How To Take English Notes 5 Best Methods

taking English notes let’s jump right in

method number one all right

method number one main and supports

method now for this method the most

important thing for you to remember is

that you’re going to divide your

notebook into three different sections

okay so think about the rule of thirds

now the middle section is the most

important section this section right

here is going to be where your main

point is or the main information okay

all right now the top and the bottom

sections are the sections for your

supports okay and I’m going to explain

what this means so don’t worry okay so

again the middle is the main and the top

and the bottom are the supports so this

is what’s going to happen in the center

you will see that I put grammar rule so

you’re gonna be studying grammar as you

continue studying English and in your

notebook one of the best methods for

taking notes is to actually put the

grammar rule in the center okay in this

section you will write the grammar rule

and then you can also write down any

tips regarding the grammar rule in this

section alright the next thing you’re

gonna do is actually find six different

example sentences

regarding the grammar rule or in other

words supports so you’re gonna find six

sentences that give an example of how to

use the grammar rule now let’s pause

really quickly you see these sentences

can come from a book or they can also

come from a teacher it all depends on

how you are studying English okay your

note-taking depends on what method

you’re using as far as studying English

so if you’re using a book just look

inside the book for the example

sentences or if you are attending an

Institute and you have a teacher who

teaches you everyday actually how to

speak English

what you’re gonna do is as the teacher

is speaking to you and writing on the

board or giving examples you’re going to

write down the examples that the teacher

gives you in class usually teachers like

myself we put examples on the board so

these examples will go inside of your

notebook

this is method number one so again main

and supports method all right let’s move

on to method number two method number

two is the letter connections method now

this is one of my favorite methods okay

so this is how it works at the top of

your notebook you’re going to actually

put the vocabulary word okay so as an

example I just put the word vocabulary

but I’m an explained to you how to

actually do this what you’re gonna do

next is separate each letter of the

vocabulary word so you’ll see that I’m

circling or actually putting a rectangle

around certain letters in this word

what’s gonna happen is you’re gonna

bring these letters down below the word

again this is inside of your notebook

and for each of the letters you are

going to find a word that starts with

the same letter okay

and you’re gonna write them in a line

okay so for example we have the C and

we’re gonna come and we do the C right

here so we’re gonna find vocabulary

words that start with the letter C all

right again remember I said this is the

letter connections method this is a

great method for taking notes in English

because it helps your brain connect to

something so let’s look at a real world

example so let’s say for example in my

notebook the word that I chose for today

was actually happy very simple word okay

this is the word that actually goes on

the top or the main heading of my

notebook

now what I’m gonna do is take the first

letter which is H bring it down here and

now

I need to find three words that start

with the letter H so from my first word

I’m gonna say health again it’s all

dependent upon what words you are trying

to learn now for my next word and I’m

putting it underneath just because of

space my next word maybe actually

harmony so again it starts with the

letter H but it’s a different word and

finally for the letter H I may actually

say heritage so now even though the word

happy is easy I have three different

words that start with the letter H this

is what you’re gonna do for the letter

connections method okay and this is how

your notebook will end up looking after

you finish doing this method a great

method for learning and taking notes in

English okay all right method number

three creative thinking method again

this is also a great method for studying

and taking notes in English this is how

it works in the center of your notebook

you’re going to have an image now again

you can actually find an image online or

if you’re an artist or if you like to

draw on sketch you can actually sketch

an image okay so it’s up to you you can

do whatever you want for the image in

the middle okay but what you’re gonna do

is after you have your image in the

middle what you’re gonna do is you’re

going to actually find four different

vocabulary words that describe the

picture that’s why this is called the

creative thinking method so for example

let’s look at this actual picture that

we have right in front of us so we have

this arrow right here let’s say the

arrow is connecting here

well actually the vocabulary word that I

found that describes this part of the

picture is lace so the lace on the

lady’s actual dress and let’s say for

this section I actually connected here

and I found a word that described his

clothing and the word is suspenders

okay once again suspenders now

underneath the word you can also write

the definition okay write the definition

under the word in your notebook all

right and let’s say for this right here

the word I found is actually bouquet

okay so I found the word bouquet for

