How to be a better reader

The importance of reading

Reading is an extremely important skill. It is by reading that you learn much of what you need to know for your different school subjects. Reading is also an excellent way to improve your general English. You can only learn from reading, however, if what you read is not too difficult. For this reason, it is important to know what makes texts difficult and how you can improve your chances of understanding them.

What makes texts difficult to understand

Most of your reading difficulties will be caused by a problem on the list below. Of course, when two or more of these problems happen together, your chances of understanding will be even smaller.

How to be a better listener

You spend more time in school listening than doing any other activity. It is important that you understand most of what you hear, so that you can learn about your different subjects and at the same time improve your English. In order for you to become a better listener, look first at the following list. It contains many of the things that can make it hard for you to understand what you hear:

• the speaker talks too quickly
• the speaker talks too softly
• two or more people are speaking at the same time
• there is background noise
• there are other distractions
• the speaker or the topic is boring
• you are not concentrating on what the speaker is saying
• there are no pictures or charts to look at while listening
• you have no idea about the topic
• the speaker uses many new or difficult words
• the speaker’s sentences are long and complex

Listening: A good way to learn English

Weena Kanadpon Everyone knows that there are four skills in learning a language, namely listening, speaking, reading and writing. They are always related in terms of usage, and speaking is viewed by learners as the most desirable skill in face-to-face communication in the globalization era. However, what is the answer to the following questions?

Introductions and introducing yourself to others English lesson

Introductions and introducing yourself to others English lesson

During this lesson you will learn the basics of how to introduce yourself, someone else and making contact with someone in English.

Introductions and introducing yourself

Introductions and Introducing yourself to others

The following examples show how to introduce yourself 
Can I introduce myself? My name’s Sarah.
May I introduce myself?  My name’s Simon.
Let me introduce myself. My name’s Paul
I’d like to introduce myself. I’m David
I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Jason

Greetings, introductions and goodbyes conversation

Greetings, introductions and goodbyes conversation

Introducing and greeting someone are the first thing we say to someone or meet someone new. In this English lesson you will learn how to greet, introduce,  and  say good bye to a person. The first part of the lesson shows how to greet, introduce and say goodbyes in a formal manner the part of the lesson shows how to  do it in an informal way.

Speaking for All

English Greeting Expressions (Formal and Informal)

There are many ways of greeting people, both formal and informal.

• General greetings (Formal)
  1. Hello!
  2. How are you?
  3. How are you doing?
  4. How is everything?
  5. How’s everything going?
  6. How have you been keeping?
  7. I trust that everything is well.

The Art of Public Speaking

The Art of Public Speaking” is available in the Shakespeare & Co. bookstore on 23rd Street and Lexington Avenue.

Article by Nicole Clemons - April 8th, 2013

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Although students generally loathe public speaking, it is a valuable skill to possess.
As a Tier I requirement at Baruch College, the COM 1010 (speech communications) class allows students to practice their skills in preparation for any field of work they venture into.