The things I write to my students...

... to foreshadow what we are going to cover in class.

To wit, this is a message I wrote to my evening group making sure to include some tools and techniques used in writing for stylistic purposes:
- direct speech
- hyphenation
- capitalization
- punctuation
- abbreviation
- italics.

You see, I think good writing is nothing but a bunch of tools and techniques. But you need to know what to look for.

So, take a look at this paragraph from the article from "The Guardian" about new year resolutions. What other writing tools and techniques can you spot? ❓

"Consider the situation. For one thing, you’re too busy (who isn’t?), so it’s not as though making time for several new daily habits is likely to prove straightforward. For another thing, you’re a good person, who generally seeks to do their best – so the fact that you’re not already working out thrice weekly, or meditating daily, or doing more to reduce your carbon footprint or organise your personal finances, isn’t for want of trying. There are reasons these behaviours haven’t proved easier for you. And now a resolution is somehow going to change things? Good luck with that."

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/dec/30/the-key-to-keeping-new-year-resolutions-dont-make-them-in-the-first-place

"Irina, how long did it take you to write that story?"

A participant of my "Small Stories Big Ideas" my reading club asked.

My story, which is called "A Worthless Life" and which I wrote in my Creative Writing Bootcamp, is 3,300 words long. It took one month to write and three months to edit.

It's not as long as it sounds though.

One month means writing just 750-800 words a week, which is about 100 words a day. Instead of that, though, I wrote 400 words on two different days. Four weeks later I had my first complete draft.

That's writing. Then there is editing.

Three months of editing is, in essence, just several hours, but the hours were days or weeks apart so that I could see the story with fresh eyes. One indispensable part of editing was my Creative Writing Bootcamp team. Reading my own story is one thing, but having feedback from fellow writers is absolutely priceless.

Then you also need ideas to write. My ideas came when I was doing completely different things, like walking or cooking.

So, four months of very relaxed work with my creative team's support and I have a story I am happy with -- one I can share, discuss, or submit to a publication. 💜

🇺🇸 A creative writing course with an American educator 🇺🇸

To make this happen, I first won a grant and now I won a grant extension, so you have one more chance to join an awesome creative writing course! 🎉

Tentative syllabus (subject to minor changes):
- Introduction to Course & Creative Nonfiction
- Flash Creative Nonfiction Form & Detail
- Flash Nonfiction: Using Sound and Language
- Flash Nonfiction: Point of View
- Flash Nonfiction: Structure
- Critical Response Process

📅
Schedule: Monday 16:30-18:00 Moscow time
Course duration: 8 weeks
Starting date: 22 January

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- The course is free of charge
- Limited number of places, admissions on a competitive basis
- Compulsory attendance
- Certificate upon successful completion (over 75% of classes).
- Only for Russian teachers working in Russia
- Brought to you by the RELO office
- Commitment to participate is a must!!!

Message me @iraluts. In your first message, tell me briefly about your motivation to join the course. 💌

📝 The difference between coherence and cohesion in short 📝

1️⃣ Coherence present, cohesion absent
"I lost my key. I couldn't get home."

2️⃣ Coherence absent, cohesion present
"I lost my key. As a result, hedgehogs are cute."

3️⃣ Both are present
"I lost my key. As a result, I couldn't get home."

4️⃣ Neither is present
"I lost my key. Hedgehogs are cute."

Coherence is the logic -- it's not seen, but it's understood. Cohesion is the linguistic means to support the logic -- it's seen.

Pop quiz: what is one cohesive device that you don't see, but you understand it's there?❓

🌹 Synesthesia: a taste that will tickle your olfactory receptors louder than Mona Lisa 🌹

Synesthesia is the stylistic device we played with in my Creative Writing Club today.

It involves describing a thing with the help of senses not normally associated with it, e.g. describing a voice (= sound) with the help of touch, or a dish (= smell, taste) with the help of sound. This stylistic device allows you to come up with vivid denoscriptions that will be more memorable than something bland like, "beautiful" or "delicious" (or, god forbid, synonyms).

Just take a look at the beauty my awesome creative writers came up with for this prompt "He brought me a bouquet of roses —":

1️⃣ He brought me a bouquet of roses — an annoying earworm of a song you might hear in any shopping mall.

2️⃣ He brought me a bouquet of roses — and every time I looked at them it was like hearing bright red acrylic nails scratching on a chalkboard.

3️⃣ He brought me a bouquet of roses — a bland morning oatmeal eaten on a gloomy day.

4️⃣ He brought me a bouquet of roses — they were shouting at me with their red petals and thick thorns.

5️⃣ He brought me a bouquet of roses — crispy like the brown paper they were wrapped in, crying in protest in its high-pitch voice once I started uncovering them.

6️⃣ He bought me a bouquet of roses — a dozen small crimson vortexes, pulling me deeper into this mad infatuation and dulling my vigilance like a small brassband playing a lullaby.

It somehow turned out that roses don't have a good reputation...

So try your hand at synesthesia in the comments saying something good about a bouquet of roses or using a different flower:

📝 He bought me a bouquet of [any flower] + synesthesia.

🦩 Fancy terms like "an appositive": a do or a don't? 🦩

When I teach writing, I sometimes throw around fancy terms like "appositive" or "cataphoric reference." And students sometimes tell me, "Irina, do we really need to know the terms? Can't we learn to write without knowing the terminology?"

Generally, I don't think terminology is really necessary - you can be a good writer without knowing the academic terms for the tools you are using. But I still think the fancy terms can serve a useful function.

