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Memorization techniques
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Motivate your students to make good use of their brains! Here is my tip today: teach them Memorization Techniques!
First of all, of course, they have to decide to want to pay attention. How to accomplish this with a highly distracted student? Teach her the importance of paying attention and focusing on her interest, by showing the benefits of it.
Guide your students to set a goal, and write down with them what they want to accomplish by studying English as a second language. Peoples's recognition? Better grades in school? Better job and social interaction? Become a professional like an interpreter, or a teacher? Travel around the world? Meet a foreign sweetheart? What is the intention? The answer will be their goal, and the motivation to reach the benefits will keep the students on the track, paying attention to the process.
Then, help your students to recognize the distractions, all the things that can separate them from their goal (people, inappropriate environment, inadequate emotional or physical state, etc..). Once they avoid, eliminate, or ignore those distractions, the memorization part will be easier because the attention will be focused on what is most important. Then, let them know that our memory is affected by:
a) our learning styles (using the proper technique for each correspondent learning style, the memory will perform better);
b) our beliefs (if we believe we cannot assimilate that new word, or we believe we cannot pronounce that correctly, our memory won't perform a good job, because we are already blocking the energy as we believe “we cannot” do this or that;
c) our physical state, like being well rested and well fed, contributes to a better performance of our brains;
d) stress level – stress must be well managed so it does not interfere with your memorization process. If we are tense, or irritated, or worried it will be much more difficult to retain the information; the same way, if our brains are fatigued, they won't be in good condition to assimilate the new. Suggest to your students to study on their own for short and regular periods of time, having a break in between. Let's say, study for 30 minutes, have a break of 10. Study for 30 more minutes and that's enough for one day! Next day, same thing. But next day! Not next month! If they are not regular, they lose the focus, and miss the achievement of their goal. It's really not productive to study – or do anything - for hours and hours in a roll without breaks. You overload your brain capacity for one day and what is excessive information just goes to waste. You get tired, bored and start disliking what you are doing.
It's wise to be aware of those facts and address them in order to have a better memory performance. Teaching your students how to use their memory will greatly improve their productivity, and yours, as you'll be working with more productive people!
Thanks for reading me!
You are welcome to leave comments on this page or send me your comments and/or questions to my personal email (see bio).
Rosangela C. Taylor
ESL Educator / Writer
Rockford, IL
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