How to Learn English Vocabulary to Become a Better English Speaker

How to Learn English Vocabulary to Become a Better English Speaker

Hey everyone, I'm Teela with Deep English. I'm really excited for another lesson together today. Today our lesson is about learning and remembering new vocabulary. But before we get started, I just want to remind you that if you're interested in seeing all of our new lessons right when they come out, you can subscribe below, and then you'll be sure never to miss a lesson. Alright, so let's get started. I have three tips for you today all about learning and remembering new vocabulary. 

Tip [1] It's always easier to learn new information when that information is actually relevant to your life.

My first tip, my first tip is simply to remember that it's much easier to learn new information when that information is actually relevant to your life. So that means it's much easier to learn new English words when they're actually useful in your own life. So take a moment right now to think about why you originally wanted to learn English. So maybe you wanted to learn English because you wanted to become a nanny in New York City. So reconnect with your why. After you reconnect with your why, like, oh I remember why, I wanted to become a nanny, then you can imagine yourself in this position. So you could imagine that you're a nanny in New York City, and then you start to think about what kinds of conversations might I be having in English. So this is where vocabulary comes in. So you might imagine that you're speaking with parents. So as you do this, take note of the English words that you will need to learn. Maybe you want to talk to parents about a life-saving technique that you've been trained in, but you realize, oo I don't know how to say that. Take note of that, and then look it up later. It will be so much easier for you to remember new words this way, because they're actually useful and relevant to your own life. So your brain is more likely to hold on to them, feeling just how useful they could be. Alright, let's move on. 

Tip [2] Try to learn 10 and 15 words a day

Tip number two. So my second tip is a pretty short one. And this tip is all about not stressing yourself out. So, tip number two, don't try to memorize like 100 words a day. This is not a good way to learn a new language. It probably won't work. It's a lot better to make a goal that's something like maybe 10 or 15 words a day. Something that's not a stressful goal. Because if your nervous system gets stressed out then your brain will be stressed out, and the parts of your brain that really like to learn will actually shut down. So you want to stay relaxed and make simple goals as far as remembering vocabulary goes. So maybe 10 to 15 words a day. 

Tip [3] Use word associations when learning new vocabulary

Okay, tip number three. And I think this is my best tip for today. And this tip is to use word associations when learning new vocabulary. So what do I mean by this? Well, this tip is all about stories. So when you can learn new words in story form, it's like you give your brain something to latch onto. It's a lot easier to learn when the information is presented in story form. So let's say that you wanted to learn English because you were in love with someone who speaks English. And so you're thinking, what words do I need to learn? And you come across the word cuddle. So the word cuddle means to hug or to embrace someone in an affectionate way, or even to kind of touch someone in a loving way. And so you want to memorize the word cuddle. How can you do this? Well, here is my tip. My tip is, think about the word cuddle, and what does the word cuddle sound like? Hm, well it sounds a lot like the word puddle. The word puddle is a lot more common. It's probably a word you already know. So if you can use these two words and create a story around them, it will be so much easier for you to remember them. So for example, you could create a story like two snowmen fell in love. And when they started to cuddle, they melted into a puddle of love. So cuddling is kind of like two people melting together in love, creating a puddle. So that's one way that you can easily remember words. So let's try this a couple more times. Let's see another word, agenda, agenda. So if, when you were thinking why did I want to learn English in the first place? Maybe you thought, because I wanted to have a job where I need to speak English. Well then you probably need to know the word agenda. An agenda is a list of items that will be talked about at a meeting. So an agenda. So let's say you're trying to remember this word. How can I remember the word agenda? Well the word agenda sounds a lot like the word agent in English. Maybe as a child you wanted to be a secret agent, hm. So now let's create a connection using a story. Ah, let's see here. The secret agent kept the details of the agenda secret until the meeting. So something like that. So this story around a secret agent keeping the agenda, not letting anyone else see it. So in that way then you can remember what the word agenda means. Let's do one more. Okay, let's do the word elementary. So elementary means really basic. Kids from ages five to 10 usually go to elementary school. So if you wanted to learn English because you wanted to become a nanny, then you probably would need to know the word elementary. So let's see how we can more easily remember this word. Hm, well the word elementary sounds like a lemon tree. So let's see if we can create a story around this. The little boy climbed a lemon tree, and he was stuck until he missed his first day of elementary school. Okay so you see what I'm doing here. I'm creating stories that involve these mnemonic devices. So these two words that sound alike. So the more interesting that you can make your story, the more weird and strange, but also even relevant to your own life, the more likely it is that you'll be able to remember what those words mean. Stories are such an important part of learning for human beings. That's why we here at Deep English love to use stories in our lessons. We love to use stories that are interesting and meaningful, because when you learn through story form, you engage your emotions, and your body is engaged as well, so you're not just learning with your head, you're learning with all of who you are. So the next time that you hear these words, you will have a reaction to them, and you'll probably just really naturally come up with the word or the word meaning. 

So if you're interested in checking out some of our free lessons, where you can look at some of our stories, I encourage you to subscribe below, or even click below and that's where you can find some of our free lessons at the end of this video. Okay, so I hope that this was helpful. I know I really enjoyed this lesson. I hope that you did too. Remember there are three ways, there are many ways, but there are three very good ways to remember vocabulary. And the first is to remember why you wanted to learn English in the first place, and make new vocabulary relevant to your own life. Number two, don't stress yourself out by trying to learn too many new words. And number three, learn new words in story form. Okay, that does it for today's lesson. Again, if you're interested in the free lesson, be sure to click below. Thank you guys, I'll see you next time.