Mastery of the English language is key for those who want to pursue higher education or careers at an international level in English speaking countries. Perhaps you have your eyes fixed on a career in a different country, or you would like to gain admission to a prestigious institution like Oxford University. Whatever your goal may be, getting an IELTS accreditation is a key step in your journey.
One of the best ways to prepare for the IELTS tests is to sign up for an IELTS course in Singapore. During your classes, one of the areas your tutors will implore you to work on is widening the range of your English vocabulary. We’ve listed powerful strategies that will help you to widen your repertoire.
Exposure is Key
Expose yourself to the English language as much as possible. That means, listening to the English news, watching your favourite shows in English and if there are no English versions of the show, you can read the English subtitles. You should also subscribe to podcasts that broadcast in English and find areas where you can chat with people in English. Having a chat with others can help you discover new words. When you hear a new word, remember to write it down so that you can learn it and gradually add it to your vocabulary.
Make the Process Interesting
As you find movies, TV shows and other recreations that would widen your English vocabulary range, try to keep it to stuff that you enjoy. Don’t try to read Shakespeare’s classics when what you enjoy is a good thrill from Stephen King. You can even add games and apps into your learning. Many language learning applications are vocabulary-centred and use repetitive sequences and action to support the learning process and optimize your effort and time. These are readily available and generally have no time limitations, so you can conveniently learn when you want to.
Blend Learning in Your Schedule
You may be wary about signing up for an IELTS course since it’s hard to find time to attend classes. However, this doesn’t mean that there are no English learning opportunities in your daily schedule. Consider the downtime and the people you meet in the course of your day. There are plenty of opportunities to interact with others in English and broaden your vocabulary. It could be as simple as requesting assignments that entail interactions with English speaking clients at work or reading English texts during your downtime.
Make Word Lists More Visible
Purchase a new journal or make a memo on your mobile for a word list of all the new English words you’ve learned or acquired on a regular basis. Whenever you hear or read a new word, get the meaning from the dictionary and write it on a word list. But don’t stop at that, place the word list at a visible place at home, like next to the TV, or at the office. This way, you are more likely to recall the word whenever you hear it, and use it to construct sentences in English. Getting a word list is one of the most effective ways of learning new vocabulary words and tracking your overall progress.
Know and Master Your Learning Style
There are three major ways of learning new skills. Some people learn better by vision, other people prefer to listen, while others like to touch, or get involved in a particular learning exercise. These methods of learning are known as visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning respectively. So, what type of learner are you? Once you’ve established your learning style then, you can proceed to make the most of it as you seek to enhance your vocabulary list. For instance, if you are a visual learner, an image of people laughing delivers a more powerful meaning of the phrasal verb ‘get along with’ than complex descriptions.
Have Fun in the Process
The best part of learning a language is that you get to interact with a new group of people. As you learn new words you can have fun with the words and the learning process. Although English is the lingua franca in Singapore, many people speak Singlish. Enlisting for an IELTS course in Singapore will help you to reach out to more English speakers, have fun, and broaden your social circles.
