Five ways to boost your ielt ss vocabulary. Hi there. In this video
we're going to look at five way distribution vocabulary and the the last tip
The last one is my favorite. Let's jump straight into it. So number one
learn the formulas of the words, learn the rules. This is a very powerful technique
because if you know like the root of the word, then you can add the prefix
you can add the suffix and you can expand. This is also good for the reading because you can deduce the meaning
you can work out the meaning of the word rather than having to uh rely on the words that you already know
So this is why it's an incredibly powerful technique. I'm going to put the some links that show you the rules
You know, like if you put able on the end, it usually means that the person can do the task or that it's possible
for example. Um So if you learn these rules, you can expand your vocabulary considerably
Um I'll give you an example, the word nonconformist. It's one word we've got the prefix which is non
which just means basically not then we've got the root which is conform
which means to go along with. And then is, is usually the person like communist Marxist
a capitalist. So, if we look at that word, nonconformist, we can deduce that it's a person
who does not go along with the routine. Ok. Um, and that's one of
that's because we know the rules and personally I find it really interesting looking at the origin because you
can tell if once you know the rules at a deeper level
you can say, ah OK. Um Unstoppable, you know that the um prefix Un un is
Germanic in origin. Um I think, and then able, like we said is the ability
So we've got unstoppable. That means it's something that's just not likely to um it's something that could be unstoppable
it can't be stopped. OK? So that's number one, learn the rules
This is really, really um powerful. Mm The final tip is my fav probably my second favorite
but we'll get there in a second. So number two, these are
this next one is more of a tool and it's a chrome extension
It's called vocabulary.com. So just go to Google, put vocabulary.com chrome extension
And here what you can do is you can highlight the words
make your list, it's got the definitions and you can do all the tests and you can learn them and mo most importantly
you can learn them in context and you can do it relatively quickly ie um
you don't have to find the definitions and you can just keep continuously testing it
It integrates well with the spelling B as well. So you can test your spelling
which is um, yeah, if you're looking to get a seven or higher
you absolutely need to have your spelling under control. Next one, quizlet as well comes to this quizlet.com
I'll put the links to these places in the com in the description uh quizlet
Similar idea, you have to look through the definitions I think and you can just test yourself continuously with flashcards and flash cards are a
very powerful tool if you know how to use them. Um I'm not going to go into it now
but if you, it's all about the learning curve and I'll put a link to my vocabulary page where I talk about the learning curve
uh the repetition curve, that's it. And the amount of times that you repeat it and spaced learning and all these other um learning concepts
So the third one, once you've learned the word, use it, use it a few more times in uh that
same day. And hopefully the next day, this goes to this kind of reinforces what I just said about spaced learning
So we say it a few times, then we try and say it again. The next day we try and use it in conversation and
this way we're more likely to remember it also. Hopefully we're going to get feedback whether we've used it correctly
Um If you're in an English speaking country, this is essential. You know
if you're learning your vocabulary, go out the next day and use that vocabulary on the same day
use it if you don't, if you're not living in an English speaking country
um maybe try and incorporated in the English speaking class or um just write some sentences down again
you'll have hopefully learned the word in the correct context. Um So you write down these sentences
write them down hopefully in the correct context and of course, get feedback on your writing
You know, as I said before, if you're not getting feedback, it's the equivalent of running through a forest with a blindfold on it
OK? You can just keep writing and writing and writing. But unless you get any feedback and instead of like encouragement
direction, um or, you know, some, some guidance, you gotta hit yourself
OK. Uh So final one, we're going on to um number four
this is a really, really good one as well. Um This is get yourself an ebook
OK? Something like a kindle. These are really good because one you can um read about something that you're interested
in and AJ Hodge from effortless English, he said, he told me
he said, look, if you're doing Ielts, practice papers all day, every day
you're probably going to get very bored with this and you're not likely to maintain this
preparing for the exam for that long. If you're just doing practice, practice
