Hello Go Natural English learners! How are you? I'm your teacher
Gabby and this is Go Natural English. In
this free lesson we're going to learn a strategy that I've
created to help you remember big, long, complex
academic, English vocabulary words in
English, your second language. So I hope that this is helpful.
This is a sneak preview of what you'll find inside
our Premium Course, the Fluency Mastery Pack,
which you can learn more about at GoNaturalEnglish.com
Let's take a look at the strategy I call
"cru" because the first letters of each word
sound like "cru," which is not a word in English, but it's
a great mnemonic for helping us remember the strategy
for remembering words. We have an example
here, "circumstance." Let's pretend that this is a new
word. It's an academic word. It's kind of long.
I would say it's an advanced word in English.
Circumstance. We're going to pretend we don't know it. Even if you
do, just keep watching because we're talking about a strategy so
even if you know this word already you'll benefit from learning more about the strategy.
First of all, we're going to connect "circumstance."
What can I connect this with in my
mind? First, I'm going to actually learn
the definition, so a synonym of "circumstance" is
a situation. That's what it means. The situation
that you're facing. Circumstance. Let's
connect it with something that we already know to help us remember.
I see in the word we have
C-I-R-C. It kind of looks like
the word "circle," doesn't it? I might
in my mind visualize a circle.
Inside that circle is a situation.
It's a circumstance.
Situation. Now I'm also going to
connect what I see here, "stance."
It kind of looks like "to stand," right?
So I'm going to imagine myself standing
inside the circle, or in a situation
because we experience a situation when we're in it.
Circumstance. I see myself inside a
circle. What else could I connect this with?
Maybe you have other ideas? You could connect a new word
with a sound. Circumstance.
We hear a lot of "s." What could you connect that
with? What does it sound like to you. You can make that connection
for yourself in your mind. We could connect it with another visualization
maybe you have another thought besides a circle
and a person inside. What do you
hear and what do you see when you imagine this word?
Connect it. Also we can connect a new word to
an idea. How can I connect "circumstance?"
I could remember a circumstance or a situation that I
was recently in. Well, recently I was in an unpleasant
circumstance where my travel was delayed and I
was feeling very tired, so I'm just going to remember that
circumstance and repeat the word "circumstance" while I think
of that circumstance or that situation that I went through.
We can also connect it with
people. Ask yourself what you could connect it
with. Who you could connect it with. And think of sounds
and pictures you can see in your mind. You could even connect a word with colors,
numbers. The possibilities are endless. Repeat.
I think this is obvious. You want to repeat the word
to yourself. Circumstance. You could repeat after
a native speaker or after an audio that you hear
online, maybe when you look in the dictionary you can find
an audio of the word as well. Repeat it to yourself. You could
record yourself repeating the word. You want to repeat
the word as soon as you learn it. Try to repeat it
as soon as you learn it and also the next day and the next
day. We want to remember by using
the word frequently. So that brings us to use. You have to use
the word in a sentence.
As I mentioned before, I had an unpleasant circumstance when
my travel plans were delayed. So put the word or use the word
in a real sentence that makes sense to you
for your life, something that you might actually talk about.
Use the word on a daily basis.
When you'e learning a new word you must repeat it several
times. Nobody can remember a word, well OK, if you're really, really
really good you might be able to remember a word after using it once but
most people have to repeat a word twenty times,
a hundred times in order to remember it. Also when you use
the word try to connect an emotion to it.
So unfortunately for this word I'm going to connect a
negative feeling to it. My unfortunate
negative circumstance of delayed
travel plans. I'm going to feel anger and frustration
when I say this word and I'm going to say it with those feelings
when I practice repeating it. Circumstance. Ooh!
This is serious. It's fun but
this is seriously going to help you to remember the word when you
use this method or this strategy. If you enjoyed
this lesson, make sure that you keep watching Go Natural
English and if you want to learn more, join
our Premium Course Fluency Mastery.
I'll see you inside, I hope I'll see you inside the course! Have a
wonderful day. Bye for now.