1. Pick up a book, if possible a difficult one you have never read. 

2. Start reading (only a page) and watch your inner voice. May be you have never listened to it before but it is there! Listen carefully, do you recognize it? It is the voice who tells you how to read. Sometimes, it says things like:

Hey! You are not paying attention, go back and read it again. Or did you understand this sentence, I think you have to read it slower and concentrate on the important words. 

3. Watch how you try to comprehend and at the same time try to remember what you do. Do you go backwards because the sentence was too long or complex? Do you read it several times? Did you go faster or slower, in what occasions and why? Were you imagining what was coming afterwards? Did you sometimes guess it? Did you connect something new with someting you knew before in order to understand better?

4. Now try to watch what you do with the words that you do not understand: Do you stop reading and check with the dictionary or do you try to guess the approximate meaning of the word through the context? 

5. Keep reading a whole page and stop. What can you remember? Can you write a summary? Do you think you understood eveything? What do you do to remember what you are comprehending?

Ok. The experiment is over. Now try to write down all the skills and strategies (that means what you did) while you were reading.

When you read in a foreign language, many of the strategies and skills you already possess are not automatically transferred. Nevertheless, if you are aware of them, this transfer can be far more effective. Try to remember them and apply them. Be patient and above all, read a lot: texts, subtitles, lyrics of songs, small books, magazines or web pages...

You need a lot of practice of the skills and strategies. Have a look at this page, if you are interested in this topic and want to learn more. It will help you!

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