Have you ever been in the middle of a conversation and you know the perfect word exists, but your brain just goes blank?
You've studied it, you understand it when you hear it, but you can't actually use it.
That happens because that word is stuck in your passive memory.
In this video, I'm gonna show you exactly how to move words from your memory into your mouth using a simple three-step formula exposure, activation and personalization.
Let's dive in.
But before we get started, make sure you try out my new app, the B2 Edge.
This app is the most affordable way for you to access my best coaching methods, giving you a full, structured B2 curriculum right on your phone.
With the B2 Edge, you get a clear 10-module roadmap, quick daily micro-lessons and the chance to practice speaking with your AI coach 24-7.
It's me coaching you whenever you need it.
If you are ready to stop feeling stuck and finally start speaking English with fluency and precision, then it's time to get the B2 Edge app.
We've been getting some great feedback from users and I'm looking forward to having you as a user as well.
The app is currently available on iOS and the web version, which allows you to access the app from your known iOS device, your tablet or even your PC, as long as you have a web browser.
And the native Android version is coming out very soon.
Stay tuned.
To learn more about the app and how you can download it, link is right here in the description.
Do check it out.
All right.
So welcome to today's lesson.
This is everything we're going to be covering here today.
And well, first of all, let me start by giving you the briefing.
The briefing for today's lesson.
Take a look.
Today we're going to be talking about the three-step vocabulary framework.
This is about transforming passive vocabulary into active vocabulary.
Finally getting out of that rabbit hole of knowing many words but not actually using them when you got to speak English with someone.
So here's the lesson overview.
Many English learners suffer from the passive gap.
They recognize thousands of words when reading or listening, but struggle to recall and use them during spontaneous conversation.
This lesson argues that memorizing lists is ineffective and introduces a cognitive framework to fix this issue.
Exposure, activation and personalization.
What is the core problem here?
Students often believe that seeing a word once or twice means they have learned it, when in reality, without active manipulation and personal connection, the brain categorizes these words as passive information, making them inaccessible during speech.
So today we're going to be talking about the three-step framework for you to start making your English vocabulary more active.
First we're going to talk about exposure contextual input then activation deliberate manipulation of words, and then personalization emotional connection to the words and expressions you encounter.
This lesson is intended for intermediate and advanced english learners who recognize many words when they see them, but forget them when using english, and the core skill we're going to be practicing in this lesson is vocabulary.
Are you ready?
So let's get started.
The very first step For you to start remembering words more easily and using them is what I call exposure contextual input.
Look, you can't learn words in isolation.
In other words, you can't learn words just from lists.
You need context.
When you try to memorize lists of words, this is what you get.
Exactly the situation.
It's like your brain is running on fumes, because it's just not a natural way for you to acquire vocabulary in English, or in any language for that matter.
So what should you do instead?
Let's take a look.
The key point here is don't just see the word, notice the word, pay attention to the word when you encounter it.
A big mistake that I see learners make is either ignoring new words or looking up every word that they don't know.
Both are mistakes, okay?
So if you read a book, for example, and you ignore all the unknown words there, you are not doing it right.
On the other hand, if you are reading a book and you look up every single word that you don't know, you're also not doing it right.
So, what is the fix?
Only pick words you see repeated or that seem critical to the story, either if you're watching a movie, a TV show or reading a book.
So If you see a word that is being used over and over and over well, that is an indication that that word is important for that context.
So you got to look it up.
Or if it's a word that seems important to whatever it is you are consuming, make sure you look it up.
So here's a practical action for you.
When you are reading or listening and you find a word you want to steal, write it down inside the original sentence.
Don't just write the word overwhelmed, for example.
You know, the word in isolation.
Write the whole sentence you saw that word being used.
For example, maybe you are watching a TV show and you see a character saying this.
She felt overwhelmed by the amount of work.
That's an interesting word, overwhelmed.
But you see, you don't take note of the word only.
You take note of the entire sentence, the entire situation there.
She felt overwhelmed by the amount of work.
You know I always give this example and if you have been following me for a while, you have probably heard this story.
But let me share it again because you know it's such a memorable story in my personal language learning journey.
You know
I am a huge fan of Stephen King. the author.
I have read a bunch of his books.
I think he is a great writer, and I really enjoy the way he tells his stories.
