AVOID THESE 3 MISTAKE WHEN READING IN ENGLISH | DO YOU DO THIS? | Go Natural English

Hey!

How's it going?

Welcome!

I'm going to talk in this episode about three things not to do when you read in English.

So, reading is a really important skill.

It not only helps you learn vocabulary, it helps you become familiar with English grammar

structures and, believe it or not, it actually helps your writing skills, too, because as

you see how other people write, you'll get ideas about how to improve your writing.

So, let me share, in this episode, three things not to do -- three things you should stop

doing -- if you want to be a good reader in English.

Before I share those three tips of things not to do, I want to let you know that I have

a free training for you to share the Go Natural English method of learning English.

Come to gonaturalenglish.com/7steps and I'm happy to share that video series with you

totally for free.

You can also come check out the premium paid materials and courses that Go Natural English

has to help you develop your English skills.

Now, let me share three things not to do when you read in English.

So, first of all, be careful with the material you choose to read.

Do not choose material that is way above your reading level.

So, for example, a very difficult material would be an academic journal, perhaps a scholarly

report, maybe a dissertation or a thesis by a PhD student or a professor writing for an

academic journal.

If you choose something like that, it's going to be frustrating, it's going to be boring

and it's not a good way to improve your English unless you're at that level of English.

And that is an educated, native-like English speaker level.

So, be careful.

I would recommend if you're at the intermediate English level to choose some magazine articles

that are of interest to you, maybe news articles that are of interest to you, or short stories.

At this point, it's better to choose something that's short, level-appropriate and interesting.

So, how do you know if material is level-appropriate for you?

Well, if you are reading a short story and you notice that on one page in the story,

you don't know some of the words, that's okay.

That's actually good.

But, if there are more than about five words on every page that you don't know, then that

material might be too difficult.

If there's under five words that you don't know, that's okay.

That's a good challenge.

So, there's a line between a good challenge and too much of a challenge.

I don't want you to feel frustrated when the material is too difficult and give up, you

know, when you become tired and you start thinking negative thoughts, like, "Oh, I can't

understand!

I'll never speak English!"

Don't think that way!

Just choose different material that's a little bit easier to read.

Okay, next, number two: Be careful about distractions.

Do not read in a place or an environment where there are a lot of distractions.

For example, for me, personally, I cannot read on the beach.

I don't know how people bring books to the beach to read, because when I'm on the beach,

I like to go swimming in the ocean, I like to talk to other people, I like to play sports

on the beach and I like to people watch.

So, reading a book would not be my choice for the beach.

I like to read at home or maybe in a cafe.

So, choose a place that does not have too many distractions for you.

Third, do not look up every word that you don't know.

So, I talked in the first tip about how many words on each page are okay to not know.

Now, don't worry.

If you don't know a word -- let's say there's three or four or five words on a page that

you don't know -- that is totally okay.

That's totally normal, even for native English speakers.

We're always seeing new words, especially if we're reading a good book where the author

has a great vocabulary.

But don't stop to look the words up.

Stopping to look the words up every single time you don't know a word will just slow

you down and it can be very frustrating.

So, I would recommend instead to keep reading.

Read for the main idea.

It's going to be more engaging in the long run and it's going to help you more in the

long run.

When you finish reading, you can always go back and look those words up in your free

time.

So, those were three things not to do when you read in English.

First, don't pick material that's too difficult for you.

Second, don't try to read in a place that's very distracting.

Third, don't look up every single word that you don't know.

And, a bonus tip for you!

Number four: Don't read sporadically.

"Sporadically" means...

every once in a while, maybe when you feel like it or when you have an assignment.

Try reading a little bit every single day.

Give yourself ten minutes or fifteen minutes, maybe set a timer, a stopwatch, and let yourself

just enjoy reading for a little bit every day.

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I'll see you in the next one.

Bye for now!