Here’s Some English to Read!

by Michael E. Lloyd

You may be interested in the collection of English language reader books for non-English speakers that I have recently developed and made available under the English to Read imprint at cost price, no more, as a non-profit way of “giving back” after more than sixty years as a devotee of European languages and literature.

Here’s Some English to Read! has been produced in seven versions: six for native speakers of French, Castilian Spanish, Catalan, German, Italian and Portuguese, and one for all other students of English as a second language. The target audience is readers of all ages with beginner and intermediate proficiency in English.

Each of the books in the collection includes the same set of sixty one-page, themed stories, with several comprehension questions, also in English, accompanying each one.

The stories progressively introduce all the English verb persons and tenses, and a total of some 1300 words and expressions. They follow the activities of the extended Grey family and their close friends over the course of a full year, as they lead their busy lives in a small village and a large town on the south coast of England. The cast of characters notably includes several European “assistants” and language students at the local university.

Each of the six 150-page foreign language versions provides an Introduction in the language of that version, as well as Grammar notes, also in the language of that version, individual Vocabulary lists for each story (translating every new word, in context, from English into that language) and a complete bilingual Vocabulary list at the end of the book.

The pedagogical approach, as summarised in the Introductions, is explicitly “context first, dictionary second” immersion; hence in each version the stories and questions always appear on a right-hand page, with the supporting grammar notes and vocabulary list on the following left-hand page, to be actively consulted only as and when necessary.

The seventh, 84-page version is presented only in English, for students whose native language is not covered in the other books in the collection. It includes an Introduction and briefer Grammar notes primarily, of course, for their tutor, as well as a full Vocabulary list for use as a translation checklist and a revision aid.

As stressed above, my aim is to make these reader books as accessible as possible at the absolute minimum purchase price, without making any income from them. They are all available now, at production cost, from the Bookstore at Lulu.com, using this link (straight to the books) or this link (“About the author”).

Yours sincerely,

Michael E. Lloyd, MA (Oxon), Modern Languages

Cover images
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Catalan English French German Italian Portuguese Spanish