Learn Spanish Vocabulary

Learning Spanish Vocabulary Gayla S. Keesee Education Specialist Paine College, Augusta, GA Mack Gipson, Jr. Tutorial & Enrichment Center rev. 10/2006

Vocabulary forms the building blocks of language

FYI
The number of words in a language can be staggering—from 20,000 to more than 100,000 depending on the language.
100 words can be sufficient for basic conversation.
2,000 are enough for fairly normal conversation.

Memory/Study Aids
Mnemonic Devices
Acronyms
Acrostics
Rhymes and songs
Word associations
Visual clues
Flashcards

Mnemonic Devices
Acronyms
Acrostics
Rhymes and songs
Method of Loci
Word associations—logical or illogical
Visual Clues

Mnemonic Devices
Mnemonic (ni-'man-ik) devices
“ Tricks” to help you memorize and recall information
long lists
speeches
basic concepts
definitions
Tools for rote memorization only

Acronyms
An acronym is an invented combination of letters where each letter is a cue to an idea you need to remember.
BRASS is an acronym for how to shoot a rifle-- B reath, R elax, A im, S ight, S queeze.

How could you use Acronyms to help you learn Spanish?

An acrostic is an invented sentence where the first letter of each word is a cue to an idea you need to remember.
“Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge”
(E, G, B, D, F)—musical notes of the lines of the treble clef staff
“Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” (parenthesis, exponent, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction)—order of operations
Acrostics

How could you use Acrostics to help you learn Spanish?

Rhymes and Songs
Songs and rhymes help to burn information in your memory
To this day, many people softly sing their ABC’s when trying to alphabetize a list.
Rhymes often teach basic facts, such as, “In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.”

How could you use Rhymes and Songs to help you learn Spanish?

Word Associations
First, select a key word in English that sounds like the foreign word.
Next, imagine an image which uses the key word with the English meaning of the foreign word.
Can be illogical or logical

Logical Association
el coche with coach (like a carriage) which was the predecessor to the car.
Imagine your car as a coach,
or imagine horses pulling it.
The Spanish word for rice is arroz .
[pronounced ARROSS]
Imagine someone shooting ARROWS
into a plate of RICE .

Illogical Association
The illogical approach might say el coche sounds like coach (such as a basketball coach)
Try to link coach and car in the most vivid way possible—the crazier, the better.
Remember that el coche is masculine by having a male coach.
Imagine the BASKETBALL COACH lifting
your CAR above his head, then throwing it at a
basketball hoop or through a wall.

The Spanish word cabina means phone booth . For the English keyword, you might think of “cab in a ... .”
You could invent an image of a CAB
trying to fit in a PHONE BOOTH .
The Spanish word for bed is cama .
Imagine a CAMEL lying in your BED .
Illogical Associations

How could you use Word Associations to help you learn Spanish?

Visual Clues
Drawings, pictures, diagrams
Physically create visual elements
Use drawings or pictures of definitions of words
Make crazy visual associations
Perro El perro está bajo la mesa. The dog is under the table.

Visual Clues
Charts, diagrams
Diagram the different conjugations for a verb
Hablar Yo hablo Tu hablas Ud./el/ella habla Nosotros(as) hablamos Vosotros(as) hablais Ud./ellos/ellas hablan

Flashcards Perro El perro está bajo la mesa. The dog is under the table.

Flashcards—Advantages
Chunks information into smaller categories to aid memory
Nouns—persons, places, things
Verbs—plural/singular or tenses
Phrases—common usage
Use of color signals categories
different colored cards
highlighters

Use either written or visual information
Easily rearranged and sorted
Do not learn the words in a fixed order.
Learn only words need to remember.
Used for different purposes
Lists of items
Grammar rules
Questions/answers

Size and portability
easy to carry
use for short, frequent reviews
review in spare time that is often wasted—like waiting in line or between classes.
Physically moving and manipulating the cards incorporates tactile learning

Writing down the material on cards aids your memory in itself.
76 repetitions of information to go into long term memory

Flashcards
Definition—Picture
Two-sided
Picture on front side
Word and sentence on back side
Perro El perro está bajo la mesa. The dog is under the table.

Flashcards Learn grammar rules

Flashcards En la clase Front Back window la ventana door la puerta teacher la professora student la estudiante blackboard la pizarra

One Way to Study
4x6 cards are best.
Once a day, go through your pack of index cards.
Sort the cards into two stacks—those you know and those you do not know.
Periodically review the entire set of words to keep them fresh in your mind.

When to Use Flashcards
Study your vocabulary for only 10-15 minutes a day
Riding the bus
Riding in a car
Before bed
When you get up in the morning
Waiting in line
Doing your laundry

General Tips
Attend Class Regularly
Best chance for practice in speaking and listening
Able to ask questions
Don’t Tune Out
Participate as much as possible
Answer questions—even silently to see if they match your classmates’ answers

http://elpatiospanish.com	563
http://www5.waubonsee.edu	246
https://bb-gbc.blackboard.com	37
http://cmudie.edublogs.org	35
https://waubonsee.blackboard.com	23
http://www.slideshare.net	12
http://blendedschools.blackboard.com	7
http://sg-acd2m.wcc.cc.il.us	3
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Learn Spanish Vocabulary

by Gayla Keesee

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