Public speaking is “speaking in public”. That’s it. No, I am not saying this just for fun. If you keep this phrase “speaking in public” at the back of your mind, it will help you to get rid of the butterflies that you might have in your stomach before your speech. Certain things remain the same in all kinds of communication via speech; be it public speaking, facing an interview or talking on the phone. However, public speaking demands a few specialised skills and techniques. So, if you want to explore some tips for a power-packed speech, read on.
Set a goal. Why are you making a speech? Is your speech to inform, inspire, persuade, educate or entertain the audience? And, more importantly, what exactly is it that you want your audience to do after listening to you? Do you want them to buy something? To change their lifestyle? To help you? To vote for you? To contribute in some way? Surprisingly, most speakers fail to see the significance of this first and foremost step.
Keep in mind the audience. Try to understand your audience’s background. Why are they there? Never presume that your audience knows nothing about your topic or knows it all. Otherwise you will either under-prepare or waste your time preparing more than required. Proper and adequate research will help you establish your authority. Remember, there may be a subject specialist in the audience.
Make a good start. Make a good start with an interesting or surprising fact that instantly draws your audience’s attention. You can give them a happy jolt too by sharing some latest news. A one-liner or a relevant joke can sometimes do wonders.
Don’t be disheartened by initial mistakes. It’s a misconception that first impression is the last impression. You can always improve as you progress if you have made a bad start for some reason. Don’t let that bad start spoil the whole speech. Audience is mostly sympathetic towards those who make sincere efforts to do their best. If you earnestly try, it will be easy for you to get the audience on your side. You will undoubtedly be able to make up for your initial loss.
Arrange your ideas in a coherent manner.What you need is a good beginning which cogently develops and logically concludes. It is said a good speaker can explain even Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity in an easy to understand manner. If you want to listen to such examples, listen to Carl Sagan or David Attenborough. It’s always good to put yourself in audience’s shoes.
Use acronyms. As you speak, a lot of thoughts go on in your mind, which can make you forget your speech. Use acronyms to remember your main points. You may count them off on your fingertips. By the way, an acronym is a word made up from the first letters of the name of something such as an organisation. For example, NATO is an acronym for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
Dress for the occasion. Wear clothes appropriate for the occasion. Your dress should not be too distracting. Wear anything that makes you feel comfortable. Try to avoid a newly acquired footwear or dress. For example, being conscious of a new pair of shoes which pinch or a new shirt whose collar is hurting your neck will make you lose concentration.
Strike a comfortable posture. Your posture should command authority and attention. A wrong posture will defeat the impact. The posture should be polite yet authoritative. Certain postures convey certain strong messages, both positive and negative. Be careful with your body language. For example if it is frankness that you mean but stand with arms crossed it means defensive and it is the opposite of your intentions.
Mind your gestures. Gestures should complement the point you are making and flow with the ideas. Do not overdo them. They should be meaningful and create a right visual impression on the audience. Do not repeat gestures unnecessarily. Control your mannerisms, ways of speaking or moving that is typical of you.
Modulate your voice. Vary the pitch of your voice, pace and volume according to the message. Do not sound monotonous. Use silence as a tool. Tone and rhythm are crucial for effect.
Maintain good eye contact with the audience. Look at the audience to show that you acknowledge their presence gratefully. Keep a smile to match. Scan the audience impartially whereby you show neutrality and show that you are speaking to everyone of them. This way everyone feels pleased to be there. Avoid reading from a text—it will make the audience think that you are just talking to yourself.
Involve the audience. It’s a little tricky to involve the audience. You can do so by asking a simple question where a simple nod suffices. Don’t ask questions which require a lot of thinking. Never ask a person to stand up and answer. Walk to either side of the stage to get the audience to pay attention. They will follow your movement and be connected with you. Recite or sing something to ensure audience’s involvement. You may find something interesting that they can repeat after you. In sum, they will be all ears if they are involved.
Use humour.It’s vital to have a sense of humour in public speaking. Humour can spice up your speech. Make sure it is not offensive to any community, class or creed. Humour should be neutral and in some way connected to the topic.
