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The 3 best ways to learn new vocabulary

Flashcards

Flashcards can be very effective as long as you are aware of their limitations and don’t overdo it so that it becomes a chore. Of course they work best with pairs of words that have a close correspondence between languages, typically basic nouns.  Single word flashcards will get you quickly up and running with some basic vocabulary, although in the longer term you will want to use whole sentences so that you understand how the words are used in context. Of course as you read, and listen, eventually you will just naturally absorb words after you have encountered them enough times. This is probably the best way, but is a bit more of a long term method. Also over time you learn to recognise parts of words with common meanings and patterns that make it easier to remember.

Notebook

1- Get a notebook and draw columns in it.
2- Write new words in the first column so every row starts with a new word.
3- Title the remaining columns as “day 1, day 2, day 3, week 1, week 2, month 1” etc, that indicates when you saw the word last time, for example “day 3” on 15/04/14, “week 1” will be on 22/04/14.
4- On the next page, write the meaning of each word.
5- In front of every word there will be 6 blank rows, if you remember the meaning of that word, fill in the blank with a ‘+’ sign, if not fill in the blank with a ‘-‘ sign.
6- You can refer to the next page if you don’t remember a word’s meaning and see its meaning again
7- You can also use a part of notebook for the grammar.

If you can remember the meaning of the word in “month 1” then you have memorised the word forever!

Post-it Notes

Use a wall to cover with word stickers! You may want to buy stickers of different colours (one colour for one part of speech, for example, of even one colour for one word, if you need to memorise the forms of one word, or phrases). You can then also play with it, creating sentences! You may even put stickers on objects, such as pieces of furniture to memorise the words for them. Although remember that in the long run you need to memorise not words but phrases, to find out how words ‘behave’ in different contexts. It’s particularly true for English because of the quirkiness of spelling verses pronunciation.

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Having a ‘whoop’ of a time thinking about ‘whoops a daisy’!

Have you seen the movie ‘Notting Hill’? Have you seen the scene where Hugh Grant keeps saying ‘whoops a daisy!’?

 

‘Whoops a daisy!’ is an expression of surprise or dismay, as shown by Hugh Grant when he fails to climb over the garden wall. The modern-day equivalent is thought to probably be ‘Doh!’ The term has been shortened to “whoops” and some people think it may be related to the expression “to whoop,” as in giving “whoops of joy.”
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With regards to the historical background of “whoop” as a verb, it relates to a falconer who whoops his hawks and dates back to the early 1400s.  If you cried ‘whoop’ during a hunt this would indicate to your fellow hunters that your quarry, your target animal, or game, was dead.
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Whoop also appears in slang, for example ‘to whoop it up’  which means to have a jolly good time, or to ‘live it up’. “Making whoopee” arose in the US around 1927. Plus, something not so pleasant, for us Brits the term “whoopsie” is apparently a child’s word for excrement. So for anyone who mixes American and British English you must be careful to be clear between making whoopie, and making whoopsie! Things could go really wrong!
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Finally, yes people really do say this! Well… I do, and so does Hugh Grant!
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Click

This cartoon is based on the double meaning of click.
click_idiom
A click is a short, sharp sound.
“The door closed with a click.”
“Turn the handle until you hear a click.”In informal English, click is used to describe what happens when you suddenly understand or remember something.
“When she started talking about Boston, it suddenly clicked where I had met her before.”
“I had to read the report a couple of times before it clicked.”A seat belt fastens around someone travelling in a vehicle or aircraft and holds them in their seat if there is an accident.

more helpful vocabulary from …
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“Oo” vs. “W” – Especially for my Japanese students!

This topic is one that doesn’t seem to be a problem for some people when learning English, but I’ve seen that it can be especially difficult for Japanese learners. Because most Japanese learn with カタカナ(katakana), some of the sounds are not exactly right.

For example,

ウ is the English sound for “oo,”  as in “blue,” “chew,” or “do.”

Unfortunately, sometimes theウ sound is also understood to be the “w” sound as in “would” or “winter.” Actually. these “w” sounds do not exist in the Japanese language. It will take some extra training to learn how to move your mouth to pronounce this sound. You can do it!

oo

Above is a picture of pronouncing “ウ” or “oo,” that most of you know how to do.   Simply make a small circle with your lips when you are pronouncing the sound (find the full lesson here).

w

This picture, however, is more difficult to do. Try to focus on closing your lips a little more, and bringing them in closer to your teeth. Also, the “w” sound is not a whole syllable like the “ウ” sound, it is only the first part of a longer sound. So, say it quickly.

