LinkedIn.com is one of the fastest growing social media sites in the Czech Republic, and indeed wherever you are based, it’s becoming a very useful resource for those looking to advance their career by looking for new opportunities or to network with other people in their area of expertise.

Today one of my own students asked if I could look at her profile on LinkedIn, and I thought I would present my feedback here. Although my comments are specifically written for her, please feel free to check your profile and see if the tips below apply to yours as well:

1. Check your settings
First up, you’ll need to consider the advantages and disadvantages of making your profile more public, and adjust your settings accordingly.

If you are currently working for another company, you might wish to be more discrete in how you present yourself on LinkedIn. Under ‘settings’ you can untick the option that let’s people know when you change your profile, make recommendations, or follow companies. This will mean your connections are less aware of your activity, and colleagues at your place of work who see your profile will not notice your increased activity.

If you are looking for new career opportunities, the more public the better. In addition, the more detailed your profile, the easier headhunters and potential employers will be able to find you. Therefore, under ‘settings’ make sure your profile is ‘public.’

Finally, I recommend separating your Tweets on Twitter.com from LinkedIn, unless you are sure that your Tweets match the tone and register of what you share on LinkedIn.

2. Choose an appropriate job title
I advise checking to ensure your job title accurately represents what you do and how you wish to promote yourself, and that potential recruiters will be able to know what you can offer.

As an example, my client has chosen ‘marketing professional’ as her job title. Personally I wonder how many potential headhunters will type in these keywords. Check with other professionals in your field and see if they suggest a better alternative, particularly if you wish to be found through a recruiter search.

I typed in some keywords for ‘marketing professional’ and some other options can be considered:

marketing specialist, marketing consultant, marketing executive, marketing manager, marketing analyst, marketing coordinator.

Furthermore, you can be more precise in describing your field: eg social media marketing specialist, strategic marketing consultant.

3. Decide on your keywords
To ensure you come up higher in searches, use your keywords throughout your profile. In my student’s case, this means ‘marketing’ would appear in her description of her present and past jobs (where appropriate). As well, she would add a few other keywords relevant to her ambitions (eg consultant, manager).

4. Add concise but detailed information for your present and previous positions
My student doesn’t yet have a description for her present job, so this is something which she can work on. Make sure your previous positions are described, showing viewers of your profile that you have a rich track record in your field.

I should also add that you’ll also need to decide which jobs to leave out – if you are now a 30 year old director of a start up, you don’t need to mention that summer job you had cleaning your neighbour’s swimming pool while you were at high school.

Another thing to consider is whether your job at one company can be divided into any sub-positions. In my case, when I was at my previous company as an English teacher, I was also the Prague teacher in charge of their global English teaching materials bank, and I sub-edited their cultural magazine. In addition to being an examiner for Cambridge, this is already 4 different positions at the same company. What about you?

5. Check how the PDF version of your profile looks
Your LinkedIn profile can be saved as a PDF by potential employers. I recommend downloading your PDF, printing it out, and checking that it looks well presented.

In particular, if you use accented characters (eg the Czech ‘ř’ or ‘č’), the PDF version may not accept them. Instead, there may be ‘blank spots.’ Therefore ask yourself if these characters are necessary.

6. Ask for recommendations
LinkedIn allows you to request a recommendation from people who you’ve worked or studied with in the past. I fully recommend that you ask around for these, as they help create a picture of who you are, and give you a big dose of social proof.

7. Check your spelling
I’ve seen a number of profiles on LinkedIn from professionals who don’t use the correct spelling of basic business words. Just like if you have a mistake in your CV or application letter, spelling mistakes on LinkedIn make you look sloppy and less professional. So double-check your spelling and ask a friend proficient in English to check your profile for you.

Bonus tip – check that your qualifications are ‘translated’ into English for an international audience
My student has ‘Mgr’ as her university title. However if her profile is being read by someone not familiar with the Czech education system, they will not know what this means. Therefore try to ensure that your universities qualifications include a translation in international English.

Summing up
Entire books have been written on how to improve your LinkedIn profile, so this is just a start. Just like writing your résumé, you’re not going to have ‘the perfect profile’ after one day. It takes time and thought, something which you should always come back to and improve upon. I hope you’ll take the above tips into consideration.

