Ways of practicing and improving your writing skills

#1 Read Read Read! 

• Read anything! Books, newspapers and even cereal boxes!
• Start at a lower level and work your way up the latter of vocabulary. A good rule of thumb is, if you have to look up more than one word in each sentence, most likely the writing is too advanced. Think of a set of stairs; we must start at the bottom and take steps to get to the top. Well, learning vocabulary is the same. We must take it step by step, and work our way to top! Reading everyday will help you get up those stairs.

#2 Start writing/practicing. 

• Use writing prompts to write simple paragraphs. Below are nice links for free writing prompts. 
  • Downloadable eBook: (My favorite.) 
    • http://tratu.coviet.vn/download/3/1000%20Quick%20Writing%20Ideas.pdf.html
  • Link: www.misd.net/languageart/grammarinaction/501writingprompts.pdf
• Keep a journal of new words that you learn throughout the day. 
  • www.nytimes.com/2018/04/12/learning/over-1000-writing-prompts-for-students.html
• Start a daily journal; write your feelings and things you do each day. 

#3 Copy books by hand.

1. Choose a book that you have been reading. (Even children's' books are great for this activity.)
2. Using a pen or pencil, start copying the book into a notebook. This will cause you to slow down and really look closely at sentence structure, spelling and how the thoughts are laid out. Also you will start noticing capital letters and punctuation.
3. Copy a little bit each day. 15-20 minutes a day is good. Start with page 1 and continue until you have copied the entire book.