Do you struggle to learn new English vocabulary words? Today we have a guest post from Chris Ternosky from Learn English with Chris.Chris will show you how to use Amazon Kindle to improve your vocabulary quickly and easily.
The Amazon Kindle is an E-reader. It is a device used to read things electronically. You can read many things on it, but books are the most common. The Kindle is a great language learning tool for many reasons. It is able to store thousands of books while being fairly small. It is about same size as many books.
Trust me, I love having a real book in my hand. I love the smell, feeling, and how the words look on the pages. However, I like to travel and I live in a foreign country. It would be hard to carry 139 books with me everywhere I go.
The latest version of the Kindle comes with features that makes it an ideal tool for learning a foreign language and especially English. I personally use it to study Mandarin. Many of my students have been using it to learn English in their spare time. In this article I will explain how you can use the Kindle to improve your English in two easy steps.
How to use the Kindle to Learn English
Step 1: Find a book
Amazon has thousands of free books ready to download today There are books to choose from every genre. Go to amazon.com and search “free kindle books” or “free kindle genre”. The great thing about this is that even if you don't own a Kindle you can still download free books. You just need to use the Kindle app for your smart phone. Once you've chosen your book it is time to improve your English.
Step 2: Read the book, and use the Vocabulary Builder
The newest Kindle has a built-in Vocabulary Builder. It is used for two things. One, if there is a word you don't know you can touch it, and a definition will show.
The second thing this feature does is save the word and make a flashcard. The flashcards can be used later to review words. It will have the word, definition, and the sentence you found it in the book. The sentence will help give you context of how the word was used.
When you're reading a book you can save any difficult words, and review them later. Reviewing is very important if you want to remember vocabulary.
Many students ask me “Chris, how do I improve my vocabulary?” I usually tell them all the same thing. I tell them to read something they enjoy. It could be a book, news article, or a magazine. When they read it they should write down any difficult words, and find the meaning. They must then create a flashcard and review the words often. The Kindle does exactly this for you. It is an amazing tool for learners of any language, but especially English.
Why is the Kindle an excellent tool for learning English?
I believe the best way to learn something is to actually enjoy it. When you are learning a language with a textbook it can sometimes be very boring. The topic of the book is probably something that doesn't interest you. If you have a tool that lets you choose many books then you will always have something to read that you enjoy. For example, if you work in the finance industry you might like to read books about economics, or personal finance. If you enjoy watching sports you might like to read about sports history.
Chris Ternosky is an English teacher currently living Taiwan. He is the founder of http://learnenglishwithchris.com/ where you can get tons of free information, and tips on improving your English.
Image:
