Today's homework included listening to a video from the Fingtam Languages YouTube channel. In it he discusses the benefits of extensive reading in order to learn a new language. He is a proponent of Stephen Kreshen of "Free Voluntary Reading" and the concept of "comprehensible input". Which coincidentally I mentioned in yesterday's post.
He goes on to explain that extensive reading is reading as much as you can. But choose books that are enjoyable, that are at your level or slightly above your level. You want to be able to understand 95-98% of what's going on. You want to keep the flow of reading, minimize the time you need to stop to look something up or stop to understand. The key is to keep the flow.
Yesterday I watched this video from the Dreaming Spanish video
Why to do Extensive Reading (When You're Ready)?
Pablo agrees with the benefits of Extensive Reading, but suggests you wait until you reach Intermediate Level Spanish before attempting. So this brought me to the question "To Read or Not to Read".
I tried to read and listen to the first chapter of Harry Potter for a splinter group from our class. It was very advanced for my level and even though I was familiar with the book, I was lost. I decided, for my sanity, to keep to the 70-80% rule for now and maybe go back to HP at the end of the challenge, hopefully? At any rate, I can still participate in the chats. That will be fun.
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