There is a great deal of research on the benefits of reading for students of a second language. Among them are learning a wide range of vocabulary, improving our written expression, improving general language skills, being motivated to read, developing our autonomy as learners, developing empathy and becoming better readers.
Before starting a book we have to take into account two things, that it is to your taste and that the difficulty of the book fits your level in that language.
To do this Eurospeak will show you below a selection of books that are available at the Eurospeak Southampton school.
Elementary level
The Watchers, Jim and Stella, an English brother and sister on holiday on Crete, and Nikos, their Cretan friend, go into the caves. But the watchers are waiting for them…
The adventures of Tom Sawyer, It tells the adventures of Tom and his friends in a graveyard, in a old house and in a cave… why is Tom afraid?
The Battle of Newton Road, a civil engineer wants to knock down the houses and build a new road. And the people of Newton Road are very angry. But can they win the battle?
A White Heron Sylvia, a shy nine-year-old, is bringing home the milk cow when she meets a young ornithologist who is hunting birds for his collection of specimens. He goes with her to her grandmother’s house. Her grandmother, Mrs. Tilley, has rescued Sylvia from a crowded home in the city, where she was languishing.
The Railway Children
Pre-intermediate level
The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Stories is narrated by a man who has been invited to visit his childhood friend Usher. Usher gradually makes clear that his twin sister has been placed in the family vault not quite dead.
The Canterbury Tales , a story told around another story or stories. The frame of the story opens with a gathering of people at the Tabard Inn in London who are preparing for their journey to the shrine of St. Becket in Canterbury.
Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of Boscombe Pool The deceased’s estranged son is strongly implicated. Holmes quickly determines that a mysterious third man may be responsible for the crime, unraveling a thread involving a secret criminal past, thwarted love, and blackmail.
The Man with Two Shadows and Other Ghost Stories
Intermediate level
Lorna Doone One day John meets and falls in love with Lorna, a member of the Doone family. She is betrothed to the son of the Doone heir, Carver, and he will do everything in his power to force the marriage on her.
The Picture of Dorian Gray a young man named Dorian Gray who has a portrait painted of himself. The artist, Basil Hallward, thinks Dorian Gray is very beautiful, and becomes obsessed with Dorian. One day in Basil’s garden, Dorian Gray meets a man named Lord Henry Wotton.
Alexander the Great
Advance level
Oliver Twist is a nine-year-old orphan boy who doesn’t know who his parents were. He escapes from a workhouse to London where he meets the ‘Artful Dodger’, leader of the gang of the juvenile pickpockets.