Sub-topic 5 : READING visually VS listening AUDIOBOOK

Last but not least, reading visually to a book and listening to an audiobook, do they are the same things? 
 
Recently, audiobook has became a new wave  among the readers to have as their reading material. But, still have a lot of people don’t like audiobooks. we can understand that; they think it takes away from the reading experience, from the conversation between author and reader.We did agree that audiobooks are not the same experience as reading . What you get out of them is different, yes, but they both have value.


To us reading isn’t about interpreting words visually as much as understanding language. If someone’s telling a story then it doesn’t matter if I’m reading the words off the page or hearing them inside our head, that’s still reading.
It provides a different experience, an auditory experience, but we were still getting the same story. For certain books it can actually be an advantage, particularly if it’s a book that’s difficult to read.
 

The main disadvantage with audiobooks is that the feeling can be quite different. we don’t know if you’ve listened to a book you’ve read previously but it feels different. The reason is because the narrator is interpreting the story rather than you; he or she places the emphasis on certain words differently than you might, so it’s never exactly the same.


And sometimes dialogue which sounds right on the page doesn’t seem believable when read aloud. That’s why personally we'll always prefer the printed page; we just like the feel and smell of paper, hearing the words in our own voice. But that doesn’t mean that we're think audiobooks aren’t the same, just that we get something different from them.

Sub-topic 4 :Dos and Don'ts in reading skills.

Hello everyone!!!!...

For the last triplet post, we have already discussed on the strategies to practice a good reading skills, types of reading and how reading will help you to improve your English language.

Here, we want to expose some tips that you can dos & don'ts  to have a good reading skills.

READING DOS

• Dramatic monologue - create a monologue for a character in a scene. What are they thinking/feeling at that moment?
• Mapmaker - draw a map of the book's setting
• Adjective-itis - pick 5 adjectives for the book or character(s), and explain how they apply
• Character analysis - describe a character as psychologist might: what are they like? example?
• P.S - after you read the story, write an epilogue in which you explain-using whatever tense and tone the author does.
• Read aloud - you can work in pair with your friend or group, you start reading and go until you wish to pass. Call you friend to continue the reading.
• Open mind - Draw an empty head and inside of it draw any symbols/words/images that are bouncing around in the mind of the character of a story. Follow up with writing to explain.
• SQ3R  - when you are reading for textbook or article, use this strategy:
• (S)urvey the assigned reading by skimming, then formulate (Q)uestion , next (R)ead the assigned section and try to answer the questions that you formulate; now, (R)ecite the information; finally, (R)eview what you read.
• Brainstorming - put a character or other word in the middle of a web. Brainstorm association while you write them down, then make connection between ideas & discuss.
• Write an essay - using one different rhetorical modes, write an essay in which you make meaningful connections between the text and your own experiences/ other texts you've read

READING DON'T S

• Don't pick a difficult reading material - if you are in beginner level of learning English language, just picked the easy and short text to read rather than choosing a longer written text.
• Pay much attention on difficult words/phrases -ignore first the difficulties while you are reading, guessing the meaning based on context. Your reading will be distracted when you are gasping for the meaning on that time.
• Wild eyes-sight - make sure your eyes contact do not move from the the book that you read; to prevent you from losing your focus during your reading.
• Wrong body-posture - it is also important for you to be more comfortable while you are reading. make sure you're sit properly and do not stand while reading.
• Reading infront of TV/computer - you will be easily distracted by the sounds or images from this media.
• Reading in noisy/ chaos environment - Obviously! 
• Don't choose reading material which totally out of your mind/ schemata! - while you are reading some written page, it should tapping on your previous knowledge/schemata; if don't your reading will become wasteful as you never gain a knowledge that you are needed.
• Doing other works while you are reading - In this case, hitting two birds with one stone will never works better, because reading needs an ATTENTION! 

Sub-Topic 3: IMPROVING ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION, VOCABULARY & GRAMMAR THROUGH READING !

Tada!!! Now, it is a time to give away you some tips for improving your English language. We know, mostly for the beginner English Language Learner (ELL), facing much troubles with wrong pronunciation, grammatical errors and lack of English vocabulary.  NO WORRIES!  we guarantee with these tips you can diminish all problems BUT only with constant works in reading.


READING TIPS TO IMPROVE PRONUNCIATION

• Choose  a paragraph and read it aloud.
• mark sentence with Sound Script( words stress & intonation within sentences ). This will help you reading more naturally and thus you can pronounce correctly.
• Pick up few sentences/ highlight content words. Read these sentences focusing on accenting these content words.
• Read for an entire page, once you feel comfortable to read a single paragraph. Read it aloud for the first reading, then switch to silent for the second times of your reading.
• Read using nursery ryhmes, as you can practice pronounce the English words through rhythm. 
• Read the English text to your friend who is also studying English. Make a comparison and discuss all the difference pronunciation
• Dictionary! Use Oxford Dictionary or online dictionary as your resource to help you learn the precise pronunciation.

