How You Can Improve Your Writing Skills

Developing or enhancing certain skills can be both challenging and almost impossible for some people. However, nowadays, things have become easier to learn. You can search online and improve your knowledge and skills pretty much about anything. If you are trying to build strong writing skills, I have here two informational posts that can help you achieve your goals. I personally believe anything can be learned, and you can be what you want yourself to be if you work hard and believe in your abilities. Writing has been something that I was never good in years ago. However, when I decided to make some positive changes in my life and improve my skills in writing, I was able to achieve my goals. Now, take a look at these posts and discover how exactly you can improve your writing skills.

16 Ways to Improve Your Writing Skills | Wordstream

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.

Writing is intimidating to a lot of people, particularly those who don’t write for a living or blog on a regular basis. The good news is that writing doesn’t have to be agonizing, and almost anybody can hone their writing skills with a little discipline and a willingness to learn. In today’s post, I’m going to share 16 ways you can start improving your writing skills right now. Via wordstream.com

This post here below features some free online resources that can significantly help you improve your writing skills. I hope you find this helpful too.

10 Free Online Resources to Improve Your Writing | Interesting Literature

In this guest blog post, Sharon Crosby shares 10 great websites that can help you improve your writing skills. It often seems that there are not enough online resources for writers. There are many good books on the subject, but they cost a lot of money because the writing community is a relatively small niche. Here are 10 resources you can use whether you are a professional writer or a young content manager to improve your writing, to make your content more interesting or to get published. All the websites have something different to offer writers.

Get your hands on lots of writing and research advice. The homepage is a little too crammed with links for most people’s liking, but once you get used to how the website works you can find plenty of tips and lots of pieces of advice on writing. The great thing is that there are many different types of help available on the website. Via interestingliterature.com

Writing is something that can be learned painlessly. Those who deem it impossible to improve their writing abilities should give it a try, work hard and bring out their potentials. There are many materials and resources available online that are extremely helpful to individuals who want to improve their writing skills.

How IELTS Tutoring Can Help

Are you preparing for the IELTS test? Well, getting a tutor is one of the best things that you should do. There are many ways that a competent tutor can help you learn and achieve your test goals. Of course, it is imperative that you land on the right tutor. This means you should find a teacher that specializes in teaching individuals who are preparing for IELTS. The tutor should also be one that has a proven track record in helping students get IELTS high band score.

Once you get the right tutor, you will be able to gain the benefits of having someone who can guide you and fully prepare you for the test. You may be wondering how exactly can a tutor help you out during the preparation process. Well, tutors can actually do magic, especially if you are a non-native English speaker who want to pass the IELTS test.

Excellent tutors have the ability to understand your needs. They are experts of education and can help you determine your goals as well as your strengths and weaknesses. Other topics will also be discussed by you and the tutor such as the study materials, your interests and personality, testing history, and learning styles. Before the tutoring sessions start, the teacher will have an idea about what your specific needs are and how you can improve your weaknesses.

There is a difference in between an English teacher and IELTS tutor, and you should be able to clear up some areas of confusion between the two. IELTS tutor are equipped with the knowledge, experience, and materials needed to help you pass the test. English tutors don’t specialize in IELTS, despite of the fact that they are good at teaching the English language. Make sure that you find an IELTS tutor if you want to have guaranteed positive results.

IELTS teacher have the ability to assess your skill and knowledge levels. They have what it takes to provide a tutoring session that is tailored to your own unique needs. The teacher will assess your strengths and weakness and create a game plan.  You will be given a full explanation on confusing concepts as well as homeworks that can significantly improve your learning abilities. Tutors will also employ test-taking techniques as well as proper strategies in every tutoring session. There are also teachers who will provide you a detailed progress report for every tutoring session.

Experienced IELTS tutors already have varying plans for students of certain types and needs. If you find the right teacher, you will have a painless an effective learning process, in addition to having an increased chance in passing the test.

Getting the right IELTS teacher can be tough, especially that there are many courses and tutors available nowadays. Make sure that you consider factors such as the test success rate of the tutor. It is advisable to get an IELTS teacher, instead of an English teacher. An IELTS teacher specializes in teaching test takers, and they use techniques and study materials that are specifically beneficial for individuals who are preparing for the test.