Use anecdotes. Everyone likes to listen to stories, so add them where appropriate. Anecdotes, your personal real-life stories, create interest because they are authentic, impressive and credible. Make sure that you don’t sound boastful while talking about you.
Announce about handouts if any. You should inform the audience at the beginning of your speech if you are going to give handouts during or after your speech. Handouts should have only the points and not the whole speech. Also instruct the audience whether the handout is to be referred to during the speech. A handout can be most useful in case of a power cut or other hindrances encountered during the speech.
Design your slides well. If you are using a projector, ensure that the colours and fonts you use are easy on the eye. Follow 6 X 6 rule; i.e., maximum six lines per slide and six words per line; but fewer the words, the better it is. Use pictures to add value. Use a light background and and dark fonts for good results. Do not read from the slides. Nobody likes to listen to somebody who is reading a speech. Reading in itself is an art used for different purposes but reading a speech won’t be acceptable. Present, not read.
Keep your plan ’B’ ready. It is always advisable to be prepared for any emergencies. There may be a power cut. There may be a change in the time limit. As mentioned earlier, handouts can be handy here. Have something up your sleeve in case you forget what you may have planned to say. Take a detour to buy time and try to recollect what you actually wanted to say.
End on a positive note. Conclude on a positive note. Thank the audience and get them to clap for them. Tell them they have been a wonderful audience. Let there be claps all round. Believe that the audience will have enjoyed your speech and are taking away something useful. That idea will boost your morale. Leave the audience on a high note.
ClassMarker is a professional, easy-to-use online testing system that allows you to create your own web-based tests in minutes. Whether you’re testing 5 or 5000 users, ClassMarker will save you those long, painful hours of creating, distributing and grading tests.
You’ll never need to re-enter questions or tests, and results are calculated instantly and accurately. In three easy steps, you will have that professional exam you always wanted to give:
Step 1: Create your tests
Step 2: Assign your tests using public or private options
Step 3: Analyze results
With ClassMarker you can create as many questions and tests as you like. You can view test results in many ways with ClassMarker, from viewing an individual’s progress in real time, to aggregated statistics for tests, questions, categories and more.
You can register for free with ClassMarker. FREE accounts come with full testing functionality available. Simply follow these steps and you can start testing immediately.
Highlight: Some that really stick out was being able to embed images and YouTube videos as a part of questions and answers.
Disadvantage:Upgrades cost money but heck, what app doesn’t?
Quizalize is a free and fun way to engage students while reviewing materials for your course. You can either create your own quizzes or use quizzes from other teachers. Quizalize does a great job of providing formative assessments as either a game or an assignment.
Creating an account is fast and easy. Once you log on you can view the marketplace to see what other teachers have created or you can begin to create your own. Once you create a quiz, students type zzi.sh in the URL and then enter your classroom code. From there, they answer questions, get instant feedback, and they can look at data to see how well they are doing.
Once your class is set up you can easily look to see who has taken the quizzes, how many times they have taken them and, more importantly, how well they are doing.
Highlight:The interface is simple. Students get how to play it quickly and easily, and teachers can jump right in, too. The team game lets students work together and see their results in real time on the projector screen.
Disadvantage: Progress tracking is a paid option and there is no option for open-ended response.
If you are considering using Quizalize and would like a guide to get you through, you may check this link out!
Quizizz is a fun way for you to conduct review and practice sessions with your class. It’s super simple to learn and completely FREE to use! It can be used in the classroom settings or even assigned as a homework.
To play a game on Quizizz, you can either choose from their library of countless public quizzes or you can decide to create your own quiz! You can always customize a public quiz by duplicating it! Once you have picked a quiz, you can conduct it in the classroom with the live mode or assign it as a homework game for students to practice at their own time.
Students can use any device with a browser to join the game and you get all the data both for individual students or the class as a whole! Quizizz auto grades all your quizzes and you can download and print these reports in different formats.
