"How do I study English?" and "Do you have any materials you recommend?" are two of the questions I hear most as a coach. They're great questions, and the honest answer is more encouraging than most people expect.
Over the years I've noticed a pattern. Some of the people I know with the best English have one of these things in common:
- They grew up speaking English since childhood.
- They lived abroad.
- They obsess over some form of media, like a TV show, a book, or a movie.
You can't go back and change where you grew up, and not everyone can pack up and move overseas. But the third one is open to anyone, and that's what this post is about.
Input and output
People want to know the best way to learn. Is it vocabulary books and grammar books? Conversation practice? Something else?
Education can often boil down to two things: input and output. Output is speaking, writing, discussing, a conversation class. Input can be those academic books and TOEIC books, but it can also be a TV show, a movie, music, a book, or traveling in another country and hearing the language all around you.
The truth is they all work. The right mix depends on you, your goals, and your learning style. That's good news, because it means there isn't one "correct" method you're missing out on.
The argument for books
Think about how kids in America learn English at school. They don't grow up drilling vocab lists. We had some grammar lessons, sure, but ask any kid what they remember from English class and it's usually the books: we read Hemingway, we read Harper Lee, we read Shakespeare.
Here's what reading does for you:
- The obvious one: you learn new words. You'll find yourself asking "what is this?" again and again, and your vocabulary will grow. It's going to happen.
- Even better, you begin to see how words work together, and you start noticing the patterns they make.
- Eventually you begin to catch tone, voice and narrative style. Is this author, or this character, short and straightforward? Or do they speak in long, hard-to-follow sentences?
- You get another person's perspective, and you see the world through someone else's eyes.
- And of course, the right book is simply entertaining. A good story makes you want to know what happens next, and a good story doesn't feel like studying.
So why doesn't everyone do this?
Real hurdles exist, and they're worth naming.
The first is that it can feel overwhelming. Which book should I choose? Which one matches my level? Once you start, there will be parts you don't understand.
You might feel very slow, the book might feel long, and it can seem like you need better English before you can even begin. Sometimes that may be the case, and that's completely normal. Even native speakers feel this way: if I pick up a book like Crime and Punishment, I still feel it today.
The key is choosing the right book and having the right support. This is exactly what high school teachers do for American students. The books are curated, the decision is made for you, you're told to read to a certain page, and the teacher and class support you along the way.
The second hurdle is that life is busy. Who has time to read? It does take commitment. But just like we make time for social media or a movie, we can make time for a book. And if that time is good for your English and genuinely interesting too, well, that's a real win-win.
So what is The Book Club?
The Book Club is my answer to those hurdles.
First and foremost, it's for people who want to improve their English. This is an English conversation class, not a discussion group for fluent speakers. It's for anyone who thinks they might enjoy reading more as a way to grow their English, and who'd like some structure and good company along the way.
Here's how it works:
- One book, six sessions, in a small group of up to six people.
- We go one week at a time, with a clear goal each week, like reading chapters one to three by next session.
- Before you read, you get notes with the words you might stumble over on your way and the discussion questions we'll cover.
- Then we meet and talk about it together.
By the end, I guarantee you'll have finished the book. You'll feel accomplished, you'll have learned new words and patterns, and you'll have had real conversations about the ideas in it.
Season 1 starts in January 2027. If you've ever wanted to read a whole book in English, I'd love to have you. You can pre-register on the Book Club page and I'll send you more details.