Try to pronounce these words without using the “ウ” sound:

Winter.
Weather.
Where.
Win.
Sweet.
Rewind.
When.
Why.
While.

Did it sound different from the “ウ” sound? If not, try again and listen to the lesson here. Keep trying until you get the sound you want, practice makes a better English speaker!

“Oo” vs. “W” – Especially for my Japanese students!

 

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Oxford Comma

It’s just a comma! Or is it?
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I’ve had a lot of questions recently about punctuation and the role it plays in English. So is punctuation important when you speak English? I think so. Let’s look at the simple comma.
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Some people say that commas can help you put pauses in a sentence, to help you speak with clarity and definition. I agree. I think that they help you to deliver a message clearly. Yet others insist there are rules for when you use a comma or not, although they do help you to translate written words into effective verbal communication, with the correct significance.
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In truth, there is a lot of discussion about it. There is a comma, known as the Oxford comma, which the rules of American English do not see as important but the rules of British English insist you use correctly. This is the comma used before the coordinating conjunction (e.g. and, or, etc.) at the end of a list.
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For example,
‘I booked the comedians, Laurel and Hardy.’ This could signify that you booked some comedians for your celebration and they were called Laurel and Hardy. Yet if you write, ‘I booked the comedians, Laurel, and Hardy.’ This signifies that both Laurel and Hardy were booked for the event, as well as some comedians.
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I like the idea of using the Oxford comma, but what do you think?

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Connected Speech

What is connected speech?

Simply put, connected speech is when a speaker puts words or sounds together in a sentence such as “gonna” (going to) or “wanna” (want to). Usually, this is not understood at all by the English learner!!

Have you ever heard something like “I’m gonna go ta tha store, do ya wanna come?” What does this mean??
When the native English speaker says things like this ^, it is usually just to make their speech easier and more efficient. In fact, the main goal of a native speaker is usually not to be correct, but to be efficient. So, when you are trying to speak perfectly, remember that even native speakers don’t always sound perfect! Elemental English discusses this topic here. 

So, let me explain the sentence “I’m gonna go ta tha store, do ya wanna come?”

Correctly written, it is “I am going to the store, do you want to come?”

“Going to” changes to “gonna,” “to the” changes to “ta tha,” “you” changes to “ya,” and “want to” changes to wanna.” Of course, this is not correct English and should never be in writing… However, if you want to better understand native speakers, I would recommend practicing listening for these connected words.

Below is a great example of connected speech in a scene from the classic movie “Remember the Titans.” Watch the video and see if you can understand what they’re saying. If it is difficult, try reading the text below and notice the connected speech. Does it make sense this time? Great!

Bertier: Aight man. Listen, I’m Gerry, you’re Julius. Let’s just get some particulars and get this over with, alright?

Big Ju: Particulars? Man, no matter what I tell you, you ain’t never gonna know nothin about me.

Bertier: Hey- Listen, I ain’t running any more of these three-a- days, okay?

Big Ju: Well, what I’ve got to say, you really don’t wanna hear ‘cuz honesty ain’t too high upon your people’s priorities list, right?

Bertier: Honesty? You want honesty? Alright, honestly, I think you’re nothing. Nothing but a pure waste of God-given talent. You don’t listen to nobody, man! Not even Doc or Boone! Shiver push on the line everytime and you blow right past ‘em! Push ‘em, pull ‘em, do something! You run over everybody in this league, and everytime you do you leave one of your teammates hanging out to dry, me in particular!

Big Ju: Why should I give a hoot about you, huh? Or anybody else out there? You wanna talk about the ways you’re the captain?

Bertier: Right.

Big Ju: Captains supposed to be the leader, right? Bertier: Right.

Big Ju: You got a job?

Bertier: I have a job.

Big Ju: You been doing your job?

Bertier: I’ve been doing my job.

Big Ju: Then why don’t you tell your white buddies to block for Rev better? ‘Cause they have not blocked for him worth a blood nickel, and you know it! Nobody plays. Yourself included. I’m supposed to wear myself out for the team? What team? No, no, what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna look out for myself and I’m gonn get mine.

