- Reading Material For English Learner
- English Reading Material For Intermediate
- English Reading Material For Kids
Books are like maps.
No matter how well you know a city, you’ll still need a map from time to time.
Reading guides us to an understanding of proper grammar, effective vocabulary and descriptive language.
That’s why books truly are gateways to a deeper understanding of language.
My uncle once told me I should always carry a book in my back pocket.
“If you have a spare moment,” he would say, “read!”
He was right. It’s wise advice for anyone. Native speakers or new learners.
And it’s a great way to pass the time on a bus or subway.
It’s a well-known fact that reading is incredibly effective for language acquisition.
Professional writers will even tell you that reading makes them better writers.
The story revolves around a group of boys living on an island who love to play soccer. Their soccer club is suddenly abolished, and the only way they can regain it is to win the Football Frontier. Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin – Inazuma Eleven Ares will be set in a parallel world, taking place after the events of the first game, and develop the story from the perspectives of three protagonists—Ryouhei Haizaki, Asuto Inamori, and Yuuma Nosaka. Watch inazuma eleven ares. Protagonist Asuto Inamori and company leave the island for Tokyo to attend Raimon Junior High School and take on the Football Frontier.
Lucky for us, reading in your spare time has gotten even easier.
Not only are there plenty of great books to choose from to put in your back pocket, but now you can access thousands of reading resources from your smartphone!
On the bus, at the coffee shop, waiting in line or right before you go to sleep — it doesn’t matter when or where you choose to add this reading time to your routine. The fact is, you’ve always got at least 5 to 10 minutes in your day when you can squeeze in a little extra reading practice. It’s that simple.
The only thing you need to do now to get started? Locate some effective English resources for reading practice.
Here’s the deal: I’ll help you with the resources, and you’ll go get started reading.
You’ll be stunned by the results.
A Quick Introduction to Reading Techniques
The problem with reading is that we often look at it as a big project when it doesn’t need to be.
We don’t eat a pizza in one bite. We eat it in slices.
The first time we go for a run, we don’t run a marathon. We start with a 10-minute jog and work our way to longer runs over time.
That leads me to the best way for English learners to start reading: bite-sized reading.
Take little bites of reading in your second language. Take your time, start small and try to make reading a habit.
Going big isn’t always effective.
In most cases you’ll be your own English teacher when reading.
Read a sentence and take your time to understand its grammar structure and meaning. Then read a paragraph and take the time to study it. Then a page, then a chapter, then a book. Look at reading as just a slice of a bigger thing. Not as one giant obstacle.
Mix it up with other learning methods, too. Try the authentic English videos on FluentU for short but powerful English lessons. You’ll get movie clips, music videos, commercials and other videos that native speakers actually watch, as you can see here:
Better yet, you never have to worry about missing a word. There are interactive captions. That means you can tap on any word to see an image, definition and useful examples.
For example, when you tap on the word “brought,” you see this:
And FluentU is not just for watching videos. It’s a complete English learning platform. Learn all the vocabulary in any video with useful questions. Swipe left or right to see more examples for the word you’re learning.
The best part is that FluentU remembers what vocabulary you learned. Using those words, FluentU recommends examples and videos to you. You have a truly personalized experience.
You can use FluentU on the website or practice anytime, anywhere on the iOS or Android apps. So it’s easy to squeeze in a few minutes between reading sessions. You’ll be moving quickly towards fluency before you even know it.
While you quietly read about one of your favorite topics, issues or people, your spelling, grammar and sentence structure skills will all improve without you even realizing it.
It’s true — you can learn and have fun doing it!
We use our free time staring at our smartphones to check Facebook, Instagram and our e-mail, so why not take some time to read in English?
If you really can’t do without that social media time, set yourself some rules. For example, five minutes of English reading practice could be your prerequisite for getting on social media.
Take the time to read!
Here are a variety of sources that allow you to easily start small in order to work your way toward a reading marathon.
Three Stellar Apps
![English English](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/86/31/28/863128f8957bf97e13fffa4fa52a7491.jpg)
The beauty of a smartphone is that it can be used as an educational tool. There are endless sources of language apps for you to use. Here are 3 of my favorites.
1. Learn English By Stories
![English Reading Material English Reading Material](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Monique_Senechal/publication/254110929/figure/tbl2/AS:671508582129696@1537111530949/Hierarchical-regression-analyses-for-English-reading-and-English-spelling.png)
This app offers perfect bite-sized reading.
