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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