3618. On Expanding and Enhancing Our Students' Memory

 If you are placed in the northern earth hemisphere, you may be on vacation. Maybe not. Anyway, today I wanted to say that our students must be, at any level we may be teaching, the protagonists of their own learning. No protagonists, no significant learning. 

I saw it last school year: I’m thinking of a particular student who has significantly improved his English – I teach English to adults. 

Why so? Why has he lifted off a great deal at English language learning? Because he has strived hard to learn it… and he is like a strong and powerful engine that does a lot on his own. 

When I say that our students have to be protagonists, in no way do I mean that we teachers have to come down to foolishly create an atmosphere where they do just what they feel like doing by looking down their teacher. No. The teacher is the teacher and his or her students are right there as students and learners. 

Perhaps if we teach a modern language we have to read through Rebecca Oxford’s learning strategies on the Web, plus pass on all that wisdom to our students. In the class. Every day we may dedicate a few class minutes to a few learning strategies from that authoress. 

I’ve done it and I’m thinking how to present those strategies and others in some more powerful way to my students. 

One example of a learning strategy? Let’s see. Something I do myself to learn new English words – for I’m also an English language learner. 

When I come across a new term or phrasal verb or idiom, well, you know, I kind of make up a mental image or photograph of for example that new word plus its meaning. It’s just that. Also I take that “picture” of its spelling, and over time I have expanded my memory to allocate new words into my brain, and thus also I can easily remember proper names of people I meet. Memory is something you can train! Have a nice day.

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