A student’s vocabulary is never complete because it always yearns for more learning opportunities. It is true that every human is a student for life, and that there is no age for learning. We come across several words on a daily basis, and no matter how hard we try, we don’t seem to remember them later. There are ways by which a student can retain the new words they learn, and if followed with discipline, there is no stopping them being an ace learner. Let us delve into some self-help tips on how to increase a student’s vocabulary.
Increasing a Student’s Vocabulary- Self Help Tips
1. Read… Read… and Read
There is no better teacher for learning than written texts and stories. Students should delve into the habit of reading, but reading content that uses language a level higher than theirs. Newspapers, self-help books, and some fiction books have a good dose of new words. Whenever one comes across a new word, they should immediately highlight or note it down and make sure to look it up immediately.
2. Carry a Thesaurus
Carrying a thesaurus is most for those learners who wish to increase their vocabulary. Where else would they know what the word means? Although, in this technology world, it is not necessary to carry around the entire book. Several mobile and website applications offer word meanings, along with additional information such as the grammar of the word, its pronunciation as well as synonyms & antonyms.
3. Maintain a Journal
A student’s vocabulary requires re-learning at constant intervals. When one maintains a journal, it allows them to make a note of all the words they learn on the spot. It is undoubted that writing aids learning and remembering. When someone writes something down, the chances of remembering it later is more. At the end of the day, one can revisit the words in the journal, jot down its meanings and try to form sentences with them.
4. Solve Word Puzzles
There are several books available that act as learning aids for those who want to learn new words. Sadly, mobile phones are replacing books, which shouldn’t be the case for students. It is always better to learn on paper than on screens since it helps with retention. Solving word puzzles does not just stimulate the brain, but it also is like a challenge to try and remember the meanings for all the words they find or solve during the puzzle.
5. Use Mnemonics
Using Mnemonics is a great trick to help increase a student’s vocabulary. It is more like tricking the brain into remembering tough words. Form a funny rhyming word of the word you learn, or try using the word in a funny sentence. Such tricks help with memory and act as hints to remember the actual word.
6. Find the Antonyms and Synonyms of the Word
Whenever a learner comes across a new word, it includes learning a lot of other details. Antonyms and Synonyms are the kind of details that also help with improving the level of vocabulary. Such extra information does not just help remember than word in question but also helps improve the language overall.
7. Word of The Day
Teachers or parents can offer the students one word of the day. You could either give them all relating details along with the word or provide that as a task to find the meaning and other information of the word. There are several apps and English learning websites that also offer a Word of the Day, But since we are focusing on self-help tips, students can do this on their own; they can make use of their journal and find a word on their own from those that they read.
Check out http://www.vocabularytoday.com/ where you can subscribe to get one word of the day.
8. Spelling Challenge
Many times, challenges hep to learn new things. A Spelling challenge, even though intending to improvise spellings, is helpful to upgrade one’s vocabulary as well. These are available online too, and as you get one spelling correct, you can remember what the words mean. Also, this is a good opportunity to come across new words too.
9. Create a Learning Group
Students can form a learner’s group where they can challenge each other with quizzes, share the new words they learn and also partake in other games that help improve their vocabulary. Studying within a group always proves to be more enjoyable than learning alone.
10. Don’t Overlearn
Most of the times, a student is not able to remember a good amount of words that they learn because they tend to overlearn. It is essential to understand each student’s capacity and set a target to learn only those many words on that day/week. If a student overlearns, then they could end up confusing themselves, knowing nothing by the end of it.
Share these tips with your fellow learners, teachers, and parents. We wish to be a part of that learner’s group with these self-hip tips. Increasing the vocabulary is not a one day’s job but is a life-long process. The dictionary adds new words regularly. The above tips can be every student’s personal guide to be able to learn new words on their own. If the students are young, then the elders around them can help inculcate these habits in them.
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