Do you know that vocabulary is more important than grammar? If you have good vocabulary, you can communicate successfully, even if the grammar is not completely perfect.

However, one common problem is learning new words and then forgetting them. So, when you want to use a new word in a conversation, you can’t remember it at that moment. Does this often happen to you? The reason for this difficulty is that most students try to learn vocabulary by studying lists and dictionaries and remembering the words. But it may not work if you don’t have a very good memory.

The best way to learn vocabulary and remember the words successfully is to learn new words and use them at once. You can do this with a very simple exercise. Each time you learn a new word, for example, from an English lesson or an article, write it down in your vocabulary notebook. Writing is more active than just reading a definition（释义）. You should write the word, the definition in English or translation, one example sentence from the article or dictionary and one example sentence that you create.

Imagine you just learn the word “generous”, write in your vocabulary notebook: generous (adjective), definition—giving or willing to give freely. Example One, from the article: Thanks for paying for my dinner, you’re very generous. Example Two, my example: My brother is generous because he volunteers at the animal shelter on weekends. It’s best if your example sentences are true to your life, because this creates a personal connection with the new word. The next day, read your vocabulary notebook again and try to add one more example sentence using the new word. It’s helpful for you to remember it. These two simple steps—writing the word and using it at once—help you remember and use new words.

If you want to deal with the association (社交) between boys and girls properly, here are some “does and don’ts” for you to follow.

Keep a normal and healthy state of mind. Our schools and classes are made up of boys and girls. It is very natural for the boys and girls to make friends with each other. We should make as many friends as possible. We should keep in touch with the other sex (性别) in public instead of in secret.

Don’t be too nervous or too shy. If you are a shy person, you can also find a way out. First of all, you can make friends with the students who have the same interest and hobby as you. As both of you have much in common, you may have much to talk about. If you keep doing like that, little by little, you will gladly find you are also as free to express yourself as others.

Don’t fall into the ditch (泥潭) of early love. The boys and girls at a adolescence (青春期) are rich in feeling. They are easy to regard the friendship as a sign of love and fall in love with each other at an early age. In my opinion, early love is a green apple that can’t be eaten. An apple won’t taste sweet until it is fully ripe. Boys and girls at middle school are too young to carry the heavy duty of love. Do keep out of early love.

If someone said they’d pay you $1,800 (￥11796) to stay off social media for six years, would you do it? Could you? Sivert did just that.

In 2016, Loma challenged her 12-year-old son Sivert to stay off social media until he was 18. If he completed the challenge, she’d give him the money on his eighteenth birthday. On February 19, 2022, Sivert got his prize.

Lorna got the idea from a challenge she heard on TV. Sivert said it wasn’t too difficult to live without social media, and he didn’t think about it much during the six years. As a 12- year-old boy, Sivert said he wasn’t using social media much anyway. The only app he had was Snapchat — which he deleted a day after trying it out.

“There wasn’t a time I thought I was about to break,” he said. “As it went on, it was more of a pride thing.” He had his friends keep him up to the latest information. He got to avoid all the unnecessary dramas. It also meant he had more time on his studies, hobbies and sports instead. Now S1,800 richer, Sivert hasn’t thought about what to buy (when he was 12, he joked he’d get a house), but it’ll likely be something for his room at his university, which he’ll attend in the fall.

After Sivert’s success, Lorna shared the challenge. She said it was some of the best money she ever spent. Other parents have seemed interested in trying it out too. “We are certainly not against social media, but it’s the healthy using of it,” Lorna noted.