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  • hello everyone and welcome back to english with lucy so i've made a video

  • about improving your listening and i made one about writing very recently as

  • well and i have made one on conversation but today the time has come to make a

  • video about improving your reading and your reading comprehension because

  • that's what you guys have been asking for so this video is going to be

  • jam-packed ie really really full of tips that will help you improve so whether

  • you want to improve because you need to do a reading exam or if you just want to

  • read for pleasure and understand more these tips are going to help you let's

  • get started with the video now let's start with an easy one and one that you

  • definitely will have heard before but it's so important I feel like I need to

  • reiterate it and this is read the question now at school I remember being

  • bored of my teachers telling me to read the question always read the question

  • remember to read the question but having worked as a teacher and having marked so

  • many exams oh my god so many points are lost through people miss reading the

  • question how many times have you seen a question that says answer with one

  • example of bah-bah-bah well if you give two examples most of the time you will

  • not get the point because you've given too many examples or if they asked you

  • to describe something and you provide a list it's not a description so you might

  • lose that point so please just bear it in mind you need to read the question

  • that was a pretty easy one let's get on to the next one now tip number two is

  • all about practice but the best way to practice and this is by reading the news

  • we're better to find up-to-the-minute current vocabulary that you can use in

  • conversations that you're going to see in exams because often exams will

  • use examples of current events or recent events so as a teacher I am always on

  • the lookout for the best news resources for my students

  • The Telegraph app have very kindly sponsored today's video but it wasn't a

  • hard job for me because I already use the app on a daily basis it is the news

  • app that I recommend to my students the reason I recommend this to my students

  • is because it's trusted news content you can use it both online and offline so

  • when you're connected to Wi-Fi you can download all the news stories and then

  • when you're out and about you can catch up on everything it's excellent because

  • you can click on the topic that is relevant and interesting to you because

  • that's really important download it whilst you're at home or

  • connected to Wi-Fi and then when you're on your commute or you're out and about

  • or you're somewhere where there's bad internet or at school for example you

  • can catch up with all the latest news stories in the section that interests

  • you most so that's one thing that I love about it the way that you can view

  • everything offline as well as online know it's all very well reading the news

  • every day but how can you use the news to get as much vocabulary into your

  • brain as possible well I would encourage you to keep a vocab diary my

  • recommendation is keep it all on your phone use the Telegraph

  • app try and read the articles that are relevant and interesting to you and then

  • on the note function on your phone keep a vocab diary so you could date it every

  • day you can note down the words that you don't understand in the app and then

  • when you get home you can fill in that diary find out what the words mean and

  • there you have a list to study from now you guys have probably heard all the

  • fake news and the untrustworthy news articles going around The Telegraph is

  • completely trusted it's well written it's well researched it's current it's

  • up-to-the-minute and you can view it both online and offline so it's

  • completely accessible I've left the link in the description box for anybody who

  • wants to download it I really do encourage you to do that vocab diary

  • because it has transformed so many of my students vocabularies right tip number

  • three relates back a little bit to tip number two but it's really important if

  • you want to achieve the right amount of because practice does make perfect and

  • that is scheduled in reading time and you will be amazed at how much this can

  • increase the amount you read every morning on your commute or or during a

  • break work or school or you could be reading for pleasure so you could be

  • setting aside an extra half an hour in the evening but make sure you make

  • reading part of your routine because otherwise other things take priority and

  • you will miss out because improving your reading and improving your other

  • language skills really is like running a marathon

  • you can't cram it you can't do something once and then inspect to see a massive

  • improvement it needs to be little and often that's why little tasks like

  • scheduling in and writing a vocab diary are so so effective let me know in the

  • comments below when you most like to read or if you're going to schedule in

  • reading time and when that's going to be now another way you could look at

  • scheduling in reading time is setting yourself a reading goal so depending on

  • your level schedule in a certain amount of articles every single day or however

  • many chapters or pages of a book every single day you know I'm not reading to

  • improve my English I'm reading for entertainment and to keep up to date

  • with current affairs I like to set myself the goal of reading at least 5

  • articles in the morning whilst I have my coffee I skim read them and it's just

  • the right amount of time for me obviously if I have more time I'll read

  • more I do like to start off the day with my set amount I can go over but I can't