Vocabulary Learning Apps For IELTS Test Takers

Improving one’s vocabulary skills is essential, especially for individuals who are preparing for an English proficiency test such as IELTS. I have here two fantastic posts about apps for vocabulary learning. I have always loved learning new words. Today, learning new words has been a lot easier unlike before. There are many tools such as apps available that are designed to help people improve their vocabulary knowledge and skills.  I came across some articles yesterday about vocabulary apps, and I am going to share with you what I have learned.

Vocabulary apps provide interactive learning, and they are very helpful to individuals who get easily bored when studying. One of the best things about these apps is that they provide a variety of engaging activities, such as brain quizzes, games, fun-to-use flashcards and many others. These apps are very helpful tools to learn and expand one’s vocabulary in an enjoyable way. There are apps that over more than 800 flashcards that cover some difficult but very useful vocabulary words. There even come with definitions, synonyms, and sample sentences. Another good news is that many of these apps can be accessed and used free of charge.

For individuals with Windows phones, there are also vocabulary apps available for them. Many app developers have become interested in providing tools for this particular platform. You also have two choices, one is free and the other is paid. These apps can significantly help you improve your vocabulary mainly because every word comes with a meaning or definition, origin, and pronunciation. You can even share the word you just learned as a text or image. I can pretty much say that nowadays, it gets a lot easier to expand one’s vocabulary. There are even fun activities such s word games and puzzles that come with varying categories such as health pack, drink packs, geography pack, history pack, and language pack.

Vocabulary apps are scattered online, and you don’t even have to spend anything to take advantage of the knowledge they can offer. All you need to do is search online, and find the apps that can offer you a type of vocabulary learning you need. I still using some apps in my phones, because I actually believe in the power of words. There are many more words to learn, and I can’t bear settling only with what I know today. What makes it even more exciting is that they come in different forms, so there is less chance that you’ll find yourself bored while learning.

Apps are just one of the best ways to build a strong vocabulary. You can also take advantage of other learning tools available online. Don’t forget to come back here for more updates about IELTS!

Techniques In Speaking English Fluently

Are you preparing for IELTS? If you are then you’re on the right place. English has long been widely used around the world, and as a matter of fact, it is considered by many countries as a second language that their citizens or students should learn about or master. Learning how to speak fluently and with confidence with the use of the English language can be challenging, especially if you are not familiar with the language.

The good news is that there are numerous ways to do it, and many of these methods are entertaining and fun to do. For instance, you can take advantage of the tools and apps available to make English language speaking a part of your daily routine. You may watch videos online and learn about the tips provided by experts. Practice makes perfect, and this applies to instances when you want to learn how to speak English fluently. Your dream of speaking English fluently may not remain only as a dream because there are many resources and tools available today. Knowledge can be obtained in just a matter of clicks.

When I was still learning how to speak English in primary school, I can remember feeling strange about how my pronunciation sounds. The good news was that I was having too much hesitations in speaking the language fluently and confidently. I figured being confident has a major influence on how I speak and use the English language. While I had enough knowledge and skills to speak fluently, I lacked the amount of confidence needed to utter the words properly or smoothly. What I did was build my confidence as I was improving my knowledge about grammar, vocabulary and other topics about English speaking.

English is a globally accepted and used language, and this is why having the ability to use it well can provide you with lots of wonderful opportunities that can improve your financial status and overall quality of life. Opportunities that are unavailable for non-speakers of English will be right at your doorstep if you know how to use the language well. You may find learning tough but there are basics techniques that make the entire process easier. There are guides available online that tackles topics such as syntax, vocab, grammar, and syntax that can help you learn about the command of the English language. With the use of these guides, you are able to speak the language fluently before you even know it. Guides often have examples that will lead you to every item and question with answers. Take things gradually so that you won’t skip anything, and you’ll be able to understand everything in learning the basics of English.

It is undeniable that English is a language that spoken around the world, and it makes a lot of sense to learn how to speak it well. Anyway, I’m sure you will never have enough of the interesting posts that I will be featuring here in the coming days. Don’t forget to come back and update yourself about my posts regarding the IELTS test.