There’s tons of helpful content provided here. You can choose from 7 different levels with hundreds of paragraphs in each. Every paragraph has audio that will help with your pronunciation. You can choose to hide the script so you can listen before or after reading it.
The paragraphs are short and basic. It’s a perfect app for those of us in a rush.
It kills two birds with one stone by helping you with reading and listening.
The app is free and a perfect way to use five minutes working on your reading skills.
2. Voice Dream Reader
This app allows you to upload almost any text of your choice and it’ll read it to you.
Combining visual and auditory learning is incredibly effective in improving reading and language skills and Voice Dream Reader gives you both.
It also allows you to control what content you want to focus on and how quickly you want to hear it.
With a built-in dictionary, you won’t have to keep a clunky dictionary nearby. This allows you to listen to content of your choice on the go!
This amazing app is $9.99 but can be given a test run by downloading Voice Dream Reader Lite so you can make sure you want to spend the money.
3. Reading Comprehension Prep by Peekaboo Studios
This app is made for older native speaking elementary kids, but can still be effective for older English language learners.
The readings on this app are just short enough that you could complete them, do the reading comprehension at the end and feel like you’ve learned something or tuned up your English reading skills a bit — all while waiting for the bus.
Peekaboo also makes lots of other vocabulary, math and reading apps that could help you kill some time while learning in English!
Two Amazing Websites
There are endless resources on the web for the English language learner that’ll help with reading. Of course, you can check out newspapers and educational websites for native English-speakers, but if you’re looking for short readings tailored to (made for) the ESL learner, then check out these two great sites.
1. British Council — Learn English Teens
The British Council is really good at what they do and their website is a constant reminder of this.
In their reading skills practice, you can improve your reading by testing what you already know about a topic. You may also get a short reading to introduce you to a topic. Then you can take a multiple choice quiz, put parts of the reading in order or do some true-or-false questions about what you read.
And as a bonus, they also have a great app where you can listen to a podcast, follow along with a transcript and do exercises at the end.
2. News in Levels
This website takes one story and writes it at three different language levels. With each level, the difficult words are easily defined so you can learn what they mean.
In each lesson there’s also a voice recording reading the story. This allows you to learn proper pronunciation. The story is always read at a speed that enables you to read along if you choose.
![Reading Reading](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/78/55/4b/78554be6d11ee340e9470db690ffb5f1.jpg)
Breaking News English also does a similar thing, with more testing at the end, but this is a bit shorter and more tailored to your level.
One Page-Turning Novel
This is a brilliant novel for English learners. It’s thrilling, funny and a moderately easy read.
Told from the perspective (view) of an autistic boy, this book follows his investigation of a murder of a neighbor’s dog. He uses images to explain certain parts of the case and he mostly uses very basic sentence structure. Most English students will be able to follow the story without much assistance.
It’s told in chronological order (the order in which thing actually happened) and keeps the reader in suspense about what happened.
I’ve used this book with a book club of intermediate English speakers and they really enjoyed it. It was challenging enough for them to learn something new, but easy enough to allow them to get through the book without too much time spent translating.
The Bonus Lesson
Still reading? Well here’s a bonus for you!
Check out FluentU. At FluentU, we’ve collected awesome clips from reality shows, music videos, interviews, Disney movies and more, all to give you a taste of real-world, everyday English.
Thanks to our interactive subtitles, you can practice listening and reading while watching some really cool videos. And the best part? FluentU creates lessons, flashcard decks and vocabulary lists for you based on the videos you’ve watched, so it’s all personalized to your skill level, learning style and interests.
We’ll be waiting for you!
You can read along with subtitles and look up definitions of new vocabulary words along the way. Not to mention, we’ll give you personalized suggestions for what to watch next based on your learning level and personal preferences. Start using FluentU on the website with your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes store.
So the takeaway? Start small. Use those five minutes of free time you inevitably have during your day. Take the time to understand the intricacies (details) of a sentence. Then, as your comprehension grows, increase the reading size and level. Don’t overwhelm yourself right away with massive books. Take my uncle’s advice and find something that fits into your back pocket.
You’ll never be bored again.
If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn English with real-world videos.
Did you read anything in English this past week?
How much of it did you understand?
“Reading comprehension” refers to how much you understand of what you read. Even if you read an English book every week, it doesn’t help your learning much if you don’t know what the words on the pages are saying.
So you may be wondering how to improve English reading beyond just… reading more books.
That’s exactly what we’ll discuss in this article.
We will help you learn English reading with smart strategies. You’ll discover exactly how to read English books in a way that will actually improve your skills.
