The Secret to Memorizing English Vocabulary and Grammar

Do you have problems remembering English vocabulary or expressions? Do you find it difficult to memorize idiomatic expressions or slang? Do you struggle to understand grammar concepts?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you’re not alone: most language learners have these problems.
Even native speakers of English have a hard time remembering spelling for some words because often there is no direct correlation between English spelling and pronunciation.
The secret to remembering new words and spellings – for both native and non-native speakers – is to develop a good memory. If you are one of those people who think that they have a poor memory, read on.

This article will explain some techniques that will help you remember vocabulary and grammar much more easily.
First, we need to understand how memory works.

So how does our memory work?

Our memory stores information. The first time we see, hear, smell, taste, or touch something our memory places that information in a certain area.
In some cases, however, when the time comes to retrieve that information, we can’t find it.  Sometimes, even when we try hard to memorize something, the piece of information just won’t cooperate and stay in the appropriate slot in our memory.

Can I improve my memory?

Yes! You can use memory aids: mnemonics.
Mnemonics are images, sounds, rhymes, or acronyms that establish a link to a word, expression, or spelling that is difficult for you to remember. This link connects the two items in your memory, so if you remember one of them, you will easily remember the other.
Imagine this: a stormy sea with bits and pieces of a shipwrecked boat, seaweed and other debris floating around aimlessly on the surface.

This is what happens to a poorly organized memory. It is difficult to find something you need in that huge mass of unrelated bits of information.
Now, imagine a port or harbor where every boat is anchored or docked in the right place. Everything is organized and in its place.

The image is a bit unrealistic, but hopefully it will help you imagine what well organized memory is like. Following this analogy, a mnemonic would be an anchor keeping a piece of information in place and not allowing it to float away.
Let’s take a look at a few different ways we can use these “memory anchors” to learn a language.

Using mnemonics to remember spelling

Spelling mnemonics are used by both native speakers and language learners because English spelling can be very confusing! If you cannot remember the spelling for certain words, create a mental connection to something that will help you remember.
Here is a great example: many people are not sure how to spell the word “vacuum”. There is a double letter in the middle, but which one, “c” or “u”? This video has a great mnemonic to help:

Hear, here! How to remember homophones

Weather or whether? Hear or here? There, their, or they’re?
It is particularly difficult to remember the spelling of words that sound alike but have different meanings.  Once again, mnemonics to the rescue!
I used to confuse two words: compliment and complement. Then I came across a mnemonic that helped me remember the difference and I’ve never had trouble with these two words ever since. I’ll share the mnemonic trick with you.
A compliment is an expression of admiration, praise.

He told her he admired her music, and she returned the compliment by saying that she was a fan of his poetry.

A complement, on the other hand, is something that enhances or completes something.

The necklace was a perfect complement for her dress.

Both words can be verbs as well as nouns, and both can have other meanings depending on the context, but these are the most important meanings.
The difference between the spelling of the words compliment and complement is that one has the letter i in the middle and the other has the letter e. So how do we remember which one is which?
Here is a mnemonic: The opposite of a compliment is an insult. Insult starts with the letter I, therefore compliment is spelled with the letter i in the middle.
When one thing complements another, it usually enhances it in some way. It makes the other thing even better. You know that enhance starts with an e, so just remember that if one thing enhances another, it complements it – and it is spelled with the letter e in the middle.

Another great way to remember words that have similar spelling or pronunciation is to make a mnemonic sentence that includes all the words you’re trying to remember.
The sentence needs to make some sense and should be easy to visualize and remember. For example: A barefoot bear drank beer.

The sentence needs to make sense, but the image doesn’t!

Idiomatic expressions and slang

A picture depicting a literal interpretation of an idiom can be an excellent mnemonic.
For example, to remember the meaning of the idiom “to be all ears”, imagine a person with huge, elephant-like ears pointed in your direction. This image will help you remember the meaning and the central idea of this idiom:

What do people use to listen and to hear? Ears, of course. So if a person has huge ears, that means he is listening intently and paying attention to what you have to say.

And what about grammar?