practice test. OK. However, if you've got your test in a few months and you've got the luxury of time to prepare
then um, focus on your general English abilities and focus on something that you love
This is what AJ was saying. For example, if you are a football fanatic or more likely if you're absolutely obsessed with cricket
then all your media, you should uh that you're consuming in your own language
you should start consuming it in English and about cricket. OK. I got a bit off topic there
But what you can do with the ebook reader is find a book that you really like or a book that really pulls you in
you know, like a turn pager. It's called where you just keep going and going and um this book you'll be just practicing
and immersing yourself in English. Uh the time will go by. But with an ebook reader
you can, if there's a word you don't understand, you can just the touch of a button
touch that word and you get the whole definition. And what I love about this is that you get the definition
you don't get to try. So your brain is continuously working. You're reinforcing this sense of complete immersion into the language
and possibly in the definition, you might not understand a word. So you have to go and look for the definition of that word
And so basically, you're just boosting your chances of remembering the word learning more words learning correctly
And the good thing with the Kindle is that you've got this like kind of like a game
It's called the vocabulary builder. So you can just uh test yourself with the flash cards and it shows you where you
uh first discovered the word, then it's got the dictionary definition and then you can test yourself
So it's really practical and it's especially good if you're traveling a lot because you can carry about 20,000 books
you know, in your little device. And also you can get it on your phone and all this
Um But if you're traveling a lot, you know, taking 20,000 books isn't too bad
You know, the chances of you not finding a book that you like when you're on the plane are pretty slim
Um At the moment, I'm reading a really good book. Um I can't put it down
I'm literally just stuck to it. It's uh the history of glue
you know, the history of glue and I'm just stuck to it and keep
I can't put it down. And if you didn't get that joke, you need to improve your ielts vocabulary using one of these techniques
Next one, the fifth one, my favorite or second favorite. Um But this is
it's my favorite because it's really effective. Um It takes a lot of tenacity
determination and time and costs literally zero. So what you do is you start transcribing
once again, choose a topic that is like top of mind, it's just really um essential or just really important to you or that you
really love. Ok, you get this, the, the video on youtube or you find a podcast and you make sure it's
got a transcript with it and you listen and then you transcribe what you hear
The beauty of this is that one, you're going to hear it pronounced perfectly
more often than not quite a few times. The first time you hear it
you're gonna hear it with perfect pronunciation. Second, you can guess as to how it's spelled later
go back and check. Um So you're developing like your listening skills and also uh your
reading skills because you're keeping it up and these are good skills to have for the exam
you know, listening, writing, comprehending all sim simultaneously. Um The other point is that if
you're learning the pronunciation, if you're learning the sound of the language
the sound of the word from the very first time, you hear it, the chances of you repeating that pronunciation
that perfect pronunciation a vastly improved, which goes um which goes to improve your whole
speaking ability. And then the final one is that you're going to learn the word in context
which as I've said before is very important because you don't want to just learn a list of words that's ridiculous
You want to learn the words in the context. Um I won't go into any more detail
But if so, just to summarize, if you've got a hell of a lot of determination
if you're very tenacious and you've got some time then and not that much cash and start transcribing
you can check your spelling. You, you, you're just going to improve all aspects of your language um skills
So if you need any more help with your Ielts, you can go to Ielts podcast.com and you can even check out the online course
if you're in a rush. Uh if you're just fed up with this Ielts frustration and you just need to get through the course
uh get through the exam. And if you don't have that much time to prepare
then probably worth looking at the cost. Also, like I said, there's because I think feedback is very important
um aspect in the learning and the development of the language and of your learning journey also have a look at the feedback service
the S A correction service there at A TS podcast.com. OK. My name is Ben Worthington
Good luck with your Ielts preparation. If you got any questions, you can leave a comment in the um in the in the description
in the comments section below. Have a great day and all the best with your Ielts prep