Learning a language is a long journey. Along the way, students use many resources and often work with many teachers. One of my most influential teachers was…Harry Potter?
Reading in language learning
Reading is one of the most valuable activities you can add to your language learning routine. It builds vocabulary and exposes your brain to the patterns of the language and grammar in your target language. Besides, it can be fun. If you enjoy reading in your native language then I strongly recommend you make reading in your learning language a daily activity.
The problem for language learners is finding the right book. Often books that adults find interesting are too difficult to read. If you can’t make sense of what you are reading, you won’t continue to read. It won’t be an enjoyable activity. The other problem is that sometimes books that are more easily understood, like books meant for children or even books written for learners, are not that interesting to adults.
That is the situation that I was in. I wanted to read but had difficulty finding the right material. My ability to read in Spanish had increased. This seemed like great news except that suddenly I realized the material I had been reading wasn’t as interesting to me anymore. I felt like I was ready to read real books. However, when I tries to read books for adults, they were too hard. That’s when I thought of Harry Potter.
My relationship with Harry
I love Harry Potter. The books were written when I was already an adult but I am a teacher. All my students were going crazy for the books so I read them, too. I loved all the books and then watched all the movies. Later, my daughter was getting old enough to read the books so we read them together. After that, I read them with my son as well. In addition, as a teacher, I use Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in my classroom instruction almost every school year. So let’s just say that I know these stories REALLY well.
One day after searching for a book to read in my second language, I realized that maybe I should read the Harry Potter books. As I read them, I realized that it was helpful to already know the story. That way, I didn’t have to struggle with understanding the details of the plot. I could focus my attention on the vocabulary and grammar.
My method
When it is possible, I like to read and listen to audio at the same time in my learning language. I find that this helps me with pronunciation and the sounds of the language. I did this with Harry Potter. It was easy for me because I have both a Kindle Unlimited membership and an Audible membership. Both the text and the audio of the Harry Potter books were available to me in Spanish this way. I would read each chapter with the audio three times at first. Why? Each time I would understand a little more of the text. By the second book, I realized that listening to each chapter only twice was enough and by the end of book three, I was reading each chapter once with the audio and understanding so much that I felt that once was enough.
Since then, my reading has really improved in Spanish and I can read books meant for Spanish-speaking adults. But I still listen to the audio while I read, when possible. I really think this continues to help me with my listening and speaking, as well. As I have written before, I always think about how to use all aspects of my learning language together.
Harry continues to teach me
Now that I am learning Portuguese, I am going through the same steps as I did in Spanish. Right now, I am trying to increase my reading ability. Currently, I am very happy reading short stories in Portuguese meant for language learners. It’s the perfect level for me. But I know that when I’m ready, Harry will be there to help me again. Obrigado, Harry!
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