Learning to speak English is very difficult in school. I am attempting to teach "real English" without traditional methods. I have learned through a wonderful mentor that teaching vocabulary words one by one, writing them out and learning how to spell them is useless for speaking.
We speak in phrases or sentences normally, so we need to also study words in phrases.
Eg. punch, out
If you learn these two words separately and know how to spell them and know the parts of speech, it won't help much when speaking. So, you need to put them into phrases to really know them.
Eg. That guy punched me out last night. (meaning "hit in the face")
OR
Did you forget to punch out yesterday? (to record your time when leaving work)
So punch and out are used totally differently! So what is the use of learning them as single words?
Additionally, you can write down related sentences to further deepen the meaning of your vocab.
Eg. I forgot to punch in today. I didn't punch out today. Did you punch in today?
Furthermore, you can write similar words (synonyms) if necessary for your vocabulary phrases...
Eg. Punch in / punch out = clock in / clock out.
Oh shoot! I didn't clock in today. My boss gets mad when i forget to clock out. I always forget to clock in when i get to work.
**Moral of this lesson: LEARN PHRASES / SENTENCES not individual words **
Then use that phrase in many different ways to really get a deep meaning for it, and find some synonyms so you can learn even more vocabulary on that topic. The grammar you will learn automatically within the phrases. And the spelling you will learn after reading the new words over and over again. Coffee Shop Lingo #1
You gettin' coffee? Oh yeah.
I'm buyin'. / Don't worry, I got it.
Thanks man.
Whaddya havin'? / Whaddya gettin'? /
I dunno yet. You?
I feel like a latte/cappuccino.
