68
STUDY AND WRITING SKILLS
8.4
STUDY SKILLS
REMEMBERING VOCABULARY
1
We tend to forget things very quickly. Can you
answer these questions?
1
What time did you go to bed last night?
2
What colour clothes were you wearing the day
before yesterday?
3
Who was sitting next to you on your last bus or train
journey?
4
What was the weather like on your last birthday?
2
What methods do you use to try to remember new
words? Tell your partner.
3
a
Organising words
One way we can remember
words is by putting them in groups or ordering them.
Look at these words for one minute. Then cover them.
Write the words you can remember.
bus star nurse café bed office worker
brain cinema baby restaurant teacher
railway station children bread
3
b
Now look at this list of words from Unit 7.
Organise them into groups. Then compare your groups
with your partner’s. Are they the same?
book clock equipment notes television
car hair uniform Earth phone lab
black hole computer aeroplane
4
a
Association
Another way we can remember words
is by imagining them in a particular place (e.g. in your
house or room). Look at these words (from Lesson 8.2)
for different kinds of people.
a call-centre worker a cleaner a baker
a lorry driver a police officer a security guard
Choose one and imagine this person in different places
in your house. You can add surprising or funny details,
e.g. imagine a call-centre worker sitting in your living
room answering your phone and putting your friends
on hold. These associations and connections can help
your memory.
4
b
Look at the other people in Exercise 4a and
think of a place in your house where you can
‘see’ them. Add some details to the scene.
Tell your partner about your house.
5
It can also be a good idea to make up stories using
new words. Imagine you want to learn the words in this
box. You could make up a story like the one below.
presentation weekend sleepless nights festival
dinner museum engineer cousin
Last week, I had a lot of
sleepless nights
because I had
to do a
presentation
on Thursday. The
weekend
was
good, though. My
cousin
, who’s an
engineer
, came
to stay with me. On Saturday, we went to the Science
Museum
and then we had
dinner
together in the
evening. On Sunday, we went to a beach
festival
.
Find between eight and ten words in this unit that are
difficult or important for you. Make up a story using
these words. Tell your partner your story.
6
Test your learning. How many of the words can you
remember:
1
from the yellow box in Exercise 3a?
2
from the words in the blue box that you grouped in
Exercise 3b?
3
from your house or room in Exercise 4?
4
from the story you made up in Exercise 5?
7
a
Evaluating methods
Which of these methods for
remembering vocabulary were new ideas for you?
Which do you think will be the most useful for you?
7
b
How often do you review new vocabulary?
Do you think this is enough? Why?/Why not?
