Many students tell me that they want to increase or improve their vocabulary, but they don’t know how to go about doing this, so they want me to help them. If this sounds familiar to you, read on!

As a teacher, I can provide a student with a list of recommended vocabulary to learn but does it really help them? Very often, the answer to this is “No.” Why? Well, most people find it boring to sit and learn long lists of words, so what often happens is that the student switches off. They are looking at the list, they are reading the words, but very few words are actually sinking into their memory. Yes, it can be done but it’s not the way that I recommend for students to build their vocabulary bank.

So what can you do instead? I always advise my students to learn words in context, rather than in isolation. What does this mean? If you learn a word in isolation, you only learn that word. For example, you might learn “dog” and you’ll write down the equivalent word in your own language, you might even remember the English word when you see a dog, but when the word is more complex – for example, “elaborate” – will it be so easy to remember? Probably not.

If, however, you learn the word in context, you learn sentences which use the word in an appropriate way: “The boy had a pet dog.” “The dog barked all night long.” “The woman had an elaborate hairstyle.” “The design of the dress was very elaborate.” When you learn an entire sentence, not only do you remember the way to use the word correctly, but you can create an image in your mind, based on the sentence you have learnt, and this can help you to remember the word.

Don’t forget to write the word, the translation, the definition in English and some example sentences into your vocabulary book!

You can then take things a step further, and learn some synonyms to give you a variety of words with a similar meaning. For example, when you learn “elaborate”, you could also learn “detailed”, “complicated” and “sophisticated” – remember to add them to your vocabulary book alongside the original word! In this way, one word has become four, you have a range of sentences that use the words correctly, and you have managed to rapidly expand your vocabulary bank without too much effort or headache.

Is this the end of the story? Not quite. It’s all very well writing the words down in your vocabulary book, along with a few sentences and some synonyms, but what happens next? If you don’t use the words on a regular basis, you will almost certainly forget them! Memory requires repetition in order to develop, so writing a word once is not going to help you to really retain it.

So, now that you have learnt these wonderful new words, how do you ensure that you don’t forget them? A fantastic tool for language learners is a vocabulary box. “What’s a vocabulary box?” I hear you cry. It’s very simple. Just find a small box that you can stand on your desk. Every time you add a word to your vocabulary book, write it onto a small piece of paper, fold the paper in half and drop it into your box. Every day, shake the box, take three to five pieces of paper out and explain what each word means, then use it in a sentence (if you’re on your own, record yourself giving the explanations and sentences). Now check your vocabulary book or a dictionary to see whether you got it right. Put the words back in and give the box a really good shake, ready for the next time. If you get into the habit of doing this on a daily basis, you will reuse the words quite frequently and you will find them much easier to remember when you are doing some written work, or having a conversation.

Why not challenge your friends and family members to join in with this, and see who can get the most words correct?

(🤫 Parents: You can turn this into a game with your children, with a prize for the winner – it’s a fun way to help them learn more vocabulary.)

Please let me know in the comments if you have ever tried a vocabulary box, or if you think you’d like to!