OK Lucy
quick question
Why did you use pigeons
as your main example
throughout this whole video?
Look, don't worry about it
it..it will be fine.
If you ask a language teacher
how can I improve my vocabulary?
They'll probably say something similar to:
read books
watch films
speak with natives
do vocabulary exercises
and repeat, repeat, repeat!
These are all valid points!
When I was learning Spanish
I managed to expand my vocabulary incredibly quickly
and this is thanks to a method that I created for myself.
This method probably already exists
but I identified my need and I created a solution.
I needed something that I could do
bit by bit
day by day
And I'm gonna explain to you how you can do this method too
My method is going to help you train your brain
to start thinking in that second language
so, what's the first step?
Well, when you wake up in the morning
you somehow need to remind yourself
that today I'm going to be searching for words that I don't already know.
Constantly!
So whether you put a poster on your door
a post-it note on your fridge
a reminder on your phone
anything to remind you that today
new words!
So, from the minute you leave the house
you need to be on the look out
for words that you don't know
Try to start thinking in the language that you're trying to learn
for me it's Spanish
So, I'm thinking in Spanish
I see a pigeon
'paloma'
OK, I know that one
I see a bus stop
I'm not sure how to say that in Spanish
so, I whip out my phone quickly
write it down in English
and then I forget about it
and I keep on doing that throughout the day
So you're constantly on the look out
Do I know that in Spanish?
Yes I do. Left it.
Do I know that in Spanish?
No, I don't. Write it down.
You might end up with five words at the end of the day
You might end up with twenty words
at the end of the day
it depends on your level, and also where you are
By doing this you are train your brain
to become accustomed to
thinking about things in that second language
and it will help you towards fluency
Then, you're also creating a list
on your phone
of all the things that you've seen throughout the day
that you don't know how to say
Now the important part of this
comes when you arrive home in the evening.
So when you get home from work
or university that day
you need to dedicate a couple of minutes
to creating a word diary
I use a notepad for this because
I like to use use two pages per day
so, I write the date
I write a short sentence about what I did that day
And then I go ahead and I look
at the words that I didn't know today
on my phone and I add them into my diary
so...
So the words I saw today were;
pigeon, litter, bus stop, jeweller's and skyscraper
and I don't know how to say those in Spanish
So I move on to the next page
And I go and search them on the internet
So the first word was pigeon
So I get my computer
I use a website like 'WordReference'
I search 'pigeon'
and I listen to the pronunciation
'paloma'
great, 'paloma'
and then I add that to my word diary
one of my words was 'skyscraper'
that I didn't know
so I use 'WordReference' to search for 'skyscraper'
and then I listen to the pronunciation
'rascacielos'
'Rascacielos' ok, and I add that to my word diary
'rascacielos'
great! And then I just keep on doing that
Untill my list is full!
and then I have a definitive list
of all the new vocabulary
that i saw today
So ideally you need to do this diary every day
Make it a part of your life
and a part of your routine
So what you're actually doing by following this process
and this method is
you're training your brain
to be constantly looking and confirming
that it knows words in that second language
and immediately
when it doesn't know
alert! you write that word down
and then you know that you're going to search for it later.
It's really interesting to look back through
your word diary after months of doing this process
because you see words and you just think
'Oh my god, I can't believe I didn't know how to say that!'
When you wake up the next morning
after having completed your diary the night before
You'll immediately see
skyscraper = rascacielos
pigeon = paloma
You just are constantly, it's there, it's in your mind.
Once you've trained your brain to think and process in this way
it's going to be so much easier to pick up vocabulary
and also to identify where your vocabulary is lacking!
For many of you, this might not work!
Give it a try
if it does work I'd love to hear about your success stories
If you ask a lang t...ugghgggh