How to Improve Reading and Understanding English
It’s easier to learn English reading than you think! Here, we will discuss how you can improve using staircases and scaffolding.
When a house is built, it doesn’t all get done at the same time. Workers have to build some temporary structures to help keep the house standing up and to help them work on the higher parts. These structures are called scaffolding.
Scaffolding is also a method of learning. The idea is that, to learn a skill well, you need to learn smaller parts that will help you “build” your knowledge and skills.
This is true for reading comprehension too! To really understand what you read, you might need to work on other skills first. You might need to practice reading quickly (or slowly). You might need to stop choosing very difficult books, and start choosing the right books for your skill level. Start easier, start smaller and slower, and then gradually increase the difficulty.
Remember this when you’re working to improve your reading comprehension—and any other English language skill!
The steps below will show you exactly how to improve reading skills the right way. Use these tips and you’ll be understanding a lot more of what you read.
1. Always Make Special Time to Read
Reading for fun can be done anywhere. You could take a fun book out on a bus, in bed or at the office, and you can enjoy it.
However, if you’re reading to improve your comprehension, you need to focus and study.
This means you need to make a special time for this reading. Making time for your reading will let you focus well without risk of being interrupted. This time should be quiet, and you should avoid being distracted.
You should try to spend at least 30 minutes every day on focused reading. That’s how to improve your reading skills seriously and successfully. The more you read, the more you’ll improve.
Try this:
Turn your reading process into a ritual, something you repeat every time you sit down to focus on reading English.
Follow these steps, or any other steps that you’d like to make a part of your reading process:
- Find a quiet, comfortable spot with bright lighting to sit.
- Get everything you might need ready before you sit down. For example, you might want to have a pen, your notebook, a dictionary and something to drink.
- Decide how long you will read. (30 minutes is a good minimum amount of time.)
- Put all your electronics on silent mode (or turn them off) and put them away.
Turning off the sound on your electronics might not seem important, but it’s something you really must do!
If you have a specific process for preparing to read, then your brain will know when you’re about to read and you’ll be more focused before you even start.
2. Read the Right Books
If you dislike science fiction, you might not want to read a book about a man stuck on Mars. When you’re choosing books (and other texts) to read, keep two things in mind:
1. What you’re interested in
2. Your reading level
Whenever you can, you should read things that you enjoy. You should also choose books that are at an English level just above the one you’re most comfortable with. You want to challenge yourself just enough to learn new things, but not enough to get frustrated with your reading.
Try this:
Not sure where to start? There are lots of places online where you can find recommendations for books to learn English reading:
- Listopia on Goodreads is full of lists created by people just like you.
- Your Next Read lets you search for books that are similar to the ones you’ve read and liked before, or you can browse some of their lists.
- Jellybooks helps you discover new books and sample 10%, which means you can try the book and see if it’s a good fit for you.
- Whichbook is a very different kind of website—you choose the kinds of things you’re looking for in a book (happy/sad, beautiful/disgusting) and the website gives you suggestions based on that.
Any of these can help you find the perfect book for improving your reading comprehension.
3. Ask Yourself Questions While Reading and After Reading
Learning how to read English books is about more than just reading the words!
There are a few things you can do before, during and after reading to help you better understand the text.
Before you read, browse Pocket tanks deluxe apk. the text. That means you should look over the text quickly without actually reading every word.
Take some time after you read too, to browse again and summarize what you remember. Try to quickly say or write a few sentences that describe what the text was about.
Thinking about what you read will show you how much of it you really understood, and help you figure out if you still have questions.
Try this:
Before you read, here are a few questions you can ask yourself as you browse, to help you prepare for reading:
- Are there any words in bold or italics?
- Are there titles or subtitles?
- What are some of the names mentioned?
- Is there a lot of dialogue?
- Are the paragraphs short or long?
After you read, the questions below can be used to help you think about what you did and did not understand:
- What was the text about?
- What are the most important things that happened in the text?
- Did anything confuse you?
- Did anything surprise you?
- Are there any parts you didn’t understand?
You might have some more questions depending on what kind of text you were reading, but these are good basic ones to start with.
4. Improve Fluency First
Reading. Is. Fun.
Do you notice how you stopped every time you saw the period?
Now imagine reading an entire article or even book like this, stopping after every word. It would be difficult to understand, wouldn’t it?
It’s hard to form an understanding of what you’re reading when you read word-by-word instead of in full sentences. That’s why, to improve your understanding, it’s important to improve your fluency first.
