The Awesome Magic of Learning and Memory "Pleasure is the flower that passes; remembrance, the lasting perfume. " Jean de Boufflers.

The Awesome

Magic of

Learning

and Memory

"Pleasure is the flower that passes; remembrance, the lasting perfume. "

Jean de Boufflers

Chris Snuggs ISUGA 2005

Recording & Learning Vocabulary

Memory is at the heart of learning. It is truly the "sine qua non".

Humans have memory by nature, but it shouldn't be taken for granted.

It can be improved by:A) understanding it

B) training it

C) using techniques that maximize its potential for each individual

What is Memory?



Short-term memory isn't much use in the long-term.

Most people forget up to 80% of what they hear unless it is transferred to long-term memory.

ERGO, transfer to LTM is vital.

So, what is needed to assure long-term memory retention? (LTMR)

The Concept of Short-term & Long-term Memory …



if you're not interested or emotionally-stimulated

by an event, you won't remember it ….

Long-term Memory depends greatly on:

the emotional intensity of first exposure to stimulusthe level of interest in & commitment to the situation or topic

Ergo: GET INTERESTED - GET COMMITTED

This shouldn't be hard - it's what we're here for ….

AND THERE'S A BONUS …..

InterestED people are interestING people



PREVIEW the material: read up on it in advance.

Prepare QUESTIONS in advance.

Think about possible answers to these questions - IN ADVANCE.

Prepare physically, be interested, ask questions.

Ensure you get and UNDERSTAND answers during the class; it's difficult to remember what you don't understand!

Recite and/or reformulate teacher's points IN YOUR OWN WORDS = NOTES.

Reformulation AIDS LTMR; relying solely on teacher handouts DOES NOT.

Get things clear FIRST TIME -> first impressions are vital -> what is learned wrongly is difficult to correct.

BEFORE A CLASS - THE PRACTICAL STEPS



Don't stop practice at the point when you can perform a task; DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN.

This considerably STRENGTHENS the learning.

OVERLEARNING

RECITATION

SAYING THINGS in your own words STRENGTHENS LTMR.

Ergo, REFORMULATE ideas in your own words.

Do Q&A practice with a partner.

TALK TO YOURSELF; repeat foreign language material in your head ……

When reading, consider "VOCALIZING"; evidence suggests this aids LTMR.



ORGANISING MATERIAL

The FUNNEL approach - get clear understanding of OVERALL concepts

before trying to master details.

Go from GENERAL to SPECIFIC.

Using ASSOCIATION enhances LTMR; you want to learn the word "steel",

so learn it along with the word "iron".

Group similar ideas & concepts together.

Use GRAPHIC as well as VERBAL input: e.g. Associate a noun with a PICTURE.

Use MINDMAPS; don't necessarily be LINEAR. stapler



DOING, RECITING, QUESTIONING & PARTICIPATING aid LTMR

SITTING, LISTENING, READING & NOT PARTICIPATING DO NOT aid LTMR

ACTIVE LEARNING

REPETITION & LEARNING "HOOKS"

… on different occasions… in different ways… with different people

Practise using material you want to learn:

Each different and separate exposure to - and practice of - material strengthens LTMR.



Learn & revise with a partner, or in a study group.

Take turns to "teach" your partner(s) specific topics.

This involves you analyzing, reformulating, reciting and answering questions about the material.

Many people say it's not till they have had to teach something that they have fully understood it and that it all "hangs together".

TEACHING IT MAKES YOU LEARN IT BEST



Some learning is automatic; much learning isn't.

You can improve learning with specific techniques.

A single exposure to input leaves little in long-term memory.

People who have "naturally" good memories are often those who pay attention to the above points.

Whatever your natural learning ability, it can be improved by focussed learning activities.

CONCLUSION


Recording & Learning VocabularyWhat you have to do …

STEP ACTION COMMENT/DETAILS

1 hear/read word/phrase

2 work out what it means use a dictionary if appropriate

3 query meaning if necessary asking questions AIDS memorisation

4 ensure pronunciation is correct ask teacher to repeat

5 repeat out loud to oneself (or silently if embarrassed)

6 record clearly by hand keep notes in organised structure

give translation, example, pronunciation

write down with associated words

8 to 12 revise specifically after 1, 2, 4, 8 & 16 days

two-column self-testing

A/B card file

working with a partner

reading books and magazines

watching TV

listening to radio (LW 198)

devise specific revision techniques

transfer to computer

reinforce generally by

13

14

7



What you have to do ….

ask teacher to repeat it

repeat it yourself, loudly or silently

exaggerate the stress

use it in a phrase

write it down with the stress pattern

Recording the stress pattern, e.g; for the word "container":

Container: o O o - conTAIner - container - container - container - container

Or indeed: conTAIner (o O o)

Do the same with: "photographer":

PRONUNCIATION

o O o o



What you have to do ….

