How to improve your reading skills!Whats the best way to improve your reading skills? Here are a few of our top tips.1 Why you should read!Reading can really help you learn a language. As youre reading something, youre learning hundreds of useful wordsand epressions without even realising it. !oure also seeing how words fit together and how language structures are used. "lus, as youre reading, youre finding out about interesting things, which could give you something to talk about in conversation.2 What to read!#he key is to read things you want to read. When youre interested in something, you focus on the content not the language. #his means you learn without even realising it $ the language simply flows in and gets registered in your brain. %o, choose a topic that motivates you& sport, film, music, marketing, politics, economics, travel, business, technology' the options are limitless. And choose a format that suits you too& a book, a maga(ine, a website, a newspaper, a social media site' whatever you want.3 How to read!)efore reading, you need to activate your existing knowledge of the topic. When you do this, you *connect+ with the tet, and your understanding of it will increase. !oull also find it easier to guess the meaning of any new words and epressions. ,or eample, if youre going to read an article on skiing, you could start by thinking about all the words you know related to this theme- or you could answer discussion .uestions on the topic. #hen, when you start reading, youll find it easier to follow the tet.4 Let the text help you!)efore reading, look carefully at the page. /s there a title? Are there any pictures? /s there an introduction? Are there any paragraph titles? /s there a tet bo that summarises the information in a few words? All these things will give youa general understanding of the tet, and help activate your eisting knowledge of the topic. And then itll be much easier for you to read. While you!re reading#he first time you read something do it .uickly. "im to get a general understanding, and try to focus on the content, not the language. Where possible, simply guess the meaning of any unknown words, and skip the parts you dont understand. 0f course, later, you can go over the tet again and read it more carefully. )ut when you do that, only use a dictionary after youve made an effort towork out the meaning of any difficult words. )y trying to understand words from the context, youll learn them more effectively.# $op tipsHere are some more top tips on how to improve your reading skills.1 When youve finished reading something, make a note of five to 23 words or epressions youd like to remember or learn. Write them down in sentences and include any other information such as how to pronounce them or anysynonyms and antonyms.1 Read a bit every day& before you go to sleep, on your day to work, during your lunch break' And set mini4ob5ectives. ,or eample, if youre reading a book, aim to read 23 pages a day.1 /f possible, read things in your own language first, and then try them in 6nglish. As youre already familiar with the topic or story, youll find it easier to read in 6nglish. !ou could do this with news reports, books, film reviews, novels, articles' anything that you can find in both languages.1 Reading should be fun, so choose tets that arent too difficult for you. #he best thing is to read at your level or slightly higher. /f reading feels too much like work, itll stop being en5oyable.Reading is great. We all know that. %o, find something youre interested in, and read about it in 6nglish. !oull learn so much7What to read%o, what can you read? Here are some of our ideas& graded readers, childrens books, audio books, books designedfor secondary school students from 6nglishspeaking countries, maga(ine articles, bestsellers 8rather than classics as the language in classics is often comple or outdated9, *how to+ guides, websites, ,acebook posts, #witter messages,the comments section on websites, slogans, newspaper headlines from online newspapers, online forums, recommendations from friends' the list is endless.%opyright & 2'14 (y Hot )nglish *u(lishing+lossary , to fit together exp : the way that words *fit together+ is the way they 5oin together or connect, to focus on exp : if you *focus on+ something, you only concentrate on that thing, to flow in exp : if something *flows in+, it enters something in a slow, continuous movement, to get registered exp : if information *gets registered+, it becomes recorded, to activate your existing knowledge exp : if you *activate your eisting knowledge+ of a topic, you think about all the things you already know about this topic, to guess vb : if you *guess+ the meaning of a word, you say what you think it means, even though you arent sure, to aim vb : if you *aim+ to do something, you want to do that thing and its your ob5ective, to skip vb : if you *skip+ over a part of the tet, you dont read it, to work out phr vb : if you *work out+ the meaning of a word, you discover its meaning, the context exp : if you understand a word from *the contet+, you understand it by looking at the words before or after it. #hese words can help make its meaning clear, a synonym n : a word which means the same as another word, an antonym n : a word which means the opposite of another word, to set vb : if you *set+ an ob5ective, you decide what that ob5ective will be, a graded reader n : a book for language learners. #he language in the book is easier than in the original