If English has a different grammar structure from your native tongue, it can be difficult to understand the logic behind “alien” grammar concepts.
It may take a long time and several attempts to learn a grammar rule before we really “own” the concept.
By owning I mean that you feel absolutely confident about it and you use it correctly 100% of the time.
Take a look at the 4 steps I follow when internalizing an “alien” grammar concept. Let’s see if they remind you of your own experiences:

1. I read the rules and I read/see/hear some examples of how it is used. I understand the meaning (or at least I think I do). The rule makes sense. More or less…
2. I start doing exercises, and now I realize that I don’t completely understand it. I need to see/hear/read some more examples before I start using it myself.
3. OK, so I think I understand the concept now, but there are so many exceptions! And I hear native speakers using the concept “incorrectly”!  Are they making mistakes, or is there something that my grammar book and my teacher haven’t told me yet?
4. I now know (hopefully) how to use this piece of grammar. I can use it correctly, and I  know the various contexts where I need to use it. I own the concept now.

Here is the $64,000 question (an idiom which means “a very important question”): is there a way to skip a step or two in this process?
The answer is: Yes. It is difficult, but possible.

How to use mnemonics for grammar

It’s important to visualize (imagine) the new concept; the mental image will help you understand and remember it.
Here is an example.  In Slavic languages there are no auxiliary verbs for the perfect tense (I have read the book) or the continuous tense (I am reading the book).
In Russian there is no difference between, for example, “I read” and “I am reading” – Russian speakers understand the time aspect from the context, but there is no distinction between the two verb forms.
To help Russian speakers conceptualize the difference between the Present Simple and Present Continuous in English, I would ask them to try to imagine two pictures.
For repetitive actions (ie the Present Simple: “I read every day”), imagine a kangaroo jumping up and down on the calendar: I read on Monday (jump), Tuesday (jump), Wednesday (jump), etc.

For actions happening right now (ie the Present Continuous: “I am reading”), I would ask them to imagine a river in front of them that was filled with words and phrases. I would say, “You’re sitting on the bank of the river, and the text is flowing past you, from left to right to illustrate that process of reading right now.”
At first the difference between the two actions can be quite confusing – one is repetitive and general, and the other is developing right now, in front of you.  But the images certainly help to visualize the difference, and eventually to internalize it as well.

And another grammar example

Let’s consider another example of a difficult grammar concept: stative verbs.
These are the verbs that are not normally used in the continuous form, even when we are talking about temporary situations or states.  Have you ever been confused about the logic of stative verbs? How can the same verb denote a state and an action in the same situation?

Example: “The girl is smelling the rose” compared to “The rose smells good”.

How do we know if it is an action verb (and so we can use the Present Continuous), or a stative verb (and so we can’t use the Present Continuous)? Visualizing will help you again.
Imagine you are that girl performing this action.
Imagine every little step of the process: you take the flower in your hand, then bring it to your nose, and gently inhale the air through your nostrils to experience the delicate smell of the rose. Is there an action in this?
Hopefully you SEE the action and you UNDERSTAND that there is in fact an action associated with this.
Now, imagine you are the rose.
What are you doing? What is your action? If you think about this for a few seconds, it will become clear that there is no action on the part of the flower.
Let’s consider other examples:

The cook is tasting the soup. The soup tastes good.

I’m feeling your forehead. Your forehead feels really hot. Are you sick?

Can you visualize yourself being the cook, and being the soup? Can you picture yourself as a forehead?!

How to create mnemonics

1. Not all words and expressions are equally important. Because of that, not all difficult vocabulary items “deserve” to have a mnemonic. Identify the words and expressions that are really important to you professionally or socially, and create mnemonics for them first.  Don’t worry about esoteric or very rare words that you can’t remember.
2. Create word mnemonics in English, not your native tongue.  If your mnemonic is an image, try to think of it only in English.
3. Do not overdo it: try not to create too many mnemonics.  If you do, you could overwhelm yourself and spend too much time trying to remember mnemonics instead of reading, writing, or speaking in English. We all have a limit to how much we can remember, so explore yours.
4. Not every mnemonic will make sense to other people.  Personally, I divide my mnemonics into two groups:  public and private.  Public are the ones that will be easily understood by other people. Private, on the other hand, will make sense only to you.  Private mnemonics are very difficult to explain to other people, but don’t worry about that: the only thing that matters is your own ability to quickly retrieve the word or concept from your memory.

