Why don’t students remember words easily? Why do we forget them. Most of th reason is that you aren’t using a memory system.
Many students believe the need to remember lots of new words, but in fact remembering old words in more important because these are noes you’re still learning. he first time you meet a word it probably won;t stay in your head. Only when you’ve met it many times will it stay.
An important idea is the forgetting curve. Research shows that we forget more than 40% of the information we learn within 20 minutes and 75% is lost within 6 days.
Graph from here
This means you need to have a good system for remembering words. This is the most popular and most effective
1. Make some word cards with your English word on one side and a translation or definition on the back. Put some words in Deck 1.
2. Pick up a card and check if you know it. If you do, put it in Deck 2. If not, keep it in Deck 1. Do the same with all the cards in Deck 1.
3. Pick up a word from Deck 2. If you know it, put it in Deck 3. If not, then return it to Deck 1.
4. Repeat for Decks 3, 4 and 5.
5. Add new words into Deck 1 from time to time.
Here are some websites that might help
Word Engine (in Japanese)
Some video background