Having a hard time with new words? Start a happily-ever-after relationship with them using
7 Fun ways to learn New Words "…otherwise they would be just a group of letters flying around our heads …" Mahshid F. Monfared Trinity Cert. Tesol Teacher
Why do we study New Words but Forget them?
What if you found a
A simple answer
you had left there
note from your best friend or a tree leaf
years ago? Suddenly
can be the fact that We learn words not only
Imagine
this unimportant scene
you opened
when we understand
a book today; would
the meaning, but also
you remember the
when we relate them to our world; We need
action of turning the pages tomorrow?
becomes a scenario!
You
can trick your
memory with the same fashion! Give feeling
to have or make
and meaning to the
“background” for the
words you easily
new words; Otherwise
forget. In this article
They would be just a
you will be learning
group of letters flying
some fun ways to do
around our heads!
so!
1. Get someone in the game! A “partner in crime” can give you enough meaningfulness and support to make the new words unforgettable. Also it can commit you not to drop learning when you feel like to!
2. Post it!
3. Replace your “trick” once in a while
You can label furniture,
No matter how genius
kitchen tools, foods and
your technique is, your
fruits in the fridge; it helps you see them over and over; you may also label people around (except for the boss!) if they can take
brain is more! It will finally lose its sensitivity and will get used to it. For example, if you have your “magical wordboard” around for a while now on which you
some fun! For example,
put up new words and you no longer pay
to learn personality
attention to it, then probably it’s the time to
words like easy-going,
give it away and try something else like the
generous or relation
“Alarm” technique.
words like niece, daughter-in-law, colleague and so on.
4. Alarm Technique Set the alarm of your mobile phone or clock to ring some times throughout the day or even during the week and label it as the words you want to learn. in this way you cannot forget to remember!
5. Have fun with new words Try to find or make jokes and stories using the words. You can use some random funny images to make up a story or joke using the new words, and it would be much more fun if you do it with a friend or two.
6. Make pictorial flashcards Put 20 minutes per week, Google some images that remind you of the new words you want to memorize, print them off and place them around on your desk, bathroom mirror, on your keychain and so on. You will get surprised with the result!
7. OWN the words! Try to find people, events, experiences in your life that remind you of the new word. For example if you can't memorize the word “deteriorate” which means to get worse, think of the things that are deteriorating like your concentration at school, your relationship or maybe your mood!? if everything is improving in your life, then think of someone else’s!!! With this technique, you “personalize” the new word. what are your ways to learn new words?