IELTS vocabulary: how to increase your active vocabulary

Hello everyone, this is Hong.

Today I'm back with part two of the series, How to Improve Your English Vocabulary.

Remember the last time I shared with you how I improved my passive

vocabulary by using flashcards?

Today I will talk about active vocabulary.

If you missed the first part you can check the link below the description box.

Before we move on, don’t forget to check out the latest IELTS materials

from weloveielts.org, and, of course, subscribe to this channel if you have not.

Let’s review what we know about active vocabulary and passive vocabulary.

I’d best go with IELTS reading.

It mostly comes down to your passive vocabulary, which is the kind of vocabulary that you can

understand in receptive skills, listening and reading.

On the other hand, active vocabulary is a portion, a passive vocabulary that you

can use in productive skills, such as writing or speaking.

When we use productive skills, speaking or writing, sometimes we find ourselves lost for words.

We either don't know the word.

It's the guy with the big...

Or sometimes, even more annoyingly, we know what we mean, but we can't seem

to find the word.

Apparently, only knowing the word is not enough.

That’s why for active vocabulary I would suggest two tips.

Number one, learn vocabulary in context, which means that you should learn new words

when you are reading or listening to English.

This way you can see how a native speaker uses the word in real-life situations,

because besides meaning, we also need to know things such as style,

collocations or popularity in order to use the word.

Number two, force yourself to use new words intentionally.

In other words, get out of your comfort zone and try using new words that you have never used before,

so that you can avoid over common words such as very, thing, good or bad.

This way you can sharpen your expressions, make it more concise and precise.

Also, to show the examiner your range of vocabulary.

Let me show you how I do it.

There’s a very simple exercise that I always do, called summarising, that has three steps.

Step one, read or listen to content from native speakers.

It can be from books, videos, podcasts, that have relatively new content.

Step two, check new words.

Step three, summarise the content using the new words that you have just learnt by

speaking or writing.

This way you can force yourself to use new words and in context.

Now, let's practise. I'm going to tell you a story.

What you need to do is to note down new words and later use those new words to summarise the story.

There once was a poor boy, who spent his days going door-to-door,

selling newspapers to pay for school.

One day, the poor boy was starving, so he decided to ask for food when

he came to the next door.

The poor boy asked for food, but was turned down every time.

Until he reached the door of a girl.

He asked for a glass of water, but seeing his poor state,

the girl came back with a glass of milk.

The boy asked how much he owed her for the milk, but she refused payment.

Years later, the girl, who was now a grown woman, fell seriously ill.

She went from doctor to doctor, but no one was able to cure her.

Finally, she went to the best doctor in town, and he spent months treating her, until she

was finally cured.

Despite her happiness, she was afraid she couldn't afford to pay the bill.

When the hospital handed her the bill, it read, paid in full with a glass of milk.

Now, let's pause the video and start summarising the story on your own.

This is my version.

A poor boy went door-to-door looking for food because he was starving.

But he was turned down every time until he received a glass of milk from a girl.

Years later, the girl was seriously ill and was treated by that poor boy,

who is now a famous doctor.

He paid all her hospital bills.

Thank you very much for watching and don’t forget to subscribe to the channel.

I will see you real soon. Bye.