READING TIPS TO IMPROVE VOCABULARY

• Construct vocabulary charts from a story you are reading.
• Build up a mind-maps  based on the story you are reading.
• Highlight all the difficult words - then look-up the words in dictionary & add then into your vocabulary diary
• Play a guessing game first for the words that you do not understand based on the context.
• Focusing on Prefixes - Suffixes & find the examples. Try to provide antonyms by your own (Impossible - possible)
• Rewrite/retell the story you've read as much vocabulary from the story as possible
• Jotting down the unfamiliar nouns & adjectives

READING TIPS TO IMPROVE GRAMMAR

• Focus on various tenses/ forms
• Highlight all auxiliary verbs in a text that you are reading, identify then which tenses take the highlighted auxiliary verbs
• Find linking words ( but, and, however, thus, etc.). Try to understand how they relate sentences to each other
• Mark-up a few sentences from an reading material selecting subject, auxiliary verb, main verb, adjectives, etc.

Sub-topic 2 : TYPES OF READING

Before we go deeply to this topic, we want you to ask yourself with this question first, 

“Do I read every word in your own language when I am reading a text?” Definitely the answer is NO! Reading in English is likely reading in your native/mother tongue language.It is not a necessity for us to understand every words in ENGLISH, as the reading skills are basically same for your native language and English language.


Now,
Lets see the four types of reading skills which are used in every language:


1.  Reading for Gist


Here,you read for an overall,general understanding of a particular text or story.You are encouraged to devote less attention to the individual meaning of words and phrases.
With regard to reading,this idea also referred to as skimming.


Example: The newspaper (quickly to get the general news of the day)

2.   Reading for Specific Information. 


Here,you read for specific information.They are encouraged to understand information or specific language items in more detail.With regard to reading,this idea is also referred to as scanning.


Example:  You may be asked to read through a particular text in detail in order to answer a specific question such as “At what time did the train depart the station?” 


3.  Extensive reading.

The purpose of extensive reading is for pleasure and information.Thus,extensive reading is also termed as “Supplementary Reading.” Reader's attention not only for the meaning of the language but for the whole content itself.

 Example:  A novel you read before going to bed.

4.    Intensive Reading.

The work of Palmer (1921) notes that “Intensive Reading” means that the reader take a text,study it line by line,and refer at very moment to the dictionary about the grammar of the text itself.

Example:  An insurance claim.

Sub-Topic 1: PRACTISING A GOOD READING SKILL

Have you been through in a situation whereby you have to re-read something several times to get a full understanding of the content? Or you ever read useful text , yet fail to gain any helpful information that you needed from it?

If the answer is YES! then you might should reading intelligently and not reading just by quantity.

In this topic, we are helping you with strategies to help your reading become efficiently.

1. THINK ABOUT YOU WANT TO KNOW

Ask yourself first why are reading it before start reading anything. Are you reading with a purpose, or just for pleasure? What do you want to know after you've read it? 

Identify your purpose first. Once you done, then you examine the resource to see whether it's going to help you.

Example, with a book, an easy way of doing this is to look at the introduction and the chapter headings.

The introduction will let you to know who the book is intended for. Chapter headings gives you an overall view of the content.

  Try to look again either the resource meets your needs or not, if not stop reading!

2. KNOW HOW DEEPLY TO STUDY THE MATERIAL

If you only want need the shallowest knowledge of a subject, skim material. Here, you can read only chapter headings, introduction, and summaries.

However, when you need a moderate level of information on a subject, scan the text. You read for summaries and chapter introduction in detail. Speed read the contents of the chapter, just picked out the key words/concept.

Only when you need a full information on subject, then is it worth studying the text more detail. here it is best to skim the text first i order to get an overview/general knowledge on the subject.

3.ACTIVE READING

Practicing "active reading" which underlining key information and taking notes will help you if you intend to go detail on your reading. Doing this, eventually helps you keep your mind focuses on the subject that you read, and stops you from thinking other things or being distracted.

4. DIFFERENT MATERIAL, DIFFERENT WAYS OF READING

Different types of reading material holds information in different places an in different ways, and they have breadths and depths of coverage. 

You can extract the information precisely by understanding first the layout of the material that you read.

Example, reading for magazines, scan the contents tables and turn directly to interesting topic. Newspaper tend to be arranged in sections. If you read paper often, you can quickly learn and skip which section is useful and not for you.

5. Glossary! Use glossaries with Technical Documents

Keep a compile of glossary beside you as you read large amount of difficult technical material. It is really useful to note down the key concepts in your own words, and refer to these when necessary.

START READING!

TOPIC OF THE WEEK : Reading Skills

What is "reading" exactly? Okay, reading is a "receptive skill" that should be done individually, as opposed to reading out aloud. It is important to remember that people read at different speeds and in very different ways. Many people, including several professional teachers think that reading merely involves the ability to sound the words printed on a page. It is important for you to realize that reading is much more complex than this.  Hence, reading skills are specific abilities which enable a reader to read the written form as meaningful language, to read anything written with independence, comprehension and fluency and  to mentally interact with the message.