Learning Vocabulary How do you learn vocabulary? QUESTIONS: How do you learn vocabulary? Do you often forget vocabulary? Why? What do you need to know to really know a word?

What Should I Do? To really learn vocabulary, you need to: Be organized See and use the words many times Test yourself often To know a word, you need to know more than just its definition. You need to know: The number of syllables and the stress pattern The spelling and pronunciation The part of speech The meaning and an example sentence Other forms of the word

Syllables A syllable is a part of a word with one vowel sound (not letter). Vowel letters: A, E, I, O, U, sometimes Y How many vowel letters? How many vowel sounds? Meat Lately How many syllables? Tomato Classroom Worked Newspaper Dishes Unbelievable Shrimp Sy-lla-ble

Word Stress There is always one stressed syllable in every multisyllabic word. We call this primary stress. A stressed syllable is: Di-nner En-joy A-la-ska higher looooooonger LOUDER! clearer Go back and ask about stress for the words on the previous slide. Stretching a rubber band while you say a word can help you remember the stressed syllable.

Why Do We Care? Research tells us that incorrect syllables and stress are the most confusing things to native English speakers. “Can I borrow your bicycle?” X bicycle X bicycle bicycle “I walked here.” X wal-ked walked Say the example sentences without showing them to see if the students understand.

Stress changes meaning. Some words sound the same except for the stress. dessert desert message massage Some words change stress when they are a different part of speech. record (verb) record (noun) Do some practice using Focus on Pronunciation and Clear Speech

My cat seldom sleeps in the sink, but he slept there last night. Parts of Speech The part of speech tells you what kind of word and how to use it. Noun A person, place, or thing Pronoun A word used instead of a noun Verb An action; something you do Adjective Describes a noun Adverb Describes a verb Preposition Describes when, where, and how Conjunction Connects parts of sentences My cat seldom sleeps in the sink, but he slept there last night. Ask for examples of each.

What’s The Word? I’ll say a word, you tell me the part of speech.

Word Usage Every part of speech has different rules. If you know a word’s part of speech, you will know how to use it. I speak English very bad. Bad is an adjective. An adjective can only describe a noun. The word being described, speak, is a verb. You need to use an adverb. I speak English very badly. My weekends are never relax. Relax is a verb. You need an adjective—relaxing. The child had a happiness birthday. Happiness is a noun. You need an adjective—happy.

A “Mad Lib” is a word game. Mad Libs are stories missing some words. Real word: ad-lib (v) – to say things that you haven’t planned or prepared. “I lost my notes, so I ad-libbed my speech.” Pairs: A asks B for the missing words. Don’t read the story; just ask for the missing words. When finished, read the completed story to your partner. The stories will probably be funny.

Example Mad Lib How to Learn Vocabulary First of all, you need to _____(adv) write down new _____ (plural noun) you see. You should use a / an _______(adj) notebook. Next, make sure you ______(verb) every day. Finally, eat ____(food) _____(adverb of frequency). This will help improve your ____(noun). First of all, you need to LOUDLY write down new BICYCLES you see. You should use a WONDERFUL notebook. Next, make sure you TALK every day. Finally, ALWAYS eat BREAD. This will help improve your MONKEY.

Mad Lib Vocabulary Nationality: where someone is from. American, Chinese, Italian, Korean, Irish… Shapes: circle, square, rectangle, triangle, diamond… Comparative adjective: an adjective being compared to something else Bigger, stronger, more beautiful, better, worse…

Translations and Definitions It’s a good idea to write a translation for an English word, but you should also include an English definition. Why? Sometimes, there is no exact match for an English word in your language. Irusu: pretending that you’re not home Oishii: delicious, tasty, yummy, scrumptious, delectable… You should be able to describe an English word in English. This shows a better understanding of the language.

Definitions When you copy an English definition from a dictionary, make sure you understand it. You should use a dictionary that’s made for English language learners. Which definition would you copy? We will use A B

Recommended Dictionaries Paper Dictionaries Newbury House Dictionary of American English Published by Heinle Longman Dictionary of American English Published by Pearson Longman Online Dictionaries Ldoceonline.com Learnersdictionary.com

Examples A sentence or short example will help you see how to use the word. Write a good sentence that tells you the meaning. I’m furious. I’m furious because my husband forgot my birthday again. You can also use a phrase or collocation. Collocation: words that often occur together Be furious at / with (something or someone) Do handout from Reading Power 2/3 about choosing the right dictionary entry.

I don’t think there is any strong evidence that ghosts are real. Noun First (and most common) meaning

Other Forms of the Word Many words have related forms. You can save time by learning them all at once. Example: happy (adj.) Happiness (noun) Happily (adv.) Unhappy (ad.) Try to organize all the related word forms in one notebook entry.

YouTube Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYzRfYOtVWA Find PanandaEnglish on YouTube. Watch the video “How to Make and Use an English Vocabulary Notebook.”

Vocabulary in This Class Everyone will make a vocabulary notebook and organize it the same way. We will have 5-10 new words every week. I’ll write them on the board and explain them. Copy the information into your notebook. We will have a short quiz about last week’s words every Tuesday.