Hello,
I am an international student from Asia
I have been studying in States for 6years and will become a college freshman this fall.
My greatest concern is that my English reading is really really slow. (and I am about to enter a college to compete native speakers like this!)
My English is not that bad… (scored over 110 in TOEFL) but my reading is extremely slow.
It takes me about 3-5minutes to read a page from a AP level novel. (such as Death Of a Salesman)
My English teacher told me that reading more is only solution… but trying to read a page for 5 minutes is a great pain and I end up giving reading most of the time.
Is there a recommanded course or a book made for people like me?
I think trying to read a hard novel to improve hard novel reading is not helping me.
Read more.
It might be a good idea to read simpler-level texts accessible to the general public, such as newspapers and magazines (e.g. Reader’s Digest).
“My English teacher told me that reading more is only solution… but trying to read a page for 5 minutes is a great pain and I end up giving reading most of the time.”
Lots of native speakers are slow readers too. But most of them were caught somewhere along the line and had a chance to develop better compensation skills than you probably have. Your high school teachers failed you when you asked for help about your reading issues. They should have sent you for screening with the Resource Team. You need to ask the Resource staff at your old high school or the Disabilities staff at the university you will be attending to help you get screening for vision issues and processing issues in the dyslexia family. There may be a simple trick that they can put you on to - for example some people read a lot faster if they wear colored glasses.
Meanwhile, the first step is to just read things that you like to read. Mystery novels, comic books, car repair manuals, fan fiction, newspapers, magazines, whatever YOU enjoy reading. That should help improve your reading speed. Start with easy, fun stuff that you enjoy reading and move up to harder materials later.
It’s possible you have a processing issue or a LD. (It DOES NOT mean that you’re less smart - in fact, since you made it that far, you’re probably smarter than you think since you managed to “compensate”!!!)
Happymomof1 is correct - please start with your HS’s Disability Office.
- Read more. Read fun novels like books by Roald Dahl, Harry Potter, etc.
2)watch AMERICAN or any ENGLISH TV. Don’t watch anything in your own language.
3)Try to associate with native speakers, not your natives. - Ask questions shamelessly.