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.

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Visual learning in the ESL classroom

In all facets of education, learning activities are designed to cater for and appeal to a variety of learning styles .In Fleming's VARK model, these styles are generalized into three main types: visual, auditory and kinaesthetic. English language schools in Australia are no exception and try to employ every type of activity to meet the needs of their precious students. Vocabulary cards which are moved by hand to match with definitions or used to play games such as memory or snap are aimed at kinaesthetic learners, for example. Text book audio files, songs, dictation, etc. are geared toward our auditory friends. However, in what ways can English as a second language (ESL) teachers appeal to their visual learners?

For those who are not blessed enough to work in a modern Australian Language School, where we shamelessly use plasma TVs hooked up to a high-powered ultra-modern computer, one of your few tools is the white board. This is your bread and butter as an English language course teacher and as such, it is advisable to invest time and money into making the most of it. Purchasing white board markers of various colours is a good start. Solely using a black will quickly earn you the disrespect of all of your students. If you write illegibly, go back to primary school and learn how to print in a straight line. It's an Intensive General English class, not a hieroglyphs deciphering session (Bec Hungerford). It is useful for students to have a well-organised whiteboard. Date and name your board with a brief outline of the day's lesson on one side. On the other side, leave room for a list of new vocabulary items. Underline your subtitles and use bullet points as you would in a Powerpoint presentation. Too many words and clutter will only further the confusion reeked by your black pen monotony.

Art. Vincent Van Gogh said before he tragically cut his own ear off, 'If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.' One of the most hilarious and memorable things you can do for your students is to attempt to draw. "Teacher, what are gills?" Draw a sideways egg, draw a comb facing the bottom of the egg to form a tail, two side-by-side baked beans at the 'top' of the egg to form fish lips and then you are in a prime position to add 2 backwards Cs to illustrate gills (see attached image). When drawing, it's important not to take yourself seriously. Laugh at yourself if your picture is absolute garbage. Your students will thank you.

There are countless other ways to appeal to visual learners. Having a well-organised, colourful board and hand-drawn illustrations are two of the most basic. In closing, practice makes perfect and Vincent Van Gogh was probably not an auditory learner.

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How to Expand Your English Vocabulary

I often see students writing long lists of unrelated words in their notebooks as they try desperately to expand their English vocabulary but is this really the best way?
A list of words with a translation is a good start but how many of them will you be able to memorize and then use effectively or correctly?
As you come across new words, a list is good but there are a few things you can do to make your list more effective. Firstly, you should categorize your words. Group your words together in themes or words that have something in common. Once in groups, draw a picture for each word along with a definition and example sentence. Research shows that having a visual cue for a word will increase your memory of that word. It also acts as a good tool for revision when you revisit your list and want to test your knowledge by looking only at the pictures.
You can then extend your lists by finding other words associated with each word. Write your word and add a list of associated words around it. You could even make a picture out of them, again creating a visual. Extend this even further by adding collocations ( words that usually ‘go together’), antonyms and synonyms. Word formation charts can also be used to learn all forms of your new word.
Today there are so many applications on all our devices that we have word games, stories, and word puzzles at our fingertips. We can download a huge variety of books which is the best way to expand vocabulary whether you are a native speaker or ESL student.
I found through my own personal language studies that some cards in my pocket with my new words for the week were a great way to revise set words for class or a test. If you’re sitting at a bus stop, you can easily grab your cards for a quick revision. Labeling things with sticky notes is also a goody but a house covered in labels may not be acceptable to your room mates.
At the end of the day, the best way to learn new words is to read. There are so many texts available to us. Go and get lost in a book. Learning new words can be fun.

“A synonym is a word you use when you can’t spell the other one.”

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