Learning Vocabulary Tips

I got a letter from Simon, a reader of this blog, who says:

" My biggest problem is my small vocabulary. [...] Do you have any tips for me to improve my English faster?"

So I thought it was about time we revisited the topic of vocabulary learning.

Before I give you a list of recipes, please remember that whichever techniques you choose, it's important that you keep at them. Vocabulary learning -just as most of language learning- is like gym. Think training. Think how you'd prepare yourself if your objective was to grow muscles or be physically fit and you'll be on the right track. So, no magic or quick fixes here.

Let's see.



There is, above all, a memoristic aspect to vocabulary learning. That's the glue that makes you retrive the word if you mean to add it to the words you normally use. So, if you choose some of the memory training techniques below, try to make a list of words which are highly frequent in your everyday English. Why? Because you'll be likely to need the word when you speak, therefore, you'll go beyond the memoristic game to real learning in a meaningful context.

So outside context, you may create:

1. Word lists
2. Post-it notes on your desk
3. Flashcards

Here is a video that exemplifies the technique. By the way, it's not necessary to stick the post-it notes to the ceiling!

Then, you may want to add some sort of context to the words by adding associations. Here you may do;

1. Related words
2. Synonyms
3. Antonyms

In this website, you'll find what I mean well exemplified.

ReadingQuest.org gives you a template (pdf) like this to work on.



Synonyms are a great way to learn words. You never know which one sticks to your mind first, but, at least, by giving your brain choices you create other association possibilities that may spell success.

However, this is a word of warning, our brains are not that prepared to learn antonyms when both words in the pair are new to you. Trying to learn "tall/short" at the same time is not a good idea. Try it with a list yourself. You'll probably doubt which is which for a long time. Many students confuse words like "before&after" even in advanced levels.

Next, you may try to group words linked to a topic context:

1. Parts of a bicycle (Make your own)
2. Objects in your bedroom
3. Brainstorming a topic. Which words come to your mind when you think "fashion"? 

I find all of these useful when the starting point is words in my mother tongue and then look for the foreign equivalents. Then, you may systematize all that in word maps. The kind of maps you find in Lexipedia, for example. This is particularly useful for the Use of English Paper.Check out these flashcards.

Onother helpful hint to learn words is to vary the senses you use to learn them.

1. Go from the photo to the words
2. Listen to songs and find the lyrics
3. Write them, feel them. Don't be ashamed to try a poem with a set of words! Play games.

Finally, the contextual techniques, which can be summarized as;

1. Read
2. Read
3. Read

From any text you read online, you may create a word cloud to help you retell it by using the image only. You may just drop words and use them as a story prompt, if you feel more creative. What story would you make with these?





One last word, you'll find sharing and teaching the words a powerful source of learning. So go ahead and teach someone what you now know. Remember the muscle training principle applies to words: use them or lose them!





Related Post
Phrasal Verbs


Footnote
Some research on vocabulary learning

Vocabulary Feeds

Your Thoughts are Hungry for Words
Vocabulary is food for thought. If your mind is well fed, then you will be able to frame your ideas in speaking and writing better. There is probably nothing as frustrating as to have a gap in your vocabulary. Those moments when you want to explain something in a foreign language and the words simply do not come. To enjoy becoming a speaker of a second language, we need to eat words well.

It is important to vary the ways in which you try to incorporate new words. There is no best method to learn. Yet, if learning can be action, the practice becomes more effective and meaningful. Learning words is not about memorising. Not even remembering. Do you remember how you learnt every word you know? When you learn, you simply transform yourself.

Learning is a cycle. Learning vocabulary will require consulting dictionaries, exploring new contexts for a word in your readings on the Internet and finding examples. A bit of decontextualised -some mechanical or repetitive- practice may also help. One day you may surprise yourself using richer words in your writing. That's when a learning cycle ends giving way for another one to begin.

Did you know your learning can also transform others?

Learn Free vocabulary & Give Free Rice
Learning is a powerful thing. The people involved in this initiative launched on the 7th October 2007 understand it well. Their mission is to help provide food for people in need while you learn.

"For each word you get right, we donate 10 grains of rice through the United Nations to help end world hunger."
http://www.freerice.com

Click there and you will find an ongoing multiple choice test. It is challenging for both: advanced students and native speakers. What is so interesting about this site is that it shows an example of learning both ways. You learn by choosing and the machine learns with your clicks too:

FreeRice automatically adjusts to your level of vocabulary. It starts by giving you words at different levels of difficulty and then, based on how you do, assigns you an approximate starting level. You then determine a more exact level for yourself as you play. When you get a word wrong, you go to an easier level. When you get three words in a row right, you go to a harder level. This one-to-three ratio is best for keeping you at the “outer fringe” of your vocabulary, where learning can take place.

