12 Useful English Reading Websites

When you think of practicing English reading, you probably think of books or magazines. You might think of going online when you want to learn internet slang or talk to others. But there’s so incredible English writing online.

There are some amazing websites out there for native speakers that provide great content for when you’re learning English. Here are our 12 favorite English reading websites for you to try.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Hobbies and Entertainment

1. A Beautiful Mess

What it is: Sisters Elsie and Emma share their favorite crafts, home decor and cooking projects in one of the most widely-read blogs online.

What to expect: The language is extremely upbeat and playful, and each blog reads as though one of the sisters is talking to you over a cup of coffee. Study their instruction posts to learn how to explain yourself clearly.

Sample article: “5 Easy Watercolor Techniques”

2. Nomadic Matt

What it is: Matt has been traveling the world since 2006, and he shares his experiences and travel tips on this blog.

What to expect: Matt uses very simple language so anyone can use his knowledge to plan their own trips. You can learn a lot about other cultures here, how to plan a trip of your own (without spending too much money) and other topics that would interest fans of traveling.

Sample article: “How to Plan a Trip to a Place You Know Nothing About”

Fashion and Style

3. Refinery29

What it is: A huge online magazine mostly for young women. There are articles about style, fashion, entertainment and some current events from a different perspective.

What to expect: Refinery29 uses an informal writing style, and sometimes uses internet slang. This is a good place to get in touch with how younger internet users write and speak (and dress). You’ll find a lot of articles with lists on what’s trendy at the moment, including some longer articles about the personal experiences of the writers. 

Sample article: “The Return of the Perm”

4. The Everygirl

What it is: A magazine for career women who are (or want to be) successful while still looking and feeling fantastic. Many different topics are covered such as careers, fashion and wellness.

What to expect: Some articles are similar to Refinery29, but they have a bit less slang in them and are slightly more sophisticated. They’re still perfect for intermediate and even beginner English learners. 

Sample article: “6 Ways to De-stress for Free”

5. Mantelligence

What it is: Expert lifestyle tips for men, teaching how to live and dress like a gentleman.

What to expect: This is like the male version of the last two, but with a bigger emphasis on how to be classy (stylish or well-mannered). The language is somewhere between “intelligent man” and “bro.” That is, it’s a mix of more complex writing while still being friendly. Intermediate English learners should feel comfortable here.

Sample article: “How to Become a Better Man – 59 Insanely Manly Life Tips”

News and Current Events

6. Vice

What it is: Articles about pop culture, plus opinion pieces about serious current events and issues. Interesting things about the world we live in, and the people who live in it.

What to expect: Vice is not a typical media outlet, since it includes a lot of opinion in its articles, covers unusual topics and is targeted at young people. The writing is more complex, and may cause some trouble for early-intermediate English learners. Try an article: If you don’t get it, you probably need something a little simpler (work your way up to this!). 

Sample article: “It Used To Be An Oil Ship. Now It Helps Scientists Understand the Ocean.” 

7. NPR

What it is: News from National Public Radio, on everything from culture and current events, to art and music.

What to expect: Some of the articles on the NPR website are more difficult to read, as it’s a serious news and arts website. Many articles also include an audio clip, as well as a written transcript of the audio file, which makes this option perfect for English reading. Listen and read along, or read and then listen, to make sure you got things right.

Sample article: “Honeybee Deaths Rose Last Year. Here’s Why Farmers Would Go Bust Without Bees.”

Science and Technology

8. Discover

What it is: The latest news in science and nature, presented in articles for the average (ordinary) reader. 

What to expect: Discover takes scientific research papers and news, and turns them into enjoyable and approachable articles. You don’t need to know too many science-related vocabulary words to understand these articles, making them perfect for anyone who wants to learn more about the topic.

Sample article: “Honeybees Have Personalities (Sort Of)”

9. TechCrunch

What it is: A tech news website with reviews and articles about gadgets, new technology, AI and more.

What to expect: TechCrunch assumes its readers already know some things about technology, so expect to look up some new tech words. The articles are of varying lengths. Some are shorter and some are features (long articles) so you can choose what you’re most interested in. 

Sample article: “Age of AI: Everything You Need to Know About Artificial Intelligence”

History and Trivia

10. Atlas Obscura

What it is: Interesting stories about strange places around the world. Tales from history about curious people, places and events.