GET A GOOD DICTIONARY!!

set up an organised system

use Excel or a database

don't write just the word itself: add synonyms, words in the same group

use your system regularly

COPYING TO COMPUTER



03-sept initial o O o adjective first, opening to write one's initials

03-sept drag - verbto pull

with difficultyLife can be a real drag.

a police dragnet

03-sept

03-sept

03-sept Plants grow in the garden.

03-sept He accused the police of planting the evidence.

03-sept Where is the plant manager?

03-sept bride -"i" as in "eye"

nounfemale

getting marriedgroom

WORD STRESSDATEASSOCIATED WORDS

& USESPART OF SPEECH

DEFINITIONSYNONYMANTONYM

VOWEL

plant -nounverb

industrialmachinery

caterpiller nounmetamorphoses

into butterflycaterpiller tracksO o o o

an example of recording vocabulary



Understanding the origin of words:

Most words have a history. Knowing a word's history helps make it easier to remember. Here are some examples:

"deliberate" - libra in latin = a pair of scales

- this is also familiar from the astrological sign Libra

- something "deliberate" has been weighed and considered before being done

"sincere" - in latin, "sin" = "without" and "cera" = "wax"

- a statue sold with no breakages or chips, and so no repairs with wax, was of good value

- the word "sincere" thus came to mean "genuine", "true", "honest"



ductlat ducere = to lead

to deducemake a deduction

to induct = teach(to introduce or lead someone to)

an aqueduct (which leads water somewhere)

to introducean introduction

an introductory offer

to seducea seductionseductive

to reduceto make a reduction

to educateeducationeducative

to conduct electricityan electrical conductor

to conduct onselfgood conduct

a viaduct, e.g. a road

over a valley

to abduct a childan abduction

to produceproduction

an air ductas in a

ventilation system

to abductto conductto induct

to educate

to deduceto introduceto produceto reduceto seduce

now do the same for the latin word:

"tractare"

Graphical aids to learning



platinum

aluminium

bronze

sapphire

limestone

lead

gold

Ordering, Sequencing, HierarchingHere's another example …..

emerald

rare

silver

marble

masonry

precious

ruby

common

iron

metals

stones

alloys

brass

diamond

slate

You’re told to learn these words. How do you go about it?



Metals

Sort your words first!!!! - Ordering, Sequencing, Hierarching ….

MINERALS

Stones

Precious MasonryAlloysRare Common

gold

platinum

silver

aluminium

copper

iron

lead

brass

bronze

steel

diamond

emerald

ruby

sapphire

granite

limestone

marble

slate



The Origin of words - learn the ROOTS!!

ROOT MEANING EXAMPLE DEFINITIONagri field agronomy field crop rotation and management

anthropo man anthropology the study of humans

astro star astronaut one who travels in interplanetary space

bio life biology the study of life

cardio heart cardiologist doctor specializing in heart conditions

chromo colour chromatology the study of colours

demos people democracy government by the people

derma skin epidermis outer layer of skin

dyna power dynamic characterized by power and energy

geo earth geology study of the earth

etc

Copy and enhance this table ……… then make a table of SUFFIXES.



Practising and Learning your words ….

Make up some practice cards to test yourself or to work with a partner, for example:

Side A

symbiosis o o O o

Side B

the intimate living together of two

species formutual benefit



Practising and Learning your words ….

Use the two column method, for example to practise words in the "tractare" family:

to take back or withdraw a statement

to retract a statement

to contract

a detractor

to grow smaller

a person critical of someone else

to remove or take out something to extract

to take one number away from another

to subtract

person or company engaged to do a job

contractor



General practice reinforces vocabulary learning!

You MUST read English regularly:

magazines: "Time", "Business Week", "The Economist", "Asia Review" etc

biographies

novels, including crime stories

You MUST check news websites every day:

BBC

International Herald Tribune

CNN

SKY NEWS

TIME Magazine

You MUST try to listen to BBC Radio 4 regularly on LW 198.

You MUST watch TV regularly: news and other programmes, but also videos that can be borrowed ……

The Awesome Magic of Learning and Memory "Pleasure is the flower that passes; remembrance, the lasting perfume. " Jean de Boufflers.

Documents

heart of learning

memory pleasure

longterm memory retention

awesome magic of learning

boufflers slide

stapler slide

shortterm memory isnt

different people