Highlight:Students are less likely to lose connection during the game. The classroom environment tends to be quieter because students are continuously engaged until they finish.
Disadvantage:Limited to multiple-choice questions and only four possible answers.
The paperless classroom is possible with this tool! Formative is an assessment tool where students can type, draw, or submit images to demonstrate their understanding. Send homework, do in class assignments, and grade everything all within the same program. When students answer questions, teacher can see them in real time and comment/grade in real time.
What makes this tool different is that you can upload existing assignments from PDFs, Word, and Google Docs, and add interactive pieces to them which means that much of your existing best lessons and resources can find new life in a digital format!
Highlight:I like the fact that I can embed FlipGrid, a video discussion app, in Formative.
Disadvantage: Assignments are tailored to individual use without collaboration options.
Check out this post for 20 ways to use Formative for awesome assessment!
Gnowledge, which stands for General Knowledge, is pronounced just like the word knowledge. It is a test publishing platform and is meant to provide a global repository of user-generated test, assignment and exercises questions for educators, students and parents. Test papers stored on the site can be reused and reassigned to as many students as frequently as desired.
Teachers can utilize the Gnowledge website to store frequently used exercises and test papers, which can then be assigned to individual students or entire classrooms. Assigned exercises can be handed in electronically with the results automatically corrected and completed, thus saving precious time on manual individual exercise correction.
Students worldwide have free ready-access to exercises and test papers pertaining to their studies with results delivered to them instantly upon completion of each individual exercise.
Highlight:Parents can use the site to keep tabs on the academic aptitude and progress of their school-going children in a similar way that teachers use the Gnowledge website for. Detailed results of exercises completed by their children on the Gnowledge website can be forwarded to and subsequently viewed and evaluated by parents.
Testmoz is a very quick and simple way to generate an online quiz for your students. The program has many options so you can customize the quiz and the responses your students will receive. Testmoz is free, and does not require you (or your students) to register.
For the quiz you can:
create 4 different types of questions: true/false, multiple choice, fill in the blank and select all that apply,
decide how many options you have for each question,
choose how much each question is worth (whole numbers only),
set multiple correct answers for a fill in the blank question, and
randomize the order of the questions and/or the choices.
Disadvantage:This online tool has additional limitations, such as the inability to include images or videos.
Similar to SurveyMonkey, KwikSurveys is a free to use online survey and quiz builder, which has been specifically designed so that it is quick and easy to use for people of all experience levels. Surveys and quizzes can be instantly shared through social media, or posted to teacher websites or blogs.
Highlight:Free account comes with unlimited questions and unlimited responses. These survey responses get added to a central database as they are entered. This can be accessed with Microsoft Excel as soon as they have been ‘submitted’. You can also download your survey results.
Disadvantage:No cross tabulation of survey results. Also, make sure you download your results because there had been reports of KwikSurveys losing user’s data and account.
Mentimeter is a cloud-based solution that allows you to engage and interact with your target audience in real-time. It is a polling tool wherein you can set the questions and your target audience can give their input using a mobile phone or any other device connected to the Internet.
Mentimeter allows you to engage the audience better. Your audience would feel more involved in your presentation when given the chance to decide an outcome. It can boost efficiency and effectiveness through collaboration, aside from making it faster for you to generate content or data.
My favorite set-up is to do the “single choice” series with a segmentation of the results at the end. There is often a very appealing aha-effect from seeing the results displayed like this in real-time. It is at it’s most valuable when it spurs a discussion around the results which incredible sometimes because the audience has created the results together.
Highlight:There are so many good things to say about Mentimeter, but one thing that I like most about this app is the Word Cloud function. Basically, you can ask a question and your students can send up to three answers. On your screen you will see the responses formed into a dynamic Word Cloud. If your students had given similar answers, it will be reflected in the size of that word in the Word Cloud.
Disadvantage:As a free user, you can create infinite number of presentations. However, you can only create up to 2 questions per presentation. To create more questions, you will need to upgrade your account.
