LANGUAGE I Memory and Learning Train your brain!

1 LANGUAGEI MemoryandLearningTrainyourbrain!wahrendK inderspielendleichtSprachenlernen, ,worandasliegt,undzeigenWegeundMethodena uf, two-year-oldchildthefirsttimeyoupresenth erwitha conker(seepage46).Noticehowshefocusesin onthenewshapein frontof sheputsallhersensesto use,pickingit upwithfingerandthumb,examiningit fromallsides,thenrollingit aroundandbangingit onthetablebeforetry-ingto putit in ,givehersomeconkersto playwithagainthenextdayandthat'sit: she' wewereso goodat learningabouttheworldat theageof two,whydoweoftenfindlearninglanguagesasa dultsdifficult?Onthenextpageswe'llfirstt akea lookatourbrainandmemory,as wellas thethingsthatmakeus indi-vidual, 'llshow,withthehelpofexercisesandtips,ho wto usethisknowledgeto becomea \10 0 ThebrainLet'sfirstlookat thethreedifferentpartsof yourbodyweight,butit needsabout20percentof youroxygen(SauerstojJ)intaketo (Stamm-hirn)workswithyourhearttomakesure thatenoughbloodis pumpedto yourbrainforyouto lotaboutthingsyoureallyenjoyed-or hated?

2 If youarener-vousor worriedaboutmakingmistakesorbeinglaughed at,however,youhavea a ,thehippocampus,whichsomesaycontainsthem em-ory,is partof thelimbicsystem, ,ourthinkingbrain,helpsus plananddealwiththecomplexactivitiesandre lationshipsin thepartof thebrainthatlikesget-tinginvolvedin says:" 'dliketo trythismyself." LearningstylesWeallhavethesamebasicbrain structure, youfindalessonorsubjectboringordifficult ,youmaybefrus-tratedat notreceivingthein-formationina seethingsbeforeyouun-derstandthem?Doyoul iketo havea goodviewoftheboardin theclassroom?Youprobablyhavea youarean auditorylearner,it is importantforyouto quietlearningenvironment,enjoyfollowingd iscussionsandmaybegoodat youprefermovingaroundto sittingstillat a deskforlongperiodsandliketo havesomethingin yourhandswhenlearning,youhavea apologizeto allreaderswhowouldhavepreferredto hearthisarticleonCDor tohavetakenpartin of us havea mixtureof visual, ,theeasierit is lookingat thelearningbrainis to dividetheneocortexintoits twosides,or "leftbrain"likesa structureforlearning.

3 Forexample, is stimulatedbymusic,rhythmandcolour,andsee sthe"bigpicture" "rightbrain"likesto seeanoverviewof enjoysworkingwithpicturesanddiagrams,and it likesthecreativenatureof , yourlearning, multipleintelligenceswasfirstsug-gestedb ypsychologistHowardGardnerin ,includinglinguistic,mathematical, orderto learnwell,we- andourteachers- needto knowwhereourstrengthslie,andthatwealsone edto workon thein-telligencesthatarenotso MemoryandLearningHowdoweremember?Whydowe forget?Thememoryis simply,it consistsof twoparts, a madeupof net-works,called"schemas".

4 Tofindits wayintothelong-termmemory,informationsuc has newEnglishwordsneedstobe ableto finda homein sucha ,theeasierit is to finda yourlong-termmemoryare,theeasierit is to findthewordsandphraseswhenyouneedto speakor remembersomethingnew,it 'thaveenoughconnectionsto manycases,wedon'twantto rememberthingsthatwerestressfulor (aulerKraftsetzen)oldones, thewordsin ,takea pieceof paperandwritedownas manyof thewordsas doingthis,probablyinvolvingoneormoreof thefollowingactivities:Althoughtheexerci seabovetestsonlyyourshort-term,workingme mory,it revealssomeimportantthingsaboutlanguagel earning.

5 Everyonehasdifferentpreferencesforlearni ngandremembering. makinga storyor storieswiththewords puttingthewordsin sensegroupssuchas animals,theinteriorof a room,andso on makinga pictureoutof thewords; ,a pigsittingona table personalizingthewords;forexample,picturi ngyourfavouritechairor river puttingwordstogether,suchas sheepdog,riverbed,pigfarmYouprobablyreme mberedthewordin "goatee"becauseit lookslike"goat",butwithoutknowingwhatit means(Ziegenbortl. Assoonas youtryto learnsomething,likea word,yourbrainimmediatelywantsto organizeit andgiveit doesthisbyengagingthesenses,byusingcolou randpictures,bytryingto makeconnectionsbetweenwords,andbylinking themto ,lookat howyoucanturnyourmemoryintoa complete,cross-referenced,user-friendlym entaldictionary.)

