درسنامه واژگان

Hello, Effortless English members. Welcome to the vocabulary lesson for the Storytelling article. Let’s get started.

This article is about TPRS that stands for teaching proficiency through reading and storytelling.

Proficiency means skill or ability. So you can say: He has a high proficiency with math. Meaning he has high skill or good skill level. So proficiency has this idea of skill level or being skilled at something.

Right in the first paragraph you see the word readily. You will more readily remember words if you put them in a story.

Readily basically means quickly and easily, quickly and easily. So you will more readily do something, it means you can do it more quickly and easily if you do it in a story.

Alright, in that same paragraph you see the word vulgar. Vulgar means rude and crude. So something is vulgar maybe like a dirty joke. You might say a dirty joke is vulgar. So it it really means very very rude, it’s not just a normal rudeness. Vulgar means extremely rude, very very rude.

Ok, in the next paragraph, I used the word mnemonic. I say a story is in fact a good mnemonic. And mnemonic is something that helps you remember. It’s a memory aid, a memory helper.

So a song can be a mnemonic. If you have a little song and you put information in a song, then it’s easier to remember than just memorizing it in a list. Well, that’s the same, stories are mnemonic.

Stories help you remember certain phrases, certain words, certain grammar, much easier than if you study them form a textbook. So storytelling is a mnemonic, a good mnemonic, a good helper for your memory.

In that same paragraph, you see the word aural (A U R A L). Aural means sound or related to hearing actually. That’s the correct meaning. Aural, related to hearing, related to sound.

And then you also see sensory. Sensory, it could have different meanings, but in this case sensory means related to feeling, related to touch.

So talking about all this associations. So it says a story links words to be remembered and it causes you to build up, to create scenes that have visual, aural and sensory associations for you.

Associations means connections, or related or connected thoughts, connected thoughts, connected feelings, those are associations.

Alright, the next paragraph, you see the sentence “the major emphasis of the Effortless English approach is to help students acquire English thoroughly”.

Emphasis means stress as in like stress in a word, you say something harder. So an emphasis, in this case, the emphasis of Effortless English, it means that’s our main point, our main goal, our main idea, the thing we want to do most, that is our emphasis. So our emphasis is helping you remember words and phrases and grammar forms effortlessly, easily and thoroughly.

In the next paragraph, you see the introductory phrase “at first glance”, at first glance the mini-stories may seems silly. At first glance means initially or in the beginning or first.

So I say at first glance, in the beginning, the mini-stories may seem silly. Silly means not serious. It can also have the idea of foolish or even stupid, but in this case, it really just means not serious.

So, the mini-stories at Effortless English, they’re not serious heavy stories. They’re kind of stupid, kind of silly stories, not serious.

Ok, into that paragraph, I also talk about the questions. I ask questions when I retell the story and I say this questions can seem redundant, ridiculously easy and pointless.

Redundant means, something that is repeated, but it’s not necessary. We don’t need to repeat it, but it’s repeated too much. So in the story l ask a lot of easy questions. I’ll say: There was a guy named Jim, and then I’ll say: Was his name Jim? What was his name? These seem like redundant questions right? And repeating the same kind of information many times.

And it seems unnecessary. Actually though, it helps get more repetition and it will help your brain remember the words, that’s why it’s done. But anyway, redundant means something that’s repeated but it’s not necessary to repeat it.

Alright, ridiculously easy that just means very, very easy. It really means too easy, much too easy. Ridiculously easy.

Ok, in the next paragraph, you see the word aids. I say that visualization aids memory. Visualization is the imagining a picture in your brain, in your mind, you imagine a picture. So that aids memory. Aids means helps, to aid means to help. It’s really quite simple. So it’s almost the exact same meaning. These visualization helps memory, visualization aids memory.

Alright, onward to the next page. This is an easier article I think, a little bit shorter article too this time. You see the word context, this is a very common word.

Context means situation. So you need to see and hear new words in different contexts, in different situations. It’s not enough just to see the word and then the definition and then try to memorize it from some list. Because that gives you only one context and it’s not a very meaningful context and it’s not a very interesting context.

So it’s good to see the same word in this article and then hear it in this vocabulary lesson and then again hear it in a mini-story. So those are different contexts, different situations.

Alright, I mentioned that questions in the mini-stories increase your exposure to the new words. Exposure means contact with something. If I say I am getting a lot of exposure to the cold, cold weather, it means I’m outside in the cold. I have contact with cold weather. Exposure means contact with something.

The next paragraph, you’ll see the sentence “this will trigger your memory more quickly.” I’m talking about, if you participate in the story, if you try to answer the questions quickly, this will help trigger your memory.

To trigger something is to turn it on, or to activate it. If I trigger your memory, it means your memory turns on, your memory starts to work. If I trigger your anger, it means suddenly your anger begins to work, I turned on your anger.

Ok, and I say uh, doing this participating in the story, trying to answer the questions is better than passively listening. Passive is the adjective, passively is the adverb. Means without action and without energy. It’s the opposite of active or actively.

So passively listening means you just seat there, you listen but you really not using your brain very much. Active listening means you listen and then you try to answer the questions. You listen then you stop your iPod and try to retell the story. That’s active listening and that’s much better. It’ll help you much more than passive, than just sittings there and not really doing anything.

Alright, the next paragraph you’ll see the word scan. I recommend that you read the articles and scan the word list.

To scan means to look at something quickly. So if you scan the word list, you’re not looking at every single word, trying to memorize them. You’re just looking it over quickly, looking at it quickly and just finding the words that you really don’t know very well. So you’re quickly looking at something, you’re scanning it.

Alright, then I mentioned that at the end of the mini-story, you should stop your iPod and you should try to retell the story yourself out loud.

Out loud is the opposite of quietly, so not quietly. You should actually say the story so you can hear it. Go to a room by yourself and just say the story out loud, say it loudly. So you can hear it. That’s what out loud means.

And finally I say, if you do all of this things, if you follow the whole Effortless English system, you will learn the new words and phrases and grammar deeply, not at a surface level.

At a surface level means not completely, not deeply, not thoroughly, that’s at a surface level. Sometimes it can also mean not seriously.

Ok, that is all for the vocabulary, for this article. A little bit shorter this time which is good, good for you I think. Remember after you listen to this a couple of times, listen to the mini-story. Try to answer the questions quickly when I ask them in the mini-story.

And finally, most importantly, at the end of the mini-story, stop your iPod, stop your computer, try to retell the story, tell the story again. Not exactly, not every single word, the general idea of the story.

But most importantly, try to use the new vocabulary when you retell the story. That will help you start to trigger your memory and it will help you go from understanding to actually being able to use the vocabulary.

Ok, I will see you next time. Have a good time. Enjoy your English learning. Bye-bye.