From Frustrated to Fun – How 4 People Found the Motivation to Learn English

Let’s face it, learning English is hard.
There will be times when it’s difficult to get motivated because you’re frustrated with the language.
There may be grammar concepts you don’t quite understand, or you just can’t seem to remember all those words on that vocabulary list. You might wonder if all those years you put into studying are worth it.
In fact, many people have felt the same as you. You are not alone.
Just when they feel like giving up, they found that with encouragement from others and some hard work, they were able to achieve their goals.
And you can too.

Yes, We Can

I’d like to share with you the stories of some students I have personally taught that have gone through exactly the same situation, and had the same problems as you.
They are proof that, no matter what your level is, you can do it.
The secret is to keep motivating yourself and to persevere when you feel like giving up.

Forming Friendships

There were two separate students who had similar English skill levels when they started my class. Bob was a very shy person that worked in the IT industry and would barely speak, while Ricardo, a project manager, was a very outgoing student who loved to participate.
While both of them knew a lot of vocabulary, they didn’t know how to use these words in normal, everyday conversations – for example, they knew would constantly confuse the words ‘fun’ and ‘funny’.
But when it came to talking to other students casually in English before or after class, they felt lost.
After a few weeks, Ricardo started to get really embarrassed and would arrive at class just when it started, and would leave as soon as class time was over.
During class, however, he would talk a lot. When it came to group work he would talk less. Bob was the same – he barely spoke on his own.
One day I noticed that Ricardo went up to Bob to ask about his day. I listened in for a few minutes because I was curious to see how Bob would respond. Bob responded that he had a long and tiring day at work. They both talked briefly for 5 minutes.
I started noticing that over the next 6 months or so, Bob and Ricardo would sit together and chat before and after class. They first started by staying a little bit later, around 15 minutes. Then they also started arriving a little bit earlier, around half an hour.
One day I was getting my teaching materials ready and noticed laughter in the classroom. It was Ricardo and Bob swapping funny stories.
Bob became more outgoing in class and started participating more. Ricardo spoke a lot as usual, but I noticed that his language became more natural, closer to that of a native English speaker.
To this day, Bob and Ricardo are still the best of friends. They go on trips together with their families, and still help each other out with learning English.
Bob told me that it was because of Ricardo’s friendship that he was able to improve his English skills enough to be able to deliver an important client presentation. That client presentation eventually helped him get promoted at work.

Lesson learned: having someone to learn English with can serve as a great motivator.

Going International

A Chinese student I taught was very motivated. He told me that his dream was to go to the USA, and together we made a plan to improve his skills.
He would read a novel or two every week and he would proceed to tell me what happened in each of them. Once a day he worked on writing essays or short stories, and asked me to edit them during our telephone lessons.
He not only worked hard at English, but he worked hard at his job too. He was an engineer.
One day, as we were chatting right before class, I briefly mentioned that the USA has an employment based visa. This type of immigration visa allows someone who is highly skilled to move to the US, even if they don’t have a job offer yet.
He was very excited about this idea and wanted to know more. We found a website where he could apply to find out more, and was told that he had to prove his English was fluent enough.
He was scared he would get rejected, and I reminded him that he had worked too hard to give up.
Within the next few days he went and signed up for a TOEFL test. He scored well and went through the US visa application process and was accepted.
That was a few years ago – the last I heard of him, he was interviewing for a job in Texas.

Lesson learned: if you let fear get in the way of what you want, you will never achieve your goals with learning English.

