Use a Notebook to Learn More English Vocabulary - Increase English Vocabulary

Hi I'm Sam.

Welcome to Oxford Online

English!

In this lesson, you can learn

what a vocabulary notebook is, why it's

useful for learning vocabulary more

quickly, and how to use it.

Part one: why should you use a vocabulary

notebook.

A vocabulary notebook is a small

book where you can record new words.

The

best vocabulary notebook is small enough

to put in your pocket, so you can carry

it everywhere with you, like this.

Remembering new vocabulary is something

that many students find difficult.

To

really know a word means that you're able

not just to recognize it, but to use it

correctly.

But how can you go from

recognizing and understanding a word to

using it well in your English speaking

and writing?

You need to form a long-term

memory of the word or phrase you're

trying to remember.

When you learn new

words in class, or during self study, it's

in your short-term memory.

You're able to

recognize and even use the word during

your studies, and maybe even for a short

time afterwards, but then you may forget

it.

You need to move the word into your

long-term memory.

The only way to do this is to see, hear,

and use the word many times.

So then, why

is a vocabulary notebook helpful for

expanding your vocabulary more quickly?

A vocabulary notebook is an excellent tool

to help you move new words from your

short-term to your long-term memory.

You

can use it to record and review the

vocabulary, enabling you to see, hear and

use the vocabulary many times, which will

help you to remember it.

But how do you use avocabulary

notebook?

There are lots of different

ways to use a vocabulary network but

two things are important: record and review.

Part two: how to record the meaning of new

vocabulary.

Let's look at recording vocabulary.

When

you learn new vocabulary, record it

instantly.

That means write it down at

that moment.

The physical act of writing

it down can help you to remember it

later.

So, whether you're in class, studying at

home, or out and about, the best thing to

do is to record the word when you learn

it;

don't wait until later!

There are four

easy steps.

The first step is recording

words clearly and correctly.

This may

sound obvious but many students find

they're unable to read their own notes, or

they record and then learn words with incorrect

spelling.

So, always check how words are spelt.

So, what

else do you need to record?

The second

step is to record the meaning of the

vocabulary.

There are a number of ways to

do this depending on the word or phrase

that you want to learn.

Let's use our example, 'soup'.

Do you think

writing 'pea or chicken' will help you to

remember the meaning of this word?

It's

true that pea and chicken are examples of

soup, but writing down the meaning like

this might not help you to remember what

'soup' means.

However, I'm quite sure most

countries have soup, so translation is a

quick and clear way to show the meaning

of 'soup'.

I speak a little Turkish, so I'll

use that.

In Turkish, 'soup' is 'çorba'

Many students also find that drawing

pictures helps them to remember words.

Put the

picture on the right-hand page for

meaning.

For simple words like 'soup',

recording the translation your own

language is okay.

However, many words don't have a direct

translation.

For this reason it's usually

better to record the meaning in English.

But, use your own words; don't just copy

the meaning from the dictionary.

This will make it easier for you to

understand and remember the meaning.

Let's do an example.

Do you know the word

'tasty'?

It describes food that has a strong

taste or flavour.

We can also say that this is a positive

objective, similar to 'delicious', so we can

write a positive symbol next to the

meaning.

With adjectives, it's also a good

idea to record the opposite.

We can use

this sign for opposite.

The opposite of

'tasty' is 'tasteless'.

It describes food that

has no flavour.

This is a negative adjective, so we can

write a negative symbol next to the

meaning.

Hopefully, now you have a good idea of

how to record meaning in your notebook.

Using a vocabulary notebook is a

learning process, and should be personal

to you, so experiment with different

ways of recording meaning.

But, however you

decide to record meaning, one thing is

important: it must be clear to you when

you come back to it.

So, there are four

steps to recording vocabulary: first,

record the word clearly and correctly;

second: record the meaning.

What's next?

Part three: how to record the form of new vocabulary.

Ask yourself or your teacher: is your

new vocabulary a noun, a verb, an adjective, an idiom?

Remember that phrases

can be nouns or verbs too, so this is

true for both words and phrases.

If it's a noun, is it countable or uncountable?

Make a note so that you understand how to

use it.

You can record the form in

brackets next to the word.

Here,

'soup' is a noun, so you can write 'n' after

it.

'Soup' can be countable or uncountable.

You

can show this by writing C/U.

You can put adj. to show that 'tasty'

and 'tasteless' are adjectives.

It's helpful to use abbreviations to

record form.

Here are some examples.

n. is for noun.

v. is for verb.

C is for countable.

U is for uncountable.

adj. is for adjective

adv. is for adverb.

Capital 'I' capital 'D' is for idiom.

mwv means multi-word verb.

