In learning English, reading is an essential skill for acquiring new vocabulary and reinforcing your grammar; it is doubly important if you have limited opportunities to learn by listening. Although reading may seem very difficult at first, the task becomes easier with these simple strategies.

Not everything in a text may be useful to you right away. When you determine what’s important, you identify the main themes of the text and focus on them, without getting distracted by irrelevant information.

As you read, you work not only with the text, but also everything you already know about the topic. Use prior knowledge about the world, as well as your previous experiences, to help you make sense of what you’re reading.

Once you understand the text, you can also make inferences, or use the new information and background information to draw conclusions and interpret facts.

It’s also important to ask questions before, during, and after reading, as they help you see the text from several angles and understand it clearly. They are not a sign of trouble, but a tool for understanding.

Another helpful tool is mental images. In your mind, use all five senses to experience the text and enhance not only your understanding, but also your enjoyment.

One of the first things to do when you read is understand the structure of the text; that’s what you do when you skim, or read very quickly, skipping many words. Once you have located the most important points, you can use them to answer specific questions later.

As you look at each new paragraph, you should try to find the topic sentence,because it contains the main idea. If it isn’t what you need now, you can save the supporting information for later.

As you look at each new paragraph, you should try to find the topic sentence, because it contains the main idea; if it isn’t what you need now, you can save the supporting information for later.When you see an unfamiliar word, it’s tempting to slow down or even stop reading. However, it’s often possible to learn vocabulary in context, or use other words in the same sentence or nearby sentences to guess the meaning quickly. This rough understanding is often enough to understand the text.

Finally, you may use your knowledge of the text’s structure, as well as markers such as topic sentences and key words to scan, or quickly find detailed answers to specific questions.

The purpose of many of these skills is to help you read more quickly, and if your goal is speed, you should also time yourself. How much time do you need to understand a paragraph or a page? Push yourself to read faster, and with practice, your speed will improve.

These ten strategies take some time to learn, but once you’ve mastered them, you will find reading much easier, and maybe even more fun!