ME AND MY OLD TRICK (MMT)
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Single words are the building blocks of a language; hence we must try our best to develop a wide vocabulary.
It’s a well-known fact that a person who has a large vocabulary is able to express himself in an impressive manner, unlike someone with a small vocabulary - only could do it in a limited fashion.
You may have tried various methods to expand your vocabulary. Despite all the earnest efforts, your struggle could have failed to find the desired result. How many of you had this bad experience…? Perhaps you’d given up hope of ever acquiring that verbal dexterity because you’ve come to a conclusion that it’s virtually impossible! Am I right, my dear friend?
Well! However you look at it…, without doubt, it’s crucial that you amass as many words as you could and you must get it done the soonest possible. Let me draw an analogy: Trying to intrigue your listeners/readers with a restricted range of words is likened to an army which is ill-prepared for the battle and merely waiting for a disaster to take place!
I’ve fought many uphill battles against the inability to express my thoughts uninterrupted. To tell the truth, I had only a handful of words to play with, whether it was my written or spoken English. I was on the verge of giving up when finally was introduced to this TRICK…! I’m glad to share with you that “Old Secret of Mine..!”
Just before I tell what exactly I want you to do, make sure you have the good habit of reading regularly; if not start doing it today and not tomorrow for “tomorrow” never comes!
STEP 1:.
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Take a sheet of paper, for example a leaf from an exercise book: size – 16cm X 21cm, I suppose. Fold it vertically into 2 halves. Now, this time fold horizontally (of course into two) by taking the bottom edge to the top one. Fold one more time horizontally – bottom one to the top edge. Good! Take a pair of scissors and cut off all four edges so that you’ll end up with 8 separate pieces of *slips, equal in size (8cm X 5cm)!
Here’s a sample
8cm X 5cm each piece
STEP 2:
Whenever you come across a WORD which is NEW to you, take a *slip and write down the WORD on the front side of it. (You can add the “pronunciation” as well if you know how to read “phonetic spellings”) Observe the SPELLING carefully as you write the WORD.
Now on the reverse side (back), write the MEANING of the word (Sometimes there could be more than one meaning). Look at your *slip and read the MEANING(S) you’ve just written. It would be much better if you could say them aloud a few times!
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Let’s assume that your NEW word is “entourage” ; your end result should look something like the samples shown below
Front > WORD
Back > MEANING
STEP 3:
Every time you’ve finished writing a *slip, drop it into a “small box” or any other container that you like, for example… (see pic)
STEP 4:
Every morning before you leave your house just pick a few *slips (don’t see what’s written on them) from the box and put them in your pocket. Whenever you get a few minutes of free time, pick a *slip from your pocket on random and read the writing on whichever side that you see first. If it’s the front face (you’ll have the WORD there), try to recall the MEANING on the reverse (back) side or vice versa. Now, check whether you’ve got the MEANING correct. The next thing that you should do is, put the WORD in a few sentences as per the definition(s) given.
You see, you have the whole day to try these *slips as many times as you wish. You can do this while you’re travelling in a bus/car/train, having meals or even in the ‘rest room’ :-P
STEP 5:
At the end of the day you can either simply throw the slips away or put them in another container. I’ll go for the latter because it will motivate us to do more when every time we look at those slips keep growing in number! Can you imagine this for a while…? If you could learn just ONE NEW WORD A DAY your vocabulary power will increase by 365 NEW WORDS in a year! (I’m sure you’ll go for more than one word a day.) Wow! Isn’t that terrific?! Thus, do not procrastinate! Do it today!
Wish you all the best!
~* GS *~
October 8, 2011
Comments
What a wonderful way to memorize the whole new words. I like reading English everyday,though I can understand most content of the stories or articles by guessing meaning of the new words by context clue, but I struggle to keep these in my mind. Thank you very much for sharing your own way in learning - really a great and useful way, I think - to enhance vocabulary everyday.
Dear Vanessa,
Don't mention it. Please, feel free! I would be very glad if this reaches more people and help them to enrich their vocabulary power, as a matter of fact. Thank you!
~* GS *~
Hello Gabriel,
Wow! Thank you so much for those tips, I hope that can work with my brain lol
Wow! My Dear Gabriel,
It's such a wonderful tip for gaining more new words everyday!
Thank you very much for sharing you old trick but new one for someone include me :)
Best wishes.
Scarlett
Hi Mr. ~*GS*~, I'm glad to read your blog about how we could memorize a lot of vocabularies because I found up that we have the same methods in memorize and practice them. I did that when I was studding in my university where there were a lot of English words to remember in the computerize methods in Examinations. It was very useful way, even I bought special pocket ( like a wallet ) to put that pieces of papers in it then hold it in my bag wherever I go.So we are much of a muchness
Hi Gabriel,
You've done good job, thanks to exchange your worthy experience.
It's really good idea especially for those who is in the business world.(They already have a limited time)
I used to do flascards and my own dictionary, now I can reach everthings online but still I don't think to give up this method:)) it is always valid, timeless way,
Bye,
Hello Gabriel,
Awesome! You delivered your blog with much attention and expertise. The tips you mentioned are worth trying though I already been learning and applying what I read in MyEC. Still, there are plenty of tips that I'm looking forward to do (Steps 1-3 are very useful). I'm glad you didn't hesitate to share it with us. I think, it's one of the best interesting blogs for this year. Good job! Cheers!
Hi John!
I’m so grateful to you for taking the trouble to come by and read my blog post. Also, thank you for acknowledging my contribution with your full credits. It’s very generous of you my friend.
This idea was initially received with great scepticism by my siblings and close friends. Contrary to their belief, I started showing some reasonable progress and since then I’ve never looked back.
With this success story in my mind, I decided to share the idea with our fellow members. There is no doubt at all that the tips could help any other learner of English who is enthusiastic about mastering the Language.
However, one must remember that when he starts using the ‘recipe’, the keyword is patience! It’s not fair to expect results after doing it only for a couple of months; Rome wasn’t built in a day! I hope you’ll give yourself that one chance you deserve!
Good luck, John!
Regards,
Hi Lama!
I’ve learned a little about your father from one of your blog posts where you’ve described him as your ultimate role model. I could understand why he is held in such high esteem by you!
It was truly an uphill struggle for a young boy to survive in a treacherous world all by himself when he had just lost his father at the tender age of 3. It’s amazing that against all the odds, he succeed in every aspect of his life and as a result now he’s enjoying the fruits of his labours: a comfortable life, respect from the society and most of all an affectionate family..!
Lama, I feel very happy for you, as you are indeed a proud daughter of a fine gentleman who is absolutely a perfect example to be a “Role Model”, not only to you but for people like me to look up as well! God bless him.
Having said that, I’m sure you won’t be shocked to hear that I could hardly stop the tears from welling in my eyes when you drew a parallel between your loving father and humble me! It’s a great honour to be praised in such manner; I’m flattered and privileged!
Phew! Let’s talk business now…! I like the phrase “reviving a long dead kind of habit” that you’ve used here. Have I told you before that you’ve never failed me to charm with your words. Please don't ever stop doing it..., I beg you!
Lama, thank you for recognizing my method (MMT) as a workable approach. Take care. Bye!
Yours,
~ GS ~
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