How to Learn to Notice Vocabulary in English Videos and Movies
If you watch movies, videos in English not only to learn the content, but also with the hope of learning new words and expressions, then this article will definitely be useful to you.
I will take examples from my own blog.
Firstly, in order for you to focus on the language, you should not be distracted by the plot, so choose films that you already know well.
Next, you can follow the following scenario:
Watch the film again with subtitles, writing down all the vocabulary you don't know, expressions that seemed interesting and unusual to you. At the same time, I personally like to watch rather than read the script, since I am a visual person and I need to see the characters' reactions. In order not to spend 2-3 hours on this at once, watch in 5-6 minute chunks, skip scenes where the characters don't speak.
Now it's time to turn on critical thinking: from all the material you need to choose only the vocabulary that you can theoretically use in everyday life or in an exam. For example, in my blog we watch the movie Dune, but not in full, of course, but in pieces. Every week I give out fast with the video and the vocabulary from there. There you will see that some of the vocabulary is displayed in the glossary before the video – this is vocabulary that may be needed to view this excerpt, but I do not think that you will be able to use it often in the future, but what I consider important from the point of view of use went into the set with word cards.
If you see an expression, write it down in full, for example, in my passage I came across the phrase wreak havoc – to sow chaos. I think it is quite stable, so I will write it down in full. Moreover, I will even look at its popularity in books on this website.
Write down vocabulary in sets of 7-10 words, no more. The optimal volume is 7 words, but it depends on your flexibility.
Think about the contexts in which you can use these expressions. For example, in my case:
My cat wreaked chaos in my kitchen running after a fly.
My child's illness wreaked chaos in my schedule: I had to cancel my classes and fritter away a lot of time in the hospital.
Sudden long breaks wreak chaos on a student's study plan.
Return to your word lists at regular intervals, such as 2-3 days, a week, a month.
Try to use new expressions everywhere:
communicate with foreign colleagues or friends by inserting these words into your speech;
retell the movie with these expressions;
talk to yourself;
translate something from your native language into English;
write a post on reddit;
look at this website or Herewhere else is this vocabulary used;
teach someone a couple of phrases.
With regular work over time, you will also pay attention to interesting expressions in new videos, and the longer you work like this, the more often and willingly your brain will pay attention to the linguistic aspect, without losing the thread of the story.
If we talk about mine blogthen this work is more systematic: every day you receive tasks for 10 – 15 minutes, with the help of which you practice understanding of the video, vocabulary, listening, grammar, pronunciation. Now I give the opportunity to watch one of the tariffs for free until 24.08 on this link. Plus there are free posts that are open to everyone. If you don't have time for full-fledged classes or want to immerse yourself more in the language, then this is an interesting option.
However, if you plan to study on your own, then after you have noticed, selected and learned the vocabulary from your sets, you can work with it in the same way as I said in this article.
Well, and the main thing is consistency. If you want results, you will have to do it regularly, no matter if you do it yourself or with someone else's help.