Homework for my students

Feel free to set up and improve your own LinkedIn profile, and I’ll be happy to help you out. And after writing this post, I realise I also need to do some homework this weekend

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Photo credits

Image: Paul Bica
Licence: CC by 2.0

Today a new column: 151 words. This is where I’ll write a short post on a topic relating to learning English in 151 words.

One thing which some English learners find challenging is this idea of being able to explore a topic. They seem to know the grammar quite well and have a good range of vocabulary, but find it difficult to respond to a question that requires a deeper answer.

In other words, they may give a very short answer when a more detailed one is appropriate.

When you’re asked a more in-depth question, consider what points you can mention. A simple model to use is to think of 3 things which support your main point of view, and to present an example for each of them. You can also decide to present an opposing opinion, if it’s relevant, and then argue against this.

In short, try to give more fuller answers when they are required. You’ll also find this improves your mark in exams such as the FCE, CAE or IELTS.

Photo credits

Image: Egon Phillipp
Licence: CC by 2.0

It’s 10 am on a Monday morning at an office in Prague. Pavel walks into the kitchen, fixes himself a coffee, and then he sees Kate walk in:

- “How was your weekend, Kate? Get up to much..?”

In English-speaking countries it’s common to ask the people you meet on a Monday at work or at university about their weekend. It’s part of small talk, polite and friendly conversation about everyday topics.

Asking a friend or colleague about their weekend

You can ask simply: How was your weekend?

You’ll also hear:
What did you get up to at the weekend? [= what did you do]
Did you get up to much at the weekend?
Get up to much at the weekend?
How did you spend your weekend?

note: Brits favour at the weekend whereas in Australia and the USA they say on the weekend. You’ll also hear during the weekend and over the weekend.

The short response: give them an adjective!

One way to talk about your weekend is to give them an adjective which says more about how it was. A weekend can be:

• wonderful, great, awesome, fantastic, exciting, beautiful, romantic, not so bad, pretty good, quite good, nice, good
• boring, dull, nothing special, terrible, not so good

How much you say will depend on how you feel and how well you get on with the person asking. For example, you might not want to tell your boss that you were out clubbing all Saturday night and got drunk, in which case you might reply with: “It was really great, thanks. What about you?”

Weekend activities

Quite often we say one or two things which we did at the weekend. Choose wisely

At home:

I had a night in (= I stayed at home)
I cleaned up all day Saturday.
I tidied up my bedroom.
I stayed in and read a book.
I slept in (= I slept longer than I usually do)
I lay in bed all morning.
I spent the whole weekend studying.
I did some gardening
I just chilled out at home/I took it easy.
I had friends over for dinner.
I just flicked through my iPod and put on some songs.

Going out:

I had a great night out.
I met up with friends.
I caught up with friends (= meet up with them to find out the latest news, as you haven’t seen them for a while)
I saw a film.
I bumped into/ran into an old school friend (= it wasn’t planned, it just happened while I was walking down the street or going shopping)
I got drunk | hammered | smashed (slang)

I went out.
I went out with a bunch of friends.
I went away for the weekend (= I left my city and went to another place)
I went to a yoga class.
I went to the opera | the cinema | the theatre | the pub.
I went to a get-together at the Swamp Bar.
I went clubbing | shopping | bowling.
I went bar hopping with friends (= to go from bar to bar, to go to quite a few bars in one evening)
I went on a date.

A common problem: when to use ‘we’ v. ‘I’

Many Czechs say “We went skiing with my boyfriend.”

But be careful here what you mean:

“I went with my boyfriend” = my boyfriend and I went -> there were 2 of us
“We went with my boyfriend” = my boyfriend came with us (eg my sister and I) -> there were 3 of us

What about you – how was your weekend? Feel free to write a comment below on what you did, or to ask me if you’re not sure of about any of these phrases.

Also please feel free to share this post with your friends!

Photo credits

Image: Martin Fisch
Licence: CC by 2.0

This week I was thinking: when is it that we make the most progress with whatever we’d like to achieve?

In short, when your desire to achieve something is stronger than the fear you have of doing it, this is when you make progress. And if it isn’t exactly fear, then let’s say ‘the obstacles in your way.’