And I remember the first time I was reading one of his classics, The Shining, for the very first time.
I was reading that book in English.
It was many years ago.
And then, as I was reading this book, I could follow the story along.
Yes, I could understand most words, but there was this one word that just kept coming up all the time.
And the word is this one that you see here on the image, shriek.
And that was exactly my reaction.
This man's reaction here in the image, it was my reaction when I first saw that word.
First of all, it caught my attention, like, whoa, shriek, that's such a different word.
But I remember that at first I didn't really bother to look it up.
So I just kept reading and reading and reading.
But then I noticed that that word shriek just kept being repeated in the story over and, over and over again.
So it got to a point where I realized that you know what.
I better look up the meaning of shriek and know exactly what it means, because you know.
I feel like I'm missing an important aspect of the story here by not knowing this word.
So that's what I did.
I looked up the meaning, I put the book down and then I learned that the word shriek means to scream.
You know, it's when you give that high-pitched piercing scream, usually when you are very scared.
Yeah.
So once I learned the meaning of that word, the whole story started to make even more sense to me.
And then the interesting thing is that I probably checked the meaning of that word when I was maybe in the middle of the book.
So I kept reading the rest of the book and that word kept coming up over and over again.
But now I knew the meaning.
So what's interesting is that by the time I had finished the book, I had been exposed to that one word so many times throughout my reading that I never forgot it.
I never forgot the meaning of that word, and nowadays I feel perfectly comfortable using that word in a proper context.
You see how interesting?
So this is the power of context, you know, learning new vocabulary in context.
I was reading a story and I wanted to understand the word so that I could understand the story.
It wasn't just learning vocabulary for vocabulary's sake.
And also this personal anecdote of mine, shows the importance of looking up the meaning of words that either catch your attention or that you see being repeated over and, over and over again.
Now let me give you a couple of more examples of using context to help you figure out the meaning of new vocabulary.
For example, here's a scene from Two and a Half Men.
I love Two and a Half Men.
It is one of my favorite sitcoms of all time.
I love the humor in it.
I love the sarcasm in it.
But for example, look at this scene here.
We have Jake, the kid, and we have Berta, Charlie's housekeeper, and her sister.
I forgot her name now, but this is Berta's sister.
In this scene, I remember vividly, Jake wanted to grab a shrimp.
You see in his hand here, this is a shrimp.
He wanted to eat a shrimp.
Birder said, no, don't eat it.
Now is not the time to eat it.
Her sister, on the other hand, said, oh, it's okay.
He can have one.
Eat it.
So that was the context.
That was the situation.
And then they start going back and forth.
Like the sister saying, eat it.
Birder saying, drop it.
And then the sister saying, eat it.
Birder saying, drop it.
But for example, let's look at this phrase, drop it.
You don't really need to look up the meaning of this phrase in a dictionary to understand what it means in the context.
Because Jake had the shrimp in hand.
One person was telling him, eat it.
Okay, I understand that, eat it.
The other was saying, drop it.
Okay, so drop it in this context probably means don't eat it, you know?
Just leave the shrimp alone, you see?
So just by observing the scene, you are able to understand the meaning of drop it in this case, in this context.
That's why I highly recommend you watch movies in English and TV series in English, because they give you context to all this vocabulary.
Yes, it is very nice to listen to podcasts, to watch video podcasts about deep, real topics, but I believe you are definitely missing out on improving your vocabulary if you don't watch movies and TV series in English regularly.
So here's a recommendation.
Develop the habit if you don't have it yet.
Let me give you another example.
This is from Breaking Bad, one of my favorite TV shows of all time.
Look at this scene.
Walt is saying, you got me.
Those of you who saw the show, you know what I'm talking about here.
You remember the scene, right?
So in this scene here, you know Walt is involved with drugs.
You know he's doing illegal bad stuff, you know.
And then his brother-in-law Hank, who's a police officer, a detective.
He is investigating the case, you know.
And then in this scene here, Hank starts explaining a theory that he has to Walt.
And then he's saying to Walt look, I mean the criminal, this drug lord left this message here in this book.
And he says to WW hmm, who do you think WW is?
And then he says some names, and then he says, Walter White?
As a joke.
And then Walt reacts like this, you see?
Ha, you got me.
You see, if you observe the scene, you don't need to look up the meaning of you got me.
