1-
Use a bilingual dictionary - look up words you come across but don’t understand
and make a note of them or even better use them straight away! (see my post on
choosing dictionaries)
2-Choose one
lexical set at a time - for example
animals, can you, hand on heart, say that you know the English word for all the
animals? Think of all those you don’t know and look them up in your own
language. Do the same for other lexical sets.
3- Sign up to Gapfillers word of the day - it’s
free and you can get your word sent by email if you register as a free member,
5 words a week, 20+ per month, that’s 260 a year and you don’t have to do
anything! (Gapfillers word of the day)
4 - Play scrabble!-
you’re allowed to use your dictionary!
5 - Read and
translate – choose a short passage in your own langauge and translate it into
good English, oh, and please use your dictionary!!
6-Use
a thesaurus – write down a list of words you like to use and look up 3 synonyms
for each in the thesaurus.
7-Do
crosswords – use a dictionary to help you or do interactive ones online (there
are a few on Gapfillers)
8- Listen to
the radio and write down any words you don’t know – choose a short piece, you
can approximate the spelling and then look them up in your dictionary.
9-Choose
a short, difficult, reading passage and do the same – make a list of the words
and look them up.
10- Look around
where you are now - do you know the words for everything you can see? – make a
note of the ones you don’t in your own language and then use your dictionary to
find out the English word. Do this whenever you have a few spare minutes. Too
many words? Give
yourself a limit of 6 or 10 etc.. each time.
source: http://rliberni.wordpress.com