If you want to get that job or succeed in your English exams or talk to that girl standing next to you in the bar, then ultimately you will do it if your desire is stronger than your fear of doing it.

Sure, you may feel vulnerable, revealing a few weakness about yourself to others and to yourself, but, again, if your desire is that strong you’ll get there in the end.

What do you think? And do you think you have the desire to truly do what you would like to achieve?

Photo credits

Image: Stephen Heron
Licence: CC by 2.0

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One of the biggest hits from Australia in 2011, and which is now on Prague radio, is called Somebody that I used to know. Have you heard it? Spending 8 weeks on the top of the Australian chart, this song by Gotye and New Zealand singer Kimbra expresses the intense feelings which come about when a couple breaks up (= separates), and how the same event can be interpreted completely differently by each person.

The song has topped the charts in other countries, and with over 53 millions views on You Tube, it has been a pleasing contrast to all the party hits and ‘I’m in love’ feel good songs which have been incredibly successful this past year. So just for the next five minutes, let’s put Pitbull and Lady Gaga and Katy Perry to one side

Somebody that I used to know
Here’s the chorus which Gotye sings:

But you didn’t have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
And I don’t even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough
No you didn’t have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don’t need that though
Now you’re just somebody that I used to know

The song is quite rich in vocabulary, and you can see they still have this tension between them in the video.

Word Bank
to cut someone off = to stop contacting them.
make out = pretend; act like.
eg “He made out that he was really rich, but it was just to impress the girls.”
to treat = ‘to treat’ here refers to how someone behaves towards someone else.
eg “He treats her well | badly | like a princess | like dirt.”
to stoop so low = the general meaning of ‘stoop’ is to bend the top part of your body downwards.
When we use it in a collocation like this, we are saying you did something in a ‘downward’ direction, that was bad or morally wrong.

Eg A search for ‘stoop’ on Twitter gives these these examples:

@_itsjuslexx
I promised myself to live up to a certain standard …I will not stoop to low levels to get my way…but will simply tell the truth..
@JohnLindahl
There will be people who try to drag you down. Ignore it. You may be compelled to stoop to their level but that’s exactly what they want.

rough = in this context ‘rough’ can mean ‘tough’ or ‘unfair’

Used to

I’m sure many of you have seen ‘used to‘ in your English coursebook. Here in the song it comes to life.

In short, we use used to + (bare) infinitive to talk about things we did regularly in the past, but which we then stopped. As in the song, it can also be used to describe something that was true in the past but no longer is.

‘Used to’ can be used for describing both actions and states.

Examples:

“We used to live in Sydney together” (we did this for a long time, but not anymore)
“We used to walk along the beach. It was so beautiful.” (we did this often in the past)

“He was the love of my life. Then we split up, and he moved to London. He was my lover and my boyfriend, but now I don’t see him – he’s someone who I used to know.”

Some couples after a break up stay in contact and even become good friends. In other relationships, they go in different directions and never meet again.

Is there somebody that you used to know?

If the answer’s ‘yes’ and you’re feeling a bit down, ok, NOW you can play Pitbull

Photo: D. Sweetnam

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What do you do when you bump into someone you know but who you are not so close to? Perhaps someone you went to university with or an old colleague. Do you try to leave as soon as possible or do you stay and have a chat?

- “Sam, fancy meeting you here! It’s been ages since I saw you – how are things?!
- “Pretty good. Got a new job in Prague and my wife’s expecting.”
- “Congratulations!”

Small talk is something which some of my Czech students find difficult, as it’s not as common here. Compared with Americans or Brits, Czechs chat less with people who they don’t know as well. However when you meet up with English speakers, being able to carry a friendly everyday conversation will help give a more positive impression of yourself and improve the rapport between you.

Below are some typical small talk phrases you can use next time you bump into someone you know, where perhaps you haven’t seen each other for a while. And if you feel uncomfortable with small talk, next time try to stay longer in the interaction. Stay one minute longer than you would normally. Do it regularly and you’ll more relaxed in these situations.

