On Improving Vocabulary

 

It’s April 4 already and I didn’t get a chance to fool anyone! That sucks considering the fact that I was fooled more than a couple times. Anyway, today we are talking books (ok not really but sort of. I had no option but to photograph books. I hope they do justice to the post) and I remember way back in grade 6, our English teacher was really tough on us when it came to reading, spelling, cursive, book reports and spelling bees. She made sure we all did our assignments and participated in all the activities. By doing so my vocabulary memory grew real fast. Before I suffered the laziness disease, I read and read and read. And as time went by I realized that books would always be a part of me one way or another. On any given day one would find me engrossed in a text book whenever I ran out of books to read. Yeah that’s how much I read. But as time went by…changing schools, friends and many more factors, my reading habits started suffering an awful disease called laziness. Considering the fact that I read books for inspiration, and discovering new things, I began to feel less motivated and my vocabulary started to dwindle. What’s sad is that the busier I have become, the more I have stopped developing it. After a long time of thinking and re-evaluating my values (that sounds deep), I came up with a strategy to rekindle my vocabulary mastery. So here are the steps I created that have actually helped me although I am still struggling with step 2.

 

1. Make Time

First thing is that you gotta make time. In your daily activities, at least set aside 15-30 minutes of reading a chapter or page or more (if you aren’t a book worm already). When you make time, you will find your routine moving smoothly and you will progress.

2. Make a Commitment 

It’s one thing to make time and another to be committed! You’ve got to make a commitment with yourself that you won’t miss a single day (it’s more of a new year’s resolution that stays put).

3. Collect Books

Yep. Collect books. Any books. If you are in college like me, you end up being surrounded by books most of the time. Make sure that you get books that you can actually get around to read (don’t get  ‘A Nurse’s Guide to Drugs’ when you aren’t really interested in medicine or what happens in hospitals… you get what I mean). Remember to collect any books; they can even be E-books.

4. Read a Chapter/Book a Day

Reading is fun when you get yourself around it. Really! Make sure you read at least a chapter if not a whole book.

5. Identify ‘New’ Words

While reading, make a list of ‘new’ words or words that you are not quite sure of the meanings. And of course by ‘new’, I mean words new to your ears. Collect as many as you can find.

6. Have a Dictionary Around

After listing all the words you wanna know, look them up and familiarize yourself with the meanings, synonyms, and definitions. It’s much fun just having to flip through the dictionary to look up words. Well, at least I think so.

7. Practice the Words

Practice saying the words in your daily conversations. You can talk to family members, friends and workmates and when y ask what the words mean, gleefully answer them by reciting the meanings and encourage them to join you in the vocabulary building challenge.

 

8. And If You Don’t Fancy Reading…

There are many sources of random new words, things like TV shows, movies, conversations, songs, ads, and many more. Just grab any opportunity.

 

I am patiently waiting to hear your stories. And remember to have fun

🙂

Sophie

PS:Credits to my friend Tasha who let me play with her camera