How To Build Your English Vocabulary In 4 Simple Steps
last week one of my students asked me
during our class teacher how can I build
my English vocabulary and as he asked me
the question I could see the frustration
written all over his face and do you
know why I could see the frustration
because I had been there too you see I
speak Korean now but years ago when I
was studying Korean it was difficult and
I remember one specific night when I was
in my room and I was getting ready to go
to bed and I could feel the frustration
beginning to build because I had a
vocabulary test the next day and I
wasn’t confident and I didn’t feel like
I had learned enough vocabulary so I
decided to wake up the next morning
around 4 a.m. to study and to memorize
even more vocabulary words but when my
alarm went off at 4 a.m. I only remember
frustration anxiety and fear because I
had about a hundred vocabulary words to
memorize before the exam and I felt like
it was impossible I thought to myself
what am i doing how come I can’t take
this information in these vocabulary
words and use them so when I saw my
students face when he was asking me the
same question I felt his pain and I
think you may experience the same thing
on a regular basis this frustration that
comes from not being able to build your
English vocabulary and use the
vocabulary like a native English speaker
well I have good news for you
don’t worry today I have four simple
steps that will help you take your
English to the next level and help you
build your English vocabulary but now
before I show you these steps I have a
quick favor
you see my goal as a teacher is to help
1 billion students you hear me write 1
million students gain confidence in
their ability to speak English but I
need your help all you have to do is
like this video share it and subscribe
one more time like this video share it
and subscribe how does this help well
you see the more people that see this
video the more students that learn what
you’re about to learn
the more students will gain confidence
so we’re a family let’s work together so
again like share and subscribe I’m
teacher Tiffany let’s jump right in
[Music]
alright so let’s get started we see
there are two individuals here on the
screen and they’re surrounded by
different things we see the news or
sports pets or animals hiking and
cooking now these things represents
different interests or hobbies a person
may have now let’s see which one they
like she likes the news he likes cooking
she likes sports he likes hiking she
likes pets and he likes to read so these
two individuals have different interests
different things that they think about
or research so when they speak about
these things in their language they’re
able to speak fluently because they
enjoy these things well you see this is
the first thing I want you to understand
before we go into our steps you must
learn vocabulary words related to the
topics you are already interested in a
lot of you are getting frustrated
because you’re learning vocabulary words
related to the news but you don’t care
about the news or you’re learning
vocabulary words to pass an exam and you
can’t make the connection with your
actual life don’t worry I’m gonna help
you with the four simple steps but you
first must recognize what your interests
are write them down
hey what do I think about on a regular
basis what am i interested in and now
let’s go into the first step after
you’ve realized that here’s what you
need to do the first step input find
vocabulary words related to the topics
you are actually interested in now this
step is very key but there are different
ways to input the information so let me
show you for first you can say I’m gonna
pause some of you have trouble with the
F sound even native English speakers
struggle sometimes
so first not for it
first you’re going to search online you
can choose to search online and again
how do you do this search for vocabulary
words on the internet using Google or
another search engine again this is just
one way of finding more Cabul airy words
or you can choose to watch or listen
watch or listen to videos movies and
podcasts about the specific topic now
you’ll notice that it’s not just about
books when you’re trying to learn
vocabulary you can look at real-life
situations all right now the other way
is a vocabulary book alright get a
vocabulary book and look for words
related to the specific topic so again
this is step one we’re inputting
information but we’re not gonna stop
here the story I told you about when I
was studying for that exam I was only
inputting the vocabulary words which is
why I was getting frustrated because I
was never able to use them properly
alright so step one input now we move on
to step number two process so you’re
going to store and analyze the
vocabulary words you learn in step one
how do we do this you can choose to
memorize the words so memorize the words
you found in step one and try to master
them so what am I saying
memorizing is important it is a part of
your English language learning journey
it is a part of it but it’s step two
memorizing the words okay or you can
write and describe now the second way to
process information is to write the
interesting words you learned again from
the videos or the audio clips and also
describe the scene or situation now we
talked about this in last week’s video
when you learn something from a video
like this video right here with me if
you hear me say an idiom or an
expression or a vocabulary word you’ve
never heard before take it in then write
it down and describe hmm I learned this
word for
teacher Tiffani in this video when she
was talking about Dada
you’re giving your brain excuse me a
trigger a connection that will help you
remember the word later on again this is
just step 2 of the four step process all
right
or you can connect a topic now connect
each word to a specific topic and think
about how it relates to it so you’ll see
every time I go to the how-to section
you’ll see three columns because you can
pick the track or the path you want to
take if you follow path one for all four
steps that’s okay or path to or path
three all right
so step one again what is it input very
good step two process very good now
what’s step three let’s go back to my
screen
step three is review you’re going to go
over the vocabulary words and test
yourself until you feel comfortable so
this is very important but it’s not the
last step you have to input the
information then you have to allow your
brain to kind of connect and process and
then you need to recall review what you
learned all right so how do you do that
here we go you can create flashcards
create flashcards for each word and test
yourself until you master each of them
now this video is not sponsored but a
lot of my students in the Academy tell
me that they like using Enki a nki so
it’s not sponsored but it’s a great
process and that process it’s a great
product it’s totally free online Anke
and it’s a great way to make online
flashcards okay all right the next thing
you can do is a situation quiz so find
images of different situations and try
to apply the words to those situations
all right so let’s say for example I
learned the word angry numb again you
may know this word but what is it
connected to when I said angry probably
in your mind it popped up
image of someone looking like this right
so if I’m looking at an image right the
image on my screen and I see a little
boy he looks cute but if I want to