What to expect: The writing on this website is a bit more complex, but if you love history, food and culture, it’s worth working your way through it just for the incredibly unique stories.

Sample article: “Is This the World’s Most Beloved Asparagus?”

11. Mental Floss

What it is: Trivia and interesting facts about everything from nature and animals, to people and history.

What to expect: Unlike Atlas Obscura, Mental Floss uses a friendly and simple writing style. Check out their language section as well to learn some things you might not have known about the English language.

Sample article: “A Cool History of Ice Cream”

12. Lifehacker

What it is: Tips and tricks for making your life easier, one small thing at a time.

What to expect: Clear instructions and informative articles make Lifehacker useful to anyone. Some “hacks” (tricks or ways to make things easier) even involve language and learning, and might be especially useful for English learners. Others are just useful!

Sample article: “How to Study a Language So You Can Actually Understand It”

How Reading English Online Will Help You Learn 

Let me start by telling you that there’s a place where you can improve your reading skills with a wonderful twist: FluentU.

Reading online has many benefits. Online reading is:

• Portable: That means you can take it anywhere! If you have a device that connects to the internet, and an internet connection, you can read. No need to carry around a bulky book or a large magazine.

• Always updating: When you finish a book, you have to get a new one. When you finish an online article, you can just wait a day or so for more articles to be published.

• Well-written: Not everything online is written in internet slang. Many websites have great writers and editing teams to make sure what you’re reading is the best quality English.

• Easy to understand: Online articles and blogs are meant to be read by everyone, so the language is usually easy to understand.

• Fun: There’s a website for everything! You’re sure to find something that you find interesting.

Since you’re probably reading this online on an internet-connected device, you’re already halfway there. All you need now is to choose a website (or a few websites) to learn from. Before you go exploring online, though, it’s important to understand how these websites can teach you English reading skills.

Tips for English Reading on Websites for Native Speakers

There are a few different kinds of websites that can help you practice reading English.

• Blogs are more casual websites with writing on them. They’re often personal and run by a single person who shares their experiences or thoughts with their readers.
• Some websites are more like online magazines, which publish longer articles about certain topics.
• Others are news websites, which usually have shorter articles about current events (things that are happening now).

All these websites can help you learn, if you use them the right way. When you’re browsing through our list of great websites to learn from, keep these things in mind:

• Level of difficulty: The ideal website should be slightly challenging for you to read. This will help you improve your reading and keep pushing yourself to get even better. If you’re an advanced English learner, don’t use a beginner resource. If you’re a beginner, don’t use a website for advanced learners.

• Type of language used: Blogs usually use friendly, casual language, while news websites use more professional and business-like words. Magazines can use either type of language—it depends on the magazine.

• Frequency of posting: How often does the website update their content? A blog that updates once a month might not be enough to learn from. A website that posts four articles a day might be overwhelming (remember that you don’t have to read each article, though).

• Topic: You want to read about something you care about!

Once you choose the perfect website based on these factors, you can begin to learn. Here are some ideas for learning with online content:

• Skim before reading: Before you even start reading, take a look at the article. Many websites separate their writing into chunks using subheadings. You can get some sense of what you’ll read by looking at these subheadings, and glancing at the pictures. Doing this will help you prepare for the reading, and maybe even understand it better.

• Read and summarize: After you read an article, try to explain it in your own words. You can write down your summary, or pretend you’re telling a friend about it.

• Make word lists: You don’t have to understand every word in order to understand an article, but there are some words you’ll just have to look up. Instead of stopping to check the dictionary every time you find a word you don’t know, write these words down. Look them up after you’ve finished reading. Then read the article again. Do you understand it better now?

• Read the comments: When you finish reading the article, scroll down to the comments (if there are any). Comments are not always useful, but sometimes they can add more information or another point of view to what you just read about. Add your own comment and join the discussion.

• Click on relevant links: If you find an interesting link in the article, click on it and move on to the next article. This keeps you reading—the more you read, the better you will get at it. To keep yourself from getting distracted halfway through an article, open all new links in new tabs (right-click on the link and choose “open link in new tab”).

Use these tips and you’ll improve your reading skills even faster!

 

The best thing about reading online is that you can start at any of these websites, and explore other related topics and websites from there.

Find your new favorite website, and practice your English reading skills with something you actually enjoy and care about.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)