日韩精品久久一区二区三区_亚洲色图p_亚洲综合在线最大成人_国产中出在线观看_日韩免费_亚洲综合在线一区

您現在的位置: Language Tips> Columnist> Brendan John Worrell  
 





 
Improving memory for foreign language vocabulary
[ 2008-03-03 17:48 ]


One of the most frequent questions received during my time teaching English would have been, "How can I try and improve my memory for new English words?" With one of the most commonly heard ailments being expressed, "I always seem to forget words I'd learnt".

I can fully appreciate the pain and frustration students feel regarding this. For some reason I am able to remember words in Japanese, which I haven't used for 10 years, far easier than if I am asked to remember the Chinese word that I practiced last week in class. It makes me 'bakka' – which is the Japanese word for 'fengzi' - or crazy.

I remember my old girlfriend's phone number from 18 years ago – yet still have problems remembering my own current phone number. To get to the heart of the matter, I think it is a good idea to look at the work of a "brain expert", an English fellow by the name of Tony Buzan.

According to Buzan our brain and its capacity is virtually limitless allowing us to remember all sorts of things. What is important is the ability to make connections, to make memory bridges, from past known knowledge to presently being learned knowledge.

Buzan uses the metaphor of a jungle to describe the brain and the cutting of plants to make a walking path to describe something that is learnt successfully. Our memory is like this path, with the more we use information – the better cleared the path and the less likely it will be forgotten. Whereas like in the jungle, if you don't cut the trees often enough the path gets lost amid the trees, so too with our memory – it needs to be constantly used.

For language learning he states our ability to make connections – to join one jungle path to the next - is the key to its improvement. He has adopted what he calls mind maps to assist with memory and creativity whereby one idea or word is then expanded to its next idea or word and on and on until the picture resembles something like a red eye that has lots of other lines coming out from the center.

My wife who is Chinese and has taught English for several years and now works as a translator for government has a good ability to remember new words and when I asked for her advice she said first she likes to learn the sound of the word, the phonetics, then she likes to learn the components of the word, the root, prefix and suffix (e.g. 'dis' and 'ease' for 'disease') and then she likes to connect these words to other words she has previously learnt (e.g. a serious disease, heart disease etc).

The beauty of Buzan is his belief and optimism in the brain's potential. A common myth, which he challenges as false, is the idea that as we get old our memory gets worse. A complaint post graduates often make saying that the English they studied as an undergrad has now been lost. Buzan however says this knowledge has just not been exercised – that it is still present just that the connections; the brain paths have not been cleared as frequently as they should have been.

I think when it comes to learning vocabulary – the key is actually frequent use and exposure. Be it via flash cards, writing it down a hundred times, screaming it out at the top of your lungs like Li Yang's Crazy English – ideally what will occur is a connection made between a previously learnt word, or emotion to the new word that is sought to be learnt. Then ideally a connection from that new word just learnt to an even newer word – and so the jungle path gets more expansive.

I noticed once I started using mind maps in my language classes' students' ability to retell a lesson, using the just learnt vocabulary, was certainly enhanced. In particular the learning was more organic and exploratory – rather than linear – and replicated the very brain structure that Buzan suggests.

Likewise when it came to reviewing the previous lesson, by incorporating the mind map, students were able to recall and build and reach back into their memory much more effectively than if I was just to give them a word test numbered from one to ten.

It is a fascinating field and one he has written many books about. Go online and check it out or browse through any foreign language bookshop for books by Tony Buzan.

我要看更多專欄文章

 

About the author:
 

Brendan John Worrell is currently a polisher for China Daily Website. He used to be a teacher and has taught at university and colleges in China, Australia and the UK and also at the high school and primary school level. In the field of writing Brendan has been published most recently in the Tiger Airways In-flight magazine 'Tiger Tales', writing about Hainan, Sanya, and in the upcoming issue the sister city relationship between Haikou and Darwin. He has also written travel articles for the Thai English Language Newspaper, The Bangkok Post and the Taiwanese English Language Newspaper, The Taipei Times. Brendan loves China, the Chinese spirit, his Chinese wife and the color red. He can be contacted at [email protected].

 
 
相關文章 Related Stories
 

 

 

 
 

本頻道最新推薦

     
  Improving memory for foreign language vocabulary
  Too much TV not a good thing
  Oh, what a bummer!
  “一夜情”為什么叫one night stand
  All hail China's new job-seekers

論壇熱貼

     
  "觸霉頭"怎么說?
  “土辦法”如何說
  “恐韓癥”,如何表達?
  底薪+提成 怎么講
  飯桶怎么翻?
  Small things here and there




主站蜘蛛池模板: 国产丝袜av | 曰批全过程40分钟免费视频多人 | 十六以下岁女子毛片免费 | 午夜免费电影院 | 六月丁香婷婷天天在线 | 国产区免费在线观看 | 日本一区二区高清不卡 | 国产亚洲精品久久无码小说 | 天堂成人网 | 亚洲国产二区 | 欧美成人免费看片一区 | 四虎永久免费网站入口2020 | av网站免费| 香蕉一区二区 | 三上悠亚2022最新番号 | 黄视频网址 | 日本欧美中文字幕人在线 | 香蕉在线影院 | 福利免费在线观看 | 国产精品免费在线播放 | 国产在线精品区 | 午夜影院试看五分钟 | a毛片| 欧美精品1区 | 99精品影视 | 毛片一级在线 | 色吊丝国产 | 国产一区二区视频在线观看 | 精品久久久久久久人人人人传媒 | 精品国产青草久久久久福利 | 精品视频在线观看 | 午色影院 | 国产精品13页| 水中色av综合 | 香蕉视频在线观看免费 | 91天堂| 午夜黄色大片 | 久久思思爱 | 天堂在线视频 | 亚洲欧美日韩精品久久 | 成人毛片18岁女人毛片免费看 |