Abbreviations help you to record form

quickly and use less space in your

notebook.

So, when recording vocabulary,

you should: record it clearly and

correctly, record the meaning, record the

form.

There's one more thing you should record.

Part four: how to record the pronunciation

of new vocabulary.

You're learning

English.

That means you know how

confusing and irregular English

pronunciation can be.

That's why you

should record some details about the

pronunciation of words.

You could: write

the sounds in phonetics, mark stressed

syllables, mark any silent syllables or

letters, and record any difficult or

irregular sounds.

For example, students sometimes confuse

the pronunciation of 'soup' with 'soap'.

So, the vowel sound here is important.

This is the symbol for the 'oo' sound.

You don't have to use phonetic symbols,

but they can help you to remember

the correct pronunciation of words.

Vowel

sounds are a good place to start.

You can write

the 'oo' sound under the letters that

make that sound.

The word 'tasty' has more

than one syllable, so you should record

the stress in the word.

You can do this by underlining the vowel

where the stress is.

In 'tasty',

the stress is on 'a' Some students may

also find it helpful here to record the

vowel sound; the vowel sound is 'ay': tasty.

In

speech, the second t in 'tasteless' is

silent.

You can show this by writing a small

cross under the second 't': tasteless.

So, now we have the basic information we

need to record.

We've written the word

clearly and correctly, and we've checked

the spelling.

We've also recorded the meaning, the form

and the pronunciation of the words.

You

may notice that I've used different colours.

It's helpful to use colour in your notes,

and to be consistent.

That means always using the same colour

for the same thing.

You could use

different colours for different parts of

speech, as I've done here: my nouns are

black and my adjectives are red.

You could use different colours for verbs and

adverbs, too.

This helps you understand and

remember the form of the word quickly.

Also, using a different colour for your

pronunciation notes helps them stand out.

I

always use green.

Finally, you might want to add some

information to your notes later, do

leave some space.

What else might you want to add?

You'll see

some ideas later.

Part five: remember

vocabulary by reviewing and developing

your notes.

So, now you know how to record

new vocabulary in your notebook, but

that's not enough.

You also need to be able to remember the

vocabulary.

When you're learning English,

you can forget around eighty percent of

your vocabulary if you don't review it.

Reviewing vocabulary means seeing it again and

using it.

You don't need to spend a long

time each time you review.

The most

important thing is that you review it

many times over time.

Carrying a

vocabulary notebook with you everywhere

helps you to do this.

Let's make a review

plan: imagine you recorded some

vocabulary in the notebook today.

How should you review it?

Research shows that students forget 80%

of what they've learned within 24 hours

of a lesson.

So, a short time after you've

written some new vocabulary down, take

five minutes to look at it again.

The

very best time to do this is 10 minutes

after, when you still remember most of

the lesson.

Maybe you're waiting for the

bus, or having a coffee.

You can take your notebook out and

review the vocabulary quickly.

Read through what you've written.

Remember the meaning, the form and the

pronunciation.

Say the words in your head: 'soup' is 'çorba'.

Then, test yourself.

You can cover the meaning

site of the notebook, look at the words,

and see if you can remember the meaning.

Then you can cover the words on the left

side, and see if you can remember how to

say them by looking at the meaning:

'çorba' is 'soup'.

Focus on the pronunciation: 'soup'.

Then, uncover the left

side and check the pronunciation and the

word.

Later that day, when you have a bit more

time, you can sit down and add some

information to your notes.

Firstly, you

should add collocations if you can find

them.

A good dictionary will give you

collocations.

Use an English learner's

dictionary such as Oxford, Cambridge, or

Macmillan to find the vocabulary.

What about collocations with 'soup'?

We

often use words the different types of

soup.

For example, 'chicken soup', 'potato

soup', 'tomato soup'.

We can also say, 'a

bowl of soup' or 'a tin of soup'.

Write the

collocation in the space you left under

the vocabulary.

This will help you to remember the word

or phrase in the way that it's actually used.

Another good tip is to write sentences

using your new words.

The best way to do

this to help you remember your new

vocabulary is to personalize them.

For

example,

'My mum loves tomato soup, but I hate it.'

So, at the end of day one, you've found some

new vocabulary, you've recorded the

meaning, the form and the pronunciation.

You've reviewed it by looking at it again

as soon as possible after you first saw

it.

Then, you've reviewed it again by

looking it up in a dictionary and adding

collocations and a personalized sentence.

Congratulations!

You now have enough

information in your notebook to start

using it to really expand your

vocabulary.

I hope this lesson has helped you.

Remember, you can find more of our free

English lessons on Oxford Online English

dot com.

Thanks very much for watching!

See you next time.