Language Access Centre

Reading Tips to Improve Your Listening Skills

• Read the text as you listen to it on an audio book.
• Take advantage of audio books. Read a page and then listen to that page. Repeat once a day.
• Read aloud to each other in small groups. Each student is responsible for explaining new vocabulary in the paragraphs he / she reads.
• Ask your teacher to choose a book to read aloud to the class. Do a few pages each day.
• Listen to easy audio books in English on your way to and from work.

Reading Tips to Improve Your Pronunciation

• Choose a paragraph and read aloud.
• Choose a paragraph and mark each sentence with a sound script (helpful pronunciation markup). This will help you read more naturally, and thus pronounce correctly.
• Choose a few sentences from your reading material and highlight content words. Read these sentences focusing on accenting these content words, while quickly speaking over the structure words. For more information on this technique read this article on English as a time-stressed language.
• Once you become comfortable reading a single paragraph aloud, read an entire page by reading a paragraph aloud and then reading one silently.
• Choose some nursery rhymes to practice. They will help you with pronunciation through rhythm.
• Read a short story or a few paragraphs to a friend who is also studying English. Compare the differences and discuss what might be the reasons for the differences.
• Choose a paragraph, short article or newspaper story with new vocabulary. Use the Babylon dictionary or other online pronunciation resource to help you learn the correct pronunciation of these words.
• Read a play with some friends. Each friend takes a different part. Start with short scenes. Once you are comfortable, read longer pieces together.