How to improve your memory
Many English learners often complain about not being able to remember the new words that they learn. They feel frustrated, and unmotivated to continue studying. These students often feel that they have a memory problem, as if there is something physically wrong with this part of their brain. Since they feel they can’t remember what they learn, they find studying to be a waste of time.
If you want to have a better memory, it’s essential to understand how memory works. Many people think that simply looking at something many times should allow them to remember it. This seems sensible, but it is very untrue. Think about something that you see everyday. (Maybe a one dollar bill of your country’s money) You’ve probably seen this piece of paper thousands of times, but how well do you remember it? Could you draw a picture of it without looking at it? Do you even know which side of the president’s face (left or right) you can see? I’m sure there are many things that you see everyday that you can’t draw a picture of.
Here is an interesting thing to think about. Imagine that I have never seen your country’s money before. Now let’s suppose that you give me a one dollar bill (or something similar) to study for 2 minutes. After only 2 minutes, I’ll probably know more about what is on that picture than you do, even though you’ve seen it thousands of times before. Why is that? Remembering something takes energy, so our brains will only remember what we think will be important in the future. Knowing what exactly is on the money is not important. It’s only important to know if it’s a 5, 10, or 100 dollar bill.
Seeing or hearing something does not make us remember it. We don’t remember most of what we see or hear each day. If we want to remember something well, we need to pay attention to it. We need to notice many things about it. We need to use it. We need to feel that it’s important to remember.
Here is an exercise for you to try.
1. Choose one NEW English word that you want to learn. Get mentally prepared to remember it. Tell yourself that this is a very important word and you must remember it. (If you are tired or not motivated to remember, you will be much less likely to remember it.) Get excited about it!
2. Read it out loud 3 times (make sure you know how to pronounce it, use a dictionary if you aren’t sure).
3. Write it down and make sure you know how to spell it.
3. Look up the meaning in the dictionary and make sure you understand it.
4. Write 3 different sentences on a piece of paper with that word in it.
5. Read those sentences out loud.
6. Think of 2 situations that you might actually be in, where you plan to use that word in the future.
For example, let’s suppose you wanted to learn the word, “pediatrician“.
A pediatrician is a special kind of doctor who works with babies.
Now you should think of some sentences using this word that you might actually use.
Depending on your situation, your sentences might be,
“My mom told me that I never saw pediatrician when I was a baby”.
“A friend of mine is thinking of studying to become a pediatrician because she likes babies”.
“Do you have many pediatricians in your country?”
This might sound like a lot of effort, but at least it will help you to not only remember the word, but also be able to actually use it in the future.
I’ve actually seen students with a long list of words that they are supposed to remember. They simply write each word down 20 times on a piece of paper, and then hope they remember the words in the future. This is a terrible method of studying! Even if you do remember some of the words, you have wasted a lot of time and effort. You will also be less likely to be able to think of those words quickly during a conversation. If you want to use words, you need to know how to use them in sentences.
Try this method, or something similar, and share with us your experience.
I’d love to hear from you as always.
Andrew
November 26th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Thanks for writing such wonderful and interesting article on memory.
I’m also an English teacher in China. I get asked quesions like ‘teacher, i must have a terrible memory, im too old’, or ‘how can i improve my memory?’ from
my students all the time. I do think we need to think more about how our memory works, it’s much more sophiscated than just a matter of age.
From what i understand, there are three kinds of memory, instant, short term, and long term memory. What goes into our long term memory are things which make more sense to us, things we can not only read, understand but also relate to.
November 28th, 2007 at 12:55 am
Hi Andrew, I’m Marcelo from Brazil and I made my own english dictionary as my solution to memorize words, sentences, slangs and so on. That’s what I do: when I see an important word.. usually I open my own dictionary and add it to its databank. So, This software randomize all sentences.. There is also a way that this software allows you to classify
the level of importance of each word.
I could send to you this software if want. I could also share with others users this program.
Tanks for this blog and all tips,
Marcelo Rodrigues
November 28th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Hmmmm that’s interesting Marcelo… i wonder if i can have it, huh? nice comment though!
I always thought that i had memory problem. good to know that i have not! hehehe
Gustavo Santos
Brazil.
November 29th, 2007 at 1:02 am
Hi Gustavo. I could send that software to you. But there’s a problem: this software uses the microsoft office 2003 in english..If you have another version of the M. office, I guess it won’t work very well..(for example, the fuction english speech that allows you listen the sentences that you added to dictionary doesn’t work in brazilian office 2003)..
Marcelo Rodrigues
November 29th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
excellent! i got it.. please mail me gumatias@gmail.com.
talk to you later!
December 5th, 2007 at 5:23 am
Hello. I’m The, student. I’m from VietNam. I come here first time, great! I like English very much but I seem to be a memory problem. I study English words difficultly.
Hi Mr. Marcelo Rodrigues, could u help me? I can have your software, please? My mail is vdtt_87@yahoo.com
Thank u very much.
December 5th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
i think it’s a good way to remember a new word. i think i can apply it to learn chinese. i hope i can try your software to see whether it can help my study
thank you very much
December 5th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
Ok. If somebody else wants my dictionary software just send me a e-mail to marcelorodriguesbr@hotmail.com..I hope this dictionary works for others people just like worked for me..bye
December 5th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
By the way, my email is just marcelorodriguesbr@hotmail.com
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:16 pm
The ways you have mentioned in your blog is a good way to remember the usage of a new word. It does really work definitely. I was trying to practice this by the word ” pediatriciain” as your suggested ways. I could rememer it firmly. That is an incredible way I have to follow up. I also find it is actually an inspiration to think of something when talking with others. Someone often thinks of thing in mind, it is so easy to speak this out when communicating with others. I absolutely agree on that way.
From an article I read lately in a newspaper, there is another way you can remember something very quickly without anything else to help. As explained, you can create a story, in regard to a series of new words you would like to learn, to remember. So I was trying that way to remember some words. I would image something happened in my mind as a story illustrations, and all would go through all my brain by scene by scene. It did work indeed. Therefore, I was trying to remember a short lesson from a book regarding Americian street talk. I only spend within 5 mimtues, I could remember all contents of this story and the usage of new phrases.
As told, to remember something by illustrations is much easier than by repeatly speaking something out. That way you can try to remember something else, such as phone numbers, names, etc. that you could develop.
I am very happy to have any comments from you all. Thanks.
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