4 SIMPLE STEPS TO IMPROVE YOUR READING SKILLS
1. SET A SCHEDULE
Many people do not read because they can’t find
any time in their busy schedule to read. But the truth is that you need to read
often to improve your reading skills. As simple as it sounds, the more you
read, the better reader you become. Setting a specific time each day to read is
the best way to improve your reading skills.
You might say that you don’t have
hours each day to spend on reading because you have other priorities in your
life. That’s perfectly OK because you can increase your reading skills by
reading 20 minutes daily. You can read just before you go to bed or after you
have finished your dinner.
The most important part is that
reading needs to be a habit. If you set a schedule and read every day, your
reading skill will be improved greatly.
2. READ ACCORDING TO YOUR ENGLISH LEVEL
Sometimes, students are motivated
and try to read books that are too difficult for them. After reading few
chapters, they completely give up because the books are uninteresting. To
prevent this, it is important that you read books that are your level.
When
you are starting to read, you should read books that are easy to comprehend.
This will help you to make reading a habit and enjoy them at the same time.
After a few easy books, you should start to read more difficult books one at a
time. Reading difficult books will help you to comprehend harder books and to
broaden your vocabulary.
3. MEMORIZE VOCABULARY BY MAKING FLASHCARDS
As you continue to read and make
it a habit, you will read many vocabularies that you do not know. To increase
your reading skills, it is important that you memorize these vocabularies. In
my opinion, flashcards are the best way to memorize vocabulary, and you can use
any of these two ways to memorize them.
Flashcard Apps (Quizlet)
Flashcard
Apps such as Quizlet allow you to make digital flashcards. You can use these
apps to memorize vocabulary by reviewing, testing, even playing games! These
are great tools to memorize your vocabulary on your mobile devices in your
spare time.
Traditional Flashcards
If you
are not tech-savvy, you can use traditional paper flashcards to memorize
vocabulary. You can cut 3 x 5 notecards into two, write the word on the one
side, and the definition on the other.
4. READ HIGH-QUALITY MATERIALS
Finding
high-quality materials to read is probably the most difficult step for
international students. You should read combination of books, newspaper
articles, and scientific papers to increase your reading skills in variety of
areas. I will recommend three free resources to find high-quality reading.
Kindle App
This is
an essential app to increase your reading comprehension. Kindle App is allows
you to access Amazon’s Kindle Store which contains millions of electronic books
which are also called ebooks. Most of them are paid, but there are thousands of
free ebooks also. Just by downloading the Kindle App, you can access over
10,000 ebooks that are completely free.
Most of
the free ebooks are classics, which are books that have stood the test of time
and are accepted as exemplary and noteworthy. Since the classics were written
long time ago, their copyright expired which is the reason that they are free.
Some of the classics that you can download in Kindle App include:
1.
Moby Dick
2.
Oliver Twist
3.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
4.
Tale of Two Cities
5.
Pride and Prejudice
6.
Les Miserables
7.
Scarlet Letter
8.
David Copperfield
9.
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea
10.
Christmas Carol
To read
this free classics, you can either download the Kindle App on your mobile
device or read it in your browser on desktop. Also, you need to have an Amazon
account.
New York Times
New York Times is one of the best news sites in America that covers a
variety of topics in politics, international, and finances. The articles are
written by accomplished writers with years of experience writing. Reading The
New York Times is a great way to broaden your vocabulary, improve your reading
skills, and also be informed of current issues.
Popular Science
Popular Science is
a science magazine containing excellent articles written by accomplished
writers. There are many interesting articles about technology, science, and
health which are both informative and practical. At the same time, you will
improve your reading comprehension by reading these articles.
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