  • go under so look at scheduling in a goal for each day now the next hip is a

  • little bit strange and it might not work for everybody but it really really works

  • for me it worked for me when I was doing my exams at university because I found

  • studying so boring but I needed to ingest a huge amount of articles essays

  • textbooks literature in general and something I found incredibly helpful and

  • something that made reading much more pleasurable and much more enjoyable was

  • reading using the voice of a celebrity in my head

  • and my celebrity of choice was always Stephen Fry who I've mentioned in

  • previous videos he speaks with received pronunciation

  • he's very very intelligent he's a comedian he has a lovely voice and I

  • used to read through all of the essays literature for my university degree in

  • in his voice and I just got into a habit and I found that it made everything less

  • dreadful and I've seen that other people do it too because I get messages on

  • Instagram and comments on YouTube saying whenever I read anything in English I do

  • it in your voice loosely and at first I thought how strange and then I thought

  • oh that's what I do just even Fri so yeah pick a voice of somebody that you

  • really really like and and try using their voice in your head next time you

  • read something if you're reading to practice your English let me know which

  • person you choose in the comments because I think it'll be quite funny to

  • see who everyone chooses now the next tip is for people who just really aren't

  • satisfied with their reading comprehension if you feel like you are

  • underperforming in exams or you're not getting the most out of reading for

  • pleasure this tips for you I want you to step back from your reading and evaluate

  • what's going wrong why why are you dissatisfied in order to find a cure you

  • need to find the problem you need to ask yourself why are you lacking vocabulary

  • is it that every other sentence you can't understand because you don't

  • understand the words are you lacking technical vocabulary so you'll fine

  • reading a general story but if you read about politics or science you're

  • completely stumped stumped means confused is it that you really struggle

  • with tenses is it that you can't work out which past tense is being used or if

  • they're talking about the present or the future is it rather than the language

  • used is it that you find reading too tiring or too boring is it that you run

  • out of time in an exam you need to think about what is going wrong and then find

  • yourself a solution or ask some I'd help you find a solution I can give

  • you all the tips to apply to your reading but if you don't work out what's

  • wrong in the first place you're going to have a tough time improving so I invite

  • you to think about your reading what is going wrong write it in the comment

  • section and let's all help each other to improve our reading skills I can

  • identify what's wrong with my reading when I read in Spanish for example I get

  • bored i skim read I miss the point and I don't try hard enough to understand the

  • whole passage what do I need to do I need to work on summarizing every

  • paragraph or every page to make sure that I get a clear grasp of the context

  • and just what's going on in the piece so what's your problem and if you can what

  • do you need to do to fight it comment down below my next tip is going

  • to sound weird as well but it's something that really worked for me and

  • this is use a pen and this helps you in a couple of different ways one of the

  • obvious ones which you will know about is you can underline words but it is

  • really really important to underline key words or even cross out words that you

  • think are not relevant as well I wouldn't completely cross them out but

  • maybe put a line through if you think no no this stuff doesn't matter just the

  • key words but another use for your trusty pen is use it to help you speed

  • read so you use it as a pointer this is going to really help anybody that

  • struggles with reading a text in a short amount of time in a lot of exams you're

  • under time pressure so you want to read as much as possible in the shortest

  • amount of time so I find that by using a pen and following under the words like

  • this I know I look ridiculous right now but I want you guys to speed read really

  • helps me read much more quickly you can try it out see if it works for you take

  • an article read it first without the pen read it again with the pen time yourself

  • see which one is quicker it might take some getting used to but learning to

  • speed read and using a pointer it can transform the way you perform in reading

  • exams right guys that's it with the tips for today I really really

  • encourage you to click on the link in the description box and download the

  • Telegraph app I've already said how great it is it was what I was using

  • before and it was an absolute pleasure to be invited to work with them because

  • I love recommending things I truly believe in I'm confident that if you set

  • yourself a goal of reading to 3 or 5 articles a day for example you really

  • really will improve your reading comprehension over time don't forget to

  • connect with me on all of my social media I've got my facebook I've got my

  • Instagram and I've got my Twitter and I will see you soon for another lesson

  • yeah

  • you

hello everyone and welcome back to english with lucy so i've made a video

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