In the past few years, 1,000 English learners have read over 300,000,000 words at ReadOasis.com. That’s a big number — maybe 40,000 hours — or 4 years of reading! We asked these learners about their experiences with big reading, and below we share the responses we got. But first, a little story and background to get us started.

You are fighting for your life. Your friend turned against you. With his words, he tears you down with lies. You feel your heart breaking. You take a deep breath. And you speak your truth. “I totally disagree with you! Chocolate ice cream is better than vanilla ice cream. Vanilla is plain, ordinary, and boring!” 

The room becomes quiet. Your friend says nothing. Finally, he speaks up. “You are right. You make a good point. You speak clear, true, and powerful words. I now believe in chocolate.” You both have a big laugh, and you buy your friend chocolate ice cream. Why? You won your friend over with words. 

This little story carries a simple message. We need word power to make a point. But how do you get more word power? A common English learner might say, “I’ve studied English for 6 years, but I don’t have word power with English. Why?” Well, something is wrong with this question. For one, this student did not study English for 6 years! He studied maybe 1,000 hours during six years. (Note: we have 35,040 waking hours in 6 years.)

On the other hand, a native speaker may experience 50,000 hours of English by the age of 18! This brings us to the real answer. To become really good at English, you need big input (and output). Let’s call this input and output data. 

So, to get good at English you need BIG DATA. How do you get it? We all know the best way: Live in an English speaking country! That will give you big data. But what if you cannot live in an English speaking country? What if you don’t have the time or money? What can you do? What is the next best thing?

Many teachers and learners do not know the next best thing. What is it? The next best thing is big reading! With big reading, you can live in a world of English words, ideas, and people. Big reading works like time travel. You can travel through time to strange and amazing places. Big reading works like air travel. You can fly to real and exciting places. And as you travel, you can grow your English super powers. 

Big reading really works like time travel and air travel. This is not just a word picture. The idea comes from the *research of Dr. Hitoshi Nishizawa. If you read 2,000,000 words ? at your level ? it works like living abroad for one year in an English speaking country. And at ReadOasis, reading big is easy because we grade stories into 10 levels — a level for every learner. 

Over the past few years, at ReadOasis.com, the top 1,000 readers grew their English super powers. They read over 300,000,000 words. That’s around 40,000 hours — or 4 years of reading That’s 4 years — of time and air travel! What do these learners say about their experience of big reading? We asked them some questions. And we got some great answers. 

First, 68% said big reading felt easier than traditional study. Second, 80% found big reading more enjoyable than traditional study. Third, 83% found big reading more helpful than traditional study. And fourth, 83% said big reading helped them grow confidence with English. Here’s what some of these learners said.

• “I read a lot of stories, and got skills of reading English.”
• “I can read anywhere I am.”
• “Reading new stories made me realize new things.” 
• “ReadOasis helps me to learn English in a fun way!”
• “I like ReadOasis because I can enjoy reading many stories. ReadOasis consists of words which are often used in casual conversation. So, I think that we learn practical English by using ReadOasis.”
• “It was not difficult to study! I was very happy when I understood the contents of the story!”
• “Thank you for ReadOasis.com. My English skill improved.” 

At ReadOasis, we believe in a mission — to help English learners read big — to get enjoyment, to get smarter, and to get the keys of happiness and the good life. We believe that big reading grows your English super powers. If you want, you can study English the hard way, doing lots of test preparation and grammar study. 

Or, you can learn from our top 1,000 readers. Together they read over 300,000,000 words. Each learner averaged about 292,000 words. They found big reading easier, more enjoyable, and more helpful than traditional study. And it gave them more confidence with English. Our data fits with what the experts say: “English learners like big reading, and it works!”