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  • hey what's up Stefanie the English coach here from EnglishFullTime.com

  • in this video we are going to talk about how to learn and remember more

  • vocabulary so you guys can start speaking more fluently and just feel

  • more comfortable with English now I have many methods to share with you guys but

  • what I want to say is that we all learn a little bit differently so there's not

  • one way that will work for everybody you really have to test and see what works

  • for you what you enjoy because when you enjoy the way that you're learning you

  • learn more and you learn faster okay let me give you a quick example of this my

  • husband loves studying languages he goes crazy he studies everything basically

  • French Italian Russian I can't even keep track of all the languages that he

  • studies and you know how he likes studying them he uses apps like duolingo

  • and mango languages he loves using these apps and you know you can find him at

  • any point of the day just sitting there with the app learning new vocabulary

  • learning new words and then when he meets people that speak these languages

  • he actually can talk with them but for me I don't like that method I cannot

  • just sit and play with an app it's not my learning style it does not work for

  • me and I'm just not interested in that kind of learning so I have other methods

  • that work for me but maybe that method will work for you so it's something to

  • consider if you're trying to learn more vocabulary okay before I tell you what

  • will work and what has worked for me and what is amazing I want to tell you what

  • doesn't work okay or at least what doesn't work for me

  • cramming never works you guys should know this right we're all adults here or

  • most of us are all adults we've all been through traditional education systems

  • and we all know what happens when you cram maybe you're able to pass the test

  • but then you don't remember anything the next day this happened to me all the

  • time when I was in high school because in my history classes every Friday we

  • would have a vocabulary exam we had to learn 10 new words each week and then

  • take a test on those words and I never studied I was super lazy when it came to

  • learning new vocabulary because I hated this learning method I was I was just so

  • against it I hated it so basically what I would end up doing is right before the

  • test when our teacher would give us ten extra minutes to prepare I would just

  • read through all the words really quickly I would memorize the definition

  • and I think you know because my brain was in survival mode like you have to

  • pass this test then I was able to memorize all the definitions

  • word-for-word it was incredible and then you know we would do the test I would

  • get ten out of ten right every single time I had the words down the

  • definitions everything memorized 100% but guess what the following week I

  • never remembered what those words were okay so cramming like that does not work

  • it's not a good method you want consistent exposure to English over a

  • long period of time that is literally the best method okay so now I want to

  • tell you guys about a youtube video that I saw years ago that was phenomenal and

  • it's about the way that our brain works if I can find it I'll link it in the

  • description for you guys to watch because it's truly really incredible so

  • first in this video the narrator shows you a list of words ten words and says

  • okay try to see how many of these words you can memorize and then after you see

  • the list you have to write down as many as you can remember and I was able to

  • write down like four maybe five I could not remember all the words and then the

  • narrator told a story using those words and showed you images of the words as he

  • was telling the story and then at the end of it he was like okay now how many

  • do you remember and I was able to remember every single word and the

  • reason is because that word was placed in a story there was context there was

  • an image there was something for me to relate to and identify with so that is a

  • big key for you and for me when we're learning languages and when you guys are

  • trying to improve your English that the best way to really learn new vocabulary

  • is one in context okay in a story because we remember stories and then

  • using imagery as much as possible so for me this is why when I

  • learn a new word in Spanish or something and I'm like oh man I keep forgetting

  • what this word is I need to see it I need a visual

  • I literally just go to Google Images I typed the word and then I see all these

  • pictures and this is a fantastic way to learn new vocabulary you don't have to

  • write it down and sit there memorizing it day after day trying to get that

  • definition in your mind because words and definitions are all abstract okay

  • they're taking something concrete they're making it abstract and then

  • they're you're trying to memorize that in your mind and it's just not as

  • efficient so trust me on this try it out next time you hear a word when you're

  • like oh my gosh what does that mean or I don't understand it go look it up on

  • Google Images okay even if it's a feeling or a word that is abstract like

  • disappointed for example let's pretend you learn this word for the first time

  • there's not really an image like ball you can see a ball right you can't see

  • disappointed but you can because Google Images is going to show you pictures of

  • people who are disappointed and you're gonna recognize the expression on their

  • face because that's an expression we make in any language okay so that's just

  • a quick example of how you can use imagery and use the fact that your brain

  • remembers things better when it sees images to learn new vocabulary and

  • remember it in English okay the next thing I want to talk to you guys about

  • is social media because as you guys know it's already been proven that social

  • media is highly addictive Facebook Instagram etc so what we can do is we

  • can actually use this to our advantage all of your Facebook all of your

  • Instagram account everything it should be in English but not just the account

  • itself you know where it says settings and friend requests and all this stuff

  • not just that okay but all of the content that you're seeing inside of

  • Facebook all of the content that you're seeing inside of Instagram all of that

  • should be in English so if you focus on a deeper motivation that you have not

  • just English but something that you're really passionate about this could be

  • related to your career related to your hobbies whatever it is but some

  • that you love just follow pages and content related to that in English and

  • because Facebook and Instagram is already so addictive in and of itself

  • you're gonna be scrolling through your newsfeed for at least five minutes every