Simply by observing Walt's reaction, you know what he means.
You know, he's talking to a police officer here, to a cop.
So if he says, you got me, you see?
You discovered who the responsible is, who the criminal is.
You got me.
You see?
You solved the mystery.
You see how powerful it is for you to watch things in context, because many times you can understand and infer meaning simply by observing.
So, Another recommendation here, another tip is become an observant learner.
The more observant you are, the easier it will be for you to pick up language.
So pay attention to little nuances.
The character's facial expression, tone of voice, hand gestures, body language all that communicates so much.
One final example about that from another one of my top favorite movies of all time, The Godfather.
Look in this scene here, right at the beginning of the movie, Vito Corleone is talking to Bonasera, a guy who's asking him a favor.
And then Vito says this Someday, and that day may never come.
I'll call upon you to do a service for me.
But until that day, accept this justice as a gift on my daughter's wedding day.
Let's pick, for example, the phrasal verb, call upon, call upon you.
I mean personally as a learner.
If I were watching this scene for the first time, I wouldn't bother to look up the meaning of call upon, because by looking at the scene and looking at the rest of the line, I understand what Vito is saying here.
In other words, he's saying, look, someday, maybe I will call you asking you to do a service for me.
I understand the message.
So I don't necessarily feel the necessity, the need to look up the meaning of call upon you specifically.
So you got to develop that inner radar yourself.
You know.
That's why I think watching movies and TV series is great, because you know you will feel when you need to look something up to check the meaning and when you don't have to look it up because you understand the word by the context you can infer the meaning you know.
So each scene is different but it's important that you develop that inner intuition for the language because you know for one person, that person might feel the need to look up this expression call upon.
For somebody else, like me, that person might not see the need.
You see, it's something highly personal, all right?
So that's the first step of the framework, okay?
Always make sure you are gaining enough exposure to English via movies, TV series podcasts, books.
You know consuming what we call authentic material, but also consume vocabulary in context in a conversation, in a story.
Okay,
All right?
And when you write it down to check it later, write down the whole sentence that word was used in.
If you can remember the situation you saw that word being used in, even better.
And be observant of little cues that are not verbal.
Like I said, tone of voice, facial expressions, body language.
Okay?
Moving on to the second step of the framework is activation, deliberate manipulation.
Look, exposure, while great, is not enough.
You also must manipulate the word to trick your brain into thinking it's important.
What does it mean to manipulate the word?
It means to explore the word.
How do we do that?
Let me show you.
Imagine you see these example sentences with the word serendipity.
Look, it was pure serendipity that we sat next to each other on the plane and discovered we went to the same high school.
Okay, what about the second one?
Many great scientific discoveries, such as penicillin, were the result of serendipity rather than calculated research.
Okay.
And the third finding that 20 bill in my old winter coat was a nice bit of serendipity to start the day.
Okay.
We just saw the word serendipity, which is a different word, being used in three different contexts or sentences.
Now, we can manipulate the word by exploring it a little bit more, by actively...
Studying the word a little bit, for example.
The first thing we can do is we can look it up in a dictionary or using ChatGPT or any AI tool.
Look, what does serendipity mean?
It's a noun that means the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.
Ah, okay.
So it's when things happen by chance and usually in a happy way.
So if I say, for example look, finding that 20 bill in my old winter coat was a nice bit of serendipity to start the day, it's the same as saying it was a good surprise.
So whenever things happen in your life that happen organically in a nice, good way and that wasn't planned, We can call that serendipity.
Interesting.
But aside from that, you can also look for synonyms of that word.
What are other words in English that have a similar meaning to serendipity?
Well, we have the word chance, luck, providence, or even fortuity.
You see?
So activation is about moving from input only to output, moving from just consuming information to actually manipulating the information you are being exposed to.
And there are many different ways for you to do that.
One way for you to activate vocabulary, like I said, is by looking up the definition.
So look up the definition in English, not your native language.
I would say use your native language as a last, last resort.
If you are already an intermediate learner, use a monolingual dictionary to look up the meaning of words English to English.
Another way for you to activate vocabulary is by practicing the pronunciation of the word.
Say it out loud, not just in your head.
Actually speak the word.
Get your mouth around the word.
You can go to a dictionary and listen to the audio track, or even ask ChatGPT to pronounce it for you.
