How to MASTER your vocabulary

This doesn't happen often, you see, we usually practice it.

Mr. E, who I can't tell you, usually gives me a thumbs-up signal,

and I know I have to go, "Hi, James from England."

I was actually looking at the paper.

Anyway, time to do a lesson.

If you're at this lesson, it's because you probably have trouble with vocabulary.

And what do I mean you have trouble with vocabulary?

You're probably saying, "I learn all these words, they teach me these things,

and within hours, days, weeks, I forget everything."

Well, it makes sense. It's not your fault.

It's not your teacher's fault.

There's a method for things to work.

I mean, there's always a way to make things work a little better than something else.

Writing out a word 20 times is not going to help you.

Later on, if you check, we'll have the 3U method,

and that will teach you how to remember vocabulary, that you won't forget it.

But right now, what I want you to do is master vocabulary.

And what do I mean by master it?

A lot of students don't take the time to actually get a full picture.

Imagine a picture that's got a rose, and it's a beautiful red, it's glorious,

it's a great color, the sun behind it, you can see everything.

Now imagine that picture black and white.

What are you going to miss?

You'll think you have the picture because there's a rose,

but do you see the beautiful yellow?

No, because it's black and white.

So there's something missing from that picture.

And what's missing from that picture can sometimes be depth, color, and brightness.

Once you have that, it's hard to forget.

Because when I said, "Imagine a rose," you imagine it in color.

Maybe with water on it, maybe someone holding it.

But that's what you need to remember it.

So we're going to work with vocabulary and look at the four things you need to do

to say, "I have mastered vocabulary, so this vocabulary belongs to me."

Okay?

The number one thing we're going to look at is "understand it."

What do I mean by "understand"?

Many students open a dictionary, look at a word, look at the definition,

one definition, and then say, "Okay, I know."

Or they'll look at the four.

That's not it.

When I say, "Understand it," take that definition, write it out.

Take a dictionary -- expensive sound effects -- and write out that definition.

Then what I suggest is you write one, two, or three sentences, right?

Showing your usage of that word in the proper context.

If it has three definitions, well, guess what?

Son, bub, you have to do three words, so that means maybe nine sentences.

This sounds like a lot of work.

I want you to remember something.

Don't do the work now.

You have to learn it again later.

And what's worse is if it takes five minutes to do what I'm describing,

it'll take you 20 to 30 minutes to do it later.

That's six times the amount of time because it's hard to do.

No one said learning a language is easy, but it can be fun and very productive.

And there's something nice about having new vocabulary

and having it -- learning quickly and keeping it.

So first thing to understand, write out the definition.

Yeah, sorry.

Write out the definition.

And when you write out the definition, then write example sentences,

your example sentences, right?

Let's go with the word "ceiling," for instance.

There are two definitions for the word "ceiling."

Number one, "ceiling" is the top of a room, the top part.

There's the floor.

There's the ceiling.

The ceiling is inside the building.

Roof is on top of the building.

A second definition for "ceiling" is the limit of something, the ceiling.

You cannot go any higher than this.

In business, we talk about a glass ceiling, right?

We talk about you can only go so far and then no more.

I'll give you an example.

So how would I use it to make sure I understand it?

My first sentence might be for a ceiling and a roof,

"I will paint the walls blue and the ceiling yellow."

Ceiling yellow.

Oh, God, it looks like the sun.

Got it.

Ceiling is inside.

You don't paint your roof yellow.

It's inside yellow.

What about the second one?

The second one is the limit of something.

For a salary, for instance.

So I'd say, "The ceiling for my salary at work is $20,000.

They will not pay me more than that, so I need to get a new job."

That's the limit.

So I've written out these definitions.

It gives me an understanding, and maybe even where I should use it.

What about the next one?

The next one we're going to do is pronounce.

Well, how do you pronounce something?

Well, here's what I usually say.

The best way to learn pronunciation is to do phonetics.

Simple phonetics.

Break it down.

Let's go back to the word "ceiling" again.

Okay?

Ceiling.

Okay?

I would have done this.

