HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH QUICKLY: READ, READ, READ

Over the years, students have asked me this question: “Teacher, how can I improve my English?” More often than not, what they really mean is “How can I improve my English in the quickest time without putting a lot of effort into it?” The truth is there is no easy way if you don’t make an effort, and there is no quick way if you don’t put in any time. However, I can tell you the most effective way and the most pleasurable way, because, we can all agree, we can work better at a task if we enjoy it, if we get pleasure from it.

Before I explain the most effective and pleasurable way, let me tell you about another pleasurable way that is NOT effective when your English level is lower than B2: Watching movies or TV in English. In a later blog post, I will give you advice on how to improve your English by watching videos – but that really is better for students whose English is at B2 level and above.

TV and Movie dialogue is written for native English speakers in mind. Movie producers don’t say to writers, “You need to change this dialogue because the grammar is too difficult for A2 level.” So, if your English level isn’t high enough, you gradually understand less and less of the story as the film continues until you need subtitles in your language – but more on that in a later blog post.

So what am I telling you to read? English novels? English newspapers? No. These have the same problems for English language learners as TV and movies do – difficult vocabulary and difficult grammar. Reading these would be very, very slow going for a lower level student. And if it takes a long time, it’s less fun and therefore less effective.

You should read graded English readers. If you are studying at school or at a university, you should be able to find these books in your library. If there aren’t any, make a request to your librarian. Alternatively, you and your friends can buy these books from second hand book stores and then exchange books with each other after you have finished them.

So why are these books so effective? The publishers edited these books with English levels in mind. They get progressively harder, with more advance grammar and vocabulary, the higher the levels that you read.

If you are at A1 level, you can choose an A1 level book with grammar at your level. When you read this book, you will see grammar that you learned in class many, many times. And because you see this perfect A1 grammar many, many times, you will begin to write this grammar perfectly because your brain subconsciously learns it as “the right way” with NO EFFORT FROM YOU – you only have to pick a book and read it. As a result, you will automatically write this perfect grammar in your writing tasks at university. You will also automatically start using this grammar perfectly when you speak in English. Finally, you will better understand spoken English when you are listening.

Furthermore, if you can read a book quite comfortably and not slowly, when you finish, you will feel very pleased with yourself, very satisfied. Plus, you will have the momentum to read another book. Then another. And so on. The truth is, you will not jump up to the next level at school/university if you only read one book. But the good news is that these books are not long. In fact, the lower level books are very short.

Moreover, while you are reading and enjoying these books, you are also learning new vocabulary. When you see new words again and again, your brain will subconsciously decide that they are important words and so it should remember them for later. Again, all this happens with very little conscious effort on your part.

When you feel very comfortable reading a particular level of book and, perhaps, you are reading them very quickly, it is time to read a higher-level book. Before long, you will be reading books with a high level of English.

In addition, the reading exercises in textbooks at university or school generally have grammar in them that is higher than your actual level. This is to practice reading difficult texts. It’s a good strategy, but it isn’t as helpful for improving your level of grammar and vocabulary – and it takes more effort and can sometimes be boring to read these texts in class.

Read about Harriet Tubman

Also, there are hundreds and hundred of these graded readers. This means that for every student, there are many books that will be of interest. You can choose between books based on films, or easier and shorter versions of real modern novels or classic novels. You can read biographies about Mahatma Gandhi or Nelson Mandela. You can read non-fiction books, for example, about Harriet Tubman, or great engineering achievements. There are also original stories that authors wrote for English language learners.

Many of my students say to me, “I don’t like reading.” My answer is always, “So why are you at university? Why are you learning a foreign language?” There is no way you are going to learn English to a high standard, or go up to Intermediate level (B1) or higher QUICKLY if you don’t read storybooks. Sure, if you do the minimum in class, and do the minimum homework, your English will improve – but it will be a very slow process. And you will probably need to repeat A2 and/or B1 levels a few times. Do you want to repeat a class? Do you (or your parents) have enough money to pay for you to repeat a class? Do you want to be in your English prep program during summer school while your friends are on the beach?

If the answer is “no” to these questions, then you should read graded storybooks – lot of them.

“But I don’t have time to read,” I hear you say. Yes, you do. Everybody has time to read. They just choose to do something different, like watch TV in their own language, chat to friends, and look at photos on Instabook or Facegram.

You can read on the bus/train to school instead of watching traffic or sleeping. Then you can read on the way back home. You can read 30 minutes before going to sleep (which will help you sleep better so that you won’t need to sleep on the bus to school so that you can read on the bus – do you see how reading helps in many ways?). If you finish doing an activity in class before your friends, you can read a paragraph or two of your storybook while you are waiting. You can also ask your teacher in class what words mean in your book, or ask about some grammar in your book. You can read for 20 minutes of your lunch break. Does your brain really need a 60-minute lunch break? Besides, reading a storybook is not work – it’s pleasure.

You can also start a reading club at school. Invite your friends to read for 30 minutes during lunch breaks on three days of the week. If you are reading together, you can become motivated together, and you can help each other understand things in each other’s books.

How many books should you read? As many as you can. This means more than one book per week. If you can find 10 minutes here to read, ten minutes there, you can read 4-6 level 3 books in one week (2-3 higher level books).

I’ll end this post with a true story about one of my students at Kadir Has Üniversitesi who followed my advice. She read many storybooks over her one year in the English prep program. She started in a low-level class, but, in the final exam, she wrote an essay that was better than the essays by students who started at the beginning of the year with a much higher level of English.

When I tell all this to my students, they all say, “Yes, Barry teacher. I understand. I will read many storybooks. Unfortunately, most of them lose their enthusiasm and don’t read enough. Consequently, many of them find it difficult to pass up the levels.

Are YOU like these students?

I hope not!