Socrative allows teachers to create simple quizzes that students can take quickly on laptops – or, more often, via classroom tablet computers or their own smartphones. On Socrative, teachers have the choice of creating a quiz, quick question, space race, or exit ticket.
In the background, they track student performance and provide real-time data to help teachers, parents, schools and districts personalize and improve learning.
This is an excellent tool to get a pulse check on what students think about a topic or to test their prior knowledge at the beginning of a lesson. You can truly see who understands a concept and who does not in a way that is non obtrusive to students identities or stressful for students.
Highlight:It allows teachers to capitalize on limited devices by giving multiple students the opportunity to interact with Socrative on a shared device.
Disadvantage:It would be great to if teachers could add images to questions and options for beginners or visual learners.
Quizlet offers free online study tools that lets educators create study sets in a form of flashcards which are aimed at helping students learn material. Kids are able to compete against their friends, discuss sets, and entire classes can share teacher-created sets.
This tool is great encourage students to use Quizlet on their own time as homework or as a study aid for review especially for a test with long list of vocabulary words and terms. Along with flashcards, it also offers games and testing to appeal to various learning styles such as matching, spelling and quiz to gauge students’ knowledge.
Highlight:One feature that I love most is Quizlet Live, which is an in-class, team-based learning game. Live function makes it possible for students to participate in a competitive vocabulary review game against their classmates from any device. Each team works together to correctly match a Quizlet set’s terms and definitions. The first team to match 12 in a row wins! My kids love the competitive element of Quizlet Live. They loved racing against other teams, trying to be the first to answer every question and to get bragging rights over their peers.
Disadvantage:Structured around sets of terms and definitions, Quizlet is a platform for rote learning.
Kahoot is a student-response gamifying tool that let teachers create multiple-choice quizzes. It provides quick, real-time results and give students instant feedback on their devices without anyone being called out individually. They can be great for formative assessment as can be a great way to reinforce a lesson before a test.
I use this platform mainly to review concepts and vocabulary. My students always ask to play Kahoot again and again so I decided to establish a Kahoot day for quick revision and informal assessments. You can also challenge your students to create their own Kahoot quiz to allow higher order learning.
Highlight: Kahoot can quickly become a go-to for teachers looking for an engaging way to run checks for understanding or exit tickets.
Disadvantage:It would be great if there were a few different songs that can be attached to a Kahoot in order to change the background music while playing. Current music is monotonous almost robotic and can easily bore students and teachers who play Kahoot frequently.
As a language learner, you work hard to expand your vocabulary. You plough through new words every day, make long lists of words and practise with flashcards. However, when it comes to speaking, the new words seem to fall out of your head, so you resort to your old friends – words you already know and have used many times – again and again.
Remembering and using new words in speech is often a challenge for language learners. Here are ten strategies to help you make words stick in your mind and use them in conversation.
1. No random words
We remember what is relevant to us. Making lists or index cards with random words is not usually an effective way to remember and use these words later. Word lists and index cards are great for revisiting vocabulary you have already learned, but to make a new word stick in your mind, try linking it with something meaningful to you. You will be more likely to remember a new word if it is used in a context you find interesting or are passionate about. For example, if you are a football fan, there are more chances you will remember the word 'unstoppable' in a sentence, such as 'Messi is unstoppable', rather than just as a single word or in a generic sentence, e.g. 'Some people are unstoppable'.
Tip: The British Council LearnEnglish website features tons of interactive videos, games and podcasts. No matter what topic interests you, you will always find something there. There are also discussion boards under activities, so you can share your ideas with other learners.
2. Learn in chunks and scripts
We retain words better when we learn them in small ‘chunks’ (i.e. small phrases that combine several words) and ‘scripts’ (i.e. typical dialogues). For example, instead of memorising the phrasal verb ‘to come up with’, memorise it as part of the phrase ‘to come up with an idea’. This way, you make sure that you know how to actually use this verb in at least one sentence. Similarly, instead of memorising 33 ways of saying ‘hello’, learn it in a script, such as: ‘Hello, how are you? – I’m fine, thank you’.