Improve Reading Comprehension Skills

Those who are preparing for the IELTS test should also see to it that they practice reading, as it is one of the four sections of the exam. If you are pursuing to improve your reading comprehension skills, then there are many resources that could be helpful for you. An example would be the handy tools discussed in this articles below. Reading may seem to be quite easy for many people, but the truth is that not everyone really knows how to read and comprehend. I decided to share these with you here mainly because I think it is very helpful and informative. Please have a look:

Two Handy Web Tools to Develop Students Reading Comprehension Skills

October, 2014 A few weeks ago I posted here in Edtech and Mobile Learning a list of useful web tools to enhance students reading comprehension. Today, I am adding two other tools to the list. Check them out below: 1- ReadWorks ReadWorks is an excellent platform that provides effective free resources to enhance students reading comprehension. It also gives teachers a bunch of research-proven tools and support they need to improve the academic achievement of their students. ReadWorks also provides a wide variety of reading materials that are aligned to the Common Core Standards. These materials include both non-fiction and literary passages that students and teachers can access online for free. There is also a section on ReadWorks called ” Lessons & Units” that features a plethora of lesson plans and comprehension worksheets for teachers to use with different grade levels. educatorstechnology.com

Here is another fantastic article about reading comprehension. This is for parents whose children are dealing with reading comprehension problems. I think that this will give you a deeper understanding about how exactly reading comprehension starts to develop and how you can overcome it. Check this out:

Top 5 Strategies for Reading Comprehension Problems | Parenting Special Needs Magazine

Children with learning disabilities often experience constant challenges at school. They experience frustration with increasing complexity of school work and constant demands of reading throughout all of their subject matter. Consequently, many children with learning disabilities develop behavior problems. These children fall farther behind their peers at school.

Oftentimes, a regular reading program at school will not bridge the learning gap by itself, but require direct, one-on-one instruction from reading experts and other creative tools employed to motivate and support struggling readers.

There are many different areas that can cause a child to struggle in reading. Children who are poor readers often have difficulty in fluency, decoding, and comprehension. Top 5 Strategies for Reading Comprehension Problems | Parenting Special Needs Magazine

The reading test is one of the easiest sections of IELTS. Just as long as you take time in improving your reading comprehension skills, you will have a great chance in doing well during the test. You may visit here again for more updates about reading skills improvement.

How To Improve IELTS Listening Score

There are many ways to do well in the listening section of the IELTS test. This section is not considered to be as difficult as the speaking and writing tests. However, this doesn’t mean that you do not need to prepare for it. You need to give this section a certain amount of your time and attention to prepare and do well during the test. I recently came across two articles that talk about the things that you can do to raise your IELTS listening test score. I decided to share this here mainly because I think this would be helpful to test takers, please check this out:

5 Things You Can Do Today to Raise Your Listening Score [by Hamid, Band 9 in IELTS Listening] | IELTS-Blog

Hamid is a 30 year old IELTS test taker, who got an Overall Band Score of 8.5 with two straight 9′s in the Listening and Speaking sub tests. When we asked Hamid what his advice would be to other IELTS candidates trying to raise their score, he invested a lot of effort and put together the following tips. Have a read, and see what you can change about YOUR Listening practice today, to get a big improvement:

“It’s generally believed there’s nothing candidates can do to elevate their score in a short period of time. I beg to differ and do believe that with enough dedication, practice, time allocation and directed guidance, getting a higher score in Listening is not so far-fetched.

Here are some tips that might help with this section.

1. First and foremost, make sure you LISTEN to the recording, do not just HEAR it. A simple distinction between LISTENING and HEARING is that the element of ATTENTION is missing in hearing. Via ielts-blog.com

Here is another post that provides some tips for the IELTS listening test. I personally think that this article contains various information and techniques that can be helpful to test takers, please check this out:

IELTS Listening Tips: Master What You Hear

IELTS.  If you’re reading this post, you should know what these letters stand for: International English Language Testing System.  This is an international standard and assesses the English language proficiency of people who want to study or work in areas where English is the primary language of communication.  IELTS test for speaking, writing, reading and listening, and the last of these, listening, is the focus of this article.  While speaking is arguably the hardest section, you don’t want to miss points on listening, which can help balance out your test scores.  Following is a list of tips to help you make the most of the listening section of the test.  As I stress repeatedly below, you will greatly benefit from boosting your proficiency in English pronunciation. Via blog.udemy.com

If you want to see more helpful articles about IELTS, please come back here for more updates. I will be posting some more reading materials here in the coming days!

Bad Study Habits to Avoid for IELTS Preparation

Test preparation doesn’t just require you to know and practice the right study techniques but also avoid the habits that can potentially sink your exam grades. I have two articles here that talks about the bad study habits to avoid, and I think these can be truly helpful to individuals who are preparing for the IELTS test. The first one here talks about the several aspects of studying and the factors such as stress that usually lead test takers to wander and become out of focus. I personally believe that these posts can be very useful to test takers, please have a look:

Bad study habits can sink your exam grades Et Cetera

As finals approach, students are scrambling to find the best ways to study.

