Let's start with reading now one of the most important things when planning activities to strengthen
your skills is you have to have little ones and big ones because some days you're going to be really
busy and it's going to feel very difficult to even find one minute to practice your English and other
days you might have three hours.
So I want you to always be prepared and have activities planned so that if you happen to have an hour
you're like oh instead of sitting there thinking What should I do.
And wasting time.
You have things planned and you can go to your list and say oh great I have an hour I can do this activity.
So with reading for example Plan little things things that I recommend would be horoscopes.
And by the way I have links to all of this in the my favorite resources link at the bottom of the PDA.
For those of you who don't know that's like when you have if you're a Pisces if you're born in a certain
month it tells you your future.
I say even quote because they're very general.
And the reason I like these because horoscopes tend to write in the future tense today you will meet
the love of your life or today day you might feel a little sad.
So there are a lot of great adjectives emotional vocabulary and the horoscope link that I have for you
has different sections so you have the general Future Tense General day stuff and then you have a section
for love money business.
So as you can see these are even more specific vocabulary opportunities and that's usually something
depending on the horoscope.
I would probably say it will take you between 2 to 8 minutes 10 max.
So that's a good kind of small one for a super tiny one when you only have one minute.
What I do with a lot of my learners is quotes.
So if you like motivational quotes if you like humorous quotes if you like love quotes if you're a romantic.
These are usually one to two sentences and they're usually written in very casual English and they're
great to do when you're home.
I don't know when you're drinking your coffee in the morning or before you go to sleep.
Now the trick with these because it's so small you read it once silently and then the second time read
it out loud and then if you have a few seconds read it they can because what happens is the first time
you read it.
You're understanding the structure and vocabulary.
Then when you read it out loud.
You're practicing on your fluency.
But a lot of times you're not very mindful you're just trying to do the action.
The third time when you read it out loud then you're reading what you're actually mindful you understand
what you're saying.
So these are three different levels.
And I've done it I've done it with my learners.
And honestly it will never take you more than 30 seconds.
So on busy days when you have less than a minute.
This is your way to have success for English that day.
Now for a longer or bigger project I would recommend reading a book now for reading a book.
There are a few suggestions.
So I personally always recommend read a book with the audio.
So you want to buy the an abridged audio and the actual book.
So when you're listening to it and you're reading it.
Number one it helps you read faster and more fluidly.
So instead of reading word for word which can be really disruptive and kind of boring.
You're listening to it being read fluently so you are able to understand the story in the context better
helps you read faster which means you'll feel more success because you'll be able to read more and more
books which will help you want to read more often.
So notice everything we do it's about frequency and making it exciting and making you motivated.
Now the other thing with books is join a book club.
So check out my Facebook page.
We have a book club on Saturdays.
Those of you who are out who need structure.
Not everybody does but if you need like oh I just need someone to tell me when to do something by doing
a book club is really great because you have these micro assignments you know read 10 chapters and then
you get to know people in the book club and you're excited to go talk to them discuss the book.
It's a great way to work on your writing skills a lot of the book clubs are the one that I have is chatting.
Some might be in person some might view video to find whatever is right for you and with books.
Again do something that you like.
If you love fiction don't read a biography in English.
You know you're already don't love that style in your native language to be mindful about what's fun
and don't look up every word.
In fact I almost would say don't look up any word unless you absolutely need to remember you're not
going to take a test.
No one's going to ask you what that word means so relax try to enjoy the book.
Now something I do like for example if you see an adjective that you think.
OK I kind of know what that means.
That's kind of a cool word.
Great.
Highlight it write that one down and try to use it.
So this is where it's different from a school where you're going to read a book give a summary pass
a test versus this real life method where you're going to read a book or talk about it with people share
your opinions.
By the way if you don't find a book club.
Another great thing to do is read the book and then write a review to put on line.
You know what you thought about the book.
It just gives you a sense of like well I'm writing in English and it's public.
So that doesn't make you nervous.
Try that one and you get to learn new phrases and new words and it's just cool because you're learning
again in context.
We'd stop memorizing individual things.
And as you're hearing English and reading it you're also starting to think differently.
You're being exposed to different sentence structures and adjectives like we said descriptions so you
can be a really cool way to expand your knowledge your vocabulary and inspire you when you're speaking
in ways that you don't even know are happening.
I'm going to show you how to use the word activity to practice your English in less than 30 seconds
every day.
So right now read this silently to yourself
and now I'll read it out loud with energy theatrically.
All right.
And now listen to me do it.
And I want you to read it with this energy level every day.
Never stop learning because life never stops teaching.
It might feel silly but I promise it will help your confidence and fluidity.
All right there you go.
You have a 30 second reading and speaking activity that you can do every day.