From Broken English to English Editor

Five years ago, I was working in a training center that taught professionals who wanted to work with foreign companies. Many students spent a few months at the center so they got to know each other well.
One day a new student who barely spoke English walked into my class. He was in an entry position at his company, and during his first week in class he showed me a picture of his wife and children.
However, he was very shy and looked extremely nervous every time he was in the classroom.
Most of the time I only heard him say “hello” and “goodbye” during class. Many of the students didn’t know how to work with him because they were not able to communicate with him in English.
Many students simply ignored him.
He would come in with his book and try his best to read the words presented in front of him. Most of the time he failed, and some students were kind enough to correct him.
Even though he appreciated the kindness, he still felt sad. I knew that he was comparing himself to everyone else around him.
A week into class, this student would come to me after every lesson and ask me to help him read. In his broken English, he said “Help…me…good…English.”
He started drawing pictures or adding notes in his native language. During class discussions he would try to use words he learned the day before.
He started out using the words incorrectly, but within a few months, he had learned enough words to have fairly good conversations with students in the class.
The students who previously ignored him started becoming friendlier towards him. He also learned a few jokes and shared them with his classmates.
Five years later, I still keep in contact with him. He tells me that he helps to edit business correspondence for his colleagues and gets asked to go on business trips overseas. He’s hoping to continue to improve so that one day he can get promoted.

Lesson learned: don’t be afraid to make mistakes. The more you make, the more you learn from them.

Never Learn in Isolation

An Italian student of mine was really struggling with learning more advanced grammar in class.
She was taking courses in English writing because she had recently gotten a promotion at work. Part of her responsibility was to write client presentations, business correspondence and proofread other people’s work.
She put a lot of pressure on herself to do well and would stress out constantly in class.
During one class, students were paired off and told to edit each other’s work. Her partner was being friendly and giving constructive feedback, but she got visibly upset. She excused herself and didn’t return until class was over.
I asked her what was wrong.
She was very hesitant at first to tell me what she was struggling with, but then told me that she didn’t understand how to construct certain complex sentences.
I tried going over rules such as verb tenses and subordinate clauses, but she kept getting more confused.
Instead of shying away, she would ask me again and again how to write something if she didn’t understand.
During this time I was learning Italian. I remembered from an Italian grammar lesson that some of their grammar rules were very different from how English grammar works.
I decided to bring my Italian language textbook to class the next day and do a lesson comparing Italian and English grammar.
As we talked about some of the similarities and differences, I saw that she started to smile. When her partner was editing some of her writing, she wasn’t nervous at all.
She told me later that because she was able to compare English with her native tongue, she could grasp English grammar more easily.

Lesson learned: never learn English in isolation. If you can compare English to what you already know about your own language, it will be much easier to improve.

From Good to Great – 4 Techniques to Perfect Your English

So you’ve gotten pretty good at communicating with clients and colleagues in English. Now what?
Are you happy with ‘good enough’, or do you want to be great? When it comes to learning a language your journey is far from over. In fact, it has just begun.
Sometimes, when we start getting really good at a skill, we tend to hit a plateau. That means that we get too comfortable and reach something called the ‘OK Plateau‘.
This is when we reach the point where we do something well enough that we stop improving.

According to Brain Pickings:

We reach this OK Plateau in pursuing just about every goal, from learning to drive to mastering a foreign language to dieting.
After an initial stage of rapid improvement, we find ourselves in that place at once comforting in its good-enoughness and demotivating in its sudden dip in positive reinforcement.

So how does this relate to you and learning English?

For one, it means that we get so comfortable communicating using the vocabulary we already know that we forget that there are probably thousands more words that we could be learning.
While our writing is great, we might forget that we need to refine and perfect our skills in perfecting certain grammatical concepts, such as verb tenses or articles.
The OK plateau was first recognised by psychologists Paul Fitts and Michael Posner but it is something we can all relate to. Think of it as a “creative block”.
And yes, learning is a creative activity.

Getting Unstuck

With all creative activities, sometimes we get stuck. Reaching a plateau in our learning means we’ve stumbled upon our creative block.
In The War of Art, Steven Pressfield believes that reaching a plateau means that we are not doing the work necessary to rise above it. When we procrastinate, it means that we are letting our inner resistance take over.
He believes that Resistance (he spells it with a capital R) is an inner voice that tells us not to do any work. He says:

The most pernicious aspect of procrastination is that it can become a habit. We don’t just put off our lives today; we put them off till our deathbed.
Never forget: this very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny. This second we can turn the tables on Resistance.
This second, we can sit down and do our work.

