(This list consists of approximately 5000 of the most frequent words in the English language. If you know these word and their families, you will comprehend about 88% of the English you read and hear.)
a) Download the Excel spreadsheet with the word list(s) from your e-mail.
b) In the column labeled “1,2,3” type 1, 2, or 3 using the following criteria:
1 = I don’t know the word;
2 = I may know the basic meaning, but I probably don’t know all its meanings or uses;
3= I know it perfectly
c) When you finish coding the words as 1, 2, or 3, go to DATA (menu at the top of Excel) then click on SORT. Sort by value: 1, 2, 3 and from: "smallest to largest." (The words that end up on top will be all the 1s and 2s.)
d) Delete all the rows with words labeled 3.
e) Now you are ready to learn/study the words you did not know.
f) Look up the words you don't know in a bilingualized dictionary (a bilingualized dictionary has definitions in both English and another language).
g) Find an example sentence in a dictionary or some other written material (a newspaper, a book, a magazine, etc.)
h) You may not have to really study the very common words because you will encounter them in your reading, in your classes, in watching TV or movies, in surfing the Internet, and in talking to native English speakers. Don’t think something is wrong with the list if you see words that seem really easy 3000-5000 lists. Just learn the ones that you do not know.
