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The primary site for this mirror is down again, but was at: phaedral.com The rest of the mirror is at the index pageCongratulations!You have just completed your first official speed reading drill!! (Assuming, of course, that your are following the links in this site in their proper order...) All the rest of your drills will follow this pattern. The drills will each consist of nine one minute sets. The first set will always be at Slow or Normal. You will always work from smaller groups to larger groups then back to smaller. You will soon find reading word pairs about as easy as reading single words. You will soon find it easier to read phrases at Normal speed than to read single words at Very Fast speed. This means it is easier to read 360 words per minute than it is to read 180 words per minute! Phrases average four words each, and Normal speed is about 1.5 beats per second. That's reading six words a second, for 360 words per minute. Compare to one word at a time at Very Fast speed, which is about three beats per second. That makes a straight 180 words per minute. This is a case of going faster by going slower. Normal speed is plenty slow enough for a comfortable phrase per beat, but even one word per beat seems like a lot of work at Very Fast speed. This is the difference between working hard and working smart. You are going to practice reading words, then pairs of words. From pairs you will move up to groups of words that make phrases, then groups of phrases that make clauses, then clauses that make sentences. You will practice reading each of these different sized word groups at each of the four speeds. Before you finish you will know the largest group you can comfortably see in about half a second, and you will start reading this way whenever you feel like it. Don't get too worried about the terms "phrase, clause, sentence". This isn't a grammar class. Just get used to the idea that word groups come in different sized and fit together different ways. Even in grammar class, the terms "phrase, clause, sentence" are not exact; but the following example can give you an idea of what the terms usually mean. "People should treat each other better, if they want to make the world a better place." The example has two parts, separated by a comma. Those two parts are called clauses. Each clause is almost a sentence of its own. In the first part of the example the words "treat each other better" is a phrase, a group of words that fit together almost as if they made up a single word. As a rule, you can spot clauses by punctuation such as commas, semi-colons, colons, and parenthesis. Phrases usually aren't marked so clearly, but you will know them when you see them after you have done the drills awhile. You already know these things about word groups, without needing to think about them. Think about the difference between, "The dog chased the cat," and, "The cat chased the dog." The two sentences are totally opposite, but you don't need an English degree to know it. You don't have to think about the mechanics of the sentences to know they are total opposites. You don't need to know a direct subject from a direct pass. The same is true for "phrases, clauses, and sentences." You use them, you speak and think in phrases, clauses and sentences, even if you didn't know it. Think about how lines and curves and angles go together to make letters. Then about putting letters together to make words the same way you put lines and curves together to make letters. It is the same idea. Two words make a pair, and some pairs "fit together" better than others. Take a sentence like "The cat fell off the wooden ladder." "The" goes with "cat" differently than "cat" goes with "fell." "Off" goes with "fell" differently than "wooden" goes with "ladder." You know these things without ever thinking about them. A sentence fragment of four words like "The cat fell off," fits together better than "fell off the wooden." You don't need to know definitions of why one works better than the other. As a native speaker of English, you automatically know which works better. The drills teach you to rely on this kind of automatic knowing. All you have to do is ask yourself, "How well do these two words go together?" Don't worry about getting the right answer. Simply trying to answer the question forces you to process the full meaning of each word! Soon you will find it is easier to take in groups of words than to read them one at a time. Letters are made of lines and curves. Words are made of letters. Phrases are made of words. Clauses are made up of phrases. Sentences are made up of clauses. Paragraphs are made up of sentences This isn't precise, but it is a great place to start. The drills train you to see larger and larger groups of words. Instead of scurrying and trying to cram words in one at a time, you can work at a comfortable speed with the word group size that works best for you. Don't let the phrase, "words per minute" fool you. Seeing larger groups at slower counts means higher words per minute with less work and no feeling of "hurrying." You start the drills reading one word per beat, at Slow speed, and work your way up to reading one or more lines at whatever beat is comfortable for you. On the way you will read single words, pairs, trios, phrases, clauses, and whole sentences at Very Fast. Most people don't fine reading comfortable at Very Fast. You will practice that way only to give the experience needed to choose for yourself the combination of word group size and speed that works best for you. Learning to find the right combination of word group size and speed doesn't happen overnight. It does happen automatically, after you have done the drills for a while. The drills let you experience the way comprehension and emotional involvement vary with the speed of the count, and how comprehension and emotional involvement vary with the word group size. I have studied natural speed readers who read at 3,500 wpm. They read by the paragraph, at a slow comfortable rhythm. This may seem incredible, but you have already done the hard part; the rest is a matter of degree. You learned years ago how lines and curves make letters and how letters make words. Now you are picking up where traditional schooling leaves off; you are learning to see more quickly the way words go together to make phrases, clauses, sentences, and paragraphs. It is the same lesson, only with bigger blocks. Your drills for day one of your twenty-one day learning program are as follows:
You must count out loud for at least the first few days. You should whisper, at the very least. Counting at the same volume as normal conversation is best. If you feel awkward, then find a place where you can practice alone. Counting out loud guarantees you won't subvocalize. It is the best way to guarantee development and use of four distinct speeds. Counting out loud is the best way to train your eyes to move rhythmically. These things are all explained in "The Rationale." After a few days you will feel your eyes moving smoothly and steadily to the rhythm of your counting. Then, and only then, you can keep the rhythm silently by counting "in your head" instead of counting out loud. Count out loud until your eyes can keep pace with the rhythm all on their own. Count out loud until moving your eyes to the beat is as automatic as your breathing. The drills are listed on the next page. They are planned for a three week course of about ten minutes a day. The fastest you will read on your first day is 180 words per minute. Twice on the first day you will work at the snail's pace of sixty words per minute. You almost certainly read faster than that already. Going slower for a while will let you go a lot faster in the long run, because the words per minute aren't important. What counts is getting bigger groups per beat and finding the rhythm that works best for you. |
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