New effective vocabulary learning strategies

Hey hey!

So I must admit that I have never really developed a clever strategy for vocabulary learning and therefore I always ended up confusing them with each other. Since my last progress check is coming up in a week, I stepped up my game and decided to make some changes as far as vocabulary is concerned. I figured out five new strategies which I will stick to from now on (hopefully). Let's get started!

1) So the first and my most favorite one is the 'Word of the day' strategy. The reason why I like it the most, is because it is an effective way to learn a new word by writing it down on a post-it and sticking it somewhere where you will be looking at a lot. Not only do you always repeat it in your head, but also you can try to come up with several new sentences in order to understand the word to the fullest. I should also try to pick the more complicated ones and those of which I have not heard of yet when using this strategy.


2) The second one is the 'Definition strategy'. I thought it would be helpful if I try to make up a quick definition of my own. That is to say, rephrase the definition. 

3) At third place is the 'Synonym/Antonym strategy'. I like to think that connecting a new word with synonyms or antonyms actually facilitates the vocabulary learning. E.g. The word 'shack', which I find quite hard to remember, I would probably recall if I paired it with its synonyms 'cottage' and 'cabin'. 

4) The next strategy is the 'Alphabetic order strategy'. Yes, you've read right. Take a blank sheet of paper and mark the letter whose words you will be working on. Write all the new words down and make a little folder of them.Try to go through a couple of different letter-sheets a day.

5) Last but not least is the 'Monolingual dictionary strategy'. There are a lot of monolingual dictionaries, whether printed or online. It definitely is harder to study vocabulary with monolingual dictionaries than bilingual, but it pays off. A monolingual dictionary helps to process the words deeply. In addition to that, a monolingual dictionary has an excellent use of real, contemporary English. The one that I use and like the most is the Longman online dictionary (http://www.ldoceonline.com/). 

Thanks for stopping by!