So imagine you are checking the word overwhelmed.
Okay, I just looked up the meaning.
I know what it means, but how do you pronounce that?
Let me listen to it.
Okay, and then you repeat.
Overwhelmed, overwhelmed, overwhelmed.
If you're watching a movie, this is about you pausing the movie, rewinding a little bit and then listening back and repeating it.
Okay, overwhelmed, overwhelmed, overwhelmed.
Another way or technique for you to activate new words is by learning collocations with that word.
A collocation in English is a group of words that often go together in everyday communication.
It's a group of two, three, or sometimes even more words that often go together.
So you can ask yourself, okay, overwhelmed is an interesting word.
I just practiced the sound of it by speaking it out loud.
I just looked up the definition in my English to English dictionary.
I just saw that word being used in example sentences.
Now the next step is, what other words go with it?
So, with a little bit of research, you will know, for example, that we don't say, make overwhelmed.
That is a weird collocation.
It doesn't exist.
Make overwhelmed.
But, It is possible for you to say feel overwhelmed or even become overwhelmed.
You see?
So it's not just about learning the word itself, but also learning all the words that you can use in combination with that word.
And to help you with that, I can recommend this really great free tool, this free resource.
It's a website called freecollocation.com.
This is Oxford Collocation Dictionary for Advanced English Learners.
And it's free.
You know?
So, for example, here is an example just to illustrate.
Imagine you go to freecollocation.com and you type in the word work.
You see, I mean the website gives me all the other words, in this case adjectives, that I can use in combination with work.
All these words in bold collocate with work.
So hard work, Arduous work, back-breaking work, challenging work, complicated work, demanding work, difficult work, grueling work, intensive work, labor-intensive work, tiring work tough work.
You see, all these... bold adjectives can be used with work.
And I'm just looking at the adjectives, you know?
The website is so great that it also gives you fixed expressions with the word work, verbs that can be used with the word work and many other possibilities.
So do check it out, freecollocation.com.
You see, by going this extra mile, You are being an active learner.
You are activating the vocabulary.
You are not just consuming it passively, watching or listening or reading something.
You know?
You are also manipulating the word.
This is an example of manipulating the word.
Got it?
So here's a practical action for you.
Create two or three of your own sentences using the word.
Don't worry if they are perfect.
Just force your brain to build a structure around the word.
So, after you've gone through all these steps, you know, looking up the definition, checking out some example sentences, getting the pronunciation of the word, speaking it out loud to learn to pronounce it, and then learning some collocations, some other words that go with this word that you're trying to memorize,
The next step is just creating sentences of your own to practice it.
These are all ways for you to activate vocabulary.
And for example, my new app, the B2Edge, actually has that built in.
And it was on purpose because it's part of my philosophy.
I really believe that the way for you to memorize words and learn words is by activating them.
So whenever you are exposed to new expressions or vocabulary in the app, right away you have an exercise to consolidate that, or you are asked to prompt and then you have to record an audio response using that word you just saw.
You see, that is activating it.
And the cool thing is that since the app is powered by AI, it never forgets.
So the next day, when you log in the app for the daily activities, it will remind you.
Hey, do you remember that you learned this word yesterday?
Let's do a quick exercise to remember the meaning of that word.
You see, it's that combination of constant exposure with activation.
It's a beautiful dance that when done properly, regularly improves your vocabulary.
All right?
But it doesn't stop here.
So, so far we have discussed... exposure and learning words in context.
We have discussed activating the word by deliberately manipulating it through all these steps.
But there's a third step to the framework, which is what I call personalization emotional connection.
You see, this is the most important step, I would say.
And 90 of students miss this because brains discard information that isn't relevant to survival or to self.
Look at this image here.
Human beings are incredibly selfish individuals.
And I say that just stating the facts.
I mean, we are always worried about our own survival or our own benefit.
So this phrase, this question encapsulates that very well.
What's in it for me?
So whenever you are exposed to a new piece of vocabulary in English, consciously or subconsciously you are asking yourself what's in it for me?
I mean, how can I use this word in my job?
How can I use this word when I travel?
You see?
So you got to create that personal emotional connection to the word.
You got to make that vocabulary relevant to you in your life.
Because if you don't, you will likely forget to use it.
