Increase your Vocabulary by 1000 words in 2 months!
Course Outline: Participants increase their vocabulary in their field of choice by identifying the body of vocabulary they want to focus on and then preparing word lists from their readings that include pronunciation (using the International Phonetic Alphabet or IPA) for each session. In addition, the instructor provides word lists in context with examples for practice during the session. The student chooses the most relevant words and expressions to move from their “passive” to their “active” vocabulary each week. All of the words are kept in one “growing” document or database that the student can easily access for review.
Fields of Choice:
- General
- Academic
- Medical
- Scientific
- Computer-related
- Legal
- Political
- Economic
- Business
- Real Estate
- Specialized (industry)
All new words are discussed in the following manner:
- pronunciation (if you can’t say the word, you won’t use it)
- discussion of meaning in various venues — identifying all related word forms (including plurals, past tenses, gerunds, and adjective and adverbial)
- common collocations & idioms (literal & figurative meanings)
- usage – example sentences
- selection of words to migrate from “passive” to “active”
- speaking and writing assignments that involve using the new words in context
Students are encouraged to keep a “running lists” of words they hear others use in the media and at work to add to their “growing list” of new vocabulary words.
For each session, the student brings an article (2 copies to write on, one for the student and one for the instructor). The student should have read the article before coming to the session and highlighted at least 10 words for the “growing list”. Together with the instructor, 10 words will be discussed (as described above) and added to the “growing list” of vocabulary words. Words from the article or from the “running list” of words the student hears during the week may be selected. The instructor will also provide the student with an exercise or an article with an additional 10 words to add to the list. It is the student’s responsibility to keep the master list and to bring a copy of the 10+ words highlighted in an article of the student’s choosing for use at each session.
This allows the student to select 200 root/key words for learning from his/her preferred area. Since the student will not only be learning the word as it appears in the text, but also the word in typically 5 additional forms, the 200 key words becomes 1000 words for new usage.