Reading Course: Making Reading or Watching English News Media Easier

The world seems to be changing at break neck speed at the moment. Keeping up with the news in your L1 (first language) is extremely important in our interconnected world. I cannot stress to you enough that you should read or watch the news in your L1 every day to make sure that you are an informed citizen of the world no matter the corner of the world that you may call home.

Now that I have talked you into following contemporary events (maybe?), let all of your hard work at following the daily news pay off by propelling you further along in your study of English. How to do this? If you have patience and are willing to push yourself, you can quickly become more proficient in advanced English by watching and or read contemporary events in English alongside your L1.

I know that diving right into an English language news site can be down right scary as there are so many advanced vocabulary words, obscure technical jargon terms, and complex sentence structure patterns in native English language media. However, with a little warm up and practice, you can make this process a little easier on yourself. (Honestly, you can. You have to start somewhere.)

Step-by-Step Instructions on How to Become Proficient at Following the News in English

1. Go to your favorite L1 newspaper or online news source and read or watch one story that:
• Really interests you
• You already have some knowledge of
• Is a main story. Do not pick something known only to your culture/country
2. Now go to another news source in your L1 and read/watch the exact same story. Pay attention to how the exact same topic is expressed with perhaps new vocabulary and sentence structures.
3. How are the stories similar? How are they different?T ake a few moments and either:
• Recite outloud the main points of the news story or
• Write down a short bullet point list of the main points of the story
• Don't go crazy trying to remember everything. Just mentally note the main ideas.
4. Repeat number 2. You now have read or watched a news story on the same topic from three different sources in your native language. Do you feel like you can almost recite the story by heart? Good!
5. Now go to a similar news source but in the English language and find the exact same news story. If you need ideas for great English media outlets, click here.
6. Read or watch the article/video. Try to:
• Understand as much as you can in English. Maybe you are just looking for vocabulary words that you are familiar with if you are an intermediate level student. If you are a more advanced student, try to identify the main points of the topic. 
• Relax! If you feel anxious about trying to understand English media, or you have tried to follow the news before in English and feel that you had failed miserably, simply take a deep breath. This is not a contest and there is no grade. Just see what you can understand and be honest with your abilities.
• Use your dictionary for no more than a total of 5 minutes. Do not get bogged down looking up every word! You are not translating for the UN so any error you make isn't the difference between peace and war. Remember your goal. You are simply trying to comprehend an English article! (Breathe, keep breathing. I know this is scary.)
7. Repeat number 6 but now try to push yourself a little more. Can you understand more vocabulary words? Can you find the thesis statement or topic sentences? Again, stay loose and focused but not stressed out. Learning does not take place when tense!
8. Repeat number 6 but now try to compare how the news story is similar or different to what you read in your L1. What you are focusing on now is cultural language differences. Maybe the main points of what you read or watched in your L1 was expressed far more discreetly or politely than what you have observed in English. This is very advanced English practice because now you are trying to understand the finer points of how English is used based upon a particular culture. 
9. Finally find the exact same article but from a brand new English language source. Maybe your first site was from the UK and now you want to use an Australian source. Maybe you want to find a different political perspective. Play the video or read the article as many times as you need. When you feel that you have learned all that you can, compare and contrast the two English stories/videos. How are they the same? How are they different? How is culture playing a role? Even if they seem the same, look for the tiny differences. You are looking for the nuances in the varieties of the different forms of the English language. How Californians use English is not the same as now a New Yorker uses English is not the same as how someone in Mumbai or Vancouver uses English. (Really, it is true!)
10. Write down the most important vocabulary words in your vocabulary journal from the story that you had either not previously known or might have forgotten from your past studies. How do you know what is important? Write down only the words that appeared over and over again in the article.
11. Take a break and set the project aside. Smile. You did a lot of hard work. I can guarantee you learned something. Even if you only learned one vocabulary word, it is one more word than what you knew when you sat down for the activity. Baby steps people. Baby steps. They are worth celebrating.
12. Later that day or the next day, re-read the article or re-play the video. Check in with yourself as you read or watch. Does anything jump out at you that you wonder why you didn't catch it the first time you read or watched? (Good! But if not, no worries! Someday!)

I recommend that you try to do this at least once a week. The goal of course is that eventually, you will not need to read or watch a story in your L1 before you read or watch it in English. (Applaud loudly when this day arrives and let me know and I will clap for you too!)