Fluency is how smoothly you can read. When you read in your head, you should have a certain rhythm to the words. The words should flow together naturally, like when somebody is talking. That’s how to read English books like a native speaker would.
Improving fluency can be as simple as choosing slightly easier texts to read, or it might take some time and practice. If you take some time to improve how fluently you read, though, it will help you in the future. You’ll improve your reading and even your speaking. It will also make reading feel more fun and natural.
Try this:
Many of the words you find when you’re reading are actually “sight words.” These are words that you should know by sight and should not have to think about how to read them.
You can practice sight words very quickly. Just find a good list of sight words, like this one, and take about a minute or two every day to read the words as fast as you can.
If you don’t know any of the words it’s a good idea to look them up beforehand, but remember that this exercise is about reading faster, not understanding more. Once you can read at a comfortable speed, you can focus on understanding.
It might seem strange, but another great way to practice reading fluency is with videos. Specifically, look for English videos with subtitles. That way, you will read the words while hearing how a native speaker naturally says them.
FluentU takes real-world videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into language learning experiences.
There are many different types of videos, as you can see here:
FluentU makes it easy to watch and understand native English videos with interactive captions. Tap or click on any word to see what it means, learn how to use it, hear it pronounced and more.
For example, if you tap on the word “brought,” then you see this:
You can learn any video’s vocabulary with FluentU’s fun quizzes. Swipe left or right to see more examples for the word you’re learning.
The videos are organized by genre and level, so it’s super easy to find the ones that work for you. FluentU also keeps track of your learning, then suggests videos and examples perfect for you.
Start using FluentU on the website or download the FluentU app from the iTunes store or Google Play store.
5. Once You’ve Learned to Speed Up, Slow Down!
After you learn English reading more fluently, you can stop worrying about your speed and start thinking about the text and its meaning.
That’s right, now that you can read fast, it’s time to read slowly. Take time to really get into the text you’re reading, instead of speeding through it.
Try this:
One great way to slow yourself down is to read out loud. Not only will you be practicing your reading and understanding, but also your pronunciation, listening and speaking. Focus on speaking every word carefully and pronouncing it well.
If you can’t (or don’t want to) read out loud, you can try pausing every few paragraphs to make sure you’re paying attention.
Another way to pace yourself well is by making notes and writing down questions as you read.
6. Ask Lots of Questions
Speaking of questions—ask them. Ask a lot of them! The more you question what you read, the deeper you get into the meaning.
Asking questions is also a good way to make sure you understand what you’re reading. Asking questions like “what’s happening now?” or “who’s speaking here?” can help keep you focused. Asking questions like “why did he do that?” or “what is she thinking?” can help you think deeper into the story.
Try this:
Keep some Post-it notes and a pen nearby. Write down any questions that come to mind as you’re reading on the Post-it notes. Stick them in the text.
When you finish reading, go back and see how many of the questions you can answer now. If there are any questions you still don’t know the answer to, re-read that part of the text and try to find the answer.
7. Read It Again
The poet Ezra Pound says that with books, “no reader ever read anything the first time he saw it.”
Sometimes reading a text just once isn’t enough to understand it. This is true if you’re reading something difficult, or even if you’re not—reading something more than once can help you understand it much better.
Re-reading is great for those times when you read the words but can’t get them to make sense. It’s also great for finding things you might have missed the first time. If there are any new words in the text, you’ll see them again every time your read again, helping you remember them.
Reading Material For English Learner
In short, reading things again is great!
Try this:
Choose something short to read, no more than a few paragraphs. This can be a story or a news article, anything you want—as long as it takes you only about five minutes to read.
Read the article at your own pace, then write down everything you can remember from the article. Write every little detail, even write down parts of sentences if you remember them.
Now do it again.
Read the article again. Write down everything you can remember again.
Do you see how much more you remember the second time around?
Every time you read something, you understand more of it. When you want to get the most out of your reading, try reading three or more times. The first time, focus on understanding the words.
English Reading Material For Intermediate
The second time, focus on the meaning. The third time, you can start asking deeper questions like “what is the author really trying to say?” or “how does this news affect the rest of the world?”
8. Read Many Kinds of Texts
Today we don’t just read books and newspapers. We read blogs, emails, Tweets and texts. The more you read anything in English, the better you’ll get at the language.
Don’t just read books and news. Read anything and everything! Find a magazine that you enjoy, follow some interesting people or websites on Facebook, or visit a blog you like reading.
