How can we expand our English Vocabulary?
English is a fun language to learn. Although it is considered an easy language to learn, with 750,000 words and spelling that can sometimes be confusing, learning it quickly can seem impossible. But by having a good learning strategy, everything is possible, even without going abroad.
Here are our best tips for learning English vocabulary quickly:
1. Expansion through reading: Reading is one of the best ways of expanding English vocabulary. The teacher tells the students the meanings of new words. He also makes them use the words in their own sentences, in case he wants that the words should be become a part of their passive vocabulary only.
When the students read and supplementary books, they are further able to master the words or to guess their meaning from the context.
2. Expansion through families of words: Students are asked to build several derived words from a basic one by analogy, e.g.
a) Care careful carefully carefulness careless carelessly
b) Fear ——– ——— ———— ——— ———–
c) Use ——– ——— ———– ———- ———–
3. Expansion through patterns of form: Vocabulary is increased by giving examples of a derivation pattern and asking the students to build derived words by analogy;
a) Word————————-Adjective
Hope ————————-hopeful
Care ————————–careful
Faith ————————–
Cheer ————————-
Doubt ————————
4. Expansion through word lists: these are the lists of words grouped around a key word, e.g. Key word = Station
Word list
Booking window coolies Ticket –checker
Waiting room tea stalls guard
Ticket hawkers
Passengers train whistle etc.
5. Expansion through word groups: Students may be asked to arrange words according to certain groups such as;
1) Word groups with similar ideas, e.g. end, finish, close
2) Word groups with opposite ideas, e.g. slow, fast; upper, lower;
3) Word groups with man, his work, his place of work, e.g.
Teacher—————–teach —————–school
6. Expansion through word games: Some word games may also be used to expand vocabulary, e.g.
i) Memory games: In this game the teacher shows the class some 15 objects for about a minute and the students are asked to write their names in their notebooks alternatively, the teacher writes some words on the writing board. The students see those words for a while and later on reproduce them in their notebooks.
ii) Completion game: The class is divided into two groups. A student from the first group speaks a letter. A student from the second group adds a letter to it. Then another student from the first group adds another letter to it, and so on till the word is completed. If a student in a group fails to add the appropriate letter, and the student in the second group whereas the former`s score is zero. The group that scores more points is declared the winner.
