Learning new vocabulary - 5 useful tips!!
Here are 5 useful tips that that you can try out to help you learn, revise and use new words and phrases in the correct way. See which one works best for you!
1. Open a free Quizlet account and make flash cards. They are a great way to revise vocabulary and creating them and selecting the right definitions will also help you learn them better. Quizlet also has fun games for you to use that will give you even more chances to practise your new words.
2. Make a list of 5 words each day that you want to remember and try to use them at least 3 times each that day. This can be in conversation with other people, just thinking to yourself, or by writing them in sentences, emails or text messages. Every time you use one of the words, tick it on your list.
3. Select a few topic-related words you need to study and Google them. For instance, words related to film such as ‘movie, actor, plot’ will show you several pages from Wikipedia about movies like Interstellar, Divergent and Castaway. Read the ones you are interested in and focus on how the words are used in sentences. Then, write your own summary using the words you want to remember.
4. Be creative! Make up funny sentences or rhyming sentences with 2 of your new words, record them on your mobile phone and then listen to them. Next, try to add 2 more words, then record them and listen again. After that, try adding words from the day before. Repetition is the key to remembering new vocabulary!!
5. Don’t forget to revise! It’s easy to forget words that you’ve studied, so make sure you keep practising words from last week and the week before. A good strategy is to learn 5 new words and revise 2 old ones. Also try to look for connections between the words to help you remember them. It’s much easier to learn a phrase or a combination of 2 or 3 words!!
Good luck!