A Different Way to Learn Vocabulary

This article explores a more effective approach to vocabulary acquisition by focusing on word origins rather than rote memorization, using current events as examples.

<h2>A Different Way to Learn Vocabulary</h2>Teacher Rowena<ul><li>25 years of experience teaching English to adults, A-Level students, and various student groups</li><li>Founder of the Double R Amalgam Method www.doubleramalgam.com</li><li>Author of the Penguin Buddies and Double R Fids-Professions series</li><li>Provided after-school English support programs for secondary schools and developed senior primary grammar curricula using Double R Amalgam materials from 2017-2019</li></ul>I believe students and parents alike would agree that we experienced a very different kind of summer in 2019. Summer holidays should be a time to recover, rest, and set new goals after a full academic year, but given the social atmosphere of the past few months, I believe very few people were able to truly enjoy the summer that just passed.As a Hong Konger, I share the same worries for our "home." However, positive thinking tells us that while we cannot force a bad situation to be good, even the worst situation has its bright side. As I often remind myself:Every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day.Taking the recent controversy triggered by the Fugitive Offenders amendment bill as an example, it has allowed everyone to learn many uncommon vocabulary words.For example:<ul><li>The English for fugitive offenders bill is extradition bill</li><li>The English for anti-extradition is anti-extradition</li><li>The English for parade/protest is protest</li><li>The English for demonstrators is protesters</li></ul><h3>Traditional methods of learning vocabulary are arduous and thankless</h3>I am often asked by students or parents how to learn more vocabulary. Why is it that when we write or speak, we can never recall the words we have learned? This is actually closely related to our traditional methods of learning vocabulary. Our brain structure is truly miraculous; it forms deep impressions of happy or sad events. If an event has little impact on us or those we care about, we naturally forget it completely very quickly. Furthermore, because learning our mother tongue, Chinese, requires the baptism of memorizing vast amounts of data, students have become accustomed to rote memorization for English vocabulary as well. Unfortunately, they fail to apply what they have learned when writing or speaking. Where exactly does the problem lie?If you observe carefully, you will find that the English expressions for examples (1) and (2), and (3) and (4) are very similar, yet the Chinese expressions are completely different. This is exactly the secret to learning vocabulary quickly that I want to share with you all today.<h3>The best way to learn English vocabulary</h3>I believe the fastest and easiest way to learn English vocabulary is to understand how the ancients created English words—in other words, to seek out the roots of words. In reality, very few students ask why an English word is expressed in a certain way; they only care about its definition. They don't understand why the "fugitive" bill is an "extradition" bill, or why anti-extradition is anti-extradition instead of some other term. Additionally, many people know that "tradition" means "tradition," but few consider whether there is a connection between "tradition" and "extradition." The answer is "yes." I will leave you in suspense for now, and I hope interested readers will think about this; we will continue this in the next issue of Education Media.