Find 10 minutes to have fun with words

Coaching clients often grumble about the fact they always use the same words when they’re speaking.

They’re frustrated because they’ve learnt so many more words – but when they talk they end up using the same ones.

(I know how they feel because I’ve had the same issue in French.)

And this also means they don’t always express exactly what they mean.

When they ask me how they can stir up all those words they recognize but forget to use, I tell them there are several ways to wake up resting vocabulary.

One fun way is through word games.

For training English vocabulary, there’s a big choice of games: Scrabble, word finder, spelling bee, connections, Wordle, etc.

For French, I play solo Scrabble on my iPad or with the travel card version nearly every day.

Some days I try to beat my last score by swapping letters and tapping into the dictionary function.

Other days I want to beat the clock and finish as fast as possible.

Puzzles that make us search for words, check the spelling of words or select synonyms move words that are lurking at the back of our brain to the front.

This helps to start using them more often and sound more natural.

So spend 10 minutes a day doing puzzles on your phone or on paper to stimulate words you know but never say.

Need a hand to set up and stick to your DIY language project? I can help.

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