IELTS Reading Practice

Here is a new activity: a series of fifteen short reading passages with accompanying sentence analysis questions.

This sort of practice is perfect for prepping for the IELTS exam or any other exam where reading is tested.

You can find this series here:

https://www.roadtogrammar.com/ielts/reading/

 

RECALL: Practice grammar through reading

I have just posted a series of ten reading activities on Road to Grammar, called RECALL.

The objective of  RECALL is to get learners to pay attention to grammar and sentence structure while reading.

To do this, I have provided short texts, each of which are followed by simple questions on grammar and sentence structure.

These activities are suitable for CEFR level B1-B2.

Try RECALL here:

http://www.roadtogrammar.com/recall/

Screenshots:

The average speed that people read in English

What is the average speed that people read in English?

According to this website, it's 238 words per minute for non-fiction and 260 words per minute for fiction.

The average length of a novel is 90,000 words, according to this website, which means the average person would take 5-6 hours to finish it.

If you are learning English, even if you are at B2-C1 level, you probably read a little slower. Let's say that you read 180 words per minute. It would take you over 8 hours to finish a 90,000-word novel.

Hence, you can see the benefits of increasing your reading speed!

If you're interested in doing that, you can test your reading speed here. Be warned, you not only have to read a text, but also answer some questions on it!

Easy Reading Activities

Here are 20 short texts that are suitable for A1 - A2 level learners.

Each one has vocabulary items and a few simple questions.

They are free to use and work on smartphones too!

Click here for the activity.

Click here for advanced reading passages. 

Ultimate Reading Practice

Introducing a new activity on RoadToGrammar: Ultimate Reading Practice:

Click here to try it

Ultimate Reading practice is a web app that has 50 short reading activities for upper-intermediate and advanced learners.

The passages are 100-200 words each and each one has four or five questions, mainly multiple choice. Each one has a word count and the difficulty level shown according to the CEFR levels.

These should provide great practice for any learner who will be taking the IELTS or TOEFL tests, or similar.

The web app can be viewed on tablets and phones, including the iPad.

A guide to answering these types of questions will be available next week on the site.

Screenshots:

Text Analysis Tool for ESL Teachers

I have just completed a nifty little tool for ESL teachers who enjoy using various texts with their students.

Using the he Text Analysis Tool (http://www.roadtogrammar.com/textanalysis), you can copy and paste in a text from a word document or webpage and the tool will analyse it for you. The tool will give the text a rating using both the CEF standards and the IELTS standards. At the same time, it will generate a vocabulary list of suggested words to review before reading. You can even click to get the definitions for words on the list via ninjawords.com, which will generate all the meanings on a single page.


The tool works by comparing each word in the submitted text to a list of the 10,000 most commonly used words in English. Based on each word’s position on the list, an algorithm is used to rate the difficulty of the text. The rating has been calibrated (roughly) against the CEF and IELTS levels.