An increasingly popular trend is to stay up all night studying the night before a test – an “all-nighter.” Teachers advise against that.

“Don’t cram,” said Cindy He of the Math Spot. “I’ve seen students that start studying the night before. Don’t do that. Then the next day everything will be jumbled up and you won’t understand all that much.

“The best thing to do is study in increments. The week before, start studying daily and review your notes.”

Others believe in making sure that you not worry too much about tests.

“Don’t try and learn a semester’s worth of information in a night,” said Shayn Davenport, tutor for The Link. “Along with that, understand that this is one grade in one class in your college life.”

There are many aspects of studying. Stress is a big factor when studying for tests, Davenport said. eastfieldnews.com

This articles here talks about the bad study habits that you may have probably been following and how you can avoid them. I think that this post, like the article above, is not only for students but is also applicable to IELTS test takers. Please check this out:

Mars n Moon 5 Bad Study Habits You’ve Probably Been Following

You hear a lot of platitudes when it comes to studying: “Make studying a priority. Review your notes early and often.” “Read all the textbook chapters and do your homework.” “Practice makes perfect. So practice as much as you can.”

First off, all the students who have ever been in a classroom just collectively rolled their eyes. Second, most of this stuff we hear, though well intentioned (maybe), is just plain wrong. A lot of bad study habits are spread in the guise of helpful advice.

Here are 5 of the most common bad study habits that parents, teachers, and advisors teach, and why they’re actually hurting your GPA: 1. Read the chapter before lecture

Here’s something we’ve all heard teachers say at the end of class: “Read chapter 12 on the Law of Cosines before class tomorrow so that we can jump right in.”

And you probably wanted to say, “Wait a sec… isn’t that your job?” marsnmoon.com

One of the secrets in doing well during the IELTS test is to know the basic as well as the do’s and don’ts in studying. I personally believe that test takers should know how to study properly as it an significantly influence their learning progress.

Healthy Foods for the Brain

Today, I decided to feature an article that talks about training your brain to prefer healthy foods. It is not a secret that healthy foods are very therapeutic and they do not just improve physical health but also boost brain health and performance. However, eating healthy foods can be really challenging for many people mainly because the unhealthy ones are usually more delicious and easily available. This is why it is important to train the brain to choose healthy foods. This article provides details about a new research from Jean MayerUSDA human Nutrition Research Center on Aging. Check this out:

Training Your Brain to Prefer Healthy Foods | Tufts Now

BOSTON (September 1, 2014, 10:20 AM EDT) — It may be possible to train the brain to prefer healthy low-calorie foods over unhealthy higher-calorie foods, according to new research by scientists at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (USDA HNRCA) at Tufts University and at Massachusetts General Hospital. Published online today in the journal Nutrition & Diabetes, a brain scan study in adult men and women suggests that it is possible to reverse the addictive power of unhealthy food while also increasing preference for healthy foods.

“We don’t start out in life loving French fries and hating, for example, whole wheat pasta,” said senior and co-corresponding author Susan B. Roberts, Ph.D., director of the Energy Metabolism Laboratory at the USDA HNRCA, who is also a professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and an adjunct professor of psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine. “This conditioning happens over time in response to eating – repeatedly! – what is out there in the toxic food environment.” Via now.tufts.edu

If you have already decided to eat healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables then I suggest you choose organic produce. Organic products are healthier and less damaging mainly because they do not have chemicals or residues from fertilizers. You have 5 of the best places to shop organic produce in Singapore, please have a look:

The 5 Best Organic Grocery Stores in Singapore | TheBestSingapore.com

Getting into organic world is one of the ways to live healthily. When you treat yourself with organic food daily, you are protected from pesticides and other harmful chemicals. There are approximately 40 organic stores in Singapore, including both brick and mortar and online ones. Offering organic products at competitive prices, these stores inspire more people to embrace an organic lifestyle.

In this article, we introduce the five best organic stores that gain customer’s trust over the years. They supply all the necessities to live a healthy life. Each store has its own highlight and they complement each other well to provide a comprehensive range of organic products for health mindful customers. Via thebestsingapore.com

Eating healthy can provide many health benefits. For individuals who are preparing for an exam such as IELTS, it is imperative that they choose food items that are known to improve memory as well as brain power and performance. Eating healthy while working hard to study for the test can significantly improve one’s performance during the exam.