Yes, it can be as simple as that, doing our work. But what do we need to do exactly to get over the OK plateau and continue improving our English?
There are 4 techniques you can use:

1. Make Mistakes on Purpose

Learning involves making mistakes. When practicing English, get out of your comfort zone and put your skills out there.
Some of the best learners study their failures. They monitor mistakes they consistently make and focus on the skills they haven’t quite mastered yet.
They know that they have a long way to go before they become better, and that learning is a lifelong process.
Go ahead and think about the mistakes you’ve been making. Can’t think of any? That means you need to start tracking it.
Once you’ve figured out what English skills you need to work on, focus on improving on them.
If you aren’t sure of how to track your mistakes, here are some suggestions:

• Sign up for a language exchange class, and have your partner point out errors you make during your conversation. Write down what specific mistakes you make on a spreadsheet, a notepad or even by using an app like Evernote.
  It might be also helpful to note the dates when you’ve made these mistakes. At the end of the week, review the list to see if you notice any patterns.
• Write every day. Try to aim for 500 words daily. After a few days, go and look at what you’ve written to see if you can spot mistakes. Also, give your pieces of writing to your teacher, or even friends who are native English speakers.
• If you notice any patterns, such as skills you’re not good at, make it a goal to learn them. Mark out a plan for the next two weeks to focus only on learning those and applying them in a real world context.

2. Overcome Fear

What does fear have to do with getting stuck?
According to Steven Pressfield, fear matters a lot. Sometimes English learners plateau because they feed into their fears. They might fear they’re not good enough to do the work.
Being scared isn’t a bad thing. In fact, Pressfield believes that being scared is good:

Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do.
Remember our rule of thumb: the more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.
Resistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates to the strength of Resistance. Therefore the more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul. That’s why we feel so much Resistance. If it meant nothing to us, there’d be no Resistance.

Maybe you’re scared because you’re due for a promotion and you’re not sure your English is good enough. Feeling fearful means that you really want something, such as that promotion you’ve been dreaming about.
Having self-doubt indicates that you know you have a lot more work to do.
So how do you overcome your fear? Try one of these techniques:

• Acknowledge your fear. In English, or whatever language you’re most comfortable with, write down what you’re scared of. You might even want to speak about your fears with a trusted friend. Getting your fears out in the open is part of letting go of them. You’d be surprised at how much better you feel once you recognize your fears.
• Remember the best case scenario. Analyze what would happen in the best case scenario – will you get promoted, or land that client you’ve been trying to get for ages? Keep these scenarios in mind every time fear crops up.

3. Get Competitive

Sometimes all you need is to get some outside accountability. Sure, you may be taking classes or participating in local conversation groups. But you might have gotten too comfortable with these people and don’t care when they point out mistakes to you. Putting yourself in a more competitive situation can push you to learn more.
Some ways to get more competitive can include entering an contest that involves English.
Go and do a quick search on your local area to see if they have speech contests, or even a local Toastmasters group where you can practise giving a speech in public. Speaking in front of a group of strangers is certainly different than practicing with a friend.
Why not enter writing contests meant for native English speakers? You will be competing against people with excellent skills, so that means you really need to push yourself.

4. Slow Down

We’re all human. Sometimes there are so many things going on in our already busy lives that we get burnt out. We start by coming home from work tired. It might even lead to loss of sleep, or even being irritable around our friends and family.
Other people might notice that they do really well for the first few weeks studying new vocabulary. All of a sudden, they might start to slack off, or start skipping their English classes, finding any excuse not to go.
Don’t feel guilty if you’re not as productive when you feel burnt out. It’s simply your body’s way of telling you that you need to take time to slow down.
Sometimes, being more productive means that you need to take a break every once in a while.
It’s great that your goal is to perfect and become very fluent in English, but you risk getting severely burnt out. Take at least a day off where you’re not studying English. Reflecting on your achievements can help as a quick motivator to further your skills.
For example, if you feel like you can’t learn any more vocabulary words, take the time to revisit words you’ve already learned. Really look at the words to get a sense of what the definitions are, and how you can apply them in a work setting.
Take the time to consider how you can apply what you learned. During this process, you might even find that you discover new definitions of those words. You might even find that taking the time to revisit these words gets you excited about learning more.
There is nothing wrong with not always pushing yourself. Constantly pushing our limits means that it’s difficult to keep perspective, to check objectively that our study methods are actually effective.
You don’t have to slow down for long periods either. Sometimes, a few days or even a week is all it takes for you to get back on track.