Tip: If you are into learning with video, TV and films, try FluentU. There are interactive captions, so if you tap on any word, you will see an image, definition and useful examples. You can also find other interesting resources featuring words in context. For example, this 'SpeakSmart' collection on Instagram has different scenes from popular television series giving examples of particular words and phrases in use. If you love reading, try reading short texts, such as cartoon strips. There are many comics available online, including those for language learners, like Grammarman, which you can also listen to while you read.
3. Use your inner voice
Learning is essentially an internal process. To learn a word, you need to get into the world of your inner voice. Try the following: listen to a word/phrase once, now listen to it inside your head, then say it inside your head, then say it aloud. Record yourself saying it and listen to the recording. Does it sound the way you heard it with your inner ear?
Tip: On Forvo, you can listen to native and non-native speakers from different parts of the world pronouncing different words and phrases. Just type in the word, choose the speaker and practise.
4. Visualise what the word or phrase looks like
Drawing what the word means, either on paper or in your imagination, will help you recall the meaning of the word whenever you hear it. This method works well with idioms, such as 'to keep one’s mouth shut' (informal), meaning, 'to not talk about something'.
Tip: In addition to the image of the word, look at word associations in the visual dictionary and thesaurus Visuwords.
5. Create mnemonics
Try to create a funny phrase or story that will strengthen the connection between the word and its meaning (known as a mnemonic). I find this technique especially effective when I need to recall words that are hard to spell.
Here are a few mnemonics created by my students:
‘career’ – car and beer
‘island’ – is land
‘to lose’ – uh-oh, I’ve lost an ‘o’
Tip: There are a lot of mnemonics available online, such as the ‘mems’ created by users in Memrise, but you will have a better chance of remembering the word if you invent your own.
6. Use spaced repetition
Repetition fixes new words in your memory. However, repeating them a hundred times over the course of one day will not be as effective as repeating them a few times over a period of several days or weeks (i.e., spaced repetition).
Use the new word immediately. Then try to recall it in an hour. Review it shortly before you go to bed. Use it again one day later. Finally, review it in a couple of days after that.
Tip: In addition to 'spaced repetition' platforms and online software (e.g., Anki, where you can practise with full sentences), you can schedule revision on your own. Make index cards with your words (use it in a sentence on one side and put the definition/translation/image on the other), then set up a schedule for revising them. Flick through the cards and sort them into three categories: ‘green’ – words to revisit less frequently in the future, ‘yellow’ – words to repeat from time to time, and ‘red’ – words for ‘frequent visits’.
7. Dive deeper into etymology
Before you look up the word in the dictionary, try to guess what it means. Look at its root, suffixes and prefixes. If you know a few languages, you will start recognising new words that share roots. Researching the origin of new words may help you retain new words better.
For example, did you know that the word 'tea' comes from Chinese 't'e' (Amoy dialect), which corresponds to Mandarin 'ch'a'? The English word ‘tea’ (just as in French, Spanish or German) derives from the Amoy form (through the Dutch East India Company that introduced the leaves to Europe). Meanwhile, Russian chai (just as in Serbian, Persian, Greek, Arabic and Turkish) all came overland from the Mandarin form. Now, whenever you hear ‘tea’ or ‘chai’, you will see a lovely cup of steaming tea and know how it got to the country.
Tip: Whether you are looking for the origin of idioms or individual words, the Online Etymology Dictionary may be quite helpful.
8. Challenge yourself with word games
The perception of a challenge stimulates the brain. Games that help you discover new meanings and new words are a fun way to expand your vocabulary.
Tip: You can find tons of quizzes and games on Quizlet.com
9. Write it down
Writing down a new word (or, ideally, a sentence using the new word) helps fix both its meaning and spelling in your memory. Make the sentences true about you or someone you know.
Tip: Instead of keeping these sentences to yourself, you can use them in writing games such as the Folding Story. This is an online version of the popular writing game where each player writes one line of a story and passes it on to another player to add to it. In the online version, each player gets just three minutes to write a line and scores points by the number of likes they receive for their lines.