Click here for details on how playing the vocabulary game helps you and others.

So let's play and feed ourselves!

Attribution
Thanks to Lisa Parisi for the link.
Image: DSC_5596 - Vocabulary by theglauber
http://www.flickr.com/photos/theglauber/416091822/

Copyright notice
Unless otherwise marked, the posts at The FCE Blog are copyright protected. You may not reproduce entire posts without written permission from the author. As the United Nations WFP is asking to spread the word, this post is copyright free. So if you do not have time to blog, with this footnote I am allowing you to cut & paste portions as needed.

Please attribute:
via The FCE Blog. Reproduced with permission.

If you use the hyperlink of this post (http://fceblog..blogspot.com/2007/10/vocabulary-feeds.html), your blog spreading the word will be listed here so that we can read you and comment!
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Thank you!

My FCE Class 2007

Dear Students,

Today is my first class with you. I am writing and posting this before I actually meet you. It is always a bit of an adventure to start a new course. So much to share and learn! I have been discovering new things every day since I started blogging. I am sure this year’s course will be an inspiring experience for you and me.

Next 18 March I will have been blogging for a year. I know most of you know what a blog is, but perhaps I am the first teacher who invites you to share a blog as part of a course. My 2006 FCE class had a chance to see it grow post by post, now I guess it might seem a bit overwhelming to the newcomer.

The Internet has too much information. Probably so does this weblog. I started writing this with some objectives in mind, which you may read on our very first post. As much as they still apply to my intentions today, I must confess I also keep writing posts because I learn so much in the process.

What is this blog? Well, I like to think that this blog is a window to the world. An extension of our classroom walls –should I say there are no more walls? Perhaps. We are regularly visited from the entire globe by teachers and students who also want a Cambridge certificate. That's our common objective. The English language is our common passion. Objectives mixed with passion underpin this blog all over.

When I find great teachers sharing their work online, I link to them. So you do not learn just from me. Then we also publish and share part of our class production so we can contribute to the community of students elsewhere looking for guidance. Another teacher or student drops by the fceblog, leaves us a comment or they start talking in their blogs about us. That’s when all of this gets really exciting!

This blog is not homework, but an invitation. There is no proper way of reading this. See the menu or help yourselves. Read it all or just a bit every other day. Either way is equally perfect. You decide. This blog is all about learning, developing autonomy to study and reflecting all along.

Exams and certificates are papers. Communication with the world is magic. Indeed to be writing here today and know all of you are out there reading... It’s magic!

Looking forward to meeting you on and offline,

Claudia

Buenos Aires, Argentina

What shall I read?

A Book is a Beautiful Thing

I am usually asked this question: What do you recommend reading to learn English at my level? As if there existed the answer to such a question! (or I were the person to answer it). Whitman's words in the great poem Song of Myself come to my rescue:

"You must find out for yourself"

So as a teacher, I will confine myself to help you find out for yourselves.

Here is a site I think you will like:

Library Thing

http://www.librarything.com/

Basically, it is a spot for people to list the books on their shelves at home and then discuss them with like-minded readers.

My site rating 5/5:

• Well organised
• intuitive interface
  
• no private info required
• up to 200 books listed for free
  
• and best of all: no need to download anything!

This is what I a call a very good website.

How can that site help me with my exam preparation?

I knew you would ask that. Well, for starters...

1. You can find your set texts
2. Read what real people are saying about them
3. Leave your own comment and practice your English in a real –should I say virtual- situation!

You might even find a pal there who, surprisingly enough, has read the same books you love. Nice thing, isn't it?

Then if you refine your search a bit, you may find opinions that sound natural and full of that vocabulary you need when you are asked to review a book for your set text question. You are not supposed to imitate a New York Times book critic in your exam composition. Nope.

We are trying to learn words people like you or me use when talking books. Perhaps you have noticed that most FCE course books teach you adjectives to describe people, places, ways of looking, ways of you-name-it, but what's missing? Words for those books you adore, other than 'great' or 'very good'.

Let’s try it out together

Here I’ve created an fceblog group for you (a kind of book talk forum). Want to join the discussion? If you can't figure out how to join through the site, leave us your user name to get an invitation. If you create one for your own classmates, leave us a message or a comment here to find you!
http://www.librarything.com/groups/fceblog

And where are the links to all exam set texts?
I told you, you must find out for yourselves...

Ok, ok. Here is just a sample in my own catalogue:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=claudia.ceraso

I chose those editions just because other people have saved them, so we are not alone there. Not that I mean to recommend them...(some are pretty expensive actually!).

