When working to expand your vocabulary, keeping a record sheet can help facilitate major leaps in your skill acquisition, giving you an easy-to-check document for seeing your improvement. Even though they may seem like extra work, they really aid a lot in mastering words and phrases.
Format
You can format your vocabulary record sheet in any way you’d like. Personally, though, I like to use an Excel sheet with three columns: one for the word or phrase, one for the meaning (in my own words) and one with the word used in a complete statement. I keep the document synced between both my phone and my home PC so that I can check it any time I’d like.
During trips or long commutes, I like to open up my vocabulary record sheet for reviewing words I’ve previously studied. I find it a nice way to refresh your vocabulary, allowing you to go through some words you probably don’t get to use very often.
They’re also a nice handy reference. When you’re practice writing or speaking in a language, you’ll usually come across words that you can’t seem to remember but are right in the tip of your tongue. Instead of opening up a dictionary or a language software, you can simply refer to your more robust vocabulary record sheet to try and find the word.
Progress
Beyond the practice help, vocabulary record sheets are a great way of keeping track of your progress in the language. The more words you can write in there, the greater your experience in the language and the higher your skill level probably is. If nothing else, it gives you a gauge of how well your learning is going.