Often times I receive simple yet difficult to make understand question – how to improve language proficiency? My answer never changed over time. Read. Read to write. Read to improve your grammar. Read to improve your speaking skills. My advice may have fallen into many deaf ears but to some who have listened and taken actions, produced results.

To be where I am today, to stand in front of more than thousands of students, I did not do this by just passing my TESL degree alone. Even behind the TESL degree, it had compiled a long list of reading materials and countless hours spent on reading and checking words in the dictionary. To learn a language, dictionary must be your first best friend. It is a friend who will keep the secret of many words that were once unknown to you. It is also a best friend who will tell you only the truth. You have to be gentleman enough to first admit that you have a lot to learn and thus, you need a dictionary. That dictionary has to be read before you can proceed with your writing activity.

To read is not just because requirement demands you so, but at times it is the only method to learn moods of written materials. The way you read a poem will not be the same as you read a death news on the newspaper. The way you read a shopping discount voucher will not be the same as you read a love note from someone you miss. Totally, they are different. It is important for you to identify the tonality of each written material so that the message read gets delivered as per intended and you too, upon replying, can give the needed answer. Imagine if you read less and misinterpret what you read – your next reaction may tarnish a relationship.

You have to read to write because not every word you listen can be spelled as how you hear. English for example, is a language that carries a lot of words that are spelled and pronounced quite differently from one another.People who read are called literate. Why do we brush our laziness if we want to be literate? Share with me what reading help you with.