On second thoughts, I do recommend reading any edition of Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. By far an awesome, flabberghasting book!

.

Thank You

End of 2006 Academic Year

From: Your teacher blogger
To: All fcebloggers and especially to my FCE students
Subject: End of the 2006 FCE course, but not the blog!

.............................................................................................

Dear All,

I would like to thank you very much for all your enthusiasm and support in all these months. We have certainly learnt a lot, although there are challenges ahead too. Finishing this year's course certainly leaves us with a sense of achievement. It is my hope that you have found this online experience fruitful and entertaining.

I am still amazed when I see the map of visitors and think of how far this blog has travelled. We have trespassed the frontiers of our classroom to carry our writings to the homes of other students who also share our learning objective. Our comments have probably helped them. At the same time, we have opened the windows of our classroom to let the world’s community of knowledge come in to aid us!

Vygotsky, a Russian cognitive scientist, taught us early in the XX century that learning happens when we connect with other people. Studying with online support is about expanding the Zone of Proximal Development in which learning can occur. It has been my aim to help you feel a bit of the passion for learning English in our interconnected XXI century world. I like to think that you will go on designing discovery paths for yourselves. True learning is that which never stops.

Wishing you every success in your exams,

Claudia

The FCE Blog Editor
http://fceblog.blogspot.com

Related Post: Our first post, March 2006

Phrasal Verbs

Multi-word Verbs

If I had to say what the single most asked question by my students is, I believe that would be:
How can I learn phrasal verbs?
I can almost see you nod here.

Why are they a problem? Let’s see...

Meaning is not always transparent or easily predictable from the words. In fact, they tend to have different meanings. They can also vary according to dialect. We cannot play around much with them, the minute we get creative and change the particle we have said something else!

It is always advisable to have a good dictionary around.

In the Cambridge International Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs there are over 5,000 but you probably need much less to sound natural.

The point is not to know all of them, but to accurately figure them out.

How should I study phrasal verbs?
The answer is there is no best method, but fortunately there are techniques, books and websites! Let’s take a web tour.

Here is a good place to start:

A Comprehensive Treatment
http://www.phrasalverbdemon.com/
In this website you can find the most frequent verbs in context -their meanings and their particle meanings. Lots of collocations, some games and a small glossary: http://www.phrasalverbdemon.com/dictionarya.htm.

I believe the author (a teacher of course) has done a great job in balancing grammar, meaning and context. Two thumbs up!

A Traditional Approach
Varying the method of study can help you focus on the different aspects that make a phrasal a complex little thing. Sometimes a traditional grammar list can be useful.
Here is a good one:
http://www.wordpower.ws/grammar/gramch27.html
Includes: Grammar Explanations, lists with definitions and examples, some exercises.

The Structure of a Phrasal Verb
Now you discover phrasal verbs are actually multi-word verbs which can be transitive or intransitive, separable or inseparable. It is important to know the structure and usage of the verb you want to learn. We need a lot of examples!
Here is a searchable list with one sentence examples of all types of phrasal verbs.
http://www.ccas.ru/olenev/english/phverbs.html
Includes: A list with formal English definitions and an example. Simple and concise.

A Topic-based Approach
Perhaps you haven’t solved all your grammar doubts about phrasal verbs reading all of the above. Anyway, you need to see them and hear them in context. Grouping vocabulary according to topic will certainly help you to remember them.
Here is the BBC Funky Phrasals with mini dialogues about health, childhood, career, and holidays. You just can’t miss it!
BBC Learning English
Includes: Scrip and audio.

What do I need to learn? I mean, for the FCE exam...

Are Phrasals Formal or Informal?
After reviewing context, structure and topics we still have to review the question of register. This is paramount for using phrasals in your FCE writing paper. This website will help you learn formal equivalents of some phrasal verbs:
http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/phrasal.html
Includes: 14 practice texts with latinate verbs compared to phrasal verbs.

Remember: The meaning of a phrasal does not always apply on a one to one correspondence to the meanings of its formal equivalent. Then, context is vital if not everything here.

How about some extra exercises?
What? You still want more practice?
All right. Here it goes:
http://www.eflnet.com/pverbs/index.php
Includes: Quizzes and lots of links to exercises.

Conclusions
Regardless your learning style, I would advise you to try all of them. Or at least do not fall in love with only one type of exercise. The mind gets bored and that is precisely the instant in which learning stops.
So take it easy, when you are tired, give yourself a break and come back to this post some other time, try one more exercise or two.

In a nutshell, when learning phrasal verbs, don’t give up, keep it up!