Structuring Accurate Pronunciation: A Notion Template for Efficient Word Learning
Here it is. Check it out for yourself in the meantime but I want to walk you through WHY it looks this way and what the goal is.
We’ll start building our Notion Template page by page into the database I would like.
But we gotta start somewhere and today, it’ll be at the word level.
These are the overarching intentions.
It has to be useful
It has to be easy
It has to be accessible
In this page, I’m slowly designing how I want you to think about learning new words.
I’ve designed it with the intention of eventually entering a database that will track your practice and based on your score for difficulty, will present the information to you again to review on a spaced retrieval schedule.
Words that are more difficult will be reviewed more regularly. Words that are less difficult will be reviewed less regularly.
When learning a new word in English, there are a few things that must be learned. For native English language learners, some aspects of a word are learned intuitively but should be explicitly and actively learned by newer English language learners.
Here are the current ideas I have about what is important.
Word - You need to identify the word you want to learn.
Syllable Number - You should know how many syllables the word is, especially during speech. Some words, when spoken in isolation can be a certain number of syllables but in phrases among other words, are a different number. It is important to know when.
IPA spelling - You need to know the correct sounds to say the word - not only how to spell the word. Thee word yacht and gnocchi have letters that don’t make sounds so the word spelling doesn’t help.
Primary and Secondary syllable stress - If the word has multiple syllables, which syllable is stressed? This is important to knowing what part of the word to emphasize.
Type of Word - When learning how to use the word, you need to know what type of word it is. Is it a noun? An adjective? A verb? An adverb? These categories will teach you about how to categorize the word in your mind and understanding as well when to use the word.
Definition - You need the definition of the word to use it correctly when speaking. You need to know what the word means to use it contextually.
Example Use Case - Having example use-cases is important for having examples of how others do it. It also gives you insight into specific contexts on whether it is a professional word, a casual word, a jargon word or anytime use word.
Now, you may not need to always review ALL aspects of the word when practicing, but the goal is to have that access readily available. Even though a dictionary check may be able to provide that information to you easily, BUT if you are not actively copying, internalizing, or identifying these features of a word or do not understand these specific pieces of information about a word, it can impact your understanding of how to use the word.
Using a Notion Template is productive in this case because it is accessible from both your computer and phone (so long as you have internet cause Notion ain’t got no offline mode) and you can add shortcut automations to quickly create new word templates for easy and quick word entries.
For pronunciation purposes, it is important to know especially the syllable number, the primary and secondary stresses, the type of word and the IPA spelling to know how to pronounce the word. The definition and use cases are important to recognize when to use the word is appropriate.
You can even add audio recordings to record yourself or an example of correct pronunciation.
As you get familiar with paying attention to these details, you can begin to understand what is important for pronouncing a word and do so intentionally and methodically. You can get regular practice and develop an inventory of words you want to practice.
And your English learning journey becomes more clearly defined and laid out for practice.
So the next time you have 10-15 minutes of time, you aren’t overwhelmed by an unclear, vague idea of wanting to get better, but in fact have 10-15 minute’s of words to practice pronouncing.
