Now you know why to do extensive reading and you’ve got the right book on your level! Not sure what the best way to do extended reading is? The answer is building a reading habit. Let’s talk about it!
Consistency
This is the most important factor in building a reading habit. How long, where, when, and how are all less important than how often. You need to find a reading rhythm. Form a strong habit. To do this, lots of ELLs set a small goal that they know they can easily stick to. The most common I’ve seen work for us is 10 minutes a day. You choose when or where, but you can’t go to sleep without your 10 minutes a day.
We have to keep it easy for ourselves. We have a lot going on in life, and we are adding an extra weight that most people don’t carry: learning another language. We must remember we aren’t superheroes with unlimited time and power. We do need breaks and rest.
Right now, I am learning Korean, and the rule I’m sticking to is 4 times a week for one hour, never on weekends. That means I can take one night off during sometime Monday through Friday and I always have Saturday and Sunday off. This isn’t my extensive reading program, mind you. It’s my study program.
My Korean isn’t good enough to read any sort of book yet, even a beginner graded reader! (Unless the book went like this: “Hello. It’s a man. It’s a woman. It’s an apple. It’s a red apple. It’s a big, red apple. Thank you. Goodbye.”
Find a goal that you can stick to, make sure there is wiggle room for when something happens unexpected or you need a day of grace, and make it a rule. That’s the formula for consistency that I found to work.
Accountability
Still not building a reading habit that works for you? Then you need this too: accountability.
Have someone else know about your rule and have them check up on you. You can have a group of friends set the rule together and post in a chat when they’ve met the quota. Or you could join a club in your university that reads during lunch in the cafeteria together. Or you could…
You get the idea. Have other people to keep you accountable.
Methodology to a Good Reading Habit
Even if we already mastered building a reading habit, it can be hard to feel like extended reading is doing us good. Sometimes we wonder if it’s even helping us at all! Let’s talk about the methodology I’ve found helpful when doing extended reading.
Focus on fluency
Your reading should be interesting and easy. As we learned before, it shouldn’t give you a headache! To make it easier, have a dictionary at hand (phone works) to find those two or three words you don’t know per page and quickly see what they are. Instead of slowing down, writing them in a notebook, and studying them, highlight them in your favorite color or underline them. You will come back to them later if you want them, and you will be able to find them easily. Right now, you want to flow like water without interruptions.
Keep the book on hand. Take it wherever you go. It’s better to read this book than to check Facebook or play a quick round of Gem Smash Brain Killer (no that’s not a real game). If you live in the city, you can pull out your book in a taxi, on the bus, or on the metro. If you live anywhere, you can pull it out when you sit down and wait. I know a lot of people that put short readers in their bathrooms for when they sit on the toilet or take a bath. This works really well, too! (Just don’t tell your parents I talked about the toilet)
Check your understanding
AFTER you do your reading, check what you read. I say AFTER because you shouldn’t do it BEFORE. There is a reason teachers don’t give us the answers before the test. There is also a reason why people don’t like to hear what happens at the end of a movie before they watch it.
Well, if we read the translation of a graded reader (some readers are bilingual), we simply don’t find as much joy in reading it ourselves. It takes away the suspense of the reader, and it takes away the gratification of successfully reading and understanding something in another language. It’s like cheating in a video game. At first, it makes things easier, but after a while the game just gets boring.
If you feel like you need to read the translation first because the reader is too hard, switch to an easier reader.
You can check your understanding AFTER the you finished reading a number of ways. Try them all and stick to the ones you like best, changing it up every once in a while for variety.
Discuss it with others. It could be a native, or your book club (which is also good for building a reading habit because it will keep you accountable!). If you all have the same idea about the book, then you’re most likely right. Talking about it can happen in a group chat, too, if you don’t have the time to meet. Just type “spoiler alert” before you share your summary of the chapter/reader so your friends don’t get angry when you share what happens next!
Read the translation. I know lots of people say “no first language, no first language, no first language” (imagine a group of angry teachers walking down the street holding signs!). I also believe we should be “no first language” as much as we can, especially while learning new vocabulary and grammar; but if we don’t have a native speaker who is dedicated enough to discuss what we’ve read with us, we can fall back on our native language to make sure we understood things correctly.
It’s one thing to learn a new language through your own language using the translation method. It’s another thing to check what you’ve learned that way. Though I’d still recommend using this method sparingly. We want our languages to be as far separate in our brains as possible.
Study (optional)
If you are like me, you can study what you’ve read after you’ve read it. But save this study time for study time. Don’t let it be part of your 10 minutes a day!
Open the book and find the words you’ve marked. Write them in your “new words” notebook (I recommend OneNote, which I use for everything in my life). Throw them into your vocabulary study bank for future reviewing.
Let me say it again: don’t let your study time overrun your extended reading time! Keep them separate at all costs!
Reread
Yeah, it’s boring when we already know the ending, I know; but it is also helpful to go back and reread. You can do this the next day, or next month, or even next year! Your goal in rereading determines when you reread. Or in other words, when you reread depends on your goal in rereading.
If you want to solidify the grammar and new vocabulary you’ve encountered, reread the next day while it’s fresh in your mind. You will get a clearer understanding and remember the new stuff better.
Side note: While I was in university, my philosophy professor had us read each chapter 6 times a week. By the 6th time, I actually understood what the book was saying. Here is what he said (and what I found true): the first time you read, you put the language and ideas in your head but don’t understand it. The second and third time you get the general idea. The fourth and fifth time you develop an understanding of the main points and can start taking notes and writing questions to look for. The sixth time you grasp even the supporting details and are able to reasonably discuss the chapter with someone else.
If you want to review the language you learned, read it again next month. You will see if you actually remember the new language, and then you can take notes on what you what to study more.
If you want to see the progress you’ve made in your new language acquisition, read it again next year. By that time, you’ll likely have forgotten the details of the story and will enjoy reading it again. If it’s been a good year of steady growth, you will find that there is only 1-2 words each page that you don’t know, and you’ll be more clear in your head about what you’re reading (of course, that’s partly because you’ve read it before, but also because you are better at reading).
Recap
To put it all in a nutshell: be consistent, have a dictionary on hand, check your understanding, study if you want, and reread. It’s not complicated or difficult. It’s simple and easy. And that’s what extended reading is all about!
Now get out there and get building a reading habit that helps you grow your English like a tree!
Practice what you’ve just read! Don’t forget to screenshot your scores and share with friends!