Everyone has a special technique to improve their English. We all know that reading books, listening to music and watching movies are some of the common ways. Also, those ways are really useful and simple. I would like to share my challenge about reading books in English with you. I love reading books in my language; however, reading books in English was not easy at first. Eventually, I found my own way to have an enjoyable time reading English books.

I have an unusual way to read an English book. I have been trying to read a book in different public places because when I am reading a book in English at home, it makes me bored and I want to give up reading. However, reading a book in different public places makes me concentrate and  keep on reading. Also, the places remind me of vocabulary, so I can match unknown vocabulary from my book with the places. For instance, "Ah! I know this vocabulary from this book and while I was reading the book at Baker Beach, I learned it." In addition, this is really interesting because when I am reading a book, people are interested in what I am reading and then some of them show their interest in my book, so at the same time I have been able to improve my speaking skills. This is so common in San Francisco because people are so friendly and warm; in addition, they like small talk as I said in my first post. 

1984 - George Orwell

One day, I was at a café and I was reading my first English book, which was 1984 by George Orwell, and someone started to ask me some questions about the book. It was so nice to share my opinion about the book with someone. This situation encouraged me to keep on reading English books. It made me hopeful about learning English. Recently, I have been reading an English book which is more difficult to understand than at the beginning.    

The Book Passage in the Ferry Building

San Francisco has many cheaper and interesting bookstores and this is so encouraging to read a book. Going to book stores or second-hand booksellers makes me more interested than buying books online because when I touch them, I would like to read. SF State University, where I am studying English, has a Booksale Room (friends of the Library) next to the library and you can find many books inside and then you can get your coffee or tea to read in the library. If you would like to read your book in front of an amazing view of San Francisco Bay, liveliest bookstore is one of the best choices to do that because the Book Passage is inside the Ferry Building. It is a fantastic idea to visit the Ferry Building Farmer's Market to buy some fruit and have an enjoyable time reading your book.

SFSU Book Sale Room

This is a simple, yet funny way to improve my English. You can find your own way to improve your English. It might be reading a book or watching a movie; it is up to you! 

Firdevs Aydin is an international student from Turkey studying English at the American Language Institute (ALI) at San Francisco State University in San Francisco, California.