Bertier: See man, that’s the worst attitude I ever heard. Big Ju: Attitude reflects leadership, captain.

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Word of the Day

Do you use a site that gives you a’ word of the day’? It is a great way to increase your vocabulary! You can subscribe and get a new word emailed to you daily from Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary. The popular ESL site, Many Things also offers a slang word of the day > http://www.manythings.org/daily/

 

Here are some tips from

Woodward English for learning the ‘word of the day’…

7-tips-learn-english-every-day

 

LINDA’S PROFILE

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But… synonyms and antonyms…

When I was young my father banned me from saying ‘yeah but…’ when he was trying to reason with me and say no. Although this was a very frustrating situation it did teach me to find other ways to say ‘but’…
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However / although / on the other hand / yet / alternatively / except / nevertheless.…
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So, I would suggest that if you want a fun way to amplify your vocabulary, ban yourself from using a word for a while and see if you can find other ways to say what you want to say. It is best perhaps an exercise used to try to replace those words that you use often.
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You can also use it to look at opposites, plus all those new alternative words will themselves have their own synonyms and antonyms.
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Give it go! It might be fun!
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Extra tip: Never start a sentence with ‘but’! It’s bad grammar.
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Intonation and Speed of Speaking

Intonation
Many people from different countries have improper intonation because their teacher had improper intonation. In many situations, being monotone is better than having bad intonation. The worst is when someone goes up and down too much on every word. Another thing you should avoid is to end high at the end of a sentence.

To correct improper intonation, you need to remember to start high and end low. You cannot do it any other way. I recommend going to the interview section and listening to one of the audio files provided by a native speaker. You will hear proper intonation. After listening to the audio, record yourself and listen to it. Does it sound the same? If not, then find the areas that are dissimilar and make the necessary corrections.

This advice is very trivial, but intonation is relatively easy to correct. You can fix your intonation with only a little effort. If you have a friend who is a native English speaker, you can usually fix intonation in a couple of lessons. Recording yourself and listening to yourself might be tedious, but having correct intonation can go a long way.

I have had many students who fixed their intonation after 2 small sessions. The advice I gave them was the same as the one above. This will work, and if you want to speak with proper intonation, please follow this advice.

Speed of speaking
A common mistake of people who obtain English fluency with improper pronunciation and intonation is the speed in which they speak. Because they do not have perfect pronunciation and intonation, it is difficult to understand people who speak too fast. This is the biggest problem I have seen from people who gain confidence in speaking.

In order to improve your communication, and to hear “excuse me” less often, it is important to have the correct speed of speaking. For people with confidence, my advice is to slow down and to speak clearly. Don’t blend words together too much and make sure to separate words with a small pause for words that are difficult to pronounce.

This and more helpful articles from http://www.talkenglish.com/

LINDA’S PROFILE

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the article ‘the’

The article the can be confusing at times as when or when not to omit.

It is the same for all genders in singular and in plural; the cat, the dog, the computers.

 

First, determine if the is being used indefinitely or definitely. Life is great. (indefinite) I’ve read the book about the life of Bill Clinton.  (definite)

 

Names of countries in the singular; summits of mountains; continents; towns;

Germany, France, Mount Whitney, Mount McKinley, Africa, Europe, Cairo, New York

 

Names of countries in the plural; mountain ranges; regions;

the United States of America, the Netherlands, the Highlands, the Rocky Mountains, the Alps, the Middle East.

 

Single island; Corfu, Bermuda, Sicily

Groups of islands; the Bahamas, the British Isles, the Canaries

 

Parks; lakes; streets;

Central Park, Hyde Park, Lake Michigan, Loch Ness, 42nd Street, Oxford Street

 

Name with of-phrase; oceans; seas; rivers;

the Statue of Liberty, the Tower (of London), the Isle of Wight,

the Atlantic (Ocean), the Mediterranean (Sea), the Nile, the Rhine, the Suez Canal

 

Months, days of the week (indefinite)

The weekend is over on Monday morning.

July and August are the most popular months for holidays.

 

Months, days of the week (definite)

I always remember the Monday when I had an accident.

The August of 2001 was hot and dry.

 

Seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter) can be used with or without the definite article;

In summer or in the summer

* The American English word for autumn >fall< is always used with the definite article.

LINDA’S PROFILE

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