Reading is a great way to improve your vocabulary, see how structures are used and develop a feeling for a language and how native speakers write. Reading is also very easy to practise online by yourself; there are thousands of texts out there to read!

If you don’t feel confident enough to read news stories and other websites, you could try some texts for people learning English. Ideally, you should be able to understand the main points of a text without a dictionary.

My students often ask what they can read to practise, so I have made a short list of some of the sites I would recommend. (I don’t have any connections with these sites; they’re just my preferences.)

Breaking News English

Levels: beginner – advanced

Text length: short

I often ask my students to read texts from Breaking News English. Every two or three days there is a new story written at a number of different levels. Sometimes they are stories you read in the newspaper; sometimes they are funny or interesting stories from around the world. The great thing about this website is the texts are very short, so it doesn’t take long to read a story. Because each text is available at different levels, you can read the right level for you. For example, if a text at Level 4 is too easy, you can just switch to Level 5. (Level 0 is easiest and Level 6 is most difficult.)

News in Levels

Levels: lower intermediate – advanced

Text length: short – medium

News in Levels also has lots of short news stories. Each story is written at three levels. (Level 1 is the easiest and Level 3 is the most difficult.) The best thing about this site is that they describe the most difficult words at the end of the text, so you don’t need to look in a dictionary. There are also short videos that go with the texts. You can use these as listening practice or to practise pronunciation.

British Council

Levels: beginner – advanced

Text length: medium – long

The British Council has so many great resources for practising English. Their reading section is divided into levels. In each level, you can choose a text that interests you. The texts are about everyday life and general interest topics. What I really like about this site are the exercises for each text. You can do them interactively online, or you can download all the activities and the text as a PDF. You can also check the answers yourself, so it’s like a mini English lesson.

Cambridge English

Levels: beginner – advanced

Text length: short – medium

Cambridge English, who write lots of exams for people learning English, also have some nice reading activities. You can filter the activities by level and how long they last. Most of the activities are on everyday topics. In each activity, you read a text and then do a multiple choice quiz to check what you’ve learnt. It’s a great way to check what you understand.

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These are just a few of the many websites out there. I’d love to hear about the websites you use to practise reading! 🙂