MEMORY TRAINING EXERCISES
Bobrovnyk S.M.
National Technical University of Ukraine
"Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”,
Kyiv, Ukraine
Many people complain about having bad memory trying to
learn a foreign language, because it requires remembering a lot of words and
phrases. A good memory is one of the key elements of successful learning a
foreign language. Therefore, teachers should pay attention to memory training. Memory
training exercises can take three or five minutes, but thanks to them the time
spent on the storage of grammar structures can be saved. We try to find efficient
exercises which can be helpful in language learning.
One approach that can be helpful in learning a foreign
language is “Mixed” English words. It was the research of Cambridge University.
In the middle of 2000 there was a very popular research on the Internet, where
the scientists disclosed a very interesting fact. It turned out that human
brains can accept even that text which was written with mistakes. The main
thing is that the first and the last letter in the word must be on its place. The
rest letters can be in a jumbled order, in any case the text is possible to be
read without problems. The explanation of this can be in the fact, that we do
not read every separate letter but the whole word. If you want to train your
memory take a simple text in English, mix all letters in the middle in a
jumbled order, then try to read the text and put the letters on their places
and check with the original. After several such exercises with one piece of the
text it will be easy for you not only to put all the letters but also to
remember their spelling.
The use of literary method of anagrams of English words can be
helpful for training memory too. This easy exercise consists of choosing
several words in English, and then you try to make up absolutely different word
with these letters. In simple words anagrams can be called the way of simple
coding of the English words to get absolutely new words and broaden vocabulary.
For example, let’s take the word “relay”
it means to pass, broadcast, transmit. What other English words can be made up from
it? At least you can get the words “early”,
“layer”. It is recommended to take
not more than five words. For examples, “wreathe”
that means to cover with smoke; – “weather”
(ïîãîäà); “nicest” (ìèëåéøèé, ñàìûé õîðîøèé) – “insect” (íàñåêîìîå); “shall”
(auxiliary verb means «ñëåäîâàëî áû») – “halls”
(çàëû); “loot” (äîáû÷à; ãðàáèòü) –“tool” (èíñòðóìåíò; ìåõàíèçì); “tried" (ïûòàëñÿ) – “tired” (óñòàëûé).
After learning the words we can start working with
phrases and sentences. Before the lesson the teacher writes down four or five
sentences or phrases in English. Then at the lesson the learners read the
written phrases during 60 seconds. They read and remember them. Then the board
is closed, the learners are supposed to write down these phrases which they
remembered.
The same exercise can be done in oral form. A teacher
reads one sentence aloud, and then asks the learners to repeat them in their
memory, and then the teacher reads the sentences again and asks to write the
sentences in the copy-books. Such exercises help to catch the context in a
whole, but not separate words that is the necessary thing for language
comprehension.
For beginners it is possible to use the following exercises
to develop memory. Several different words usually three or four are read by
the teacher. Every student gets his/her words which he/she has to repeat
keeping to its consequence. The number of the words gradually increases. The
second stage of complexity is to translate these words from English into native
language. The third step is the repetition of the words in English and their
translation into the native language, again keeping the sequence of the words which
sound.
Similar exercise is to repeat numerals. The teacher
reads out the numbers, for example: 8,
7, 56, 85, 16, 2, the students translate them into English in the same
sequence. These training exercises are for memorizing without associations,
they help students to retain sequence order of information and to switch from native
language into English and vice versa in cases where they have to act as an
interpreter, and it often happens, when they travel to different countries with
their parents, and the parents often do not know a foreign language.
A well-known game "Snowball" should
be mentioned. It consists of creating a collective story. One student makes up
a phrase the other repeats and adds its own. Interesting stories are created by
students, and they do not notice how fast time flies in the classroom.
Helpful tasks with using of different pictures can be
used at the lessons too. For example, the teacher shows a card on which ten
items are shown. Then the teacher removes it and shows the second card, which
shows the same ten items, and five new ones are added. And to the question
"What was not on the first card?" The learners should call five new
subjects in English.
All these tasks have been used in practice for several
years and it was noticed that memory should be trained at any age. And these
exercises are useful for memory training and it is very important to create a
favorable atmosphere in the classroom, and the learners perceive it as a game.
Psychologists confirm that if you carry out simple but
effective memory training exercises every day for 15 minutes it
can significantly improve memory and brain function in adults. In addition, it
is recommended to use different techniques such as games, training. It is very
important to remember that cognitive processes are interrelated and are
controlled by brains, so during training doing complex exercises will lead to maximum results.
The most effective technique, according to experts, is
the technique of association, which helps to train the memory and thinking actively.
Difficulties may lie in the fact that the learners should be broad-minded with
a large vocabulary.
To select a good associative line it is necessary to
use such active exercises as remembering of complex text and the selection of
additional images to it, such as color, sound, smell.
To develop memory and attention with the help of
associations to keep them for years it is necessary to train mental processes constantly by
finding unusual, interesting relationships and links in the outside world. For
example, a compound word "glow"
can be associated with such words "screen,
light, star, candle lights". But for this you need a rich vocabulary.
If a similar exercise is carried out continuously, it markedly improves memory,
increases concentration of attention. Using the whole complex of such exercises
can be very helpful in memory training that is the inherent part of language
learning.
LITERATURE:
1. http://pamyatplus.ru
2. http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/people/matt-davis/cmabridge/