6 0 EnergylevelsYourbrainstemis happywhenyouarewarmorcoolenough,andwheny ouarenothungry,full,thirstyor ,thehum(Summen)of thefridge,Bachor BruceSpringsteenin orderto ,anddrinklotsof youfindit difficulttofocus,however,giveyourselften -minuteblockswhereyouarenotallowedto checkyoure-mailor phonea , ;forexample,seta , Spotlighteachmonth, onyourvocabu-larycards, ,sodon' youdon'tmakethisin-vestment, articlethatyouhaveenjoyed,andchooseseven itemsfromthetextand/orwordlistthatyouthi nkwillbea :Er sollseineKontaktenutzen,urnreicheKundenf ureinenIn-vestmentfondszu , 13,50(Dl/ 14,00( sichmitdemcha-rismatischenAakashanfreun- det,entdeckter langsamdieanderenSeitenderStadt:Mord, 15,60(Dl/ 16,10( StravinskyDerRomanspieltandreisehrunters chiedlichenSchauplatzen:in Oxford,imSenegalundin.))))

7 ZweiPaare,dieeigentlichdenfal-schenPartn ergeheiratethaben,dasLebenihrerElternsow iederpubertierendenTiichterunddiezahlrei chenLeichen, 16,90(Dl/ : ,Osterreichundin Bestellungwirderst wirk sam,wen"Sie diesenkhtinnerhalbvon 2 WochennathAbsendunghelmSpotlightVerlag, , 82152 Planegg,Deutschland, ~ diesenArtikelnfindenSiev~ MemoryandLearningBeactiveEngagingyoursen ses,mak-ingmentalimages,usinghu-mour-all ofthesestimulatedifferentpartsof thebrain,increasingandstrengtheningtheme ssagesbeingsentto ,draw,telljokesor stories,or askquestionsusingthewordsyouwantto learn-themoreyouinteractwiththewords,the strongerandmoremeaningfultheconnectionst o ,andmakethemin varietyof system.)

8 Forexample,highlightsocialEnglishphrases in orangeandphrasesto useat meetingsin ,drawpicturesinsteadofwritingexplanation sif yourwork,forexample,warningtrianglesfort ypicalmistakesor EverydayEnglishandimaginewhatAngieandMia looklike,howtheyspeakandso yourheadlikea homemovie,em-phasizingthephrasesyouwantt o surrealthepicturesandstoriesyouin-vent, youlearnsendsall sortsof deliciouschemicalsalongthetracksof yourbrainto strengthenthelinksto "generi-cide"(page68)?Imagineyouwantto intopieceswithaknife,or willyouswallowit whole?Or ima-ginehittingsomeoneyoudon'tlikeoverth eheadwithit.

9 Willthewordbend,crackor fallapart? ,andthento be abletorememberthemfora ,it is nowknownthatthesetechniques,calledmnemon ics(Eselsbrucken),justusethebrain' youarehavingdifficultylearninga word,thinkof atermthatsoundsthesamein German,andbuilda mentalpictureof ,if youal-waysforgettheword"sparrow"(Spatz), thenthinkoftheGerman"Sperre"andimaginea lineof to establisha routein yourmindthrougha "place"oneof theitemsyouwantto rememberin ,establisha rhymingwordforeachnumberfromoneto ten,forexampleone= gun,two= shoe,'three= learn,andassociateeachwithoneof ,if youwantto learn"mock"(page34)

10 ,youmightlinkit to two-shoe,andimaginea pairof theexerciseonpage16,yourbraincan'tdealwi thwordsin wantsto groupthemto-getheror to makesenseof thecontext,or thebiggerthe"chunk"(Stuck)of LANGUAGE ,themoreconnec-tionswillbefoundt o , Vocabulary(pages46-47),askyourselfhowman ytreesandpartsof treesyoucannamein ,thinkof particulartreesyouknowin placesyouloveandnamethemin yourmindin a linkskeywordsandideasin a similarwayto thatin whichthebrainis thoughtto ,whohasintroducedmanypeo-pleto 'sanincompletemindmaponthesub-jectof I AskMyself(page26). 'ttryto learneverything!