Opening the conversation

Hi, fancy seeing you here – how are you?!
Hi.. it’s great to see you again!
Hi..how are you doing?!
I haven’t seen you for/in ages – how are things?
I haven’t seen you since (Christmas). How are you going?

Phrases like ‘how are you going?’ are often shortened in spoken English to ‘How you going?’ or phonetically you’ll even hear something like ‘how-ya going?!’

‘Fancy meeting you here!’ is used especially in the UK and Australia to show you’re surprised to meet them at this place.

Catching up and gossiping

(The) last time I saw you, you were looking for a new job. How’d that go?
I think it’s been a year now. Did you end up getting that job | promotion?  nb we use ‘that’ to refer to things we both already know about, in this case ‘that job’ refers to ‘that job I remember you applied for’
I remember you were planning to head off to Japan. How’d it go?
Did you hear about Susan and Jim? They’re getting a divorce!
You won’t believe this – Kelly’s pregnant!
Last time I heard you were moving to Londonia. What happened?

Asking about their work or studies

Are you still working for (company)?
Are you still with (company)?
How’s it going at (company/university)?
How’s business?
So how are your studies going?
So how’s work going?

Responding to good news

That’s great!
That’s wonderful!
Congratulations! nb congratulations in English is plural. Congratulations + ON + noun phrase
eg Congratulations on | getting the job | the promotion!
Awesome | fantastic | cool! nb ‘awesome’ is being used a lot these days, and some people especially Brits don’t like to hear it too much. Say it more with an American

Responding to bad or disappointing news

I’m really sorry to hear that.
Well I hope everything will be alright.
Will you manage ok?
That’s terrible!
That’s awful!
I just can’t believe it.

Asking after someone else

How are the kids?
How’s Mike going?
Please say ‘hi’ to him for me.
Please give my regards to (person) for me. [more formal]

Commenting on someone’s new look

Hey I really like your new hairstyle.
I really love those shoes – where’d you get them? [nb a grown man may not want to say this]
You look like you’ve been working out [to a man who might be going to the gym]
You look in great shape!
You look great!
Those glasses really suit you! [my own students can practise this one for our first lesson of the year ]

Closing the conversation

It’s been great to see you again but I’d better be off..
Sorry, I’ve got to go – I’ve got a meeting at 11am.
Listen, we should do this again sometime [and then swap numbers if you don't have their details]
Look, let’s catch up again – what about next week? [if you're confident you both want to catch up]
It was great talking with you, but I’ve got to go. Good luck with the new job!
I’d better let you go This is a polite way to show you are respecting their time, but you want to go too

If you don’t want to see this person again soon, I wouldn’t recommend suggesting a time to meet just to be ‘polite.’ Instead, you can simply say how good it was to see them and wish them a good day or wish them well with something you just talked about.

Further reading from Get Into English

So how was the flight? – includes worksheet to download

Photo credits

Image: John Haslam
Licence (CC by 2.0)

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What can you do to improve your English when it’s pouring rain outside and you don’t feel like leaving the house? How about something different? Grab a piece of paper and a pen and start writing! Here are some ideas to get you started.

Like many other teachers and writers out there, I agree it’s really important to get out of the house and speak and interact in English. However, it’s also worthwhile to look at the other skills such as reading and writing.

Writing, for example, is no longer an academic task which your high school teacher gives you (if it ever was). Today people are reading and writing Facebook updates and messages, sending Tweets, writing their CV in English and updating their professional status on LinkedIn. They’re writing emails, sending texts, and drafting application letters for courses and jobs across the globe!

In short, doing some writing in English will help you improve your overall communication skills, help you achieve your needs, and have knock-on effects on your speaking and other skills.

Task

For my own students and clients, choose one of the follow writing missions before our first lesson of the year. If you’re at another school, feel free to try one of these tasks each week this term, and ask your teacher or a friend for feedback

1. The secret diary of Mr Bean

Write a diary entry, either for one day or even better, the whole week. Choose a character or celebrity who you like and write your diary. Mr Bean is one example:

“Today I went with Teddy to the market. I saw someone stealing a banana from a shop keeper, but I managed to throw a melon at him and he stopped right there…”

Not everyone likes to write about their own private life so writing this kind of diary is one way to practise describing your day and talking about an interesting experience you had, as well as activating your vocabulary. Other celebrities you can choose from include:

• Daniel Craig
• George Bush
• Kelly Brook
• Vaclav Klaus

Other diary topics include:

• your first day at work [How did it go? Who did you meet?]
• a date that went well – or badly [Who was he/she? Where did you go?]
• the last day of the planet [How did you spend your last 24 hours? Who did you spend it with?]
• write the diary of someone you know, from their perspective [eg write the diary of an afternoon you had with someone, but from their perspective on how you got on together!]

