The book report essay: Inform and persuade

     Remember that there are three main reasons that we write: to persuade, inform and entertain (PIE). In a book report you want to inform and persuade the reader.  Inform the reader of what the book is about by summarizing it. Then share your opinions about the book, what you liked and didn't like, to persuade the reader whether to read the book, or not.

Listening, reading and speaking on TED.com

     Another way to combine listening, reading and speaking is to go to TED.com.  On TED.com you will find many, many interesting presentations on a variety of topics.  Find a presentation that you are interested in and click on it. You will see and hear the presenter speaking and you can also see a written transcript of what the person is saying, word for word. Click on Interactive Transcript below the screen you are watching to see the transcript. You can listen to the presenter and read the transcript at the same time. Try listening to the presentation once, with or without looking at the transcript.  Then listen again, using the transcript, speaking along with the presenter and trying to sound just like him or her. Some people have found that this is an excellent way to improve their pronunciation. And it's free, so you have nothing to lose! Click on TED.com right now to check it out.

Be a bookworm

     Educators say that reading is FUNdamental, meaning that it  is a basic learning skill and it is also fun. We call people who always have their noses in a book "bookworms."  You've seen the person I'm talking about. They are constantly reading.  I knew a guy in the Navy who was always reading paperback books. He liked science fiction.  He would even read while we were eating instead of talking to the people at the table. We would say something to him, but he wouldn't even hear because he was lost in the story.  I guess he took it a little too far; even too much of a good thing can be bad. The best advice I could give to students at any level is read, read, read.  But more than anything, read for pleasure and let your imagination run free. Get lost in a book.

Reading and speaking

     Yesterday I wrote about the many benefits of reading.  Today, I'm going to describe another benefit.  Reading can help your speaking and pronunciation in English.  How?  Most popular books published these days have an audio book version that you can listen to.  You can get a copy of  the book (print or ebook) and audio book at a bookstore or library.  Listen to the audio book while you follow along in the print or ebook. Try reading along with the voice on the audio book, and you might be surprised how this will help your pronunciation, especially in the important areas of intonation, stress, rhythm and timing. This is called "reading out loud" instead of silently, which is the way we usually read. Reading along out loud while you listen to the voice is also called "shadow reading."   It will make your English sound more American. If you like the book and want to take this a step further, check to see if there is a movie version of the book. Many popular books are made into movies. Rent the DVD and watch it. You will understand the movie much better after reading the book, and you will probably find that the book is better than the movie! Why's that? Because it is not possible to put on the screen in a one and a half or two hour movie what you can imagine in your mind as you read a book. Give it a try!

Reasons to read

     If you are learning English as a second language and want to become fluent as quickly as possible, read! Read a lot, every day.  Read newspapers, information on the Internet, magazines, advertisements, signs, books, anything that is interesting to you. Whatever you are interested in, read about it!! How will this help you? Most importantly, it will help you learn. Many people say reading is the best way to learn. But it will also help your English in many ways. When you read you will see what writing by native speakers looks like and how they organize and express their thoughts in writing.  You will notice how the grammar and vocabulary you are studying are used. You will see words spelled correctly. You will see how punctuation is used. You will see words that you already know used in sentences and understand these words even better, including how and when they are used. You will learn new words without even using your dictionary. You will usually be able to figure out, or guess, the meanings of new words just from the context, the other words around them.  As a result of all of this, your writing will improve greatly, and your overall fluency in English will, too. Studies have shown that, in general,  the most fluent ESL speakers read a lot, and often. Reading is something that you can do anywhere, anytime. Reading is fun. Reading can make your imagination run wild. Does this sound like Mister Rogers? Carry a magazine or paperback book with you and read whenever you are waiting somewhere or have a free moment. You might even get hooked on reading, and that's a good addiction to have.

Summary/Response essay

     Your professor in a college class might ask you to read Chapter 2 in the textbook and write a summary/response essay about the chapter.  In the essay, you will write a summary of the main points of the chapter and then write your response to the chapter.  The summary part is objective. You write the main points from the chapter as the author presents them. The response part is subjective. This is where you write your opinions and ideas about the chapter. Do you agree with the author?  Is there information missing? Is there too much information on a particular topic? Is the chapter easy or hard to understand?  

     Your Book Report Essay is a type of summary/response essay. In the first part of your essay you will summarize what the book you read is about. You need to give an objective summary of the main points of the book in about one typed page.   In the second part of the essay you will write your subjective response about the book; what you liked about the book, what you didn't like about the book, would you recommend the book to someone else, and so on. Your essay could also be called a Book Review. If I am looking for a new book to read or a movie to watch, it is helpful to read a short book or movie review first to decide if I want to read/see it.  

Writing a summary: KISS

     Keep it short and simple. KISS. That's what you do when you write a summary of a longer piece of writing, whether it is a summary of an essay, article, chapter, report, or  book. A summary might just be one paragraph long and include only the main ideas of the longer writing.  The summary shouldn't include details, specifics, or examples. Summary writing is important in college. A professor might ask you to read a textbook chapter or a long lab report and write a paragraph summary.  In the business world, leaders often don't have time to read long reports, so they ask one of their employees to read the report and write an executive summary of it. An executive summary is often not longer than one page. When you write a book report essay, you will need to be able to summarize what the book you read is about in less than a page. That might seem difficult, but it isn't so hard if you just focus on the main ideas, plot and characters in the book. Just remember,  KISS.