SYSTEMATIC VOCABULARY LEARNING-4

Good morning.

Today we will finish up our suggestions for systematising your vocabulary learning with two very useful, but simple, strategies.

Mnemonic Tricks
Mnemonic tricks are sentences or mental connections that you can use to help you to remember new vocabulary. Sometimes they are ridiculous relationships that we create between new English words and other English words, or even Spanish or Catalan words. For example, a student once told me that he remembered the word "receipt" (recibo/rebut) by relating it to the English verb "receive." Although they are different words, there is some similarity in meaning and spelling between them.

By making this connection, he was able to instantly learn this new word. I'm sure all of you have used this method at some time in your life; use it with English to learn those difficult-to-remember words!

Working New Vocabulary into your Writing
At some point you may have been asked to write a composition with new vocabulary. Although sometimes unnatural, forcing new words into a coherent text can help you to learn the new words. Of course, ideally you would have a teacher that could correct your composition to make sure that all of the words are incorporated correctly; but even if you don't have a teacher, make a conscious effort to incorporate new words into emails, letters and faxes that you have to write for professional or personal reasons.

I hope you have found this week's suggestions useful. If you have any of your own favourite tricks for learning vocabulary, we would love to hear from you. ;-)

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I hope you have a good day and an excellent weekend!