Learn English with BOOKS That Became MOVIES

As an English learner, you’ve heard this  before... it should come as no surprise to you:

Reading is one of the best  ways to improve your English.

The question is, do you read  enough in English to really  

start noticing progress in your language skills?

I’m not saying that you need to be  a bookworm or anything like that,  

but if you commit to reading a book,  whether it’s a fictional narration,  

a biography, or self-help, your English  is sure to improve significantly!

All you have to do is pick up a book, read  the first few pages, and then let the story  

capture your imagination. If it’s a good  story and if you can connect with it,  

that’s when you’re going to experience  the magic of reading. That is,  

transporting yourself to a different  world, interacting with characters,  

and almost feeling as if you’re living  the events and consequences of the story.

As one psychologist puts it:

And hey! These things can be  game-changers in your learning journey.

But we before we get into it, and in case you’re  new here, every week we make lessons just like  

this one, to help you learn fast English,  without getting lost, without missing the  

jokes and without subtitles. Just like Tamara who  says that she’s so excited she found our channel  

and watches our lessons every day! So if that  sounds good to you, don’t forget to hit that  

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In this video, I’m going to introduce you  to five novels that have been made into  

movies. The idea here is that you can use  the same story to engage with the language  

in its different manifestations.  And if you’ve read a novel first,  

that’s going to aid your comprehension of the  movie (the same is true the other way around).

As I’m introducing these novels  and movie adaptations to you,  

I’m also going to talk to you about 5 benefits  you’ll get by reading novels in English.

(4.11 goodreads ranking) 

This is a 2005 novel by American author  Cormac McCarthy. It’s great for all learners  

regardless of their comprehension ability,  but if your English is lower intermediate,  

this novel is going to be great for you because  it was initially written as a screenplay,  

which means it was intended for a movie. For this  reason this novel has a simple writing style.

Regarding the story, it occurs in the  vicinity of the Mexico–United States border  

in 1980 and concerns an illegal drug deal  gone awry in the Texas desert back country.

If you decide to watch the movie, you won’t regret  it. When I watched this movie I was on the edge  

of my seat the whole time. And Javier Bardem,  who by the way is a non-native English speaker,  

plays a masterpiece of a role in this movie.  You need to read this novel and watch the film!

A common misconception is that reading is not  going to expose you to the English spoken by  

natives today. This is true if you’re reading  an original novel or poem by Shakespeare, but if  

you read a contemporary work like No Country for  Old Men, you are going to learn a lot of current,  

relevant vocabulary. You’ll even find examples of  realistic conversation between native speakers.

Bird Box is a 2014 post-apocalyptic  novel by American writer Josh Malerman.

Post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre  of science fiction in which the Earth's  

civilization is collapsing or has collapsed.  We actually made a reading lesson with another  

post-apocalyptic novel: The Hunger Games.  I’ll link that in the description below.

Bird Box follows a woman who  must find a way to guide herself  

and her children to safety despite the  potential threat from an unseen enemy.

When you read this novel, you’re going to have  eerie feelings. Imagine hearing that people  

from all around the world are going crazy, and  then suicidal, after seeing “something” outside.  

Actually, it’s not even known if they’re “seeing”  this thing because it’s believed to be invisible.

One last thing about this movie is  that you’re going to find it a lot  

like everything that’s happened with  Covid lately. I guess you’ll have to  

read the novel or watch the movie on Netflix  starring Sandra Bullock to get what I mean.

Now, let me tell you why reading is one of the  best learning strategies to grow your vocabulary.  

It is simply a super effective way to get  introduced to new words in an authentic way,  

and to confirm your understanding of other words.  

Reading books in English also helps you to  practise using the context of a sentence to  

guess the meaning of words and expressions  that you don't know. Using context to guess  

meaning is fundamental for both mastering  English and remembering new vocabulary.

Life of Pi is a 2001 fantasy adventure  novel by Canadian author Yann Martel.  

This novel tells the story of  Pi, a teenage boy from India,  

who finds himself trapped on a lifeboat  in the Pacific Ocean with a tiger.