2.  Write one Facebook status update in English each day this week

I have friends from Prague and Finland, for example, who write status updates in their native language and English. When it’s in English, suddenly more people can reply and interact. Have you tried this?

If you’re not on Facebook, try LinkedIn. Write a short note about an article you found useful and share it with your network.

Still not online? Twitter is great for learning to write concisely – send out two Tweets a day this week to your followers!

Tip: see if you can keep the chain of interaction going once people reply.

3. How to get fit, quit your job and find a new lover in 7.5 days

Drafting a magazine article is one great way to practise a fun, chatty style of English, which also means adding some phrasal verbs and idiomatic language to your writing. This genre is also tested in some Cambridge exams (ahem, with different topics) so this will also help you with some English exams.

Other possible topics include:

• how to get a job
• how to learn English
• how to set up a business
• top weekend destinations in your country

You can also choose to satirise this genre by making fun of an article you have read.

4. Newt Gingrich says SORRY!

You’re a celebrity again! To practise your formal writing, compose an email or letter of apology to say sorry for your recent poor behaviour. You can write the email as a famous footballer, a politician (eg Newt Gingrich, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Silvio Berlusconi), or a rock star.

To get you started, write down 3 things which a celebrity you know did wrong last year. Maybe they had an affair, sexted other women, or stole money from the state. Got your 3? Now write your email.

Writing a formal email or letter using formal phrases you’ve done in class can help you with the FCE, BEC or CAE, among other exams.

5. Write a letter to the editor

Choose an issue in your local newspaper which is being debated right now. It could be building a new shopping centre, banning alcohol from your local beach, or penalties for young people who have committed crimes.

What is your opinion of this issue? This genre is also tested in some English exams (FCE, CAE, CPE), and gives you a great opportunity to present your opinion on an important topic or issue, while arguing your case in a well-organised manner.

6. Go to a new cafe and review it!

Another genre which is tested in international English exams is the review. Usually students are asked to review a film or a book, but we can extend it to other places which you have been to:

• a cafe or restaurant
• a fun park
• a beach or mountain resort

You can also review your local transport authority on how good their trains, trams and buses are.

If you’re unsure of how to write a review, your coursebook usually has examples of different genres of writing at the reference section at the back of the book.

If you’re feeling daring, you can also review:

• your boyfriend or girlfriend (one of my exes actually did this!)
• your family’s Christmas party or get-together
• a hotel you went to recently
• a new club which opened up in town
• a theatre performance you have seen (in the case of 2 of my students who are performers on stage, how would you write this review?)

Get started now

It’s snowing outside and it’s probably too early to go to a club anyhow. So take out a piece of paper and start writing!

Feel free to post your feedback and any suggestions on what other ‘writing missions’ you’d like to do this term by leaving a message below.

Photo credits

Image: Oleg Klementiev
Licence: CC by 2.0

It seems so strange on the surface. Of course you want to get better at English, especially after you’ve paid for your lessons this term. Yet a few people avoid or delay coming to class – and may not even be aware of how they’re ‘avoiding’ English.

“I’m really sorry, I haven’t had much time to prepare for today’s lesson,” Jitka says apologetically as she walks in the door. I’ve never been quite sure if Czech students really mean to use the word ‘prepare’ when referring to their English lessons, or whether it’s a mistranslation. In any case, whenever a student hasn’t done the homework, they’ve said this.

Jitka* has been learning English for quite a few years now. She really wants to learn and speak much better, but there are a few things which are stopping her from achieving her potential. The first thing is that at school she was told that mistakes were bad, and as she didn’t really get much practice at developing her communication skills, she was quite shy and not as confident as she could be at speaking English.