Consider the appositive. An appositive is a noun or pronoun set beside another noun or pronoun to explain or identify it. It is a really good way to avoid using a "which" clause, a clause that many students tend to overuse in IELTS writing.

Here is an example from IELTS Writing Task 1:

1️⃣ The less economical way, one with a "which" clause: "The figure then plunged to 2%, which was an all-time low."

2️⃣ The more economical way, one with an appositive: "The figure then plunged to 2%, an all-time low."

So, when giving feedback, I could tell a student, "Why don't you use that thing here where you use a noun or pronoun set beside another noun or pronoun to explain or identify it?" Or I could simply say, "Why don't you use an appositive here?"

Where do you stand on this? Are fancy terms a do or a don't? Also, speaking of fancy terminology, did you spot any resumptive modifiers in my post?❓

A freelance copywriting side hustle in English! 📝

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🐾 Your foot in the door: pronunciation or writing? 🐾

My recent quest for a pronunciation coach gave me a lot of food for thought.

One discovery was that pronunciation classes are surprisingly expensive. But why? I asked my students. One opinion voiced was, “Pronunciation is what makes a good impression because it’s the first thing people hear from you. The stakes are high, and so are the prices.”

I wish I could say, “Can’t argue with that.” But I can argue with that – and I have experience to support my case.

Let’s consider some of my achievements – four random choices off the top of my head:
1. My 💎 application
2. My ELEX application
3. My RELO grant proposal
4. My TESOL 2024 talk proposal

The first two had an interview stage, a stage where you can let your pronunciation shine. But it was the second stage, a stage that you get to if and only if you pass the first one – writing.

The remaining two did not have any interview or speaking stage at all. The decision was made based entirely on writing.

It’s not just beautiful pronunciation that makes a good impression, you know. Writing can be your foot in the door for some awesome, life-changing experiences too.

🐾 What is your experience? What was your foot in the door – pronunciation or writing?

📝 Two new IELTS Writing groups starting soon:

- Wednesday 16:00-17:30 Moscow time (Starting on 7 February)
- Thursday 16:00-17:30 Moscow time (Starting on 8 February)

A 10-month, thorough skill-building course for levels C1+ and above (IELTS 7.5+). Synchronous, live, on Zoom, with me.

💌 Message me @iraluts

Find out more and read testimonials (don't need an account to open):
https://vk.com/iralutse?w=product-47977221_3696544%2Fquery

Thank you, British Council Uzbekistan! 💜

🦋 My Creative Writing Club 🦋

The winter season of my Creative Writing Club has come to its inevitable end. And it was one of the best seasons ever! 

Just think about this:

1⃣ We have a Google Doc that is 114 pages or 46,000 words long! I have docs like this in my IELTS courses, but those are 10 months long. This club was only one month long. 

2⃣ We have 440 active comments - and I mean just Google comments in the special boxes on the right. Under 20 people created 440 comments on each other's stories! This level of engagement is just beyond imagination. 

3⃣ The participants explored deep and meaningful topics: war, loss, suicide, motherhood, to name but a few. 

My Creative Writing Club is free and will remain free - because I want to give everyone an opportunity for a creative outlet in the company of like-minded writers. 🦋

Here are some stories from previous seasons. Stay tuned for stories from this season! 
- "Fixing Starts With the Tap" 
https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2021/10/fixing-starts-with-tap.html 
- "A tree, a home and a life. Split in half."  https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2023/08/a-tree-home-and-life-split-in-half.html 

And stay tuned for next season - summer 2024.   

Image by the wonderful Anna Skopina 🦋

📝 IELTS paragraph rewrite 📝

Topic: "The global demand for oil and gas is increasing. Some believe that we should therefore encourage the exploitation of remote areas. Do the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages?"

The paragraph below, written by a student, has very good key ideas, but the development is vague and repetitive (underlined). In my rewrite, I kept the key ideas, but made the development more specific.

📝 Original:

"Admittedly, exploiting pristine areas of the world for obtaining oil and gas does have two main benefits. One benefit is that it potentially saturates the oil and gas supply market, as a result of many new origins of these resources. This results in lower prices for these fossil fuels, thereby benefiting governments and their population as it improves their purchasing power. The second advantage would be that governments could enhance their supply of oil and gas for future generations. In fact, these resources are limited, meaning that our children and grandchildren might not have the privilege of using them. Only when new sources of supply are discovered, then can we be sure of meeting the oil and gas needs of our future generations."

📝 My rewrite:

"Admittedly, exploiting pristine areas of the world for obtaining oil and gas does have two main benefits. One benefit is that it potentially saturates the oil and gas supply market, thus resulting in lower prices for these fuels and preventing global shortages. This, in turn, would ensure continuing economic growth as most countries, industrial and transportation sectors in particular, are still predominantly dependent on these fuels. The second advantage would be that governments could ensure the supply of oil and gas for future generations. Since the supplies in existing locations are finite, they are bound to run out soon. While alternative fuel sources exist, they currently meet only a fraction of people's needs: renewable sources of energy, such as wind or solar power, are unreliable and nuclear power is not used widely due to safety concerns. Thus, the exploitation of new locations would leave future generations with enough fuel to prosper, while allowing them time to further develop alternative fuel sources to meet the demand."

This is not the easiest topic, I would say. Let's scratch our heads together about the disadvantages. The first one would obviously be the disruption of the environment. But what could be other disadvantages?❓

My writing tips. 📝💜

Beyond thrilled to have my essay featured on the British Council Uzbekistan channel. 💜

#Irina_writes_IELTS