Rocket Pocket Book

So this year I rename the usual English note book as Rocket Pocket Book. Why? There is no reason behind the renaming. It is just that rocket rhymes well with pocket!

My year starts a bit later than usual but I am happy that I manage to catch up.

So, this year, instead of having one, each student of mine has two books: a hard-covered book and a small book. This hard-covered is obviously for note-taking whilst the smaller one is for Vocabulary Bank.

What is Vocabulary Bank?
It is basically a book where you deposit new learnt or gained words or phrases. The vocabulary can come from teachers, books or even their surroundings.

Is it important to have Vocabulary Bank?
Since I have one my own, I always believe that having one is helpful. However, it is only helpful if used intelligently. And that requires practice. A lot of practice.

These are how I usually use my Vocabulary Bank.

1) Replace words with its synonyms.
After I have written an essay, I would go to my Vocabulary Bank and find words that I could replace with the words that I have used.

2) Try to fit in some new words.
Sometimes, I would browse in the Vocabulary Bank looking for words I think are beautiful and impactful. I would then try to chip the words in. There are occurrences when the words don't really fit in but weyh, I've made attempt to use them!

3) Change the register
Often when I write, I would just write down my ideas. Non-stop. This results in the use of inappropriate registers. When it should have been given formal voice, I may accidentally use informal voice as I might not have the vocabulary. Then is when I maximise the use of the Vocabulary Bank.

4) Frequent access
The need to always go back to the Vocabulary Bank actually helps improve my memory retention on the words I've written in the book. I may not yet use many of the words, but with the frequent access to the book and having frequent sight of the words, the words just stick! AH-MAZING


Vocabulary Bank has been very useful and that has been the reason for its introduction in ESL classes in my country and around the globe. So yeah, let's see how the year goes and how helpful the book will be to students in improving their vocabulary mastery.

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