Most of our students, I would say at least 90% of our students have difficulties with anxiety and nervousness when they're speaking English and reading really helps with that. 

And Reason 3. I think it's… Yeah, reason number 3. When you're reading in a foreign language, it really slows down the language and kind of gives you a bigger picture of what you're doing, what your goals are and what your objectives are. So when I say it slows down the language, what I really mean is when you're having conversations with native speakers everything happens really fast, it's difficult, you don't have too much time to really think and analyze the language itself and reading really provides you that opportunity. It gives you a lot of time and space to analyze the language, to acquire new vocabulary, to think about different structures and then apply all of these new things that you are learning to conversations.

So if you are trying to have conversations with native speakers and it's just really fast and it's difficult to understand and it's hard to make progress when you don't feel very comfortable, reading is a beautiful way to really improve this because you can kind of step back, you can think about things in a different way, you have a little bit of a fresh perspective and it just slows everything down and it lets you see the big picture. 

And Reason 4 why reading is awesome is, reading can dramatically improve your vocabulary. So this is one of the most common questions that our students always ask us is "How can I improve my vocabulary? I feel like I don't know enough words, I don't know natural expressions, I don't know like, different slang in English..." And reading is one of the easiest ways to improve your vocabulary very effectively and very quickly. 

And we will talk about different strategies, about how to do this, how to improve your vocabulary with reading. We have different types of reading, extensive reading, intensive reading. We will talk about all of these different things so you can find what works best for you personally. But it doesn't matter your personal preferences and styles, you will have a huge opportunity to really dramatically improve your vocabulary with reading. 

And Reason 5*, number 6 I believe about why reading is awesome, why you should be super motivated and excited about this month is, reading in a foreign language gives you this incredible sense of achievement and accomplishment. So one of the most common things that we hear from our students all of the time is that they feel stuck. You feel like you're almost on a plateau like you're learning, you're learning and then you kind of stop learning and it doesn't feel like you're making progress. 

And a really easy way to get you out of that feeling of being stuck is sitting down and reading something, finishing. So if you're starting a book and you start that book and you finish it. Or even an article, a blog post, a magazine article. It doesn't matter what you are reading but just that sense of "Ok, I did something, I learned something." That really makes you feel better, it gives you a lot of motivation, energy and it just gives you this wonderful sense of achievement and accomplishment. So if you are feeling stuck with your English, one of the best things you can do is get away from the computer, get away from your smartphone and sit down and read. 

Ok and Reason 6* why reading is awesome, it really gives you the chance to immerse yourself into the world of the language you want to learn. So in this case, you want to learn how to speak English, right? And we always talk about things like immersion, living in a new country, studying abroad, working abroad. And the cultural side of learning a new language, the personal side of thinking in a different language is probably more important than the actual linguistic part of the language.

So getting into this kind of next level, this different world of "Ok, I'm thinking in English. I'm thinking about different people and the way they think in English." That is super super important and reading, again, it doesn't matter if you're reading a novel, a sci-fi mystery, a biography, a piece of nonfiction, a short blog post, a news article. It doesn't matter what you're reading, this really gives you an incredible emerging opportunity to start thinking in English, to start feeling like you're an English speaker and to really start identifying as someone that lives in that world of "Ok, I'm not in Portuguese world anymore, I live in the English world." Reading has this incredible capacity to transport you and immerse you in a totally different world and that is so so important. 

And last but not least, I cannot remember if this is reason 8 or 9. I don't know but reading is fun, it can be very very enjoyable to get lost in a story and it is cheap. So today, with the internet, you can find books, PDFs, articles, pretty much anything you want. In many many cases, you can find these resources for free and if you cannot find them for free, it is still such a good deal. 

If you think about what a book is, it is someone that takes all of their knowledge, they accumulate years and years of studying and experience and they condense all of that knowledge into normally a few hundred pages. So that is such a good deal, even if you pay $20 for a book. If you compare that cost-benefit analysis to an English school, books are always a good deal. Alexia and I have this thing, this kind of rule when we're thinking about money and we try to be very frugal, we don't like to spend much money. But when it comes to books, we have a rule that if you want a book, if you're interested in a book, just buy the book, don't think twice. It is always going to be a good investment, you will always learn something and have a lot of fun in the process. 

Okay guys, so there you have it. I think 8 or 9 reasons about why reading is awesome. So I hope that you think about these different reasons, try to think about which one really resonates with you and gets you excited, and gets you motivated. And tomorrow we will dive straight into the world of books and reading and it's going to be so much fun. I am so so excited and I can't wait to start working with you. I will see you guys tomorrow.