is possible that you don’t understand everything.

**There are many things like putting words in the correct order that can be a difficult task, but you do not have to use grammar for it. You can do it only by the sense it makes, by your instincts.**

EXTRA INFORMATION

Now, there are some advices to do some common things related to English grammar:

1. To transform a sentence, there are four tips:

• Look at the grammatical structure or expressions of the sentence (conditionals, prepositions…).
• Think about a phrase that includes the word.
• Check everything you had to change when you rewrote the sentence.
• Be sure that you did not omit anything from the original sentence.

2. There are many tips to correct a text:

• Read all the text.
• Then, read it again but phrase to phrase.
• Say the words to yourself.
• Look at the text to make sure what the unnecessary words are.
• Expect that there are three of the lines that are correct, but not more than six.

3. When you have to gap-fill a text, you must follow these six taps:

• Read the whole text.
• The gaps can be: grammar (verbs, articles, prepositions); vocabulary (collocations, fixed phrases); reading skills (to recognize the logic of the text, paragraphs and individual sentences, and to use linking words).
• The words that are before and after the gap are the ones that will make you know what part of speech you need to use.
• Look at the punctuation.
• Don’t think about words that don’t fit with the register of the text.
• It is only necessary to use one word for each gap.

This website is good to improve some mistakes of English grammar: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/exercises/2/

HOW TO LEARN A LANGUAGE

Have you thought about learning a language or improving it? These are some advices to follow!

• Have a reason to learn that language.

A reason could be to get a job in the future, for pleasure… But it must be clear what your purpose is.

• Study grammar, but not only grammar.

It sound very boring studying grammar, because there are a lot of rules in every language. But you have to practice too. Speak with a partner (or alone- you won’t look crazy if you do it in your room) and practice your knowledge. I recommend to do this when you have been studying and you know in a certain level.

• Listen to music.

It is a funny way to learn a new language. Translate them in your language to learn new vocabulary.

• Watch a movie

It is also an enternaining way. First of all, you can put subtitles in your language to know how it sounds; later, when you have some knowledge, put the subtitles in the language you’re learning to pick up new words and also to know their pronunciation.

• Teacher.

Sometimes it is difficult to learn for your own, so go to an academy. A teacher can help you to improve and do some tasks to practice it.

• Travel.

It is important to travel to the country where the language is spoken, puit an effort and talk with people! This is recommended when you know the language very well and too soon, because probably you will get lost very easy and this is not good.

The best advice I can give you is to do not give up. No one has told you that it was easy, so you have to put an effort and do it the best you can… And not quickly!

LEARNER’S STYLE

There are three different kind of learner’s styles: VAK (Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic)

We can find the Visual learner. This is a person who memorizes better observing things like pictures or presentations on a screen. He/she will do that task after reading the instructions or watching how someone else does it first and normally says “Show me” “Let’s look at”. For example, if he/she has to buy a new car, he/she will read reviews in newspaper and magazines. This type of person enjoys going to museums and galleries in his/her free time rather than another thing. So, these are people who will work from lists and written directions or instructions.

Then, there is the Auditory learning style. The people who uses this learning prefers listening to the instructions of someone else to do a task. He/she says “tell me” or “explain me”. For example, if he/she has to revise for an exam, he/she will prefer to talk with other people over his/her notes. This kind of people prefers listening to music and talking with their friends. So we can say that they like to be spoken over the telephone and remember the songs easily.

Finally, there is the Kinaesthetic one. These style is used by people who likes to touch and feel their experiencies. He/she will prefer to try and learning through doing things. They usually say ‘let’s try it’ and enjoy playing sport in their free time.

You can do this test and know what kind of learner you are!: http://www.vaknlp.com/vak.htm

It is important to emphasize that you are not a defined style. You are probably a mixture of three, but you have to count in which one you have more preference at the hour of learning.

WELCOME!

Hello! My name is Rosa Ruiz and this is my blog. I am going to show you what I do in «Strategies, Resources and Competences in English», a subject from Estudis Anglesos’s degree. I hope you like it 🙂