  • day you're gonna be getting new words in English and it's just a really easy way

  • to build your vocabulary so I'm gonna give you two examples of pages that I

  • love following on Instagram all in English and if you guys follow pages

  • like this you're gonna be learning new sentences and new words every single day

  • so one type of page that I love following on Instagram is quotes like

  • uplifting inspirational motivational quotes you can find pages where they

  • post quotes every single day multiple times a day and if you're following 20

  • pages like this first of all you're gonna be feeling a lot more positive I

  • think on a daily basis and you're gonna feel a lot more encouraged with whatever

  • goals you're trying to achieve but you're also gonna learn new sentences

  • new words new ways of structuring phrases etc okay and to find these pages

  • just use the hashtag search function and go to hashtags and then type in

  • motivational quotes or inspirational quotes and you'll start finding a bunch

  • of pages that publish this kind of content the other kind of page that I

  • love following on Instagram is pages about memes

  • okay memes and jokes and funny things they make me laugh every single time and

  • this is a really great way also to stay up to date on slang or to learn slang if

  • you're following pages on Instagram that are nothing but memes your vocabulary is

  • gonna increase without a doubt and your slang you're gonna start

  • learning a lot more slang too and you're gonna laugh more because they're so

  • funny okay so the next thing I want to say about this is that it takes time for

  • the brain to process new information okay so you're not going to be able to

  • learn hundreds of words every single day and you shouldn't even try because even

  • if you learn the definition of a word you have to hear that word in context

  • many many many many times before you really truly understand

  • that word and can use it on autopilot so a lot of times I see

  • students that hear a word for the first time and they start trying to use it but

  • they're misusing it they're using it out of context because they don't really

  • understand how to use it so sometimes I think it's better to just listen a lot

  • more first and analyze how words are used and then once you feel like okay

  • yeah I totally understand how this word should be used then you can incorporate

  • it into your vocabulary and start using it now with all of that said there are

  • times where you're gonna have to memorize a lot of words in a short

  • amount of time and this happened to me when I had first come to Argentina it

  • was my first year in the country and I decided that I wanted to start working

  • as an independent beauty consultant and I was going to start selling and

  • marketing different beauty products well it wasn't until that point when I

  • realized oh my gosh I don't know how to say these basic words in Spanish that

  • are related to makeup and you know doing your makeup like how do you say lipstick

  • how do you say eyeliner how do you say blush how do you say eyeshadow these are

  • all words that are related to makeup and doing your makeup and I didn't know any

  • of them so what did I do I had to go look up all of this

  • information and start memorizing like crazy and I remember that I printed a

  • bunch of material I watched youtube videos in Spanish I

  • was taking notes about how the girls were describing their makeup and

  • describing how they were applying it I was taking notes and then I would

  • practice I would do presentations in front of the mirror I would make people

  • listen to me and I was basically like hey this is my job now I have to know

  • these words I can't not know these words so that was really frustrating because

  • even though I was studying every day I kept forgetting words and it felt like I

  • was making no progress but you know what it took me about one week maybe or two

  • weeks or a few days I don't remember but it was not actually that long it's just

  • like when you're studying those new words that's when it feels like it's

  • taking forever but then you look back and you're like hey you know it didn't

  • that long so that method of writing words down studying their definitions

  • looking them up etc and trying to cram as much into your brain in as little

  • time as possible again it can work but it's not a good long-term strategy

  • that's like if you're desperate and you're like okay I need a certain set of

  • vocabulary terms ASAP that I don't know then of course that will work okay and

  • my last tip here on how to learn and remember more vocabulary is to just

  • start being more observant right we have active vocabulary and passive vocabulary

  • what happens with a lot of you guys is you understand everything that I say so

  • my vocabulary is in your passive vocabulary because you understand it but

  • then when you want to speak a lot of times you don't have the actual words

  • you don't have the fluency that's because you don't have my vocabulary

  • built into your active vocabulary okay you have just a base vocabulary of

  • whatever you're working with right now and maybe you've been incorporating a

  • few extra words a week but if you really want to start improving faster you have

  • to really listen to what I say and ask yourself what words is she saying that I

  • don't use ask yourself that question and you'll start realizing oh she always