"See-ling"

By the way, you spell "ceiling" like this.

But I don't care about how I spell it.

It's how do I say it.

You say "see-ling".

If you're nautical, you like water, you might put "see-ling".

Phonetics.

How do you say it?

These are completely different, but who cares how you spell it?

How do I say it?

Because once I get the phonetics for it, I can pronounce it.

Or big "see-ling".

You get the picture.

We can just keep going.

Get the phonetics.

Do it slowly, one part at a time.

Because if you go "see-ling", then you can put it together and pronounce it properly.

Like a native speaker.

You like that?

I do.

I teach my students that all the time.

Break it down.

Master each point.

Put them together only at the end.

Third.

Spell it.

Okay.

Spelling is easy.

That's part of vocabulary, right?

Because we have to do vocabulary.

We both say it, and we both write it.

Sorry.

We say it, we hear it, we write it, or we read it.

Spelling.

I have many students from parts of the world who cannot spell.

So my suggestion is this.

Look at the word.

You're already looking at the definition.

Write it out.

Ten times.

Write it out and look at it.

Then go away.

Yes, I said it.

Go away.

Relax.

Have a beer.

No beer.

Have a tea.

We need you smart.

Have a tea.

Talk to your friends.

Come back and then spell it out again.

Look what mistakes you made.

Why did you make those mistakes?

There may be grammar rules that will help you with those mistakes, such as "I" before

"e" except after "c".

Or when you add a letter "e" after a consonant, usually it actually affects the sound of the

word inside.

Like "fat" and "fate".

It becomes long.

That's another rule for another day.

But the point is, check your spelling.

So write it out ten times.

Come back later, write it out.

It'll help facilitate or help your memory.

Right?

And finally, recognize it.

If somebody says to you, "Oh, that ceiling looks really old."

And you're going, "What is ceiling?

I've not heard of the ceiling before."

It's no good to you.

I mean, if you can't pronounce it, nobody understands you.

If you can't recognize it when someone says it, you don't know what they're talking about.

So how do we do that?

Easy.

Another lesson is, speak slowly.

Do this.

"See-ling".

We go slowly to get the stress.

Where is the stress?

Is it "see-ling" or "see-ling"?

Learning the stress, we are able to, when people speak faster, pick it up.

Because when I say, "Look at the ceiling."

It's "see-ling".

You need those stresses to catch the word.

Then your brain will catch it.

So once again, I suggest you say it very slowly, at least four or five times.

Very, very slowly.

And elongate that word.

And then the next five times, say it as fast as you possibly can.

Say it as fast as you possibly can.

"See-ling, see-ling, see-ling, see-ling."

Because then you're going to get the sounds that you must say.

In other words, the sounds I must say that you can hear it.

If you can do that, when someone says "see-ling",

you'll know it's different than, "I'm going to see something."

Or, "He's seeing -- not seeing -- see-ling."

You'll catch it.

Because you know, "Ah, there was no L stress."

It must be a different word.

You like that? I like it, too.

So, how to master grammar.

That's the first mistake.

This has nothing to do with grammar, son.

This is how to master vocabulary.

So if you've been paying attention, you'll notice that.

But it'll stick in your mind.

See? You'll recognize it was a mistake.

And you'll understand it's my fault.

But I think it's a great lesson.

Please take it to heart.

Try it out.

You'll be surprised.

Actually, get off right now.

Write down five words you've had problems with.

Go through what I've told you.

Go take the test.

Because I actually gave a test on this word, "see-ling".

Yeah, that's what I did.

"See-ling" is not only here.

It's at the engVid website.

So go there.

Check it out.

Do what I said.

See if you remember what this word means.

All right? Anyway, it's been fun.

With our vocabulary grammar lesson.

Go to www.engvid.com

where you can learn this lesson on vocabulary.

And I have grammar lessons, reading and writing tips,

the whole kit and caboodle.

It's an English idiom for everything.

Myself, five other teachers, God knows by now maybe 20,000 teachers.

Go. Get there before it's gone.

All right?

Learn your vocabulary.

Ciao.