activity you can do in order to improve your English writing ability.
Research finds that reading and listening for pleasure leads to superior
TOEFL performance. I always recommend my students start with children’s
novels, usually something for elementary or middle school age. For
beginners, graded readers can be useful. I also like series of books such as
Goosebumps, The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. These include a lot of
books, more than 30 in some cases. They are easy reading and they will help
your writing ability, reading speed, and vocabulary.
As you improve, you’ll naturally seek out more difficult books and audios.
One strategy is to find an author you like and read every one of his or her
books. For example, if you enjoy scary stories you could read every book
written by Stephen King. If you enjoy romance, why not read all of Danielle
Steele’s books? If you can find audiobook versions for these, even better. By
the time you finish an entire series of books, you will have improved your
real English skills dramatically.
In my Effortless English™ courses, I often focus on topics such as self-
improvement and success. I want members to focus on the topics and real
English in my lessons, not on the parts of the language. The more you
connect emotionally to a topic in the real world, the easier you will learn the
English.
In fact, the perfect situation is when you are so interested in the topic that
you completely forget you are listening to or reading English. When this
happens, language learning happens without any effort at all.
TOO EASY? TOO DIFFICULT? OR JUST RIGHT?
How should you decide what to listen to or read? Often, my students
worry that they’ll pick something too easy. My recommendation: it’s best