Bookishelf.com describes this  novel as: "a transformative novel,  

an astonishing work of imagination that will  delight and stun readers in equal measure. It is  

a triumph of storytelling and a tale that will, as  one character puts it, make you believe in God."

The movie adaptation didn’t fail to  deliver either, winning awards for  

its visual effects, its protagonist’s  performance, cinematography and music.

Now, how can reading improve  your communication skills?  

A key skill of a good communicator is accuracy.  Great authors like Yann Martel are masters of  

the English language. And reading their  work, which is characterized by writing  

that's exceptionally good in tyle and form, is  going to improve your understanding of grammar.  

You're also going to become a much better  writer if you read books regularly.

This is the oldest book on this list.  

It was written in 1925 by the classic  American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Out of the books I’m introducing to you in this  list, this could be the most difficult to read,  

so I’d say you should start with some of the  other ones unless you’re confident your reading  

comprehension is advanced. However, an option to  still read this novel even if your comprehension  

is intermediate, is the graded reader version  of this novel, which is a simplified version  

for English learners. Just search on Google  the name of this novel plus graded reader.

So, this story is set in the Jazz Age  on Long Island. It depicts narrator  

Nick Carraway's interactions with  mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby  

and Gatsby's obsession to reunite  with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan.

The 2013 movie adaptation stars Leonardo DiCaprio  as Jay Gatsby. What I loved about this movie is  

that it gives a fascinating visual representation  of the infamous Roaring Twenties in the United  

States. This was an era of economic prosperity and  energetic social, artistic and cultural activity.

Both the novel and the flim paint a picture of  American life in the 20s, which I personally  

find very interesting. I love the 1920’s so much  that my wedding actually had a 1920’s theme! 

And they also explore the theme of the  American Dream in a very interesting way.

The Great Gatsby is a literary  masterwork and is seen as a  

contender for the title of "Great American Novel."

Reading in English, and especially novels, gives  you an opportunity to interact with the language,  

but what do I mean by this? Well, some of  the sentences and paragraphs that you'll read  

may have several layers of  meaning and they could be  

understood in different ways. When you consider  these possibilities, it's almost as if you're  

actively using the language and you create  a personal relationship with the language.  

This is probably a great way to develop  the ability to think in English as well.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a historical  fiction book written and illustrated by Brian  

Selznick. When you open this book,  you’ll see that it’s vastly different  

from the other ones in this list because  you’ll see it has tons of illustrations.  

The author describes the book as "not  exactly a novel, not quite a picture book,  

not really a graphic novel, or a flip book or a  movie, but a combination of all these things."

This book is about a boy, Hugo, who lives  in the walls of a busy Paris train station.  

His survival depends on things he does when  no one is looking, but when he crosses paths  

with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter  old man who runs a toy booth in the station,  

Hugo's undercover life, and his most  precious secret, are put in jeopardy.

Hugo is the name of the 2011 Martin Scorsese film  adaptation of the book. This movie stars two young  

actors that you may recognize from other movies or  TV series: Asa Butterfield and Chloë Grace Moretz.  

This movie received lots of  critical acclaim. It’s a must-watch!

We often say don’t just learn it, live it! That  doesn't only mean that you should speak English in  

every moment, every day, it means that you should  use your English as a practical tool. Like not  

reading a novel because it's a school assignment,  but doing it to enjoy a story. In relation to  

that, you might have heard us say “Now, let’s  go beyond the classroom and live your English”

and a big plus is the fact that reading will  

give you a ton of practice to  make your English even better!

Now before we finish the lesson, I’d  also like to give a special mention to  

some of my all time favourite books made  into movies that you can also check out!

If you’d like to learn more about these books and  movies, make sure you check out our Instagram at  

@reallife.english where I’ll be talking about them  and why they’re so great to learn English with!  

Also, let me know in the comments which of  these recommendations you’ll try reading  

and watching! But now, it’s time to go beyond  the classroom and live your English! Aww yeah!