Journal #25 - MY VOCABULARY HISTORY

1. I really do have a hard time with my vocabulary, mainly because I'm so used to using words I learned so long ago. It's a challenge for me to take in new vocabulary and use it everyday. I would learn a new word one day, and forget it the next day. My strong points are I can use pretty big vocabulary in my writing, but only when I feel like using them. It's hard for me to understand novels everytime I come across a word I've never heard be before, or even a word I can hardly read.
2. In my middle school years, we used a lot of vocabulary workbooks to help stretch out our vocabulary. We also read many novels and each time there was a word we didn't usually hear, the teacher would stop us and drill us on that word. Although I've gone through so many vocabulary workbooks, I don't remember three-quarters of the words I learned.
3. To be honest, I don't get used to a new word unless it sounds interesting to me. I'm only able to catch on to a word if its something I can make fun of. For example, last year we were going through our vocabulary workbooks when we came across the word flabbergasted, and I've been using that word quite a lot since I've learned it.
4. My goals for my word choice are to learn many new words and be able to use them daily. I want to be able to improve my vocabulary, especially because it'll help me in the future when I need to find a job. My evidence of "owning" those new words is when I use them in my essays.