What are the benefits of reading? In this lesson, I explain how establishing a daily reading practice helps to improve your English and your life in general. Find out the three main benefits of reading in English every day. In the second part of the lesson, I’ll give you some practical advice to help you get started with a daily reading routine. By applying this advice, you’ll quickly improve your reading skills in English.
Why You Must Read Physical Books
The advice in this lesson concerns reading physical/printed books, as opposed to reading electronically via a device. Furthermore, listening to audiobooks doesn’t count as doing your daily reading practice. For you to get the full benefits of establishing a daily reading routine in English, you must make an effort to unplug from technology while reading.
Reading Every Day Makes Your Life Better
It goes without saying that reading in English every day will improve your overall English level. But more than this, there are some additional benefits that will improve your life in general:
- You’ll Get Smarter → One of the benefits of reading every day is that it grows your active vocabulary without you needing to make any effort. Your active vocabulary consists of the words and phrases you use without needing to think about them. In addition to your active vocabulary, you recognise and partially know a lot more English words which you never use (your passive vocabulary). By reading every day, you will encounter words that exist in your passive vocabulary much more often. This will build up your familiarity with these words, to the point that you find yourself using these words and expressions spontaneously. Knowing more English words will not only help you to feel smarter, but it will also greatly enhance the impression you make on others.
2. You’ll Be Able to Focus Longer → Spending too much time on electronic devices weakens your ability to focus and concentrate. In my opinion, this is caused by all the scrolling and scanning people do when using devices. It’s very easy to get distracted and to quickly click away to look at something else. In contrast, reading a physical book requires you to slow down and to focus on one thing. I personally found that by reading physical books every day, I protected my ability to focus from the detrimental effects of overusing technology.
3. You’ll Develop Discipline → Sticking to a daily routine increases your willpower and ability to get things done. The reason this is true is because when you establish a daily practice routine, there will be times that you don’t want to do it because you are tired or can’t be bothered. However, the act of forcing yourself to complete your daily practice, even when you don’t want to do it, is what builds discipline over time. When you are able to stick to your routine for small things like reading in English every day, you will later be able to apply this discipline to meet bigger challenges in your life.
How to Get Started Reading in English Every Day
What if you would like to start a daily reading routine in English, but your English reading skills are not yet good enough? Here are some practical tips and ideas that will help you get started.
Try a Graded Reader
A graded Reader is an easier version of a book, which has been specially created for learners of English. Graded readers have simplified vocabulary and grammar, which makes them much easier to read than the original versions. When choosing a graded reader, be sure to choose the appropriate level for your English. I also recommend that you read some sample pages before you commit to purchasing a graded reader, just to make sure the English level is appropriate for you.
Book First; Audiobook After
This reading strategy will help you understand much more of any book you are reading. You simply read a chapter from your book, then listen to the same chapter again in audiobook form.
Read Two Books at Once
This reading tip recommends that you have an easier English book, and a more advanced English book. You can swap between them when doing your daily reading practice in English. On days when you can’t be bothered to do your daily reading practice, you should choose the book that is the easiest for you to read.
Try a Dual Language Book
Dual language books are a special type of book that include a translation in your native language. You typically get the English version on one page, and the translation on the opposite page. This makes it easy to refer to the translation in your native language whenever you don’t understand something.
Get Some Reading Lessons
If reading is one of your weaker skills in English, it would definitely help to get some dedicated reading lessons. This is because a teacher’s support will help to develop your reading ability and confidence.
Improve Your English Reading Skills with Lingoda
The online language school Lingoda offer dedicated reading lessons as part of their group English training on Zoom. I recommend giving their lessons a go, if you would like to build up your reading skills in English.
Another benefit of taking classes with Lingoda is that their group classes are capped at a maximum of five students per class. This ensures that you get plenty of time to interact and ask questions.
One last reason that I recommend Lingoda is that their classes run 24-hours per day. This means that wherever you are in the world, you can join an English class at a time that suits you best. This level of flexibility and convenience is only possible when joining a large online English school, such as Lingoda.
Lingoda Language Sprint Explained
The Lingoda Language Sprint is a special offer that makes taking intensive English lessons with them much cheaper than usual. Students who successfully complete their language sprint by attending all of their lessons during the 2-month period get half or all of their money back!
The Lingoda Language Sprint has two levels of intensity: there is the Regular Sprint (15 lessons per month and half your money back) and the Super Sprint (30 lessons per month and all of your money back).
To get a 20 Euro discount on your registration fee, use the Promo code JODDLESPRINT and find out more HERE.
Extend Your Learning
▶︎ Improve your reading aloud skills by reading/watching this lesson: “How to Read Aloud Tips”
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