Read a Book a Week Learning Language

Maret 11, 2022 Posting Komentar

Reading fictional books (besides called novels) is i of the best and cheapest ways to improve your English.

With my ain students, I detect the departure in class between those that regularly read novels in English and those that don't. Those that regularly read, improve their English faster and get ameliorate exam results.

The big trouble is knowing which books to read. But before I suggest yous how to select the correct books for your level, let's wait at why reading in English volition meliorate your level.

Why reading novels helps your English language

Although reading in English will help you lot to learn new vocabulary and expressions, information technology volition also help you to remember vocabulary and grammatical structures that you have already learnt. Like with learning to play the guitar, the best way to ameliorate your English is through practice and repetition.

Reading books in English also helps you to exercise using the context of a sentence to judge the significant of words and expressions that yous don't know. Using context to gauge meaning is key for both mastering English and remembering new vocabulary.

To know how to employ context to meliorate your English, read my article on ' how to meliorate your English '.

Choosing a volume

Every bit I said earlier, the big problem is choosing the correct book for yous. It needs to be simply difficult plenty that you acquire new vocabulary, but not too hard. If you choose a book which is besides hard or complex for your English level, y'all'll become dislocated, frustrated and stop reading the book.

How to know if a book is right for you lot

The simply way to know if a novel in English language is right for you, is to read the outset few pages of the book. If you lot don't know the significant of more than than five words/phrases on each folio, then you know that the book is too hard for you.

If y'all know every give-and-take or expression yous have read on the get-go few pages of the volume, then the book volition exist too like shooting fish in a barrel for y'all (yous are non going to be learning any new vocabulary).

A novel will exist right for you, if on the showtime few pages you understand the state of affairs (where they are, why they are there, what they are doing etc...), but don't know the significant of between ii to v words or expressions per page.

Read the start few pages earlier you buy

To save yous coin, you should always read the start few pages of any book/novel you want to read in English before you buy information technology.

Although yous can go to a book shop/store to do this, the easiest way you lot can do this is to look at a book yous are thinking of reading/buying at amazon.com. For well-nigh books, the website gives a free preview/sample of the first few pages.

If there is a preview/sample of the book, you lot'll meet 'Look inside' written above the photo of the book.

Image of the 'Look inside' feature for books on Amazon

To read the first few pages of the book/novel, click on the photo of the book and then go to chapter 1.

Image of the first page of a book on the 'Look inside' feature on Amazon

If the book has a kindle version, click on the tab for that (it is meliorate to read the words from).

Novels for people learning English

In addition to reading books written for native speakers of English, you tin also read books that have been written or adapted for people learning English too. These books are called 'readers' and you can choose a book specially for your level of English (due east.g. beginner, intermediate etc...).

Unfortunately, there is no 'look inside' option for these types of books/novels on amazon.com. And then you lot either take to find ane in a volume shop/shop and read the first few pages there, or buy information technology online without looking at the offset few pages.

Recommend books

To assist you choose a book, I have created a list of ten novels which are suitable for people learning English who have an intermediate or higher level of English.

Read articles in English likewise

In addition to reading novels, you should also read online articles and news stories (on the BBC). The advantage of doing this is that they are shorter than novels and you can learn vocabulary on a diversity of different topics.

This is particularly useful for people who are studying to do an test in English (e.g. Cambridge FCE, CAE, IELTS etc...), where students need to ameliorate their English vocabulary and knowledge of lots of different topics/subjects to do well in the exam.

The problem is that it can exist difficult to find an online article that is right for your level.

If y'all prefer to read articles instead of novels or are studying for an English exam, we have created some eBooks to help people with an intermediate or upper-intermediate level of English language improve their reading power and vocabulary. To learn more than most them click here and and so select your level of English on the adjacent page .