10. Speak it into reality
It is not easy to actively recall a new word or phrase in the moment, even if you have tried hard to memorise it. To change this, record yourself speaking for two to four minutes without stopping. You could describe the world around you, or give your opinion on a particular topic. Next, listen to the recording of your speech and notice which words you used. Did you use any of the new words you’d like to activate? Did you use any familiar words that could be replaced with the new words? Afterwards, make a new recording. Is it any better?
Tip: Join an online community of language learners such as The Polyglot Club, where you can ask questions and practise with native speakers from all over the world.
These are my top ten tips, but you might find that other techniques work better for you. Try to experiment with these tips to see what works for you. Stay positive and enjoy the ride.
In a way, you could see each paragraph as a mini-essay.
You introduce the topic
You provide the contributing information
You draw a conclusion
But how do you know if you have crafted a good paragraph? It will have four characteristics:
Unity
Order
Coherence
Completeness
You achieve these four characteristics through using the three parts of your paragraph wisely and with forethought.
First Sentence
The first sentence in a paragraph is important, and it’s called the “topic sentence.” It should represent the overall idea that governs the rest of the paragraph’s content. It’s the sames as your essay introduction leads into your essay. All the sentences that follow will contribute to this topic sentence. For example, in this paragraph, I began by telling you that the paragraph starts with a topic sentence. Now I am telling you what it is for, and how it relates to the other sentences in the paragraph. If you do this well, you’ll achieve the first of our characteristics: unity.
Contributing Sentences
Your contributing sentences must lead logically to the concluding one. This means you need to present it in some kind of order. Will you choose chronological order, order of importance, or relate each successive sentence to the other using logic? That depends on what you are writing about, but your aim is to make your paragraph easy to follow from point A to point B to point C. Finally, you want to tie all your points together to underline the point you are trying to get across. Order helps to convey the sense of what you are saying. If you confuse your reader, you have not written a clever paragraph.
Order Should Bring Coherence
Have you ever listened to someone talking, and it sounds like they’re just babbling and not making any sense? They are speaking incoherently. When a person speaks coherently, each thought follows neatly from the previous one, and it is easy to understand what they are saying. Although it’s not a must, using transition words helps to show how one thought relates to another. There are many such words and phrases which include:
Because
In addition
By contrast
Next
Afterward
Accordingly
No doubt
Of course
On the other hand
Naturally
Also
After
Before
Another important trick to remember is to keep all your sentences in the same verb tense. It just makes it so much easier for your reader to follow your thoughts.
Your Concluding Sentence
Don’t leave your reader wondering “So… what?” at the end of your paragraph. Pull your threads together into a concluding sentence. It should support your introductory sentence while acknowledging what you have discussed in the supporting sentences. This helps your reader to see how the supporting information relates to the topic. You may think it is obvious, but your reader may not!
Practice
Writing a really good paragraph is something of an art, but like any skill, you can learn it through practice. That’s why teachers will set paragraph writing tasks for their students. But if you love writing, or just want to improve your writing skills, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t set yourself a few tasks. Choose from a list of paragraph writing prompts, or make up a list of your own.
Here are some ideas:
Why I enjoy my hobby so much
My favorite winter activity
My opinion on _________ (Choose anything you like)
Why I hope to become a ___________
I think the most important thing about a person is __________
Why I admire my best friend
My favorite season is ___________
My most embarrassing moment was when_________
The thing I’m most scared of
What I dreamed last night
Remember, keep it to one paragraph! After you’ve written it, leave it for a while because it’s hard to evaluate your own work right away. Later, go and look at your exercise. Ask yourself:
What is my opening sentence?
Do my other points support it?
Did I reach a conclusion, and does it match the opening sentence and the supporting ones?
Have I presented my information in a logical way? Could I have done it better?
