Are irregular verbs a headache for you? The truth is that you know a little bit of English, but you are totally stuck when it comes to learning the irregular verbs. They do not sound very logical and just that three-column and four pages long list gives you the shivers.
That’s ok! I am here to share the most efficient secrets to learn them once and for all.
4. Group them!
The irregular verbs can be grouped in 9 easy to learn groups. The funny thing is that these groups rhyme and your brain will be able to retain them better. Get the power of mnemonic to work for you. Here are the 9 groups that Mr. Hani Al Tahrawi has complied. Some of them can be memorized in about 1o seconds.
3. Learn them in context!
It may be boring for you to spend hours memorizing a list. This is why it is important to find a suitable context for your irregular verbs. You can check out below how Kenneth Beare from thoughtco.com puts the verbs into sentences. Then take out a piece of paper and a pen and create your own sentences. In this way, the brain will make the connections better and the retention rate will be higher.
2. Start with the most common ones!
Have you ever seen the 600 plus list of irregular verbs? That one can be totally intimidating. But you do not need 600 plus to speak English. Actually, you can start with just 50 of the most commonly used irregular verbs. This approach will give you great confidence in speaking English and from then on, you can progress to the next 100, 200 or why not 600 verbs.
1. Use Task Cards Testing
One of the most efficient secrets to learning fast the irregular verbs is to test yourself. In this way, you will see your strong points and your progress, but you will be able to identify the rough spots where you need to work more.
The irregular verbs task cards are better to be the sentence completion type than multiple choice items. In the case of sentence completion, you have to write the correct form on your own. This strategy will eliminate any guessing and you will be sure that you know your forms just fine. You can also identify any spelling problems and correct them swiftly.
For my students I like to use a large pack of irregular verbs task cards that contains 200 pieces. I opt for this pack because I want the largest coverage possible and I want my students to be able to go through as many irregular verbs as possible.
These are just four of the secrets to learning fast the irregular verbs. Have you tried another strategy that worked? Please share in the comments below your experience!
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