Improve Your English by Reading (Even if you HATE reading!)

Video Description

Don’t like reading? I don’t either! And that’s exactly why this lesson is for you. Learn how to improve your English reading skills without getting bored. You’ll get practical tips like choosing materials you actually enjoy, and reading out loud to improve your pronunciation. I’ll also show you how to guess the meaning of new words using context, how learning common prefixes can help with vocabulary, and why taking useful notes (not just highlighting everything) is better for remembering what you read. This lesson will help you build your vocabulary, pronunciation, and confidence while learning how to get free cookies. https://www.engvid.com/improve-your-english-even-if-you-hate-reading/ Need something to read? Get my book about teaching English! https://englishwithronnie.com/shop/ols/products/the-magic-of-teaching-english More ways to improve your English: Learn English by playing video games! https://youtu.be/VyfLNPJPSWc Feeling bad about your English? 18 solutions! https://youtu.be/xb92OjdvdbQ In this lesson: 0:00 How to improve your English by reading 0:43 Read something interesting... to YOU! 2:49 Read out loud. 3:55 Improve your vocabulary! 8:02 Take notes. 9:29 Join book clubs! TRANSCRIPT: Hey guys. Do you like reading? I don't like reading, but you have to read for a couple reasons. One, maybe you're studying in a university or college or at school and you're going to have to read something. Or maybe you actually like reading and you're trying to improve your English. So, reading tips from Ronnie, someone who doesn't read, but I can still give you tips because I've read stuff. I've also written stuff. The magic of teaching English. That's me. By me. So, the first and most important thing about improving your reading is-hello-might sound a bit silly for me to tell you, but read something interesting. Okay? This is a book. As I told you, I don't really like books. They're kind of like-oh-and people say, "Oh, come on, Ronnie, you just haven't read a good book." It's like, I've read a good book, I still find them extremely boring. But that doesn't mean I don't read. Okay? What do you read, Ronnie? I read lyrics. Okay? Because I like music. So, when I was living in Japan, when I was studying Portuguese, when I was studying Spanish, I would grab some band's lyrics. "Lyrics" means this song. Okay? And I would read them, and like-oh my god, look at me, I'm learning another language by listening to music, something that I love to do. Magazines. Do you like to read magazines? Fashion magazines, gamer magazines, I don't care. Porn magazines, read whatever you want, just make sure you like it. You're actually improving your reading, maybe some other things, and you're learning English. Do you like comic books? Hey, comic book's a book, read them. Make sure whatever you're reading you actually enjoy. Okay? Articles. There's this crazy thing nowadays called the internet, and you can get millions and thousands and billions of online articles for free that you are going to read. And it's not a book, there's no commitment, you read it, 10 minutes, learn some new vocabulary. Perfect. Rule number one, choose something interesting. As soon as you put something up and it's boring, your attention goes away. That's what happens to me. "Oh, there's a book. No, keep it away." Okay. Libraries are my kryptonite, you might say. This is an interesting point, too. I always tell people, "Hey, guess what? Reading a grammar book and reading an English book, it's not going to help you speak because speaking is a completely different side of the brain." But if you begin to read short things like articles out loud, you can really try to focus on improving your pronunciation. But if there's no one to correct you, that could be a problem, so I advise you to record yourself. Read something, record it, listen back, like, "Oh, that sounds a little strange." Read it again, practice. Pretend you're making a speech and you have to read the article as he gently laid down... Pretend you're actually going to have to make a speech to someone and practice your pronunciation. Get it crystal clear, as people like to say. So, reading not only improves your vocabulary, but it'll improve your pronunciation. Did I mention vocabulary? I did. Okay. So, the cool thing, or the terrible thing about reading is depending on the level and the kind of book or article you're reading, you're going to come across some vocabulary that you're not going to know. Two words of advice, two pieces of advice. One, try to guess the word. Just be like... Oh, I think this means this. How do you do that? By the context. The context means the other words around it. So, if you're reading something and you don't know one of the words, that's okay. Don't give up. Just look at the other words around it and go, "Oh, do you know what? I think this means that Kyle's mom's a bad person because of the words around the sentence." […]