this picture and finally for this side

let’s say the word that I chose was

jeans okay I found the word jeans all

right

and again underneath you’re gonna write

the definition okay so this is very

creative okay it helps you to visualize

what you are learning now another way

you can use this method is for actually

writing sentences so again the exact

same concept in the middle there’s an

image and on the top and the bottom you

have information about the picture but

this time what we’re looking at is a

sentence okay a sentence about the image

so you are gonna write a sentence that

describes this image so I’ll give you

one example now let’s see I want to

let’s say I want to explain this right

here so again my sentence goes here but

if I righty right here I can say this

man is what is he doing this man is

doing a magic trick okay is doing a

magic trick okay with what you got it

with his camera okay so this is my first

sentence that I will put in this area

right here describing the image now

again the reason why this is so

important and so useful is because later

on when you come to look at your

notebook you have a notebook that is

very visually engaging okay visually

stimulating so not just words but

actually something to visually remember

and to keep in your brain when you’re

thinking about new vocabulary words or

new patterns that you

learning actually in English as you

study okay alright so again the creative

thinking method now method number four

this is the organized information method

now the organized information method is

very very useful for listening and also

for writing okay when you’re studying

these aspects of English okay

it’s a very good way to take notes when

you’re listening and also practicing

your writing okay so let’s look at the

three different sections for this taking

notes style okay alright the first

section right here this is where you

learn to put the information actually

about what you are listening to or what

you are writing about okay

so right here we have the type that

means is it going to be a podcast maybe

you are listening to a podcast or is it

a radio show or even is it a television

program because you can also listen as

you’re watching so you’re gonna decide

which one it is and you’ll put that

right on this line next you have the

length how long is the program for

example is it ten minutes is it 30

minutes or is it one hour you can decide

what you want to listen to and how long

you want to listen and then you have the

title okay so this area is very

important for the information now the

next section is actually dealing with

the main details of the audio file or

whatever you’re looking at okay so again

the main details okay he’s going to go

in this section alright alright so again

who what when where why okay

and the last section is where you’re

going to give the summary okay the

summary of what you’re listening to or

what you are watching okay so again your

actual notebook when you’re taking notes

is going to be separated into three

different sections okay and like I said

before this is actually so important for

your

rain to visualize and be able to

separate information when you look at

your notes okay

all right finally the last method method

number five okay

the substitution method this is also a

very good method when you are trying to

study English but you are alone and let

me explain why that is the case so in

the beginning or the top part of your

notebook you are gonna put the actual

English sentence okay the correct

English sentence now this sentence can

come from a grammar book or maybe you

talked to a native speaker and that

person actually gave you an example

sentence that you can use or maybe you

are watching a television program or

listening to a podcast and someone said

something in English and you wrote it

down verbatim

it means you wrote down exactly what

they actually said okay so you can

decide where the sentence comes from but

it needs to be from a native English

speaker now after you have the sentence

down what you’re gonna do is actually

you are going to highlight three

different parts of the sentence this is

very important okay only these three

parts are going to be taken out of the

sentence this leads us to the next

section okay in the next section you’re

gonna have three different sentences now

these sentences are going to be the

exact same sentence as the one above

however the only difference is you are

going to delete or eliminate the three

parts that you highlighted above and you

are going to replace them with your own

answer now don’t worry this is easier

than it seems and it is so helpful so

let me give you a real world example

here’s the sentence I went to Paris last

year with my family

again I went to Paris last year with my

family okay

so this sentence is quite easy to

understand but again sometimes when you

say sentences in English you may make

grammar mistakes so what’s my first job

I need to highlight three actual parts

of the sentence and I will change them

now let’s go to my sentence where I

change the information so I’ll write the

other parts just like they are in the

sentence I went to blank last blank with

blank alright now I have to actually

write the information in so I’m gonna

write I went to London last Christmas

the S with my friend okay

so the grammar is correct why because I

only changed these three pieces of

information that’s how you use this

method and it’s one of the best methods

for taking notes in English alright now

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