Added to this, she is a perfectionist. Her schooling probably didn’t help her in this matter – making mistakes are a natural and positive part of the learning process, but her teachers didn’t tell her this. On the contrary her marks for English at school and university were sometimes given out on the basis of how many mistakes she made. Last year she got a ‘C’ on an English exam because she made 3 mistakes, even though her essay was very well organised and she answered the question well. Her best friend, who didn’t write as well, still got a ‘B’ as she only made 2 mistakes.

Fast-forward to today. Sometimes Jitka gets nervous before class because she doesn’t want to make ‘simple mistakes’ in front of the others or the teacher, especially if everyone else has done the homework and she feels like she’s falling behind the others.

It’s a bit like top athletes before a major championship or when you have an important meeting at work. Some people are anxious about performing and being vulnerable in front of others.

When it comes to Jitka, if the anxiety is too much, on occasion she may come later in the lesson (hopefully after the homework has been corrected) or she may even cancel the lesson if it’s a one-to-one class or simply not attend if it’s a group lesson.

“I’ll come next week after I’ve done all the homework. I’ll feel better then,” she reassures herself.

But avoiding things is not the answer, and deep down she knows it.

Some learners who miss class are simply busy and have too much to do. Sometimes I wonder if English really is a priority for them. In Jitka’s case, it’s more complicated because the same action of ‘avoiding’ English is due to a completely different reason.

What to do next

Do you relate a little to Jitka’s story? Here’s some questions to ask yourself:

• Do you get nervous before your English class? If so, why do you think this is?
• Do you sometimes come late to class or miss a lesson because you are feeling nervous?
• Is English a priority for you?
• If you answered ‘yes’, what can you do to tackle this problem?

The first step is simply to be aware of this issue, and to accept that you’re not alone, that there are many others who feel the same as you. The second step is to make sure you come to class, especially when you’re feeling nervous or anxious. When you do come to class on a ‘bad day’, you’ll feel so much better about yourself!

Beyond this, if you are motivated to improve your English but occasionally avoid coming to class, you’re likely to be doing the same thing in other areas of your life. What can you do here?

Finally, become a doer, and take full responsibility of your own learning. It’s related to confidence, and the best way to deal with not feeling as comfortable or as confident at doing something is not to avoid it, but to embrace it – to do it again and again until you feel you CAN do it. As they say, confidence is competence.

*Jitka is a mix of a few students I’ve met

Credits

image: Courtney Camody [courtneycamody.com] Licence: CC by 2.0

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Prague is now full of people coming to the city centre to see the Christmas markets and the spendidly lit up tree in Old Town Square. The cafes, pubs and shops are abuzz with activity and the year is coming to a close. If you’re in a country which celebrates Christmas, then your city may be similar. But what’s this got to do with learning English?

For those who want to get better at English, this is a tricky time of year. This is the busiest and most stressful time for many of you. At work you have deadlines to meet, end of year accounts to manage, and company events to keep you going. At university you may have essays to write or research to do for an exam. You’ve got family and friends to catch up with. So December is often a time when people have very little contact with English. Here in Prague language schools begin to shut down around the 15th and some don’t re-open till mid-January. For you though does it really need to be a lost month?

It’s kinda funny that people make all these New Year resolutions like “I’m going to study English much more in 2012″ and yet the month they make this resolution is often the month when they neglect it. If you are seriously going to get better at English and improve your communication skills, why do you have to wait until January the 1st? Why not get into English now?

Learning English isn’t necessarily the goal. That’s like collecting a trophy and putting it on your shelf. Perhaps your real goal, at least in practical terms, is to get a better job in 2012. To get fitter. To give up smoking and spend more time on the things you really love.

Link English with your overall life goals

Can’t improving your English help you here? For example, I know quite a few people looking for work. Putting up a profile in English on LinkedIn can help you achieve your goal. Link up with others in your industry. Read articles on your favourite blog related to your area of expertise (if you don’t know one, then LinkedIn features business and work-related articles every day). Want to lose weight and get fit? Check out some free tips on health and fitness while you’re at a wi-fi cafe in between shopping trips.

