Vocabulary
When learning a foreign language it is very important to learn vocabulary, new words, that will help you develop knowledge and skills that will make you a more fluent user of the language. Here you can find some words that are part of this material. Have a look at them, you may find this vocabulary useful.
| Word (type of word) | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| Arcade (noun) | An indoor area containing coin-operated video games. | |
| Video arcade (noun) | ||
| Browser (noun) | A computer program used for displaying and navigating between web pages. | |
| Cram (verb) | To make a place or container completely full. | |
| Development (noun) | The process in which something grows to become more advanced. | |
| Diminished (adjective) | To make smaller or less. | |
| Earn (verb) | Obtain money in return for your labor or services. | |
| Fed up with (adjective) | Annoyed or upset at a situation or treatment. | |
| Get pregnant (transitive verb) | To conceive a child. | |
| Harassment (noun) | Aggressive pressure or intimidation. | |
| Heartrending (adjective) | Causing great sadness or distress. | |
| Misconception (noun) | An opinion or point of view that is incorrect because is based on faulty thinking or understanding.. | |
| Preach (verb) | Publicly proclaim or teach. | |
| Regret (verb) | To feel sad, repentant, or disappointed over something that has happened, specially a loss or missed opportunity. | |
| Remarkable (adjective) | So impressive that it is worthy of attention. | |
| Type (verb) | To write on a computer by pressing the keys. | |
| Pleased (adjective) | Feeling or showing pleasure and satisfaction. | |
*If you don’t know the meaning of a word and you can find it here, you can go to these dictionaries:
Choose the correct option.
1 | Hearing about the way Norma lost her child was .
2 | I not having gone to the Vive Latino. There were so many bands that I like. I hate myself for not getting tickets.
3 | The way she speaks in favor of women’s rights is .
4 | In Mexico there is a huge on why women march and demand for equity. Most people think we want to be like men, but in fact we only demand respect and the right to live a life without fear, fear of going out at night, going to work, going to school, wearing certain clothes, or behaving in a certain way. We shouldn't be killed just by being women.
5 | Around the world, still in this era, women less than men when doing the exact same labor.
6 | Women are so with the way things keep going that last March 8th thousands of women the streets to protest against gender-based violence, misogyny, femicides, machismo, insecurity and impunity.
7 | When I was a little boy there wasn’t the technology that we have now. In fact, I didn't have a console to play video games, they were very expensive in those times, so to have a little fun, I used to go to the to play some video games.
Phrasal verbs
These types of verbs are very common in English. They are made up of a verb and a particle or, sometimes, two particles. The particles can be either an adverb or a preposition, sometimes both of them. Check some examples:
| Phrasal verb | Meaning | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Break through | To force yourself through something that is holding you back. | The women were marching when some policemen broke through the march to stop the protest. | |
| Break up | To end up in a relationship, either a marriage or a romantic relationship. | Peggy's boyfriend asked her to quit school and marry him, so she broke up with him. She wants to be an independent woman, not a stay-at-home mom. | |
| Come up with | To produce or find. | She gave a deep speech. She came up with the most beautiful words. We all could learn that she was proud of her son. | |
| Dress up | To put on clothes that you don’t normally wear. | Angy dressed up to go to her best friend's graduation. She wore a black suit with a white blouse. She was looking formal, but beautiful. | |
| Grow up | To become an adult. | My sister and I grew up in Mexico, but we left due to the insecurity. | |
| Hang out with | To spend time with friends. | I don’t usually hang out with Teddy and Jenny on weekdays as I work from Monday to Friday til night. There's no time. | |
| Look up | To search for information or a fact in a book or dictionary. | I didn’t know the meaning of march, but I looked it up in the dictionary and found the meaning. | |
| Pick up | To collect someone from a place, often by car. | I pick my daughter up from school from Monday to Thursday. Her father picks her up on Fridays and then they go to the movies together. | |
Complete the conversations with the correct phrasal verb from the list above. Use the correct tense (past or present).
TIP
The best way to learn these types of verbs is to find the learning strategy that best fits you. Here we share some tips:
- Group the phrasal verbs by a particular verb, for example: get up, get dressed, get along with, etc.
- Group them by topic. If grouping them by a particular verb doesn’t work for you, you can find this way of grouping the verbs more attractive as you can make a list of verbs related to expressing emotions, for instance.
- Make lists of 5 or 7 phrasal verbs, if you make your list longer you may find it boring and you may lose interest.
- Write down phrasal verbs that you can relate to. It is easier to learn about the things that are true for us and that we use in our everyday life.
- Learn them in context. The idea is to check them in texts, audios or videos so you can see how they are used in real life. When you read a text, for example, you can write down the phrasal verbs you find, just some of them, then look up the meaning and practice by making your own sentences.
- You can also make some flash cards with them to have a visual with the phrasal verb, its meaning, an example and an image.
Cognates and false cognates
Cognates are words that appear similar in Spanish and English because they are etymologically related. False cognates are words that look and sound very similar, but they don’t have the same meaning. So, knowing the difference between them is crucial when learning a foreign language, English in this case. They are as real friends and false friends: real friends will help you while false friends won’t. The same happens with cognates. Here are some examples:
| ENGLISH | SPANISH |
| Accept | Aceptar |
| Artificial | Artificial |
| Color | Color |
| Criminal | Criminal |
| Energy | Energía |
| Plans | Planes |
| Solar | Solar |
| ENGLISH | MEANING | SPANISH | MEANING |
| Career | Professional career, the one you gain once you start working and with opportunities for progress. | Carrera | Specialize in a particular subject in a university or college. |
| Major | Specialize in a particular subject in a university or college. | Mayor | Bigger or older. |
| Molest | Sexually abuse. | Molestar | To bother. |
| Murder | The unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another. | Morder | To bite. |