Magazine Line is a good place to go to find digital or print magazines on just about any subject. They give you lower prices on magazine subscriptions, and you may be able to save even more if you’re a student (check the “Student and Educator Rates” section for details).
Try this:
If you’re having trouble discovering new things to read, try any of these aggregators—websites that take news and interesting articles and put them together for you to look through:
- Mix helps you find new websites based on your interests.
- Digg collects interesting stories from around the Internet onto one page.
- Reddit seems a bit less friendly, but it’s a collection of websites and images that Reddit users submit for others to enjoy.
Whatever you read, just remember: The more you practice, the better you’ll get.
The best part about these tips is that they can work for reading comprehension in any language!
If you follow these steps to learn English reading, you might suddenly discover that you’re reading better and understanding more even in your own native language.
Huh! And you thought you were just here to learn how to improve English reading!
If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn English with real-world videos.
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Reading
Students' Reading Review
Great help to encourage students to read more and to learn more from what they read. More than a vehicle for a student book review, this page also helps them to think independently about what they read and what they can learn from the experience. It is a good idea for the class or school to build up a catalogue of these reviews for other students to read and use as recommendations for their own reading choices.
Nonsense Words: For reading comprehension and meaning from context
Answer Sheet
Students read short passages/sentences and try to guess the meaning of nonsensical words from the context of where they appear.
Abraham Lincoln Reading
Student read about Abraham Lincoln.
English Reading Material For Kids
Abraham Lincoln: True/False Questions
Answer Sheet
A true/false reading comprehension worksheet based on the Abraham Lincoln reading.
The Dangers of Radiation
Answer Sheet
A reading about the dangers of radiation, followed by a sentence gap fill reading comprehension exercise.
The Statue of Liberty
Answer Sheet
A reading about the Statue of Liberty, followed by a sentence gap fill reading comprehension exercise.
Reading Newspapers - Different Text Types
Answer Sheet
Student read different extracts from a newspaper and identify the text type using vocabulary and structure clues.
Hotel Of The Famous
Intermediate level reading about an unusual hotel.
Hotel Of The Famous: True/False Questions
Answer Sheet
True/False questions for 'The Hotel Of The Famous' reading comprehension.
Writing
Example Composition: Learning English in Italy
Can be used as a model composition, a reading comprehension or as a prompter to a general discussion about learning English in an English-speaking country or not.
Example Intermediate composition
Example composition for this level that can also be used as a reading comprehension.
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Reading Comprehension - 'Learning English'
Read this short text about learning English, then answer the multiple-choice questions.
Exercise Number: 3R1
The Alien Story
Read this story about a credible UFO sighting - and then put the pieces of the story into the correct order.
Exercise Number: 3R2
Changes In Town
Read how Jake's town has changed recently, then answer true/false questions.
Exercise Number: 3R3
Our app for both Android and iOS to help you improve your English!
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Contradictory Proverbs
Many proverbs in English contradict other proverbs. Match the opposites here.
Exercise Number: 3R4
Formal and Informal Letters
Change the informal letter into a formal one using more formal English expressions.
Exercise Number: 3R8
Charlie Chaplin's Early Life
Read about Charlie Chaplin's early life and then answer the true/false questions.
Exercise Number: 3R9
The Shrinking Lake
Read about a disappearing lake in the middle of Africa, then answer the true/false/don't know questions.
Exercise Number: 3R10
The Fishing Champion
Read about a young angler, then fill in the missing paragraphs.
Exercise Number: 3R11
A Traditional Wedding
Read about a traditional wedding, then answer the true/false questions.
Exercise Number: 3R12
The Dangers of Radiation
Read about the dangers of radiation, then do a gapped text exercise.
Exercise Number: 3R14
Statue of Liberty Begins Her Rise
Read about the construction of the Statue of Liberty, then do a gapped text exercise.
Exercise Number: 3R16
The Hotel of the Famous
Read about a very strange hotel, the answer the True/False questions.
Exercise Number: 3R13
Adaptive training and mock tests for IELTS, TOEFL® and TOEIC®. | |
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Abraham Lincoln
Read about Abraham Lincoln, then answer the True/False questions.
Exercise Number: 3R15
Comic Strips
Read through the dialogues and fill in the empty cartoon strips.
Comic Strip 1
Two friends enjoy a meal.
Exercise Number: 3R5
Comic Strip 2
Lessons in love.
Exercise Number: 3R6
Comic Strip 3
Some transport problems.
Exercise Number: 3R7