Do you find it hard to remember English words? Does your memory let you down? Then this video is for you. Learn from the story of how Jay aced an exam by cheating and discover ways that you can learn English words quickly and effectively by working smart.

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How to remember English words video script

This video’s about your memory. How can you remember new English words you need to learn? What methods work and are there any easy ways to learn them or to cheat? We’ll find out.
Let’s start with a story. Once upon a time there was a little boy called Jay. Jay was a happy kid who loved his dog and computer games. He had loving parents who wanted him to do well at school.

Jay, I want you to study hard.
OK Mom.

One day Jay had an examination coming up. So after dinner his mom sent him to his room to study.

Jay, you need to go and revise.
Do I have to?
Yes, you’ve got an exam tomorrow.
Oh.

His Mum knew he needed to review his school work, or to revise as we say in British English. But Jay was into League of Legends so instead of opening up his school books, he started playing with his friends online.

I’ll just play for five minutes and then I’ll study.

It was a lot of fun and he had a great time.

Pww, pww. Ha ha ha!

But the clock was ticking. After a couple of hours Jay yawned and checked the time.

Oh no! It’s nine o’clock and I haven’t studied for my exam. If I don’t go to bed soon, I won’t be able to think straight.

And that’s when Jay stopped playing games and focused. He got out his books and started to study.

There’s so much to learn. This is terrible. What am I going to do?

But then Jay had an idea.

I know, I’ll cheat!

Cheating is like lying. It’s behaving in a bad way – dishonestly.

I’ll cheat. I’ll write down the things I need to know on some paper and I’ll take it into the exam with me.

So Jay took a piece of paper and he started making notes. He found the important information he needed and wrote it down. When he had his cheat sheet he felt good.
But there was a problem. How could he get his big piece of paper into the exam without anyone seeing it? So that’s when he had another idea. He tore off a tiny corner of the page. A tiny, tiny corner. Then he looked at his notes and wrote the most important information in tiny handwriting. It was so small he could screw it up into a tiny ball and hide it between two fingers on his hand.
Then Jay went to bed and slept. He slept well because he knew he had his cheat sheet ready for the exam tomorrow.

Good luck with your exam, Jay.
Thanks Mom. It’ll be OK.

So Jay sat in the exam room with the tiny cheat sheet between his fingers, and nobody saw it. He read the exam questions and he felt great. He was confident.

I can answer all these questions.

And he could. Jay did really well and he got a great grade in the exam. But here’s the strange thing. He never looked at the piece of paper. He had the cheat sheet with him. But he didn’t look at it. And he still did well in the exam. How was that possible?

It’s incredible! How did I do that?

Yeah, how did that happen? Have you got any ideas? Let’s look at what he did again.
Of course the answer is he did do the work. First, he focused. He didn’t spend a long time studying but he did concentrate. Second, he made notes. He wrote things down. Third, he didn’t try to learn everything. He identified the important information and ignored the rest. Fourth, and this one’s very important, he processed the information. He re-organized it. And then lastly, Jay got a good night’s sleep.
So what can we learn from this that can help you remember words?

Yeah, how can I learn stuff the easy way?

I’ve got six tips for you. Are you ready? First one. Set aside time for reviewing new words and give them your attention. You don’t have to spend a long time on it. Just when you have a free moment. You can review a lot in five or ten minutes.
Second tip. This one’s obvious, but write down the words you want to learn.

Do I have to? That sounds like hard work.

Actually, it’s going to save you work and make your life easier, because you’ll be more efficient. You can use a notebook or use your phone and an app.
Third tip. Don’t try to learn every new word you see or hear. You want to focus on the frequent words, the words you find English speakers are often using.

So if I keep seeing or hearing a word, I need to learn it.

Exactly. And you also want to learn words that are going to be interesting for you.

So words about League of Legends, or dogs?

Sure. Learn words about subjects you want to talk about and forget the rest. You can’t learn all the words in the English language so be selective. It’s OK to say ‘oh I’m not leaning that’.

Phew!

Fourth tip. This one’s really important. You need to process new words. You want to organize them somehow so you form connections in your mind.

Can’t I just look at them?

No, you need to process them so you create memories. So when you see a new word, stop and ask yourself ‘How can I remember this and create a memory?’. There are lots of different ways to do this so we’re making another video about how to get words to stick in your mind. If you subscribe to our channel you’ll be able to see it and when it’s published I’ll put a link here. And until then, think of Jay. He didn’t just look at the information. He processed it.
Fifth tip. This one’s easy. Sleep. It’s a wonderful thing.

Everyone performs better when they’re not tired.

Yes, and that’s not the only reason sleep helps. While we’re sleeping our brains are active, restructuring information and consolidating our memories. Deep sleep is when new words move from our short term memory into our long term memory.
OK! Let’s go back to the story for the last tip. I have a question. Jay did well in the exam, but how long do you think he remembered all the information he learnt. If we tested him again in a week’s time or two week’s time, would he remember it?

Yeah! Well maybe… or maybe not.

To stop yourself forgetting, you need to review. You’ll probably need to review a word several times before you remember it.

Ah!

Hey, but if you review you will remember and it doesn’t take long. Five minutes here. Ten minutes there. You just need to do it regularly. If you can get into a reviewing habit, you’re going to feel the benefit. Think how many words you can learn.

10 words a day for 100 days, that’s a thousand words. That gives me a lot of communication power.

A thousand words. That’s a good goal. If you follow these tips you can learn a thousand words in just a few months and your English is going to take off. In fact, why not start now? You could watch some more of our videos and find new words to learn.
Thanks for watching and see you next Friday! Bye!

Click here to learn the difference between the verbs remember and remind
Click here to learn 26 ways you can learn English for free
Click here to learn how to think in English