《I Did Not Learn English In School - Simple Secrets to Learning English Fast》Read and Grow Rich
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I grew up with lesser distractions and influence of television shows and video games. Only a few families in our neighborhood owned television sets. We finally got our own black and white surplus though after I graduated from high school (March 1998).
However, my happiness was short-lived. In our area, there were only two or three TV channels we could watch. And for the most part, my brother and I had to constantly reposition the antennae and whack the damn thing to work.
Back in the day, blockbuster films in English were only available to watch every Sunday at midnight which means we had already gone to bed by the time the movie started. Thus, the only easier access I had to English were textbooks.
I was lucky. I had several nephews and nieces studying from grades 1 to 6. After school, I would borrow textbooks written in English from them. I would devour textbooks after textbooks. I would read, read, and read.
I was a high school graduate reading elementary books: Math, Science, History, and English. In the process, I also got to review the basic concepts of these major subjects.
My dedication to self-studying major academic subjects had continued for at least 6 months. Ultimately, I decided to keep my focus on learning English. Then I realized reading English textbooks alone wasn't enough.
Textbooks bored me to death. I finally began to see the need to use other reading materials besides academic ones. This being the case, I decided to drop by at the public library located downtown.
It was the first time I had ever been to a big library. I could still remember the very moment I stepped into the building. I stopped by the door and stood for a moment quite still. I could feel my jaw dropped in total amazement as I looked at what's inside.
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I can still remember like it was yesterday how dazzled I was to see all those piles of entertainment magazines, books of all kinds and colors stacked together, lined up on shelves.
There were hundreds of them. Thousands. The feel of them, the look, the smell of paper and ink, the thought of wonders and adventures concealed between the covers just wowed me. I could hardly contain my excitement.
I knew nothing about borrowing books, so I walked up to the counter and asked the staff how. Quick chat took place, application filled out, and in a few minutes, a library card was issued. I was ecstatic.
Since that day, I have fallen madly in love with libraries. You've probably gotten to that point where you've been in the library for so long that you lose track of how many hours it's been or what time of day it is. It has happened to me countless times.
In fact, I literally wore out the first card I got in just a few months. Indeed, I had been addicted to libraries and once labeled them as my second home. But here is the most important thing while on a reading spree: I was not pulling books off the shelf aimlessly.
Knowing my level was absolute BEGINNER, I deliberately picked out the ones written in simple terms. I did not rush learning difficult words. I started with children's picture books.
I had gotten fascinated with short stories for kids such as Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, and Peter Pan to name a few. I had poured my heart and soul into reading books I could easily understand without the aid of a dictionary.
And as my comprehension skills developed, so was my need for difficult words.
Novels used to be invisible to me. Then I got curious. I had seen some students carry this kind of book around like a boss. I wondered what's in it with these books. My curiosity led me to my first novel—.
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A friend had suggested I read it. At first, I was confused with the title. I knew what a Pelican is. But I wasn't so much sure about Brief. Seriously, I thought it meant, excuse me—men's underwear. Shortly after, I found out that John Grisham is a lawyer and that he writes stories about lawsuits and other legal stuff. Thus, the term Brief.
I wish I could say it was easy. But reading this best-selling legal thriller was like a self-imposed punishment for me. Difficult words tempted me to open my newly-borrowed English dictionary—all the time. (The old one had finally retired.)
I couldn't resist opening the dictionary each time I ran across a new word. "I had to know to understand," I would justify. I would read, pause, and then look the word up in the dictionary. Read, pause, and then check again. Read, pause, then emptiness.
Finally, I read, paused, and then closed the book. The reading flow seemed wrong. I was like a whale needing air, had to resurface and swim down again. I could sense I was going nowhere.
Interrupting my reading to search for word meanings did not make any sense to me. So, I started over and began to read even without completely understanding words.
Yes, I would open the dictionary once in a while. (sorry) Yes, I missed several words. And yet, I somehow understood what I read. Really? How was it possible? With the help of what's called context clues, I was able to decode unknown words. Wait Ken, what?
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Two And A Half Deadmen
Silver-Spruce is a very strange and very haunted town. Ghosts inhabit its buildings and walk its streets. Some of them friendly and sane. Some of them not so much. Alder helps ghosts. Helps them fulfill their last requests so they can move on to whatever comes next. Sometimes the ghosts aren't so friendly and have to be moved on by force. Alder does that as well. And he's gotten rather good at it too. After a particularly rough exorcism, he finds himself following a strange ghost to a local tourist attraction. And while Alder never means to find himself caught up in chaos, monsters, magic, and mayhem always seem to have a way of finding him. You want more specifics for what you're reading? Here you go: This is Urban-fantasy but a little bit of a different spin. Often the protagonists in such stories tend to be the bigger fish in their world, or at least far from small fry. Be they legendary boogie men or badass wizards (which is in no way a bad thing, I love a lot of those stories.) But I thought it would be fun to have a protagonist who's far closer to the bottom end of the scale. He has some magic, and it's potent in its own way. But he isn't the big dog or a fighting machine. Outside of his bubble of influence, our protagonist is essentially a normal human as far as powers are concerned. And while you should be warned that this story will get dark in some places it's (hopefully) balanced out by humor and the lighter stuff. I'm not sure how to end this synopsis section so I'll just say bye. Bye!
8 109Apocalypse Man
The world has changed. A new order has been imposed, and humanity must fight for survival on a planet that suddenly has many new inhabitants. Aran Briggs will face every trial there is to survive in this harsh new reality.
8 202Kings of Hawkings [bxb]
[COMPLETED] When Jonas Spencer was a junior in high school, he had everything in the palm of his hand. He was an Elite at the prodigious St. Vincent's Prep School, co-captain of the track team, and had the perfect girlfriend. Popularity was King, and he held the crown. But the facade broke too easily and the once popular teen loses everything when he is deemed violent and toxic. He now reluctantly holds the title "Wolf".No longer welcomed at St. Vincent's, Jonas leaves everything behind and joins St. Vincent's rival, Hawkings School for Boys. A violent school where your ranking is determined by your fighting skills. Five Kings sit on the top of the totem pole, including the silver-haired Hugh Richards, the Mad Dog King. Will Jonas find his place amongst the Kings and take up a new crown? Will Hugh be able to break through the many walls around Jonas's heart?**Warning** Violence, strong language, and some sexual content.
8 139The Story Of Ash
Ash is just your everyday 17 year old boy, Living in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Untill he walks up a mountain just outside his town, If you asked him why he always did the things he did, He would always reply with "Eh I was bored and thought it would make things lively". Well infact this time he was right when he found a small cave which when he entered a ancient voice was heard " If you free me I will grant you one wish". Will Ash free the ancient voice? Does this voice have a body to go with it? Will Ash ever find something to entertain him? What would you wish for? This is my first time ever writing and I have no confidence what so ever, But I still hope you come to like it.
8 124In the Key of Ether
Every soul is multifarious, eternal, unchanging and infinitely changeable, all at once. Every soul is crying out into the magical energy around it, looking for a soul that resonates, that is compatible. A friend, a pet, a lover… those bonds are important and as real as magnetism or gravity. It's easy to slip through the cracks, the hard part is sticking where you want to be.
8 160MXTX Memes just because why not
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8 119