How to Learn English Vocabulary from Natives | A Vocabulary Notebook to Remember and Use Words Once📒

In this article, I, who am currently studying TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) in Australia, will introduce how to create an English vocabulary notebook that even beginners can easily adopt!

Are you all keeping an English vocabulary notebook?
For those of you who are currently studying, such as those attending school or taking online English conversation lessons, you might be taking notes when you encounter new words.

While there are many English vocabulary apps available, this might seem like a slightly analog method, but I highly recommend it.

The reason is simple: by moving your own hands and writing, you engage in an active behavior that makes it easier for memories to stick.

And by creating your own dedicated notebook, you can collect a variety of expressions separate from a vocabulary book, and by consolidating them into one notebook, you can also review them efficiently.

When I have made English vocabulary notebooks in the past, I first folded the page in half (or drew a vertical line), and used a style where I wrote the English word on the left and the meaning on the right.

By hiding half of it, you can quickly check your English vocabulary.

I think many people create English vocabulary notebooks in a similar way.

However, even if you memorize only the meaning of the words, it is difficult because you may not reach the point where you can actually use them in conversation, or it takes time.

Common problems with English vocabulary notebooks

Have you ever had an experience like this?

• Confused about whether a word is a verb or an adjective

• Not knowing if a word needs 'a' or if it is an uncountable noun

• Not confident about pronunciation or stress (the part to read strongly)

According to native teachers, when they listen to non-natives speaking, they often notice that they use 'parts of speech' incorrectly.

For example, confusing nouns and adjectives as shown below.

Also, using an adjective as if it were a verb, and so on.

Next, as something we Japanese people tend to do in particular, I was told that 'articles' (a / the) are often missing or incorrect.

Even in my own classes, I would confidently speak very simple sentences fluently, only to be corrected by my teacher for missing an "a" (forgetting the article).

(*This almost never happens in casual conversation, but it's because I'm taking an English teaching methodology course! Natives aren't strict at all, so don't be afraid!)

Since Japanese doesn't have the concept of articles in its native language, we often end up speaking without them.

Also, points like whether a noun is countable or uncountable are often left quite ambiguous.

Furthermore, even if you know an English word as text, it's often the case that you've learned the accent (the part to stress) incorrectly.

By the way, in English, "accent" refers to a dialect, so we call it stress (strong voice).

Basics of Parts of Speech and Articles (Supplementary for Beginners)

If you're thinking that you're not quite sure what the words "parts of speech" or "articles" refer to... don't worry!

Let's check them quickly. For the notebook method I'm introducing this time, you only need to remember these three things for now.

Noun: Names of things, people, or places → Pay attention to countable vs. uncountable nouns

Examples: apple, girl, school, bus, water

Verb: Words that express actions or states

Examples: play, have, take, go

Adjective: Words that express qualities or states

Examples: happy, good, angry, dirty

Basics of articles: a/an → represents one of something countable; the → represents something specific

Examples: an apple, the earth

No article → uncountable nouns or general concepts

Examples: coffee, information

That was easy, right?

Just having this explanation provides the foundation to turn words from things you "just memorize" into "usable vocabulary."

How to write an English vocabulary notebook taught by a native speaker

Simply matching English words with their meanings doesn't result in a vocabulary you can fully master, as you might confuse parts of speech, omit articles, or use them incorrectly.

If you're going to take the trouble to make a vocabulary notebook, it's highly efficient to include this kind of information so you can see it at a glance, saving you the effort of looking it up later.

I learned a trick for this from a native speaker.

Let's take a look at how to create a vocabulary notebook that includes these tips.

1. Divide one page of your notebook into two vertically (left: word, right: meaning)

Basically, as I mentioned at the very beginning, I recommend using one page of your notebook divided into two vertically.

2. When writing English words, include the part of speech as a set

Write the English words on the left side of the notebook.
At this time, for nouns, verbs, and adjectives (these three for now), add words so you can learn them as a set with the form used in English sentences.

This is an incredibly effective tip I was taught by my teacher.

Let's try it out.
Suppose you just learned the following words. How should you note them down in your notebook?

・attic ・fade ・infectious

First, they were a 'countable noun', a 'verb', and an 'adjective' respectively!
So, we will write them on the left side of the notebook as follows.

3. When writing meanings, keep it simple and clear!

Write the meaning on the right side.
However, since this notebook is for quickly jotting down words you've just learned, there's no need to write every meaning carefully like in a dictionary.

Also, you can use English, Japanese, or even just illustrations; it doesn't matter as long as you understand the meaning.

I currently use English to write the meanings, as I want to be able to explain the meanings of words in English.

For example, I write ≒ followed by synonyms, or ⇔ followed by antonyms.

Adding this to the notebook from earlier, it looks like this.

I heard that a native teacher once insisted on 100% English, but recently, they have become more flexible, thinking it is okay to use the mother tongue to help students quickly grasp the concepts that the words represent.

④ Add stress to English words

Words have several syllables, and the key is to be conscious of which one to emphasize.

Even if you are not very confident in your pronunciation of a word, grasping this unique English rhythm will make it much easier to be understood.

The accent (stress) is usually written above the vowel.

For example, write it as follows.

internátional

If you add it to the notebook from earlier, it looks like this.

The vocabulary notebook is finished with this, but if you have more time, adding simple English example sentences will deepen your understanding.

With this method, you can prevent the state of "knowing the word but not being able to use it in a sentence."

What changed for me with this method

It has been about a week since I established this way of writing in my notebook, and the ease of review has improved significantly.

This is what my actual notebook looks like.

Thanks to this, my hesitation regarding parts of speech has decreased, and my forgetting of articles has reduced, so the speed at which "known words" become "usable words" has increased.

Recommended for people like this

• People who remember English words but cannot recall them during conversation

• People who struggle with articles (a / the)

• Those who lack confidence in word stress (the part to read strongly)

• Beginners who want to learn how to use vocabulary efficiently

If you feel like, 'I've gone through so many vocabulary books, but I still can't speak,' you should definitely try this method at least once.

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If you are interested, please feel free to give it a try✨