Learning Vocabulary

A student was talking to me about learning vocabulary last week. She has been studying English for a long time and, as a high level English speaker, had been coming across lots of new words and phrases every day. How can we learn new words so that we can remember the meaning and use them in our speaking and writing?

Here are some tips to help improve your vocabulary knowledge and use:

1. For me, the most crucial thing is reading. Read as often as possible; newspapers, magazines, websites, fiction, poetry, science reports, philosophy, graphic novels: everything will expose you to words; the words you know and to new ones.
2. Look up new words. After trying to understand the meaning from the context it is in, the way it is spelt, and the type of word it might be, check the actual meaning (or meanings) of the word.
3. Always use both a dictionary and a thesaurus. Whether electronic or paper use them to find the meaning, pronunciation and words with similar meanings (synonyms) and opposite meanings (antonyms).
4. Keeping a word journal/notebook is very useful. Continue to add to your list of new words you discover so that you can refer back to them for revision. Look at words again after a day, a week, a month and see if you can remember them. You can then build them into your everyday vocabulary.
5. Learn a word a day. There are lots of apps and websites, or you can write your own card system, where you aim to learn a new useful word once a day.
6. Revise everywhere. Carry around the words you are learning and take every opportunity to look at them; on the bus, over a coffee, sitting in the park etc.
7. Play games. Word games are a fun way to enjoy learning new vocabulary and revising the words you already know. Try some crossword puzzles, anagrams, word searches, and games like Scrabble and Boggle.
8. Learn with a friend. It is often more fun to learn with a friend. Test each other to see what you have remembered and look at each other's lists. Are there words you are both learning the same or are they different?
9. Write and talk as often as possible. Words are about use in real life, not just for memorizing. Take every opportunity you can to talk to people, and write every day; emails, letters, essays, reports. The more you use the words you are learning, the more you will remember them.

More Details: Atlanta TOEFL Prep Courses, Atlanta USMLE Prep Courses, Best USMLE Prep class in Atlanta, GRE courses atlanta, GMAT Preparation Course Atlanta.