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Do you ever feel a heavy sense of dread when someone asks you to read out loud? Perhaps you are a grown adult who feels like you are stuck with the skills of a young child. You might find yourself making excuses to avoid reading a menu at a restaurant or feel your heart race when an email from work lands in your inbox. This feeling of being “left behind” is more common than you think.
Many people struggle with reading because the old ways of learning simply did not work for them. They were told to look at boring posters or spend hours staring at flashcards that felt like a chore. This shame can make you want to hide, but your reading level does not define your intelligence. It just means you have not found the right tools yet.
The good news is that you can catch up much faster than you imagine. You do not need to go back to school for years or carry around heavy, boring textbooks. There is a way to bridge the gap using stories that actually make sense. Most people fail because they try to memorise lists of words in isolation.
This is like trying to learn how to drive by looking at a picture of a wheel. You need to see how the “car” moves. By using a story-based approach, you can see how words live and breathe in real sentences. If you are ready to stop feeling embarrassed and start feeling proud of your progress, here are 15 simple solutions to help you catch up quickly.
15 Simple ways to boost your reading skills today
1. Stop trying to memorise boring word lists
Many people think that the only way to learn is to look at a list and say the words over and over. This is very hard for the brain to remember because there is no “glue” to make the information stick. When you just look at a word on a card, it has no meaning. You might remember it for five minutes, but it will be gone by the next morning. This leads to frustration and makes you feel like you are not good at learning.
The Study Zone Big Kid Books series fixes this by using stories instead of lists. In the book Tricky Word Stories: Vowel Patterns Meet, you get to see difficult words used in eighty different short stories. Instead of a list, you see how a word fits into a sentence. This helps your brain create a picture of what is happening. When you read about a character or an event, the “tricky” words start to make sense because they are part of a fun tale.
2. Learn which words sound the same but look different
One of the biggest reasons people feel embarrassed is because they mix up words that sound exactly the same. For example, you might not know whether to use “there”, “their”, or “they are”. This is a very common mistake that even confident readers make. If you choose the wrong one, you might feel like people are judging your writing. It is hard to tell them apart when they are just sitting on a page by themselves.
You can solve this problem by using Homophone Stories: Same Sound Words Chat. This book takes those confusing words and pools them together into over thirty short stories. Because the words are used in the same story, you can see the difference in how they are used. You learn the “why” behind the word rather than just trying to guess. Seeing them side by side in a lively story makes it much easier for your eyes to spot the right one next time you write.
3. Understand the job of every word in a sentence
Sometimes reading feels like a big wall of text because you do not understand what the words are actually doing. You might know what a word means, but you do not know why it is there. If you do not understand things like nouns or verbs, the whole sentence can feel like a puzzle with missing pieces. Most grammar books are very dry and use difficult language that makes you want to fall asleep.
The book Grammar Stories: Parts of Speech Talk changes this by giving the parts of speech their own feelings and behaviours. Instead of a boring rule, you meet the characters who represent the words. They explain their roles in the English language through lively chapters. When a noun or a verb tells you why it is important and how it feels about its job, you remember it. This helps you organise your thoughts and understand the structure of everything you read.
4. Learn where to stop and breathe
Reading can be very tiring if you do not know how to use punctuation. If you ignore commas and full stops, the words all run together and you might lose your place. This makes you feel out of breath and confused. Many people feel embarrassed because they do not know where a sentence should end. Punctuation posters often just show symbols without explaining how they change the “vibe” of a story.
Punctuation Stories: Mark My Words is the perfect tool to fix this. In this book, the punctuation symbols come alive. They have their own personalities and explain why they are necessary for a story to make sense. By reading these lively chapters, you start to see a comma or a question mark as a friend who is helping you navigate the page. You will learn to pause in the right places, which makes your reading sound much more natural and confident.
