How Can Reading Improve Your English? Classroom Activities and Book Ideas - WeAreBettering – S04E18

How can reading improve your English, and which book activities can teachers use in class?Gav and Em explore practical ways to make reading enjoyable, productive and accessible for English learners. Drawing on their classroom experience and their own reading habits, they share adaptable speaking, writing and vocabulary activities based on books.Discover how learners can discuss a book even when they are reading it in another language. Gav and Em demonstrate useful questions about genre, setting, characters, narrative perspective, plot and cover design. They also compare an interview-style speaking task with writing a short book summary.You’ll hear a book-genre matching activity featuring mystery, fantasy, science fiction, horror, non-fiction and LGBTQIA+ literature. Gav then challenges Em to predict stories from their opening lines, showing how short extracts can stimulate discussion, interpretation and imagination.Their special guest Josefina from We Are Bettering explains how regular reading can broaden vocabulary, reinforce grammar and build confidence. She recommends suitable English books for beginner, intermediate and advanced learners, including graphic novels, modern fiction, non-fiction and classics.Stay until the end for Learn-A-Word, featuring parts of a book, useful reading vocabulary and expressions including page-turner, bookmark, dog-eared and never judge a book by its cover. Charlotte from Charlotte Teaches English also introduces the expressions an open book and a closed book.If you find the show useful, you can send us a thanks at https://ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpodVisit https://howtoenglishpod.com for practical teaching ideas and resources ready to use.Josefina and We Are BetteringInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/wearebettering/Website: https://betteringlang.com/Charlotte Teaches EnglishInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/charlotte_teaches_english/Josefina’s book recommendationsGood Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli and Francesca CavalloSmile by Raina TelgemeierThe Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-ExupéryWonder by R. J. PalacioThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark HaddonMy Salinger Year by Joanna RakoffInto the Wild by Jon KrakauerLittle Women by Louisa May AlcottA Christmas Carol by Charles DickensReferencesFamous opening lines:https://bookriot.com/best-first-lines-of-books/Book idioms:https://englishbyday.com/book-idioms/?utm_content=cmp-trueChapters00:00 Welcome to the reading episode01:09 Why do people love reading?02:36 Discussing a book in an English lesson07:32 Summarising a book for speaking or writing practice10:36 Matching books and authors to literary genres16:10 Predicting stories from famous opening lines27:21 Introducing We Are Bettering28:01 Josefina’s reading advice for English learners28:49 Book recommendations for different English levels31:06 How reading supports vocabulary, grammar and speaking32:03 Learn-A-Word: parts of a book and reading vocabulary35:58 Book expressions with Charlotte Teaches English36:44 More useful English book idioms37:36 Final thoughts