Writing a paragraph isn’t all that difficult, but you can’t just run at it like a bull at a gate. If you think things through, you’ll find yourself naturally falling in with the rules we’ve discussed here. Thoughtful work is usually good work, so engage your grey matter and get writing!
Vocabulary is also called as word storage or word power. Having a powerful and huge vocabulary isvery important. Without vocabulary, there will be monotony I.e using one word again and again that's very boring. When you've a large number of words in your mind, you'll be able to master and polish the skills of reading, writing, listening and above all, speaking. Vocabulary gives a helping hand in all the four skills of any language. Although it takes ample time and practice to enhance vocabulary, but it's very important and it should be done in order to be good at all the skills.
❤❤ *_Strategies for improving/enhancing vocabulary_* ❤❤
There are a number of methods/strategies through which we can improve our vocabulary or word power. Some of them are given below:
⭕⭕1. *_Read, read, read and read_* ⭕⭕
The very first and foremost strategy/way of enhancing/improving vocabulary is reading. Through reading, on one side, if a person gets knowledge and information, on the other hand, vocabulary is also improved through reading. While reading, a person comes across a bundle of new (unfamiliar) words. When he/she searches their meanings, vocabulary is improved.
👉 Reading may include:
➡books
➡newspapers
➡magazines
➡journals
➡columns
➡articles
➡essays
➡stories
➡novels
➡poetry etc etc.
⭕⭕2. *_Using dictionary_* ⭕⭕
Another method of improving vocabulary is to use dictionary. When you come across an unfamiliar word, search it in the dictionary and it'll be added to your word power.
⭕⭕3. *_Using thesaurus_* ⭕⭕
A thesaurus is a dictionary, which, apart from providing only meanings, also gives synonyms and antonyms of a word. One can improve vocabulary by using thesaurus.
⭕⭕4. *_Watching Movies_* ⭕⭕
This can also improve vocabulary. By watching movies and dramas, one comes across a lot of new words and thus vocabulary is improved.
⭕⭕5. *_Discussion_* ⭕⭕
Another strategy for improving vocabulary is to discuss. Discussion may be in class, home, hostel etc. When you reads, watch or come across something, discuss that with others and hence you'll get a lot of new words.
⭕⭕6. *_Synonym_* ⭕⭕
Synonyms are words having same meanings. When you come across a new word, search its synonyms and thus, many other words will be added to your vocabulary.
*Example*
Lets take the word *Beautiful*. If we search its synonyms, we'll get many words like:
➡nice
➡awesome
➡pretty
➡handsome
➡delightful
➡pleasing
➡attractive and many others.
⭕⭕6. *_Antonyms_* ⭕⭕
Antonyms are words having opposite meanings. Like searching the synonyms, when you come across a new word, search its antonyms as well. And there will be many words added to your word power.
*Example*
Lets take the word *Bad*. Its antonyms include:
➡good
➡well
➡fair
➡better
➡nice
➡great etc etc.
In this way, vocabulary can be improved.
⭕⭕8. *_Paramonteau_* ⭕⭕
It's a method of enhancing vocabulary in which parts of two different words are combined a new word if formed.
*Example*
👉1. We've two words *Hotel* and *Motor*. Now when we take parts of both of these words, we'll get a new meaningful word I.e *Motel*
👉2. *breakfast* and *lunch* are combined as *brunch*.
👉3. *Smoke* and *fog* are combined as *smog* which is also a meaningful word.
In this way, one can improve/enhance vocabulary.
⭕⭕9. *_Talking with native speakers_* ⭕⭕
When we talk with native speakers, we will learn many new words from them. Therefore our vocabulary will be improved.
⭕⭕10. *_Using play cards_* ⭕⭕
This is another strategy for enhancing vocabulary. When you see a new word, write that on a play card and memorize it. It'll enhance your vocabulary.
⭕⭕11. *_Acronyms_* ⭕⭕
Acronyms means the abbreviated forms of words. Some word are abbreviated and when we learn their original (unabbreviated) names, our vocabulary will be built.
*Examples*
👉 UNO is the abbreviation of United Nations Organization.