connect angry ah the little boy’s mom is
angry because he’s touching the tree you
see I formulated a sentence or an idea
using the word and the image that’s what
you want to do when you are reviewing
okay
or you can create a list of categories
so break each set down into smaller
groups based on categories that you
decide all right so again this is step
three so step one input step two process
and step three review now this last step
step four is where you really are going
to take your vocabulary to the next
level all right so the next step step
number four is output so you need to
apply what you learned by using the
words in real situations so first thing
you can do text or comment so you can
use the vocabulary words in a text
conversation or a comment under a video
so again every week I teach you a new
thing a new lesson a new English lesson
in the comment section use a word that
you learned to comment on the video if
you want to talk to your friends again I
mentioned that last week as well the
power of teaching somebody else you can
text your friends yo did you hear about
this new word or you can say something
about a situation you’re already talking
about but put it in a text message okay
now the next thing you can do for output
is teach it or talk about it teach the
words to someone or explain how you
learned the words again if you have
children teach your kids if you have
friends who are also learning English
teach them what you learn your brain is
so amazing I know last week someone made
a comment teacher your brain is awesome
mine is not can’t remember the students
name but know all of you each and every
one of you your brain is up
so your brain will start to make these
connections so if you go through all
four steps you get here and start
talking about the words and teaching
them to someone I guarantee your brain
will start making those connections now
the last thing you can do you can choose
to describe a situation talk about a
real-life situation with a friend and
use the words you learned now I
guarantee like I said earlier the
frustration you experience we are trying
to learn vocabulary words and use them I
get it
I’ve been there I totally understand but
these four simple steps man first input
then process then review and then output
if you follow these four simple steps I
guarantee that your vocabulary who your
start to build your vocabulary very
quickly now I don’t want to stop here I
have a part two to this video where I
give words and examples and I actually
give actual websites and videos to watch
but again part two is always for my
academy students and I want to encourage
you to join the family because if you
enjoy part one of this video if you
enjoy part one of any videos I have
you’re gonna definitely enjoy part two
but you have to be a member of my
Academy click the link in the
description you’ll see it right here on
the screen I hope you guys enjoyed this
video I really did enjoy creating it for
you because I know what you’re going
through and I want to help you so four
simple steps again input process review
and output follow these four simple
steps and I guarantee you will start to
build your vocabulary today alright guys
I will talk to you next week but as
always remember to speak English
you know what time it is it’s story time
hey I said story time alright guys so
today’s story is interesting yeah I’ll
tell you a story that happened when I
was in university and I learned a
valuable lesson from this experience so
I’ve told you how many times that I was
very athletic I love sports and I was a
runner I participated in almost any
sport that was available I participated
in that sport when I was in school but I
also liked martial arts so you know
karate or kung-fu and when I was in
university there was a guy there an
older gentleman and he was a kung-fu
master I say that but he taught Muay
Thai and kung fu so I started training
with him myself and another good friend
of mine we started training with him
about once or twice a week and it was
very intense because you have to
memorize all of the positions memorize
the stances understand how to dodge and
how to punch and how to use the
opponent’s energy and there are a lot of
things that we had to understand so I
remember this one time though we were
sparring sparring is when you kind of
you know you you’re fighting each other
you’re not angry it’s just practice and
you’re trying to hit each other but
you’re also trying to avoid being hit so
my friend was a guy he and I were
sparring and our coach was standing with
us and so we’re standing there and we’re
sparring and I don’t like to get hit at
all so my friend here’s a some slang for
you tagging so someone like hits you
like that because it oh he or she tagged
you right so he’s my friend you know he
was he was hitting me but it was a
little bit hard so I was getting angry
now again I’m not a Yeller I don’t yell
if I get angry I get real quiet real
quiet and yeah my blood starts boiling
so anyways we’re sparring and my coach
is standing there
friend he tags me one time until it
hurts a little bit cuz it’s in my face
oh another thing is we don’t like to get
hit in the face at all okay so he tags
me once then he tags me again
and I’m getting angry so as I’m getting
angry I’m starting to move faster but
I’m not able to tag him back and I’m
getting frustrated
so my frustration is building my friend
keeps tagging me I’m getting angry and
I’m losing control
so my coach tells us both to stop and
then he pulls me to the side and again
this is my friend so I’m okay but I’m
getting a little angry my coach says
TIFF you’re getting mad because he’s
tagging you but you’re not controlling
your anger or your frustration because
you can’t think clearly which is why
you’re not able to respond to him or tag
him he said you must take control of
your thoughts you must be in control of
your emotions so I said okay now again
remember I’m upset I’m not trying to
listen to my coach so I go back my
friend and I are practicing again and my
friend tags me and I’m about to get
frustrated and angry and I can see my
coach’s eye kind of saying relax TIFF
so I relax and the moment I relaxed is
when I was able to anticipate my friends
move so when I was relaxed I saw my
friend go like this I dodged and I
tagged him so the things started to
change
I started tagging my friend more again
hitting or tagging and I can’t show you
the full movement because we only have
this much in the frame but sorry but
yeah I noticed I never forgot that
situation because my coach was trying to
help me understand TIFF when you’re
frustrated or when you’re experiencing
anxiety or anger you cannot control your
thoughts you cannot have control of your
actions and you do things that you don’t
realize you’ll do the same can kind of
be applied for you as you’re studying
English when you get frustrated and
you’re feeling like I just can’t do this
anymore
your brains not going to take in any
information your brains not gonna
process the information it should so
when you feel frustrated and angry relax
take a moment step back from your
studies
give yourself a breather and then come
back and study again when you’re angry
and frustrated nothing can come in and
nothing can go out so I never forgot
that experience and I think it will
remain with me for the rest of my life I
hope you guys enjoyed it I look forward
to talking to you guys next week
have an amazing week and I’ll talk to
you later