Suppose there is a list of vocabulary you are gonna teach or learn. Here is the list :
 
Senile (behaving in a confused way and unable to remember things)
supine (lying flat on your back)
drudgery (hard boring work)
mighty (very strong)
wary(cautious)
pledge (promise)


Imagery involves two steps: 

1-Thinking of a word which is similar to the word you want to learn or any other word that you recall even if it's not similar to the word you're gonna learn.(I call it key word) E.g. the word senile may remind you of two other words: Sea and nile. 

2- Creating a mental picture using key word(s).
 It is important to know that by mental picture we don't mean a poster or a photograph, but a moving picture - a film.
In fact the key words are the scenario to be made into a movie. You are the director. You are the viewer and you watch the movie through your mind's eye.

Let's see how we can do it when we want to learn the word senile. 
The way you make a mental picture may be something like this: You are very very old, 180. When you are walking around in your neighborhood, you think you are in a sea which looks like nile(the Nile)You are so confused that you can't realize where you are now is your own neighborhood not a sea and what looks like nile is the ordinary buildings and streets. Ok. Is this enough to learn the meaning of the word "senile"? Not yet.
Imagery should involve all the senses and moods:
Visual (seeing) kinaesthetic (movement), auditory (listening/ hearing), tactile (touching), olfactory (smelling), gustatory (tasting) and abstract (intellect). So imagery doesn't mean just thinking about something, but seeing that thing in the mind's eye, or third eye. Your mental picture should be created with all of your senses and moods. For example, to learn the meaning of the word "senile", you may imagine that you are wearing a long white beard, wandering around sea, with a walking stick in your hand. You see giant waves, hear sea birds singing, and breathe fresh humid sea air. Big waves splash you and you get socked all over. You should feel the coldness and dampness of water. As you're old, your body aches all over and you're grouchy (moods). Hold the picture for a few seconds, try to see it clearly and then let it go. But don't forget this is all to learn that senile means a confused old person. I mean don't get lost in your imagination because the purpose of imagery is not imagery.
The next word on the list is supine (lying flat on your back). What key words do you suggest? Perhaps soup and pine. Now try to create the mental picture. How do you do that?
 {You are eating soup under a pine tree while lying down on your back} Again, don't forget to involve all your senses and moods. How? Can anyone help?
 You're lying flat on your back and soup keeps oozing from the pine tree right into your mouth. Again, use all your senses and moods. Here, your may create new tastes, novel tastes, colors,etc. For example the soup may look like fruit and have some other taste rather than soup. The color may be different. The ingredients… 
See the picture in your mind's eye for just a few seconds.

Next word is "drudgery"(hard boring work)
Think of a key word. 
Draw + Jerry. Now try to make the mental picture and vividly see it in your mind's eye.
{Your name is Jerry, and somebody orders you to draw pictures. His orders are endless. You have to draw, draw, draw, day in day out. This is so monotonous. Try to feel the situation. You're continually ordered: Draw, Jerry - Draw, Jerry...}

Now can you remember the first word? The second, the third…
If you have problem remembering the words, it may mean you didn't make the mental picture. You didn't concentrate. Perhaps you didn't involve all senses and moods, or because you already knew the meaning of the words, you didn't take it seriously. 

Let's try another list.

Hoard (store sth in secret because it is important or valuable)
Jostle (bump or push sb in a crowd)
Plight (to be in a difficult or dangerous situation)
Terse (brief and unfriendly e.g. a terse comment)
Grotesque (frightening, ridiculous or exaggerated e.g. a grotesque comedy)
Paltry (very small and of not much use or value)

We start with the first item: hoard. What key word do you suggest? Perhaps ford - bord - cord - Lord. 
Ok, Ford. Suppose you store Fords (the car) secretly because you know it's the best vehicle people need, but they(the Fords) keep honking loudly so that everybody knows about that. Try to make a clear picture in your mind. Make sure you involve all senses and moods.

The next item is "jostle". Can you think of a key word?
Jaw + cell. How do you develop the mental picture?

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