quick memory tips for esol

8/7/2019 Quick Memory Tips for ESOL

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/quick-memory-tips-for-esol 1/4

Quick Memory Tips

To remember things better: 1) Pay close attention; 2) Use all of your senses;

3) Recite the material; and 4) Have confidence in your memory.

Increase Your Attention/Concentration

Your "attention" is how closely you focus on new information. If you are not focusing - if yourmind is wandering or you are daydreaming - you are not going to remember well. You need to

increase your brain's power of concentration.

Here are some ideas for increasing your concentration.

1. Take breaths from your tummy. Take deep, slow breaths from your belly. Stomach

breathing activates the brain and improves memory. Deep breathing also increases the

oxygen flow to your brain cells, which helps "wake them up".

2. Chew a piece of gum. According to research, the act of chewing gum increases the flow

of blood to your brain. Researchers have shown that people chewing gum are able to

concentrate more intently and remember new information better. Chew the sugar-free

type to avoid a blood sugar spike.

3. Do arm circles. Go where no one can see you (for example, the bathroom) and do 10 sets

of arm circles. To do an arm circle, simply extend your arm straight out, then swing your

arm all the way around behind you and back to the front, keeping your elbow locked. Do 10

on each side. This move only takes about 30 seconds but will increase your heart rate and

the flow of blood to your brain.

4. Play a brain game. Puzzles and brain teasers force your mind to get in concentration

mode. A good one is Sudoku (a number puzzle).

5. Eat a brain snack or meal. Don’t try to study after meal heavy and avoid sugary snacks.

Don’t miss meals. Skipping meals will make you light-headed. Instead, eat a small, balanced

meal. Include foods that help the brain operate well, such as fish, vegetables, and whole

grains like brown rice and brown bread.

6. Drink a litre of water. Don't drink fizzy drinks like coca cola. Don't drink coffee. Don't

eat chocolate. These will not improve your concentration. Instead - get a bottle of water

and drink it. Many people are dehydrated all the time and don't realize it. Your brain is

very sensitive to this.



7. Use "time boxes" and targets. When you need to study new information, sit down in a

quiet spot and set a timer. Think about how long you think you will need to finish an

activity and how many answers you can give. Give yourself only "X" amount of time to read

a text or “X” minutes to complete a number of questions. This forces you to focus,

because you know that your time is limited!

Use All of Your Senses

Different parts of your brain remember things using different senses. For example, images and

pictures are stored in one area, sounds in another, tactile (touch) sensations in another. We

need to put new information into our brain using as many different senses as possible.

Do all of these steps (or as many as possible) with any new material you want to remember:

1. See it! This is the easy one most of the time. When you are reading, you are seeing the

information. For new words and spellings try to see the word in your head before you

write. When you read information on the Smartboard, look carefully and slowly at the

pictures, shape and colours as well as the words.

2. Say it! Read new material out loud. Find a quiet place to do this at home, so you don't

distract others. In class, try to mouth the words quietly without distracting the other

students.

3. Write it! Write down important ideas. Take notes of things you want to remember. The

act of writing is a physical action that helps the brain to remember.

4. Do it! If you need to remember how to do something, try to do it. Do it several times.

Just reading about something (or just hearing someone else explain how to do it) is not

good enough.

5. Draw it! Can you think of a picture to help you remember information? Draw pictures,

even if you are not an artist. Drawing on paper will help your visual and creative memory.

6. Sing it! Can you think of a sound or musical tune that you can sing or hum when you are

reading the information? Try to sing new words and expressions like a song to help youremember them. Tap the syllables of new words with your fingers on the table or clap to

remember pronunciation and word stress.

7. Imagine it! Imagine the material you want to remember in your head. Close your eyes and

think about the information in sounds and moving pictures. Make it real to you.



8. Research it! Go on the Internet and find more information about a topic. Find other

examples of the words or grammar in a newspaper. Use a highlighter pen to fix them in

your mind. Try to see how information and words links together.

9. Emotionalize it! Find some way to feel an emotion about the material. Anything emotional

will be a lot easier to remember. It can make you sad or happy or excited or curious. It

doesn't matter, but you must find some way to care about the material.

10. Convert it! Are you trying to memorize dry facts, like irregular verb forms, spellings or

grammar rules? Find repeated patterns in the information. For example, try to create

rhymes for verbs that have the same sound. Look at the length and shape of words and

letters that are repeated.

11. Question it! Question how useful new words and grammar are. How is a new word,

expression or a grammar rule similar to what you already know? If you are reading a text

or a book, scan the headings and make them into questions. Then when you read the

chapter, look for the answers.

12. Get creative! Try to do something different and new with the information you want to

remember. If you are reading a text or a book, tell another student about the reasons

why you like/don’t like it. Explain the new words that you have found to someone instead

of just writing them in your word book. Make sentences about new words instead of just

writing the meaning.

Repeat and Revise to Remember (RRR)

Repeat and revise. To revise means repeating what you have just learned soon after the lesson.

We forget things after just few minutes. If you repeat the information and revise your class

notes when you get home, you are more likely save it in your long-term memory.

Don't just passively reread the material. Say it out loud from memory, or write it down from

memory. Use your spelling book without cheating! Try to cover and remember instead of just

copying the word each time. Read the words you have written in your word book again after each

lesson. If you didn’t have time to write a sentence for each one in class, do this at home as away of revising.

Here are some tools that work well for repeating and revising:

1. Make flash cards. As you study, write key facts on coloured pieces of paper. On the

front, write the grammar, the word or expression in English. On the back, write the

details in your language. During and after each lesson, read these cards and test your

knowledge.



2. Repeat in your head. When you listen to a lesson, the radio, or TV, repeat the

information in your head as you hear it. After each sentence spoken by the teacher, for

example, say the sentence back to yourself in your head. This doubles the number of

times you hear new information and it makes you an active participant.

3. Rephrase and reuse. Soon after learning anything new, reuse it in your own way using

your own words. For example, when you meet someone new, use their name in theconversation one or two times to help you remember it. Try to use new words and

expressions in a conversation at home or at the bus stop.

4. Quiz yourself. Every time you learn something new, give yourself a quick quiz or ask

another student or a family member to ask you questions. Every few minutes, pause and

force yourself to say back what you've just studied or heard. If you can't remember

much, that means you need to go back and read or study it again.

5. Teach it. If you can teach it so that someone else understands, that means you know it.

If possible, teach someone else the details of what you've learned, soon after you learn

it. In a school situation, this means being a facilitator in a group and volunteering often to

be the "explainer".

Be Confident

The power of positive thinking is real - and so is the power of negative thinking. If you tell

yourself you have a bad memory, you will start to believe it!

The next time you catch yourself thinking negatively about your memory, just stop. Instead,

think in a more positive direction. Tell yourself, "I can remember this material. I can do this!"

quick memory tips for esol

Documents