(精読) | ||
Reading speed (fluency), confidence, etc. | BENEFIT | Skills & strategies, etc. |
Longer A little easy texts (you should know about 98% of the words) (e.g., graded readers) | MATERIAL | Shorter A little difficult (e.g., web articles) |
Read quickly, & have fun! Read a lot, without stopping. | STYLE | Strategic (e.g., find key points) Read difficult, yet important parts repeatedly. Check the dictionary, if needed. |
If you read a lot of English texts that are not too difficult, you can naturally learn:
* vocabulary * grammar * language use * culture
You can also deepen your knowledge of words and structures you already know. For example, you can see how words are used, and then you will be able to use them more easily and naturally.
Finally, your reading speed and motivation may improve.
1. Check these links to find "a little bit easy" but fun books (called "graded readers"):
- ELI Young Adult Readers (40+ titles - Maruzen guide)
- Macmillan Readers (100+ titles - Maruzen guide)
- Oxford bookworms library (150+ titles - LibrariE guide)
- Pearson English Readers (80+ titles - ProQuest guide)
- Page Turners (50+ titles - Maruzen guide)
- Read Smart Readers (10+ titles - Maruzen guide)
- A12 Book List (there are also readers in the library & L-cafe)
Check your level? The Extensive Reading Foundation created a reading test so you can find books at the your level. The result is a number on the ERF 16-point scale. To find out if the book is interesting and a good level, check the back of the book. (In A12, you can use the chart & sticker color to find the level.) More information on finding books at your level is here (by Meiki-sensei).
2. Start a book and enjoy! If the story is not interesting or if there are many difficult words on one page, stop reading it and find a new book.
3. Record what you read. Your teacher may ask you to confirm you read the book by writing a summary and reaction or by using M-reader.
News for extensive reading:
- Breaking News English (all levels; speed reading, quizzes & other activities)
- VOA (easy English)
Reading authentic English articles (e.g., on the web) helps you build your reading skills & strategies. These skills are very important in the information age; English-reading ability means you have access to more knowledge so you can study, work, and play better!
* There are 10 times more pages on the internet in English than Japanese!
* There are over 5 times more pages on English Wikipedia (5.7 million) than Japanese Wikipedia.
* There are 10 times more pages on the internet in English than Japanese!
* There are over 5 times more pages on English Wikipedia (5.7 million) than Japanese Wikipedia.
To improve your reading skills, try the following steps:
1. Find an interesting article (* see below).
2. Preview the title, organization, & images. Think about the topic before reading.
3. Read, trying your best to understand the main points.
When you can’t understand a
word or sentence, use the best reading strategy for the situation.
1st: Try to guess the meaning.
> 2nd: If you can’t guess the meaning, skip it if you think it is not important.
>3rd: If you can’t guess AND the understanding the word seems important, use a dictionary.
ALC Dictionary
> 2nd: If you can’t guess the meaning, skip it if you think it is not important.
>3rd: If you can’t guess AND the understanding the word seems important, use a dictionary.
ALC Dictionary
- Install, and you can translate words while reading by clicking a word.
- These words are then saved to your list, where you can study them later with flashcards.
Recommended Sites
Search Google in ENGLISH for a topic you like / need.
News:
- Asia Nikkei Asia Korean Herald Channel News Asia Focus Taiwan Straights Times (Singapore) Al Jazeera (Qatar)
- Australia ABC (world)
- Canada CBC (world)
- UK Guardian BBC Independent
- Global: Euronews - AfricaNews - MercoNews (South America)
Fun news & topics:
- Rocket News (funny news about Japan)
- Kokoro (stories about Japanese culture & sustainable lifestyles)
- Yahoo Odd News (funny news)
- Wiki Voyage (travel)
- JapanTimes Life (food, travel) / JapanTimes Music / Mainichi Entertainment
Reddit (Discussion board with communities for almost every topic. If you subscribe to Japan-related pages, you can learn language & culture by understanding how foreigners view Japan:
Japan fun!: r/JapanTravel r/JapanTravelTips r/JapaneseFood r/japanesemusic JapaneseBaseball r/JLeague
Help foreigners!: r/AskAJapanese r/japanlife r/japanese
Japan news: r/japannews Finance&Tech(Japan) r/japan
Academic:
Wikipedia (good as a resource, not to cite; ウィキペディアを引用はダメです！)
See the sites for each faculty for more reading material:
