RESOURCES TO IMPROVE ENGLISH READING

• Cambridge English

Cambridge English offers many online activities for English learners, especially to practice reading. His reading material is very diverse. 

It deals with different topics such as travel, science fiction, linguistics and shopping. The activities are organized by level of difficulty and topic. You will also see a wide variety of reading materials about the real world. There are articles, emails and much more.

• USA Learns

USA Learns is a completely free premium website. It is full of resources for beginning and intermediate students.

Reading topics are varied, covering a bit of everything from business to the latest news and social fashions. Since USA Learns was originally designed for adult immigrants to the United States, this site also covers topics about American culture, which is very interesting if you intend to move to the United States.

• USA Learns

Also has material for many other skills: speaking, listening, vocabulary, pronunciation, etc., and it even has a course for those who want to be American citizens. To access the materials, simply enter your information and create a password on the registration page.

• FluentU

FluentU is the most unique resource on this list. Instead of reading texts and worksheets, you will learn with authentic English videos, such as movie trailers, music videos, inspirational talks and more, which have been transformed into personalized language lessons.

Each video includes full transcripts and vocabulary lists that you can explore before watching the video, to familiarize yourself with the words you don't know. Later, while watching it, you can click on the subtitles to automatically pause the video and get a definition, pronunciation and image of any word.

 

• EnglishClub

Is a free website for students and teachers and contains reading resources on different topics.

The reading skills section includes a test to check your current reading level and measure your improvement in the future.

One of the best things about EnglishClub is that you can read in English about what interests you. There are texts that talk about music, movies, the environment and more. They even have a children's reading section and a page dedicated to short stories.

• National Geographic Learning’s In Focus

You probably already know National Geographic magazine. Her blog, In Focus, is a resource that is entirely dedicated to teaching English.

Students can read in English and practice their reading comprehension with articles on interesting topics such as travel and culture, photography, motivation to study, and more. Each article is classified by the minutes it takes to read.  

Articles usually include questions to ponder at the end. You will see that most of them are aimed at language teachers, but they are not very difficult and offer you an interesting new perspective on the process of learning English.

• Oxford Bookworms Library

Oxford Bookworms Library offers a series of tiered readings for learners of English as a Foreign Language. Level readings are books aimed at English learners of certain levels. 

It includes books for both children and adults, and its reading level is divided into seven levels. Most of the books are English classics that have been re-narrated for different levels.

It has many resources and activities to go along with the books, such as glossaries with new vocabulary, audio files to listen to as you read, and follow-up tests.

 

• Read in english

Reading appropriate texts and books for your level is very important to avoid frustrations.

• Use the dictionary

If during your reading you come across a word that you don't know, take the opportunity to use the dictionary. Thanks to this tool you can know how to pronounce that word you just learned, as well as internalize how it is written.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8INkr4kHeao

 RESOURCES TO IMPROVE YOUR LISTENING COMPREHENSION IN ENGLISH. 

The first things is to pay attention not only to what you hear, but also to the emotions of your interlocutor. In this way, your understanding will be easier. 

Watch movies and TV series: Whether using cable TV, satellite TV or services like Netflix, get into the habit of watching a movie or series in Enlglish before bed, in order to familiarize your hearing, even if you don't understand everything they say. 

Listen to Music: Whether yo are at home, on the subway or bus, or at you workplace, listen to music in English and try to remember the lyrics of the songs and understand them. You can support yourself whit the songbooks that are available on thr internet.

Watch documentaries: Take adavantage of the benefits that the internet offers in this regard. Enjoy the large number of sites that allow free access to see this type of material, regardless of the subject. 

Use audio books: Another way to excercise listening comprehension is through these kinds of tools, also widely spreadon the internet. From the classic works of literature to most current titles, they can be enjoyed for free. 

Use Youtube: In this portal there are not only hundreds of music videos, but also a large amount of auduvisual material that will contribute to your better listening comprehension of English, from web series, TV programs, reports, documentaries and films, among others. 

Read out Loud: Not only is it convenient to listrn to the voices of third parties, but also to hear your own voice and pronunciation. For this reason, it is recommended that you read magaxine and books in English aloud and record yoyeself to detect errors and correct them. 

Below we will present two videos to improve our listening comprehension.

 

Some exercises to improve our reading comprehension. 

https://agendaweb.org/listening-exercises.html 

How to learn to write in English?

To learn to write in English, the most important thing is to read a lot in English. Easy right? Writing in English has to be combined with reading in English so that you can memorize words and grammar and spelling rules naturally.

Tips for learning to write in English:

Write something in English every day

• Create a routine in which you have to carry out one of your daily tasks in writing in this language. In this way you will not only be able to practice your writing in real situations but also activate your vocabulary.

Write the lyrics of your favorite songs

• One of the biggest motivations when it comes to learning English can be to do it through music. Play your favorite song and, pen and paper in hand, try to decipher all the lyrics. Later, check how you did it by looking for the letter on the internet.

Read in English

• As we said at the beginning of the post, the way in which you are going to learn how words are written and how some spelling rules work is not just by memorizing the theory or lists of elements. You have to see, read and later integrate the words into your vocabulary.
• Reading appropriate texts and books for your level is very important to avoid frustrations.              Therefore, in What's Up! Academies, students have teachers and a coach who can advise them on  those readings that are more appropriate to their level and knowledge of the language.

Use the dictionary

• If during your reading you come across a word that you don't know, take the opportunity to use the dictionary. Thanks to this tool you can know how to pronounce that word you just learned, as well as internalize how it is written.
• And if you want to curl the curl a little more, create your own dictionary: buy a phone book from the old ones, the ones that have a flap for each letter of the alphabet, and write down each new word there.

One of the best options to practice learning writing in English is: ( Hangman )