Back then in the bad old school days, you probably had to learn lists upon lists of vocabulary at the back of an outdated school book because they appeared in the chapter & topic you were working on. Mr or Mrs Terrible Teacher then tested you on these lists. Did you ever use cheat sheets? Bet you did! All that been said, you could argue that it made learning more manageable because it was GIVEN for you – here’s the list, go away and learn it.
Back now in the big imperfect real world, what if, let’s say, you simply want to increase your vocabulary. What do you do? Buy a vocabulary book? Yes, you could but doesn’t it remind you of something? Enrol on a course? Definitely, if you have the dosh! Internet? Bingo, it’s free, doesn’t remind you of school (especially if you over a certain age- solidarity brother/sister!) and follows you around (more or less) everywhere you go. Yep, the internet (world) is your oyster. But before you click to open a NEW tab, type “learn English vocabulary” into Uncle Google and get pages upon pages of entries, STOP!
Instead, type in www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com.
Did you know that with the Oxford learners dictionary you can grab your list of vocabulary to learn, and at a level which is just right for you?
Here’s the super simple four-step process to grab your vocabulary list:
- Click on the dropdown menu “Wordlist” and choose “topic”. Find the topic you are looking for from ”Animals” to “Work and business”.
- Now click on any of the subtopics, and it will show you a list of vocabulary at all levels according to the common European framework CEF starting with beginners A1 up to mastery C2.
- Click on “filter” to narrow down the list to a level that meets your needs.
- Make notes of the vocabulary as you like. I would always recommend the free flashcard software www.quizlet.com
You can get a four step how-to “grab your own vocabulary list” cheat sheet at my website https://teatimetitbits.de/free-pdfs/
cheat sheet (Spickzettel), to bet (wetten), to argue (hier:erörtern), to remind sb of sth (jdn an etw erinnern), to enroll in a course (einen Kurs belegen), dosh (Slang: Kohle / Geld), “the internet (world) is your oyster”(Die Welt liegt dir zu Füßen), according to (Nach/Gemäß), to narrow sth down (etw beschränken), to meet one’s needs (den Bedarf erfüllen), to recommend (empfehlen)
