Reading
Regular reading will support you by improving your reading speed and understanding.
Reading good quality newspapers and books will help you to improve your vocabulary. This is important for Maths as well as English, as most of the L1 and L2 Functional Skills papers involve lots of reading too!
Entry Level Reading Support:
Quick reads are stocked in the library of many sites. These are stories by well known authors that are light, easy reading. They cost just £1.99 to buy. These books are ideal if you are doing an entry level qualification.
Quick Reads Website
Level 1 & 2 Reading Support:
Guardian Newspaper Site
Independent Newspaper Site
Hint: to really improve your reading aim to read at least one article a week.
Other tasks to improve your reading:
L2 students:
Have you tried speed reading?
This is a quick reading method to improve your speed and accuracy. Just remember, you are looking for the key thought in each sentence, but this doesn't mean that you have to read or even understand every word.
Reading good quality newspapers and books will help you to improve your vocabulary. This is important for Maths as well as English, as most of the L1 and L2 Functional Skills papers involve lots of reading too!
Entry Level Reading Support:
Quick reads are stocked in the library of many sites. These are stories by well known authors that are light, easy reading. They cost just £1.99 to buy. These books are ideal if you are doing an entry level qualification.
Quick Reads Website
Level 1 & 2 Reading Support:
Guardian Newspaper Site
Independent Newspaper Site
Hint: to really improve your reading aim to read at least one article a week.
Other tasks to improve your reading:
- See if you can work out the meaning of a tricky word by understanding the rest of the sentence around it
- You could look up tricky words in an online dictionary
- Try writing a summary (a few short sentences to sum up the article) of the story for your tutor to mark
L2 students:
- Try looking for any examples of fact, opinion and bias in the story. Print off the story & highlight fact / opinion and bias and ask your tutor to check this for you
- Try to spot the style and tone of the text, i.e. is it humorous, sarcastic or critical?
- Look not only at the words used, but also the layout of different types of text. Think about why certain features have been chosen, e.g. bullet points, headings or sub-headings.
Have you tried speed reading?
This is a quick reading method to improve your speed and accuracy. Just remember, you are looking for the key thought in each sentence, but this doesn't mean that you have to read or even understand every word.