Memory aids for German words to collect

Problem
How do you remember German words especially ones with similar spellings which confuse you?

Answers
Look for a letter you can associate with the English meaning.
Look for a word association.

German - English

Entwickeln - develop (like English word entwine - but add a wick, burning midnight oil to develop it, and l-n, developing it alone)

Sammeln - collect (save stamps and collect words with double letters; save similar lettets in pairs, el in sammeln and le in collect - another word ending ln, collecting alone)

Sendung - program (I am sending out the program although it is full of dung)

Schutzen - protect
It was used in the sentence The roof will protect us.
I thought of the memory aid word association: the roof will shut out danger. That was enough to recognize the German word in a test. To create the word in my mind i would need a memory aid for the second syllable: 'To protect SHUT out citiZENs.

Tips
Write the new words in the back of your diary. Read the words on the train.

Look up to check your station at the end of every page or line depending on the length of you journey to be sure to get off at you stop.

Author
Angela Lansbury, English teacher and tutor of foreign languages.