I'm a newbie too with normal English. Working on it. How i've started is that when i read dawn, i underline all the difficult words. After i've finished reading it, i jot down all the words in a copy that i've maintained for this very purpose. I don't only copy the word but the sentence also in which that word is used. This way one gets to know about the context in which that word can be used. Then simply google the meanings, or keep a dictionary with yourself and write meanings. When you're done, read the entire list and try to learn it. I know this takes a lot of time but the effort is worth it. A lot of new words can be learned this way. Hope this helped.