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  • Hey, everyone. I'm Alex.

  • Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on "How to Improve Your English By Reading".

  • So, it might be very obvious how reading can help you improve, you know, your speaking

  • in English, particularly your vocabulary, but there are a number of reasons and a number

  • of things that reading regularly and reading in specific ways can actually help you to

  • improve your English, and also not only like your reading English, but your ability to

  • speak properly or to speak confidently.

  • And again, this applies not only to English as a second language learners, but also to

  • English speakers, period.

  • So pick up a book, and here's how picking up a book can help you to improve your English.

  • So, number one: You can improve your English by picking up any book, reading out loud,

  • and exaggerating what you're reading.

  • You might think: "This sounds ridiculous", but if you are a second language learner,

  • this is a fantastic way to improve your enunciation, your pronunciation, and presentation skills.

  • Even if you're not a second language learner...

  • English as a second language learner.

  • So, for example, it doesn't matter what type of genre you like, what type of books you like.

  • Me, personally, I love science-fiction, I love fantasy.

  • And I can turn to, you know, pages in any of these books and read out loud, exaggerate

  • what I'm saying, and just the act of doing this, of speaking out loud what I'm reading

  • makes me feel, again, more confident speaking in front of an audience, for example.

  • So I'll just open to a random page here and...

  • Okay, so in this book, just so you know, there's a horse, his name is Artaq.

  • And it says: "Artaq did not hesitate.

  • He veered toward the Silver River.

  • The wolves came after, soundless, fluid, black terror.

  • Will was sure that this time they would not escape.

  • Allanon was no longer there to help them.

  • They were all alone."

  • Now, what you notice is I'm...

  • I'm trying to exaggerate: "They were all alone."

  • Even like my l's.

  • And focus on every letter when you're reading, because this type of reading, reading out

  • loud, exaggerating, if you are a professional, this is a great way to build that clarity

  • in your speech when you're speaking in front of people, and pacing yourself, how fast you

  • speak as well is important, obviously, when you're giving a presentation.

  • This second part...

  • Again, this one can apply to both native speakers of English, but it's more specifically geared

  • towards English as a second language speakers, and that is: Paying attention to word endings.

  • And especially "ed" and "s" endings.

  • So, specifically past tense words, like "wanted", okay?

  • Or plural words, like "hawks" instead of one hawk, because a lot of, again, English as

  • a second language learners sometimes forget the "ed" ending when they're reading.

  • I've taught classes where, you know, students have to read out loud, and they're so focused

  • on reading and getting the words correct, but the pronunciation, they just drop the

  • ends of words sometimes, especially "ed", especially "s".

  • So let me see if I can quickly find an example.

  • Okay, here's one: "When he stayed on his feet..."

  • When he...

  • Oh, why am I pointing?

  • You can't see that.

  • You can't see that.

  • So: "When he stayed on his feet" this is one part of the sentence.

  • Again, you have the verb "stayed", so some new learners of English will sometimes read

  • that as: "When he stay", "When he stay", and they just drop the end.

  • So please, please, please focus on those "ed" and "s" endings, and this will really help

  • your fluency, the ability of others to understand you, as well as your enunciation.

  • "Stayed", okay?

  • Number three: Pay attention to punctuation.

  • Now, punctuation refers to the use of commas, periods, question marks, exclamation marks

  • when you're reading.

  • By paying attention to these things, you can actually focus on improving your intonation

  • and your fluency; two specific things.

  • So, the intonation refers to the up and down movement of your voice when you are saying

  • something or reading something.

  • So, for example, you know, raise...

  • In the second part I said: "Raise intonation for yes or no questions."

  • So if you notice when you're reading that, you know, this person is asking a yes or no

  • question, then your voice should be moving up at the end.

  • And, you know in speaking, this also improves that.

  • So, for example, in this book there is...

  • Okay, here's a yes or no question, the question is: "Did you find her?"

  • So, I see a question mark, I see a yes or no question, and let's say I want to read

  • this out loud and exaggerate.

  • I can also say: "Did you find her?

  • Did you find her?

  • Did you find her?"

  • And it sounds ridiculous, I understand, when you're reading out loud, exaggerating, but

  • after some time, you know, that exaggeration, that focusing on your enunciation, which is

  • kind of like making your sounds as clear and distinct as possible, focusing on every "l",

  • every "e", every "s" in a word, that will actually improve your pronunciation and the

  • ability of other people to understand you long term.

  • Another thing punctuation does: Pause briefly after periods, and pause after commas.

  • So, again, if you're giving a list of things, if you're reading and it says: "They went...

  • He went to the store and he bought apples, pears, and oranges", you could say:

  • "He went to the store and he bought apples, pears, and oranges", or:

  • "He went to the store and he bought apples, pears, and oranges."

  • It might not sound like there was a pause, but I did pause very briefly between each

  • word in that list.

  • So, paying attention to those things also teaches you, again, how to clearly enunciate

  • and also your fluency.

  • Now, again, your fluency is how smooth your language sounds when you're speaking.

  • So if you're just saying: "Dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah", it's fast and you think:

  • "I can speak quickly in English."

  • But it doesn't sound natural.

  • Nobody speaks like...

  • I mean, people do speak like that, it's more difficult to understand them, but it's better,

  • obviously, if you pay attention to short pause.

  • Hmm, comma.

  • Okay?

  • And finally: Highlight words you don't know.

  • So when you're reading, obviously, this is one of the major benefits of reading, is vocabulary,

  • vocabulary.

  • It's so important, I put it twice.

  • That's what happened here, okay?

  • So, maybe I will open this book and I'm going to read...

  • Hmm.

  • Hmm.

  • Okay, there's a person saying something here, and he says:

  • "There are books, ancient books of healing from the old world."

  • And maybe I'm a new English speaker, and I say:

  • "Healing, healing. I've never heard the word 'healing' before.

  • H-e-a-l-i-n-g."

  • Maybe I want to stop, highlight that, go back, check it out on the dictionary or something,

  • online, on my phone, somewhere, and you just learned a new word.

  • Okay?

  • So obviously, if you're reading a book and you're stopping 20 times in one page, your

  • book is probably too difficult for you.

  • But if you're stopping four, five, maybe six times a page because of new vocabulary, as

  • a new English learner, that's not bad.

  • Okay?

  • All right, so like I mentioned, reading, reading, reading can really help you improve your English

  • in a number of ways.

  • It can improve definitely your presentation skills by reading out loud and exaggerating,

  • your enunciation which is your ability to pronounce each sound correctly and distinctly

  • in a word, your pronunciation which is, you know, you're saying "book" instead of "booque".

  • Okay?

  • By paying attention to word endings, specifically "ed" and "s" will improve others' ability

  • to understand you, especially if you are an English as a second language learner.

  • Punctuation will also improve your fluency, your intonation if you're paying attention

  • to question marks or anything else; periods, commas, exclamations.

  • And highlighting words you don't know, all of these books, these books specifically,

  • other books, too, that you enjoy, will help you to improve your vocabulary.

  • So, unlike other lessons, there is no quiz for this one.

  • All I want you guys to do is pick up a book, pick up something you're interested in,

  • try out these methods, and let me know if it works for you because it's been working for me,

  • so let me know if it also works for you.

  • Also, don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel,

  • and I'll see you guys another time.

  • Bye.

Hey, everyone. I'm Alex.

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如何通過閱讀提高英語水平 (How to improve your English by reading)

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    ryan 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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