Advice for reading

Reading is one of the best things you can do to improve your English. As well as improving your reading skills, reading helps you to improve and review vocabulary. It can help you with your grammar as well because you see how grammar is used in real contexts. The more you read, the more you get a feel for the language.

​Reading is also great because you can do it on your own, you can do it for as long or as short a time as you want, you can do it whenever you have a few minutes to spare, such as on the train or in a lunch break, and you can do it for free. It's so easy nowadays to find free reading materials online.

Here are a few of my favourite websites:

​Mixed levels:
breakingnewsenglish.com
newsinlevels.com
learningenglish.voanews.com
engoo.com/app/daily-news​

For intermediate / upper intermediate learners:
learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/general-english/magazine-zone​
simple.wikipedia.org
ideasinenglish.com

For advanced learners:
bbc.co.uk/news
bbc.com/worklife
bbc.com/travel
​
For high advanced / proficiency level:
theguardian.com/uk
bbc.com/future

If your English is a lower level, it's really important to find something to read that isn't too easy and isn't too difficult, so try the websites I've listed for mixed levels until you find something that suits you. You want something with some new words but not too many. I would also recommend going to a library or a bookshop and looking for graded readers. These are books written in easier English, specially for  students.

For higher levels, there's just so much to choose from! The above are just a few suggestions. The BBC articles tend to be a bit easier than the newspapers. The Guardian is completely free to access and has some high-level vocabulary.

There are some reading activities for you here on this website. Click here for an index of reading activities. I'm gradually adding more all the time so keep coming back.

​I've also written a post on tips to improve your reading skills. Click here to read it.


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