that you don't know. Reading and listening are the ways you expose yourself to new words. Once someone uses a word you're unfamiliar with, or you come across a new word while reading, write it down in a pocket notebook (or your smartphone). Mr. Willis transfers his new word list to a special vocabulary notebook. 4. Look up the word in a dictionary and write down its meaning in a vocabulary notebook . Whenever you hear or read a new word, you should always stop and try to figure out its meaning from the context in which it is given. But a word can have multiple meanings and shades of meaning, the author or speaker could possibly have used the word incorrectly, and even if you do guess the right meaning, you may quickly forget it. So don't stop there. Once you get a chance, look up the new word you wrote down in your pocket notebook in a dictionary (new dictionary apps make doing this possible on the go), and then write it and its definition in a larger notebook dedicated to learning new vocabulary. Keep the definition short and put it in your own words -- you don't really understand something if you can't explain it yourself. It's also important to jot down the pronunciation of the word -- not with fancy symbols, but phonetically in a way you will understand. For example, for the word "oblique," you could write its pronunciation as "oh-bleek." What's great about the