5. Stop using the same simple words every time
If you feel like your vocabulary is small, you might feel embarrassed to speak or write in front of others. You might use the word “big” or “happy” for everything because you are not sure what other words to use. This can make you feel like you sound like a child. To catch up, you need to find words that mean the same thing but add more colour to your sentences.
You can quickly grow your vocabulary with Synonym Stories: Words Belong Together. This book is crammed with fun short stories where synonyms and antonyms live together. Instead of looking at a dictionary, you see how different words can replace each other in a real situation. This helps you learn how to swap a simple word for a more interesting one. Because the words are used in context, you will feel much more comfortable using them in your daily life.
6. Tackle words that do not follow the rules
English is a very strange language because many words are not spelled the way they sound. These are often called “tricky words”. If you try to sound them out, you might get the wrong result, and this can be very embarrassing when reading aloud. Many people get stuck on these words and feel like they will never be able to read fluently.
The Study Zone Big Kid Books series addresses this head on in Tricky Word Stories: Vowel Patterns Meet. These stories focus on the vowel patterns that usually confuse people. By seeing these words “flood” the stories, your brain gets used to seeing them. You learn to recognise them by sight because you have seen them so many times in the middle of a fun plot. This removes the fear of coming across a word that you cannot pronounce.
7. Build your confidence through short successes
If you try to read a massive novel when you are struggling, you will likely give up. Big books can feel like a mountain that is too high to climb. This leads to a cycle of starting and stopping, which makes the embarrassment worse. You need to feel like you are winning every single day. Small wins lead to big changes over time.
Every book in the series, such as Synonym Stories: Words Belong Together, uses short stories. These are designed to be finished quickly so you can feel a sense of pride. You do not have to spend hours reading to get to the end. Each story is a complete lesson. This helps you build a habit of reading every day without feeling overwhelmed. When you finish a story and understand it, your confidence grows.
Improve Spelling and Reading Skills (10 books)
These fun books of words with rimes that contain digraphs, trigraphs and 4-letter graphemes in many stories are useful for story time, spelling improvement classes, poetry sessions, improving phonological and phonemic awareness, and reading intervention programmes.
These spelling books come in both e-book and paperback formats for your pleasure. They make up a series of fun books that are having a spelling party on the inside.
The 2022 editions are AI Stories, EA Stories, EE Stories, EI Stories, EY Stories, IE Stories, OA Stories, OO Stories, OU Stories and OW Stories. They are all having their own fun with words.
8. See how words interact with each other
A big mistake people make is studying one word at a time. Words do not live alone; they live in groups. If you only learn one word, you might not know which other words should go next to it. This is why flashcards often fail. They do not show the “social life” of a word.
The story-based learning in Grammar Stories: Parts of Speech Talk shows you how words interact. Since the parts of speech are characters with feelings, you see how they work together to build a sentence. You see how an adjective describes a noun and how an adverb changes a verb. This “context” is the secret to catching up quickly because it mirrors how we actually talk. It makes the rules of English feel natural rather than forced.
9. Visualise the meaning of the text
If you are just “decoding” letters, you are not really reading. Reading is about making a movie in your head. Many people struggle to read because they are so focused on the letters that they forget to think about the story. This makes reading feel like hard work instead of fun. When it feels like work, you are less likely to do it.
By using Punctuation Stories: Mark My Words, you learn how symbols change the meaning of a scene. A character might be shouting or asking a shy question. This helps you “see” the story as you read it. When you can visualise what is happening, your reading speed increases. You stop looking at every single letter and start looking at the big picture. This is how “fluent” readers operate, and you can do it too.
10. Learn to distinguish between opposite meanings
Sometimes, not knowing the opposite of a word can lead to big misunderstandings. You might think you understand a sentence, but you are actually missing the point. If you cannot quickly identify antonyms, your reading comprehension will stay low. This can be embarrassing in a work setting where details matter.
Synonym Stories: Words Belong Together includes antonyms as well as synonyms. By seeing these opposites used in the same short stories, you learn to compare and contrast ideas. This sharpens your brain and helps you understand the nuances of the language. You will start to see how different words create different feelings. This makes you a much more sophisticated reader and writer.
11. Overcome the fear of “looking silly”
Many adults feel silly reading books that look like they are for little children. If a book has “babyish” pictures, it can be damaging to your self-esteem. You want to learn, but you do not want to feel like a child. This shame often stops people from getting the help they need.
The Study Zone Big Kid Books series is designed for “big kids” and adults who need to catch up. The tone is lively and fun, but it respects the reader. Whether you are using Homophone Stories: Same Sound Words Chat or any other title in the series, the focus is on clear, effective learning. The stories are engaging for all ages. This allows you to focus on the skill of reading without feeling like you are being treated like a toddler.
12. Fix your writing while you improve your reading
Reading and writing are two sides of the same coin. If you are embarrassed by your reading, you are likely worried about your writing too. Many people struggle with spelling because they do not understand the patterns of the English language. They feel like spelling is just a random set of rules that they can never master.
Using Tricky Word Stories: Vowel Patterns Meet helps you see the patterns in spelling. When you see how “tricky” words are used in eighty different stories, you begin to memorise the shape of the words. This naturally transfers to your writing. You will find yourself knowing how to spell a word because you can “see” it in your mind from the story you read. This double benefit helps you catch up in two areas at once.
13. Stop guessing and start knowing
When people are unsure of their reading level, they often “guess” what a word is based on the first letter. This leads to mistakes that can be quite funny or very embarrassing. Guessing is a sign that you do not have a strong foundation. To catch up, you need to replace those guesses with real knowledge.
Grammar Stories: Parts of Speech Talk gives you that foundation. When you know what a word’s job is, you don’t have to guess what it is. You understand its place in the sentence. These books help you build a solid structure in your mind. Instead of feeling like you are walking on shaky ground, you will feel like you have a map. Every chapter helps you build a more stable bridge toward high-level reading.
14. Practise with content that actually interests you
If you are bored, you will not learn. Many reading programmes use stories that are very dull. This is why many people give up. If the story does not make you laugh or want to know what happens next, your brain will switch off. This makes it feel like you are not making any progress.
The stories in Synonym Stories: Words Belong Together and the rest of the series are designed to be “fun” and “short”. They are full of life and character. Because the stories are interesting, you will want to read them again. Repetition is the key to learning, and it is much easier to repeat something that you actually enjoy. This turns your study time into something you look forward to rather than something you avoid.
15. Focus on context instead of memory
The biggest secret to catching up quickly is to use context. Context means the words that surround a specific word. It provides clues. People who rely on memory alone often fail because the human memory is not perfect. However, our brains are very good at understanding patterns and clues within a story.
All five books in the Study Zone Big Kid Books series focus on story-based learning. Whether it is Punctuation Stories: Mark My Words or Homophone Stories: Same Sound Words Chat, you are always seeing the language in action. This is the most natural way to learn. It is how you learned to speak as a child, and it is the fastest way to learn to read as an adult or an older student. By seeing symbols and words used in context, you stop memorising and start understanding.
You can turn the page on your reading struggles
It is time to let go of the shame you feel about your reading level. Everyone starts somewhere, and the fact that you want to improve shows that you are motivated and capable. You do not have to settle for feeling embarrassed for the rest of your life. By moving away from flashcards and posters and moving toward engaging, story-based learning, you can make massive leaps in your ability. The Study Zone Big Kid Books series is there to support you with lively characters, fun stories, and clear explanations.
When you use books like Tricky Word Stories: Vowel Patterns Meet or Grammar Stories: Parts of Speech Talk, you are giving your brain the “glue” it needs to hold onto information. You will find that you can read faster, understand more, and write with more confidence. Before you know it, you will be the one volunteering to read out loud or writing emails without a second thought. Your journey to becoming a confident reader starts with a single story. Take that step today and watch how quickly you can catch up.
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