👉 WHO stands for World Health Organization. Etc etc.
⭕⭕12. *_Homonyms_* ⭕⭕
Homonyms are words, which are same in spelling but different in meanings.
*Example*
👉One *Bank* is that of money while another *Bank* is the side of a river etc.
So *Bank* and *Bank* have same spellings, but they are different meanings.
When we learn such words, it improves our vocabulary.
⭕⭕13. *_Homophones_* ⭕⭕
Homophones are words having different spellings but same pronunciation.
*Example*
*Some* and *Sum* are different in meanings and having same pronunciation. So when we learn such words, our vocabulary will be improved.
⭕⭕14. *_Polysemy_*
Polysemy means words having many meanings.
*Example*
👉Fair means justice and
👉 Fair means beautiful.
Similarly:
👉 Bear means to tolerate, to be patient and
👉 Bear is the name of an animal.
So when we use this strategy I.e searching for other meanings of words, our vocabulary will be improved.
⭕⭕15. *_Listening to news_* ⭕⭕
Listening to news, specially the standard channels like BBC, CNN etc also helps us improve our vocabulary.
⭕⭕16. *_Word formation_* ⭕⭕
In my point of view, this one is the best strategy for building vocabulary.
Word formation means when you come across a new word and you form many other words related to that word.
*Example*
For instance if you came across the word *prove* in a book, make other words related to it. Like
➡proved
➡proving
➡improve
➡improved
➡proof etc etc. In this way, you'll have a number of new words.
⭕⭕17. *_Using prefixes and suffixes_* ⭕⭕
Putting prefixes and suffixes with words also help in building vocabulary.
Clear: Make the goal
of your message clear to your recipient. Ask yourself what the purpose of
your communication is.
Concise: Your message
should also be brief and to the point. Why communicate your message in six
sentences when you can do it in three?
Concrete: Ensure your
message has important details and facts, but that nothing deters the focus
of your message.
Correct: Make sure what
you're writing or saying is accurate. Bad information doesn't help
anybody. Also make sure that your message is typo free.
Coherent: Does your
message make sense? Check to see that all of your points are relevant and
that everything is consistent with the tone and flow or your text.
Complete: Your message
is complete when all relevant information is included in an understandable
manner and there is a clear "call to action". Does your audience
know what you want them to do?
Courteous: Ensure that
your communication is friendly, open, and honest, regardless of what the
message is about. Be empathetic and avoid passive-aggressive tones.
The English language is a tricky language to learn. There are total of 44 sounds. Some sounds are straight forward and some seems to make no sense at all. With every sound, your mouth is doing something special. Your tonge, teeth, lips and breath work in flawless harmony with each other.
🗣5 Short-Vowel Sounds
short /a/ in apple
short /e/ in elephant
short /i/ in igloo
short /o/ in octopus
short /u/ in umbrella
🗣6 Long-Vowel Sounds
long /a/ in cake
long /e/ in feet
long /i/ in pie
long /o/ in boat
long /u/ (yoo) in mule
long /oo/ in flew
🗣18 Consonant Sounds
/b/ in bat
/k/ in cat and kite
/d/ in dog
/f/ in fan
/g/ in goat
/h/ in hat
/j/ in jam
/l/ in lip
/m/ in map
/n/ in nest
/p/ in pig
/r/ in rat
/s/ in sun
/t/ in top
/v/ in van
/w/ in wig
/y/ in yell
/z/ in zip
🗣7 Digraphs
/ch/ in chin
/sh/ in ship
unvoiced /th/ in thin
voiced /th/ in this
/hw/ in whip *
/ng/ in sing
/nk/ in sink
* (wh is pronounced /w/ in some areas)
🗣3 r-Controlled Vowels
/ur/ in fern, bird, and hurt
/ar/ in park
/or/ in fork
🗣Diphthongs
/oi/ in oil and boy
/ow/ in owl and ouch
/oo/ in cook and pull
🗣Special Sounds
/aw/ in jaw and haul
/zh/ in television
🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