Conclusion

Go forth on your journey!

No matter what stage of learning you are at, it is normal to reach a point where you’re not progressing as fast as you used to.
Overcoming plateaus in your learning might mean that you need to slow down for a few days. It might also mean that you need to make more mistakes, and get more outside accountability in order to improve.

Teaching Methods

What is the best teaching method for learning English?

According to academic research, linguists have demonstrated that there is not one single best method for everyone in all contexts, and that no one teaching method is inherently superior to the others.
Also, it is not always possible - or appropriate - to apply the same methodology to all learners, who have different objectives, environments and learning needs.

"Applying the most appropriate method for that learner's specific objectives, learning style and context."

An experienced professional language teacher always adopts the Principled Eclecticism approach, deciding on the most suitable techniques and applying the most appropriate methodology for that learner's specific objectives, learning style and context.

Methods of teaching English have developed rapidly, especially in the previous 40 years. It is important that language learners and training managers, as well as teachers, understand the various methods and techniques so you are able to navigate the market, make educated choices, and boost your enjoyment of learning a language.

An Overview

Each teaching method is based on a particular vision of understanding the language or the learning process, often using specific techniques and materials used in a set sequence.
The main methodologies are listed below in the chronological order of their development:

• Grammar Translation - the classical method
• Direct Method - discovering the importance of speaking
• Audio-lingualism - the first modern methodology
• Humanistic Approaches - a range of holistic methods applied to language learning
• Communicative Language Teaching - the modern standard method
• Principled Eclecticism - fitting the method to the learner, not the learner to the method

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What are the Differences?

Each method has a different focus or priority, so let's look at what this means in practical terms in the classroom.
The more common methods have a link to a separate page with more details and an explanation of how they work, including the most common method currently used - Communicative Language Teaching.

Method	Focus	Characteristics
Grammar Translation	Written literary texts	Translate from English into your native language
Direct Method (also called Natural Method)	Everyday spoken language	Student learns by associating meaning directly in English
Audio-Lingual Method	Sentence and sound patterns	Listening and speaking drills and pattern practice only in English
Cognitive Code Approach	Grammar rules	English grammar rules deduced and then understood in context
Humanistic Approaches - 4 popular examples:
- The Silent Way	Student interaction rather than teacher	Teacher is silent to allow student awareness of how English works
- Suggestopedia	Meaningful texts and vocabulary	Relaxed atmosphere, with music; encourages subliminal learning of English
- Community Language Learning	Student interaction	Understanding of English through active student interaction
- Comprehension Approach (Natural Approach, the Learnables, and Total Physical Response)	Listening comprehension	English speaking delayed until students are ready; meaning clarified through actions and visuals
Communicative Language Teaching	Interaction, authentic communication and negotiating meaning	Understanding of English through active student interaction; role play, games, information gaps
Content-based, Task-based, and Participatory Approaches	What is being communicated, not structure of English	Content based on relevance to students' lives: topics, tasks, problem-solving
Learning Strategy Training, Cooperative Learning, and Multiple Intelligences	How to learn	Teach learning strategies, cooperation; activities vary according to different intelligences

Based on Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching (Oxford University Press)

Modern Teaching Methods

As mentioned above, the modern language teacher doesn't follow one rigid method, but applies the Principled Eclecticism approach - fitting the method to the learner, not vice versa.
This means choosing the techniques and activities that are appropriate for each particular task, context and learner, with a focus on motivation and helping learners become independent and inspired to learn more.
The explanation of Principled Eclecticism also includes a useful ten-point guide for teachers and language students on the best teaching and learning techniques.