Have not you held a newspaper for two years? But the Internet portals with news are peculiar newspapers too. Well, how long have you been reading the news in English? Do not you have enough vocabulary?
And in vain – it is very helpful (whether they are paper or online ones).
Of course, you can object. Indeed, there are so many educational methods, most of which do not work in practice. Have you ever wondered why they do not work? Maybe it is not because of the methods themselves?
You can argue that for the activity declared as the title in this article, you need to have certain knowledge. Naturally, some basic level should be present. However, it is not necessary to know the tongue at the native speaker level. Read only some of the techniques that will make reading news and analytic materials in English an effective learning process.
- Read the articles, the "tongue" complexity of which slightly exceeds your current level of English
This will help you replenish your vocabulary in a random mode. If there are too many unfamiliar words, and you absolutely do not understand the essence of the read, then it is the signal to "go down" to the level below.
- Learn to "scan" texts
It is not necessary to read and comprehend every word the first time. "Scan" texts in search of the main idea. And only then sort out the secondary text elements. In principle, this is a good skill for any work with texts.
- Read (for the first time) without a dictionary
Reading something for the first time, do not look at the dictionary while meeting unfamiliar words. So you can read the article without stopping, which will help you guess the sense of words by indirect signs or by the sense of a text that you comprehend. Words that remain incomprehensible, or those in which you are not sure after the first reading, can be found in the dictionary after the second and third ones. Create a separate list of such words for yourself, to which you can periodically return.
- Read aloud if possible
Reading aloud helps you combine time for reading and conversational practice. You can work on your pronunciation as you read the article and build confidence that you will be able to use certain phrases in the right context at the right time.
- Read in a convenient rhythm
Depending on your goals, choose for yourself a convenient rhythm of reading. If you want to "consume" a lot of information, "scan" articles for the items you need. If you want to comprehend deeply what you read, then work with the text more slowly and check (or repeat) all incomprehensible or "inconvenient" words.
- Read about what you are interested in
When we try to learn something new, it is best to immerse ourselves in something that is really interesting to us. It is not necessary to read simply for the sake of increasing the abstract vocabulary and improving grammar – read the materials that open up new information horizons to you or entertain you. If you read about the methods of bringing up the children or playing football in your native tongue, read about them in English. You will be interested, and the familiar topic will make it easier to comprehend the new text in English.
- But ... read a variety of material
The previous paragraph does not mean that you need to focus only and exclusively on topics that you terribly like and that are easy to comprehend. Knowledge of the tongue involves communicating with its speakers, and they will talk with you not only about children or football. Therefore, try to pay attention to less familiar topics from time to time.
- Get the facts about the topic of the article in your native tongue
To date, most of the news is duplicated in a variety of different languages. Even within one country, news resources with different linguistic policies usually work. Therefore, if you are going to get acquainted with a rather complicated material in English, find out preliminary information about it (or similar news) in your native tongue. This will help you navigate more effectively when you first read the article in English.
- Read a little, but often
Reading English-language articles 15 minutes a day 7 days a week is much more effective than reading for two consecutive hours once a Sunday. The human brain remembers better when new data arrives in it in a regular way, within the work of short-term memory. Read, for example, 10 minutes in the morning coffee process – this is a good way to start the day and get acquainted with the latest events in the surrounding world.
- Be persistent
Even if regular reading of such papers is unusual for you, and the level of English at first interferes with a full comprehension of what has been read, do not despair. After a short while, you will comprehend much more and enjoy viewing different news in the target tongue. And the more fun the process will bring to you, the more successful your further study of the tongue will be.
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