“How do I improve my writing?” is a question I’m asked all the time. The easy answer is… Write! But what can you write? Many students immediately think of sentence-building worksheets, paragraphs, essays, and formal emails. Boring stuff that comes from English textbooks. For a lot of my students, those types of writing exercises are not exciting or engaging. So how can you improve your writing in an absorbing and enriching way? Keep a journal!
As research has shown, journaling is an essential technique for learning to find your voice in your first, second, and even third language. It’s a stress-free way to practice writing without the pressure of judgment, grading, or perfection. Another advantage is that there is an endless number of topics you can write about from your personal life and opinions to how-to instructions and fiction writing. If you get stuck for ideas, check out the Language Co-Op’s list of journal prompts here!
Lucas and I have our own experiences as journal writers and language learners. I’ve kept a journal in English for over ten years, and I’ve kept a journal in Spanish for three years. Lucas has been journaling in English for the past two years, and he has kept language learning journals over the years in Spanish, Japanese, and Hindi. What’s the best part about our journal practice? Writing in a language that your family and friends don’t understand! Your secrets are guaranteed to be kept safe when you keep a journal in the language you’re learning.
Need some motivation to help you get started? Here are some tips on how to begin and maintain your journaling habit.
1.) Keep a dictionary by your side.
It’s easy to write and leave blanks for the words you don’t know. A way to enhance your journaling is to have a dictionary with you for a quick look-up of a missing word. You’ll expand your vocabulary as you put pen to paper. Translingual writing is also effective! Feel free to use words from your first language to substitute for words you don’t know in your second language in order to encourage your development in both languages.
2.) Write quickly without overthinking.
Don’t fall into the trap of laboring over every word and judging the quality. Journaling is about having personal freedom, enjoying the language, and using the language without worrying about the tiny details and evaluating your own writing.
3.) Journal for 30 days.
Experts aren’t joking when they say it takes 30 days to create a new habit. The same rule applies to journaling. Even if you’re feeling lazy, jot down a few lines every day for those first 30 days to continue building the habit. Eventually, it will become a part of your life that you’ll be writing fluidly and seamlessly in your second or third language every day.
4.) Write at the same time every day.
Along with #3, writing at the same time every day will help you develop that habit, and you’ll train your brain to be prepared for journaling on a daily basis. If you leave journaling for later, you might forget.
5.) Vary your topics.
As a journal writer, you’re in control, which means you can choose to write about whatever you want. Maybe one day you’ll write about a bad day you had in high school and the next journal entry will be a grocery list and the entry after that will be a story you imagined about your pet dog going on an adventure. Changing the topics frequently will keep you interested and motivated to continue writing.
Do you have experience keeping a journal? Comment below about your own experiences and tips for using journals to learn another language!
Also, check out the Language Co-Op’s resources to get some ideas for topics that you can use to jumpstart your journal writing! In addition, if you sign up for private lessons with us, we can review more journal prompts together and provide you useful feedback to help you improve your writing even more!
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