Edu, My accomplice in "head hunter" :)
I loved this text. I work researching resumes in English within LinkedIn. Although I do not have a good English (my english is horrible), it is visible some profiles written in poor English. Regards! Dani 2010/8/18 Eduardo Costa <[email protected]> > > > Successful English > > ________________________________ > > Learning to write, part 1 > > Posted: 17 Aug 2010 01:33 PM PDT > > Jazz musician Paul Desmond once said that “Writing is like jazz. It can be > learned, but it can’t be taught.” Desmond understood something very important > about writing: good writing doesn’t come from direct instruction. And the > writers, writing teachers, and language specialists I know agree. If you want > to learn where good writing comes from and how to write better, be sure to > read all of the Learning to write articles. > > What is writing? > > A few weeks ago, I wrote that reading is making sense of text. When you read, > you read to understand the writer’s ideas. > > When you become the writer, you are responsible to create text that makes > sense to your readers. According to one of America’s great writing teachers, > your goal “is to get your ideas from your mind into someone else’s mind as > clearly, speedily, and economically as possible.” > > Many people think of writing as a language activity when, in fact, it’s more > about thinking – having good, clear ideas and organizing them so someone else > can easily understand them. Writing helps make your thinking clear. When you > write, you discover what you know or don’t know about your subject – in other > words, you learn. William Zinsser, another well-known writing teacher, says > it like this: > > We write to find out what we know and what we want to say. I thought of how > often I had made clear to myself some subject I had previously known nothing > about by just putting one sentence after another – by reasoning my way [step > by step] to its meaning. I thought of how often writing even the simplest > document – a letter, for instance – had clarified my half-formed ideas. > Writing and thinking and learning were the same process. > > Starting at the very beginning > > Almost every week someone sends me an e-mail to tell me they’re having > trouble writing and to ask for help. When they do, the most common problem is > simply this – not enough English. > > If you want to write English well, you need a good supply of English. We who > live in southern California know the importance of reservoirs. Southern > California is dry, almost a desert. The water we use comes from lake-like > reservoirs that are filled each year when spring sunshine melts the snow in > the mountains. Our ability to live well depends on a good supply of water > from these reservoirs. Your ability to write well depends on having an > English language reservoir that is full of enough to supply the kind of > thinking and writing you want to do. > > There is only one way to fill your English reservoir – reading. The more you > read, the more your vocabulary will grow. The more you read, the more your > grammar and spelling will improve. The more you read, the more you will > discover about putting your ideas into sentences and paragraphs so they make > sense and say what you want to say. The more you read, the more your ability > to write will emerge. > > Getting started > > If your reservoir, or supply, of English is low, begin now to fill it. Set up > a regular reading schedule – at least 20 or 30 minutes a day. If you have > time and can read more, great! Your English will grow faster. > > If you’re not sure what to read or how to read, look at these articles: > > The power of reading and listening > Using popular fiction to improve your English > A word every language learner should know > Expert answers – how to meet a new word > > NOTE: If you have specific questions about writing, please ask them in the > comment section at the end of this article. If possible, I’ll include answers > in future articles. > > Warren Ediger > > References: David Lambuth et al, The Golden Book on Writing (1963); William > Zinsser, Writing to Learn (1988) and On Writing Well, 7th ed. (2006) > > Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post > to print it. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "ESL Podcast". > To post to this group, send email to: [email protected] or just > reply this message > For invite your friends, visit: > http://groups.google.com/group/eslpodcast/members_invite > Know how help us, visit this FAQ at: > http://groups.google.com/group/eslpodcast/web/frequently-asked-questions -- Atenciosamente, Daniela Dias de Oliveira [email protected] -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ESL Podcast". To post to this group, send email to: [email protected] or just reply this message For invite your friends, visit: http://groups.google.com/group/eslpodcast/members_invite Know how help us, visit this FAQ at: http://groups.google.com/group/eslpodcast/web/frequently-asked-questions
