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I'm not talking about a notebook for your English class, though. You want a list of words that you've encountered in natural context, so you can connect the meaning to real world experience. Here's what you do:
- Get a notebook. Create three columns: word, context, meaning.
- Keep your notebook with you anytime you think you might encounter natural, native English. Even if you're watching an English TV show with subtitles in your own language.
- When you hear or see a new word that sticks out to you, write it down. Don't stop what you're doing to look the word up right now.
- Write down some context information, like where you found the word (e.g. internet message board, casual conversation, advertisement, TV show, newspaper article...). If you can give the sentence it came from, all the better, but if you missed it, that's okay.
- At the end of the day, try to look up the words you wrote down and write the meaning in your vocabulary notebook.
- Make paper flashcards or add your new words to a study app, such as Anki, once or twice a week.
That last step will help you learn better, but even just by writing them down by hand, taking the time to look them up later, and recording the meaning yourself, you're more likely to remember. Look over your notebook anytime you're reviewing vocabulary.
Be careful you don't overdo it, though! You don't need to write down every new word you hear; set a goal of ten or twenty a day. If you get overwhelmed, take a few days off and focus on the ones you have.
And don't stress. The point isn't to remember them all, just some of them. As time goes on, you'll not only learn these new words, you'll get better at guessing new vocabulary's meaning just from context.
Be careful you don't overdo it, though! You don't need to write down every new word you hear; set a goal of ten or twenty a day. If you get overwhelmed, take a few days off and focus on the ones you have.
And don't stress. The point isn't to remember them all, just some of them. As time goes on, you'll not only learn these new words, you'll get better at guessing new vocabulary's meaning just from context.
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