Lesson 7 · Lesson guide
How to Learn: Word Cards and a Mistake Notebook
Hello, my dear student!
Hello, my dear student!
For IELTS you need thousands of English words. Nobody remembers a new word after seeing it once: if we never see it again, it is gone in a few days. Good learners don’t have a better memory. They have better habits.
Today you will start two habits: word cards and a mistake notebook. They take only fifteen minutes a day, and they make every lesson in this course stick.
See you in the exercises,Your teacher
Your browser has no English voice, so the listen buttons are hidden. Everything is written on the page.
Two habits, fifteen minutes a day
Habit 1
A word card
Front: the English word and an example sentence. Back: the Uzbek meaning. A sentence shows how we really use the word, so it is easier to remember.
- chair: Please sit on this chair.(stul: Iltimos, shu stulga oʻtiring.)
- busy: I’m busy today.(band: Bugun bandman.)
Habit 1
See it again at the right time
Look at a new card again tomorrow, then in three days, then in a week. You know it? Move it on. You forgot it? It goes back to the start.
- tomorrow(ertaga)
- in three days(uch kundan keyin)
- in a week(bir haftadan keyin)
Habit 2
A mistake notebook
Every mistake is a free lesson. Write three lines: my mistake, the correct sentence, and why. Read the notebook once a week.
- My mistake: She have a cat.(Xatoim: She have a cat.)
- Correct: She has a cat.(Toʻgʻrisi: She has a cat (Uning mushugi bor).)
Every day
A little, every day
Fifteen minutes every day is better than three hours once a week. Use the bus, the queue, the time before bed.
- fifteen minutes a day(kuniga oʻn besh daqiqa)
Remember!
A word with a sentence, seen again tomorrow, in three days and in a week. A mistake with its correct sentence and why.
A good card, step by step
This is how I make one card for the word “kitchen”. Tap each line to hear it.
kitchen
(oshxona)
1. the word (front); on the back: oshxona
We eat in the kitchen.
(Biz oshxonada ovqatlanamiz.)
2. an example sentence (front)
KIT-chen
3. the strong part when you say it (front)
Two students talk
- Lola
How do you learn new words?
- Aziz
I make word cards. I write the word and a sentence.
- Lola
And you look at them every day?
- Aziz
Yes, for ten minutes before school. I have a mistake notebook too.
- Lola
Good idea! I want to start today.
Aziz does a little every day. That is the secret.
Habits that don’t work
Not: chair = stulSay: chair: Please sit on this chair. = stul
A word alone is easy to forget. A sentence shows how to use it.
Not: I study three hours on Sunday only.Say: I study fifteen minutes every day.
Your memory needs to see words often, not once a week.
Not: I write only the correct sentence.Say: I write my mistake, the correct sentence and why.
When you see your own mistake next to the correct sentence, you notice it next time.
Check yourself
What goes on the front of a word card?
When do you look at a new card again?
What are the three lines in a mistake notebook?
Now it’s your turn!
6 short parts, each a little harder than the one before. Take your time: mistakes are how we learn.
— Your teacher