Lesson 2
How to Learn Words
I go to school on Tuesday again. One of the students asks a question which is interesting for me. She asks, “What is the best way to learn new words?”
Our teacher says, “There are many things you can do to learn new words. I will tell you what is statistically the most effective way for learning new words. It is reading.
When people read when they learn a new language, they learn twice as fast as people who don’t read. It is good to read for at least 30 minutes every day. I want to show you what you should do if you want to get the maximum profit from reading.
First, it is very important that the book or text which you read is interesting for you. It is important that you enjoy reading. The book can be a nice story or it can have some useful information for your job or your hobby. Don’t read a text which isn’t interesting for you.
It is also good to read a text in which you know most of the words. When you don’t know many words, you can get frustrated. You always want to enjoy everything you do while using English. It is good to choose a text which is interesting and also OK for your level.
When you read the text and you see a word which you don’t understand, you take a dictionary and you look at the word in the dictionary. Then you continue reading.
You don’t have to write the word anywhere. You don’t have to make a list of new words. You don’t have to try to remember the word. You only concentrate on understanding the text. When it is clear to you what the word means, you continue reading. Any time there is a new word for you, you do the same.
Reading also has another great advantage. When you read, you learn new words and you also learn how every word is connected to other words in the sentence. You can see how to link the words correctly.
This way of learning new words is very effective. Try it and you will see how fast you can learn new words.”
Then we continue with the lesson. We speak about the situation in England and about the best jobs for students. This is good for me because I want to have a job. I want to do something after my school.
I ask other students if they know where I can find a job. They tell me that I should go to a job centre. The job centre offers a lot of jobs for students. This is good for me. I am happy that I know where I can find a job.
When my day at school is finished, I go to the job centre. I don’t know what jobs I can do, so I ask the lady at the job centre what the best job for a student is. The lady tells me that they have some good jobs for students. She tells me that I can be a cleaner or a waiter in a café.
I tell the lady that I have no experience with these jobs. She tells me that my English is good enough to work at the café. The training is not difficult and I can have more chances to speak English than being a cleaner.
She tells me that I can start my job on Thursday. It is all good for me. I’m happy that I have a job where I can practise English.
When you want to learn new words effectively, read for 30 minutes every day.