Grammar Mistakes to Avoid

Grammar is one of the most important lessons that IELTS test takers should study on. Learning the English language requires grammatically correct sentences, whether it is written or verbal. I decided to feature here two articles about grammar mistakes or grammatical errors to avoid. Test takers need to be very familiar with the grammatical errors that should be avoided, in addition to knowing what is grammatically correct. Please check this post out:

Content Writing Services | 5 More Grammar Mistakes

There are two types of people: the people who give a crap about grammar and the people who don’t give a crap about grammar. If you’re creating content on behalf of your company, chances are there is at least one person in your audience who gives a crap.

Businesses are publishing content all the time— even if it’s just a few words. They’re posting on Facebook, Tweeting, blogging, and so on. Just as quickly as a message can be posted online, it can just as easily be seen by just one user who will be more than happy to point out how you used the wrong form of “than.”

A while back I discussed five common grammar mistakes that even the best writers make.

The good news is that you don’t really have to worry about this one when it comes to speaking. Writing, on the other hand, opens you up to some judgement if you mess up! Read more…

Here is another fantastic article about grammatical errors. Test takers can make an impressive essay by just avoiding the common errors that people normally fall into. Please have a look:

Common Grammar Errors And How to Avoid Them On Your Blog

Grammar errors can make your blog look unprofessional and sloppy. However, not every blogger is an English major. Plus, people are human and make mistakes. In fact, errors can be easily found in the books of many New York Times Bestselling authors.

It is inevitable that there will be error here or there. The mind knows exactly what it wants the written word to say. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always translate onto the computer screen. Even during edits, the mind still sees the words as it wants to see them and may not catch the error.

Fortunately, there are some things you can do that will reduce mistakes.

There are some common grammar errors that you can learn in a matter of a few minutes (or bookmark this page and check back here for them when needed). Understanding that these are common errors will help you spot them more easily and fix them in your own writing.
Read more…

I have been collecting a wide variety of articles that cover topics about IELTS. I will be posting some of them here in the coming days so I hope you will visit my website again for updates!

IELTS Facts and Tips

I personally believe that individuals who are preparing for the IELTS test should first known more about it. There are myths and facts about IELTS that are too dangerous to ignore, and this is something that students or test takers should understand. I’ve been browsing around a couple of hours ago when I came across these two helpful articles here. The first one talks about the facts around IELTS and the other is about some tips. I have made my students aware of all these facts because I have always believed in their importance. Indeed knowing these facts is as important as studying, so please check this article out:

Facts around IELTS | DIVII – English Video Dictionary

If you are an IELTS test taker, you must be aware of certain facts and myths surrounding the test. This will help you avoid pitfalls and score high marks. Remember, it is very important to follow instructions thoroughly. Most importantly, you mustn’t ignore the importance of the test itself. Given below is a list of facts that you must know about the test:

Remember these facts about the IELTS test and you can score big! Use DIVII:English Video Dictionary to prepare for the test.

Remember, it is very important to follow instructions thoroughly.

Most importantly, you mustn’t ignore the importance of the test itself.

Given below is a list of facts that you must know about the test: Do not try to write in more words than you are asked to. Via blog.divii.org

I have always loved providing reading materials that contain tips and techniques for IELTS, and this one below is one of them. It contains information about registration and the process that test takers usually go through. I hope you’ll find this post helpful:

IELTS Exam Top Tips | ILAC English Tips

We have prepared an amazing infographic on some useful tips that will help you to take the right actions in the way to IELTS success. Check it out!

All registration must be done on the official IELTS Test Centre website: www.ielts.org or www.ieltscanada.ca in Canada. The best locations fill up quite fast, so book your test in advance to avoid missing deadlines or traveling to another location. The early bird catches the worm!

IELTS exam includes several parts, which are quite complicated and require a proper preparation. It’s not a matter of one night to prepare for this exam. Cramming the night before the exam will not work. So start preparing months ahead of time and sleep well before the exam.

You must have the same photo ID that you provided when applying for the exam. If you don’t have the required document, you will not be allowed to take the test. Make sure you spell your name exactly as it’s written on the English version of your ID. Via ilac.com

If you happen to be looking for more posts that can be helpful for your IELTS test preparation, you may visit this website again in the coming days or weeks. I will be providing more articles here so please do keep yourself updated for my posts.