Can reading help to improve my English? Does reading have any benefits for me? Can reading in a foreign language help to motivate me and develop my skills?
The answer is definitely “YES. YES and YES!”
Why is it so? Why is reading so important? Can it be really enjoyable? Let’s find out.
Why reading?
First of all, a very simple question. Do you like reading in your language? Do you enjoy sitting on a beach with a book, or curling up in an armchair with a nice cup of tea, or do you read on your way to work or on a train, or waiting for someone or just killing time in a queue?
If the answer is yes – then you can learn how to enjoy reading in English. If the answer is no – then, maybe that’s not your jam and you prefer audio books or listening to podcasts, or watching videos, or you’re just an active person who doesn’t like being still. That’s also fine – we are all different.
What are the benefits of reading?
- Reading in English helps our brain to become familiar with the language. It is the fastest, easiest and most efficient way, as it is more focused than listening for example. In other words, you become more comfortable with English in general.
- You can take notes, look up new words, read the passage again and again if you don’t understand it at first. You are building up your vocabulary, you see how the words are connected, they come up in the right places in the text. You learn “chunks”, collocations and idioms.
- If you are an active reader, then you become a better speaker, understand more in English and improve your writing skills.
- Reading develops our brain, and our imagination! We are always learning something new.
- You can read whenever you have time and wherever you are, all you need is a paper book or your phone or an e-reader.
How to get motivated to read in English?
If you find reading in English difficult or boring, maybe you’re choosing the wrong books or doing things that are too difficult for you. Or perhaps the topic is not to your liking?
Here are some tips to help you. Start with the small steps.
1. Choose something that interests you
A book, a magazine, a recipe of your favourite dish, a blog post in social media, sports review, anything you really enjoy reading about.
2. Choose carefully
Find the book which is easier or adapted, still a bit challenging with some words that you don’t know. Any graded readers would be fine.
3. Get into a habit
Set up a little ritual around your reading practice, a kind of a game, something to enjoy – in the morning having a coffee, on the way to work on a train, in the evening before going to bed, just anything that is right for you.
Set up a time, at least 5-15 minutes. Not too much at the start.
4. Guess the meaning from context
Don’t look up every single word that you don’t understand, sometimes trying to guess is a good practice. Look at the surrounding words and get the general idea what the story is about.
Otherwise you’ll get stuck in details and it will take you ages to read through the story. Even in our own language we come across new words and expressions we have never heard before.
5. Be consistent
It is important to do it regularly so that it becomes a habit.
It doesn’t work like magic, done once – and there you go – my English is perfect! Some work needs to be done! Then you’ll see the results in a couple of months.
6. Enjoy the process
That’s a very important thing to do! Any activity you are doing in English has to be some fun, at least a little.
I hope these little tips will help you to motivate You to start reading regularly.
It will be interesting to hear about your experience in the comments below. Please share the book you are reading at the moment.
Book Club!
Also, we invite you to join our Book club, which is a great opportunity to share ideas about the books we are reading together, learn new words and collocations, and meet new people to communicate with in English. It doesn’t cost you anything to join our club. That’s right, it’s completely free, even if you are not yet an Intrepid English member. Simply click the link below to book a seat. We post our book club picks on the blog, so be sure to check back regularly to see what books we will be reading.
If you have a suggestion for a book for Book Club, let us know by sending us an email, or comment below!
So, we hope to see you there soon. In the meantime, enjoy your reading!
Recommended reading
Here’s a list of useful websites where you can find and choose the books of your level and then either read them online or buy a paper copy.
- Cambridge
Readers | Cambridge University Press
- Macmillan
Graded readers (macmillanenglish.com)
- Oxford
Graded Readers | English Language Teaching and Learning | Oxford University Press (oup.com)
- National Geographic Learning
National Geographic Learning – NGL ELT Catalog – Search “Graded Readers” (eltngl.com)
- Penguin Readers
- Esl Book Lists
- English e-reader