It might become part of her passive vocabulary.
You recognize it, but you will never use it because you haven't made it yours and you haven't brought it to your life.
So look, If you connect the word that you are trying to memorize to a real memory, a real emotion or a real person in your life, even the neural pathway becomes stronger.
And you remember that word more easily, even when you have to use English.
So here's a practical action.
Take your word.
Imagine you are focusing on the word overwhelmed.
Okay.
Make a sentence that is 100% true for you right now.
For example, when creating your sentences, don't write generic sentences like this.
For example, people get overwhelmed by work.
If you write a sentence like that, your brain will likely forget it because it's not personal to you.
It's not relevant.
But what if you write something like this as an example sentence?
I felt completely overwhelmed last Tuesday when I had to record three videos and my son was sick.
You see, now the likelihood of my brain remembering this word is higher, because I'm making it personal.
I'm using this word to talk about a real situation that happened to me and it's making me feel something.
I felt completely overwhelmed.
I had to record so many videos and my son was sick.
You see?
So here's a little rule for you.
When practicing your vocabulary and writing down sentences.
If the sentence isn't true, don't write it.
If the sentence isn't true for you, your job, your family, your hobbies, your life, don't write it.
All right?
So make sure you make the vocabulary personal.
So...
Just to recap, this is the three-step vocabulary framework that you have to follow in order to start moving words from just your passive vocabulary to your active vocabulary.
Number one, exposure.
Always make sure you are being exposed to English enough reading books, watching movies, listening to podcasts, listening to music and focus on learning your vocabulary in context.
If you want to take notes of a word, write down the whole sentence you saw that word being used.
If you can write down even the situation or the scene in the movie you saw that word being used even better.
But then, also, still on exposure, Don't ignore new words, but don't be overwhelmed by them either.
You don't have to look up every unknown word, but you want to look up the words that catch your attention the most, or the words that you notice are important to fully grasp the meaning of the material you are consuming.
The second step is activation.
Manipulate the vocabulary by being more active with it.
Look up the definition.
Say it out loud to practice pronouncing the word.
Check collocations with that word.
Learn new words that can be used with that word you are focusing on.
And of course, write down sentences with it.
Which connects to step number three, personalization.
Connect the new vocabulary, the new expression to your real life.
So when creating your sentences, write about real stuff in your life.
Write about your job, your family, your hobbies, your routine, but using that word.
And again, my app, the B2Edge, helps with this because the prompts and the questions are highly personalized.
So it forces you to use the new grammar or even vocabulary you are practicing on that day to talk about things that are relevant to you in your life.
This is how you really improve vocabulary.
All right?
So there you have it.
These are the three steps of my vocabulary framework.
Now, if you want to go a little bit deeper and practice this, I highly recommend you look up and check out this lesson here, which is a lesson that I did on the channel a while back.
It's a C1 shadowing practice video.
And I'm sure that you will encounter in this video a couple of nice different words that you don't know.
So you can apply this three step framework to these new words that you're going to encounter here.
So here's a recommendation for you.
I'll also leave the link in the description of the video for you to watch it later, right after you know.
So there you have it.
This is our lesson for today.
This is the the way for you to start moving words from your passive vocabulary to your active vocabulary.
I hope you found this lesson useful.
I hope you enjoyed learning about this framework.
Now it's up to you to start practicing it.
If you want to start practicing it, leave me a comment down below the video, maybe with a different word that you learned in this lesson or someplace else, And write a sentence here in the comment section using that new word or expression.
This is you activating the vocabulary, you see?
And if it is a sentence about a real situation in your life, this is you personalizing the word for you and creating that emotional connection.
Don't forget to download and check out my new app, the B2 Edge.
Link in the description.
Go to the page and learn more about it and get it.
I think it's going to help you tremendously.
You know, I'm super excited about this app.
The first users are already enjoying it a lot.
And, you know, you are next now to try it and start seeing it for yourself.
All right.
Subscribe to the channel if you are new here and if you want to keep having or seeing more lessons like this.
And if you want to keep learning English and practicing some more, I highly recommend you check out this lesson right here.
Yeah, right here.
Next.
To keep learning, okay?
So I'm Chad.
I'm signing off.
Thank you so much for your attention and for your time.
And I'll be talking to you very soon.
Bye-bye.
