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What are good books for learning english?

What books would be good for learning English?

  • What recreational reading books would you recommend for a Spanish-speaking adult to work on her English? One day a week at my job I work with a woman from Mexico. She's a really wonderful woman, and she's trying to learn enough English to be a teacher (long process, I know). She can practice her spoken English with the people she works with, and on the days we work together we work on her writing as well. I'd really like her to work on her reading skills too, and that's where you come in. This woman is probably reading English at a late elementary-early middle school level, and I'd love to get her some books that are written at that level but would be of interest to adults. The first Harry Potter book would be great if it weren't for the British slang and the nonsense magical words - I'm afraid they might confuse her. I also plan on getting her some magazines and newspapers, but I know she's appreciate some actual books. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks!

  • Answer:

    Tolkien and Narnia books? John Grisham/Michael Crichton/Stephen King/etc. bestseller type stuff?

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I think the typical answer is "Romance Novels," but that's gonna depend on her personal interest.

muddgirl

Simply talking will teach her conversational English. For the rest, I would second Pollomacho's recommendation of epic fantasy literature, of which Tolkien would be the most obvious. Narnia might actually be a bit too simple depending on her current progress; I'd consider it fourth-grade reading at best. I'll throw in a vote for Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising sequence; it's more mature in theme and literary presentation than the Narnia books and might be better appreciated. If you're looking for good American fiction (rather than fantasy) geared toward a middle school reading level, I'd suggest Mildred Taylor's tales of racial disharmony in the American South or some of the first few books in Cynthia Voigt's Tillerman cycle. I found George Orwell's 1984 a challenging yet engrossing read in elementary school.

The Confessor

Read a newspaper. Or a mainstream magazine like Time, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, etc. Common, everyday language that's topical, relevant and written right for the mainstream strike zone.

frogan

As an English speaker learning Spanish, I found the Spanish translation of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince to be just about right. Maybe the English version would be good for your friend?

jesourie

If she's looking at longer books, I can't really say, but Reader's Digest has a pretty good variety of fiction, non-fiction, humor and vocabulary building. I'm not always crazy of the idealized right wing Americana slant, but I think it might be good for her if she's looking at shorter articles and stories. You can get her a gift subscription, or find older issues at garage sales and thrift stores, often by the box.

Doohickie

hemingway--complex ideas using small words.

markovitch

on the same line as markovitch: vonnegut--short sentences, simple words, big ideas.

Meatbomb

Newspapers are great, as are magazines - what are her interests? If we had a topical area to work with - knitting, photography, papercraft, perhaps the recommendations would be more specific. In a post about print media for language learners a few weeks ago, someone recommended the bilingual English-Spanish/French/Italian magazine http://www.colorsmagazine.com/.

mdonley

Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas.

peewinkle

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