Sure, take a break from that dull textbook your school told you to buy (hopefully it wasn’t me ). Forget about those small mistakes you were making in last week’s lesson. Instead look back to how far you’ve travelled this year, and what your wider goals are.

Don’t throw out English for a whole month – even integrating the language into your life for just 15 minutes a day will be well worth it!

Credits

Image: Jeremiah John McBride
Licence: CC by 2.0

Do you think this story is true? For the Cambridge First Certificate in English [FCE] writing exam, you need to write a story in 120-180 words. Here’s an example.

The question for an FCE story can be worded in a few different ways. For example, you may have to answer something like this:

FCE Writing: part 2 – example

LearnEnglishMagazine.com is asking readers to write a story beginning or ending with the words: “she smiled and walked away.”

The winning entry will be published in our Christmas issue.

Although I wasn’t feeling well, somehow I managed to get onto the tram to work. Rather foolishly, I’d cooked some food the previous night with an old sauce which had gone off. Now I was paying the price. I’d seen there was a little mold on top of the carrots I was eating yet this Australian attitude came across me:

“She’ll be right.”

So I kept on eating. I should have known that something was up when I felt a little dizzy. On the tram I felt faint. Things got worse when the tram was re-routed about 5 minutes’ walk from the school. Damn.

As I was getting off, a girl came up to me.

“Do you remember me?”

I thought it was Pavla joking about her absence the week before.

“Sorry, not feeling well. I may have to cancel today’s lesson.”

“But..you taught me 5 or so years ago. Don’t you remember?” Now I was delirious. But I did remember, slowly. It wasn’t Pavla.

Looking a little perplexed, Aneta pointed in the direction of the school. Then she smiled and walked away.

———–
Words: 185 + 5 for the title “She smiled and walked away”

What did you think? You definitely won’t get a topic like “the day I got food poisoning.” However, you will get asked to write a story based on a general theme or common experience. The exam question may give you the opening or closing sentence or ask you to write about a true event. Likewise, the question may ask you to be creative.

In any case the most important thing is to answer the question!

Top DOs for writing your story

• PLAN your answer. Spend a few minutes and write down what you’re going to say in each paragraph.

• Write the story ONCE in the exam. Please DON’T do what many Czech students do and write a rough copy before writing ‘the nice copy.’ First, there have been a few horror stories of the examiner taking a student’s exam booklet before they’ve finished! Second, if you plan it you won’t need to worry about ‘the nice version.’

• Check the question and make sure you know what the question is asking you to do. In the example of a story, is it giving you the first sentence or the last? Should it be a true story from your childhood or fiction?

• As part of making sure you understand the question, underline the key words.

• Go over your story and check for any common mistakes you might be aware of (eg missing articles, spelling, missing prepositions, punctuation).

• Use paragraphs. Planning will help you decide what should be in each paragraph. AVOID writing a messy story with arrows all over the place – I’ve seen some students do this and it makes the story harder to follow!

• Use some direct speech. Eg “Do you remember me?”

• Write a story which sounds INTERESTING. It can be something funny or where you learnt an important lesson. It should have some kind of point to it.

• You’ll be marked on your range of grammatical and vocabulary/lexical structures, so be sure to practise these in any FCE preparation course you are doing.

• Use some linking words and time phrases to ‘signpost’ where your story is going. ie to show you are writing an organised story use expressions such as: as soon as; after that; that’s when I…; not long afterwards; some time later.
• Stay within the word limit or as close as you can. Please note that Cambridge ESOL say “don’t worry if you run slightly over the word limit.” I understand that it’s after 200 words that you may be penalised.
• Include a title for your story.

Finally don’t be afraid to show some of your personality! I’ve met many Czechs who don’t wish to write much about themselves or who don’t wish to give any ‘personal information.’ First, you can make things up! Second, try to show a little of who you are – isn’t that why you’re learning a language?

What next? Now it’s your turn!

There’s definitely a lot to mention about writing a story so I’ll follow this up soon with more! In the meantime especially for my own students and clients, here is a topic you can write at home. Feel free to post it in the comments below:

Get Into English webzine is asking students to write a story about a time they travelled to another country. It must begin with this sentence:

“Although it was so beautiful, I knew I couldn’t stay much longer.”