Read Up!

So far, I've already given you tips about choosing the right English teacher, improving pronunciation and so on. Now, I'd like to get you to do serious work.

I hope you're still hanging around by now. For most people, this would be one of the most difficult things to do: read. Yes, you heard it right. It's time to work - and work hard at that. But then, the first thing you might need to do is, change your attitude.

When I was younger, I would see people deeply immersed in reading a thick book. I thought to myself: How boring! Why would I read such a thick book when the only things I could see are words. I'd be better off watching a movie and seeing real people, real situations. But, being curious, I thought, I'd want to try reading thick novels like those people. At least, I would be able to see for myself just how boring it could be.

So I did, and I struggled to finish the first 5 pages of the novel. But when I wanted to quit, I told myself if those people can read the whole novel, then at least I should read half. So, I stuck with it. By the 6th page, I was glued. Of course, part of the reason is that the author writes very well, making things more exciting. But aside from that, I discovered the joy of reading and the importance of focusing.

Funny how the thought of trying out something boring actually taught me two important things: 1. reading is important & fun; and 2. focus is necessary in achieving most of your goals in life.

Reading is quite challenging, comparing to just listening to MP3 or watching a movie. When you read, you are forced to be more imaginative and to use your senses more. You have to imagine what the characters in a picture-less book look like. You have to imagine how they speak, how they act and walk. You get to imagine what kind of place they live in, hear them speaking, feel their emotions and touch them. Reading is very intimate. When you watch a movie, you see the characters living their lives and you just watching. But when you read, you can stay with the characters and live where they are. Even if you keep quiet, you are there.

Tell me, does this seem boring? At the end of the day, I became more addicted to reading than those bookworms I criticized at first. I would try to memorize the new words so that I wouldn't have to look them up from the dictionary again and again. Man, I'm too lazy to do that. In effect, I was able to practice my memory without noticing it. I enjoyed living in a different place, different time, different culture, and being deeply immersed. I was having fun.

The bonus: I got even better than my English teacher. I would notice some of her grammatical mistakes and would think to myself how they can be fixed. My classmates started asking me about weird words and calling me 'walking dictionary.' I would go on to join English quiz bees and writing contests. Boy, they must think I'm a nerd and a very boring person. Well, I thought that about other people too. But you know what, they ask the 'nerd' for help.

Is reading hard work? Not if you're enjoying it. So why not make up your mind to enjoy it? So what if they call you the 'nerd.' It's the nerd whom people ask for help.

Addicted to Reading

So, you've found out when I started learning English. Now, let's move forward with the story.

At a very young age, I was very competitive. I wanted to be part of the class' top 10 students. But unfortunately, I was 11th when I was in Grade 1 & 2. Upon finding out, I cried buckets of tears. Haha.. I could just laugh at it now. But I was really that intense about it.

So, I've decided to do well in Grade 3. Perhaps then, I discovered that I had an aptitude in English. I enjoyed memorizing and reciting poems, as well as performing. It also helped that my aunt gave me a book as a gift. It was Michael Jordan's biography. I thought it was very interesting and I discovered the joy of reading - in English.

That started my quest for good English books or novels. I started rummaging through my grandma's bookshelves (I think she has the largest collection of books and magazines in the family) and picked up novels that seemed interesting. There, I found 'Apple Tree Lean Down' by Mary E. Pearce. If I'm not mistaken it had 698 pages. At that time, I thought it was quite I challenged but I was encouraged when my grandma said she enjoyed reading it very much.

So off to reading I went. The book brought me back to England a few decades ago. After just a first few pages, I was enchanted. At that time, it was rainy season and there came a major storm. So we had no classes. The flood reached our home, so we had to stay in the second floor. I would remain cuddled up, reading the book. I even forgot about lunch time.

I couldn't understand a lot of words so I kept on looking them up on the dictionary. It would irritate me that I still had to look up words I already looked up before. So I tried hard to remember them. I guess that was effective!