Reading Techniques

By: Teacher Melissa

READING TECHNIQUES

How to improve your reading to improve your English

Why is reading important to English students?

• it fixes and improves vocabulary and spelling, concentration and even the pronunciation;

• it stimulates the visual memory;

• when the brain focuses on the content, it's easier to accomplish the language obstacles;

• it can be funny and relaxing;

Base your choice...

• on your preference, interests and on what you are studying:

It's easier to understand a text about a theme you like, you know, or you are studying over.

Where to find it?

• Bookstores: like Livraria Cultura, Saraiva, Nobel. Ask for books or material you have chosen and which are directed to your level;

• internet: look for pages on social media, blogs, e.g.:

http://www.cambridge.org/us/cambridgeenglish/catalog/readers http://www.newsinlevels.com/products/self-driving-cars-in-the-streets-level-1/http://www.nytimes.comhttp://www.gocomics.com/garfield/2015/05/23 http://www.cnanet.com.br/logadon/CNAReaders.aspx?i=gMelJgJq%2f%2fg%3d http://www.amazon.com.br/b?ie=UTF8&node=10192051011 http://edition.cnn.com/

How to read?

Before reading:

- activate what you know about the text by checking its structure and where you normally find it (books, magazines, newspaper, etc).

preview: pay attention to the title, the layout, the headings, the text itself

and even illustrations.

predict: determine what you think will happen in the text based on your knowledge concerning the

subject and the characteristics you have elicited in the previous step;

skimming and scanning: take a quick look at the text to get the main idea and confirm

your predictions;

While reading

• visualize: create mental images of the characters;

• guess from the context: deduce the meaning of unknown words, instead of stopping to look them up in a dictionary;

• paraphrasing: stop at the end of a section at restate the information and ideas in the text; reread it if you think it's necessary;

• connect: find ways to relate the text to yourself, other texts, and the world around you;

• read actively: highlight, underline and take notes of key information or vocabulary doubts;

After reading

• identify: determine the author's purpose, find important details, the main idea, and the themes in the text;

evaluate: think about the text as a whole and form opinions about what you read;

- Look for the meaning of highlighted expressions first on Google Images, then in an English to English dictionary;- Write about what you've read in a format that best pleases you: a review, a letter, an article, a message, etc

Quem não lê, mal ouve, mal fala e mal vê.

- Monteiro Lobato

Get in touch:

Teacher Melissa - melissamslima@hotmail.com

Source:

• http://www.mindtools.com/rdstratg.html• http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/reading/

stratread.htm• http://www.readingrockets.org/article/

seven-strategies-teach-students-text-comprehension