A reading list chosen by prestige gets abandoned. This one is ordered by what each kind of book does for your Malayalam. Kerala built a mass readership for serious literature, and much of it exists in English translation. This class sets out five stages, from children's magazines and folk tales through short stories and novels to song lyrics and the essay, and explains the translation-first technique that lets all your attention go to the language. Key Malayalam words for this topic: വായന (vaayana) – reading ബാലസാഹിത്യം (baalasaahithyam) – children's literature ചെറുകഥ (cherukatha) – short story നോവൽ (novel) – novel കവിത (kavitha) – poem, poetry എഴുത്തുകാരി (ezhuthukaari) – woman writer പുസ്തകം (pusthakam) – book അദ്ധ്യായം (adhyaayam) – chapter നിഘണ്ടു (nighandu) – dictionary വാക്ക് (vaakku) – word In this class: • Stage one: children's magazines, folk tales and the Panchatantra • Stage two: the short story, finishable in one sitting and close to speech • Stage three: the novel, English first, then one Malayalam chapter done properly • Stages four and five: song lyrics, then the essay and the daily paper Quizzes below. Dr. Reshmi R Nair — SpeakMalayalam.