Learning styles

Learning styles
We all have the same basic brain structure, but we learn in different ways. If you find a lesson or subject boring or difficult, you may be frustrated at not receiving the information in a form that you can easily process.
Do you need to see things before you understand them? Do you like to have a good view of the board in the classroom? You probably have a visual learning style. If you are an auditory learner, it is important for you to hear clearly. You prefer a quiet learning environment, enjoy following discussions and may be good at putting ideas into words. If you prefer moving around to sitting still at a desk for long periods and like to have something in your hands when learning, you have a kinaesthetic preference. At this point we would like to apologize to all readers who would have preferred to hear this article on CD or to have taken part in an interactive workshop. Why? Because all of us have a mixture of visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learning styles. The more styles you use, the easier it is to remember new language.


Left and right

Another way of looking at the learning brain is to divide the neo-cortex into its two sides, or hemispheres.
The left hemisphere is associated with logical and systematic processes. This is also where the two main language areas are found. The "left brain" likes a structure for learning; for example, an English lesson with clear learning targets. It enjoys problem-solving activities and grammar explanations.
The right hemisphere is more intuitive. It is stimulated by music, rhythm and colour, and sees the "big picture" rather than the details. The "right brain" likes to see an overview of the whole English course. It enjoys working with pictures and diagrams, and it likes the creative nature of role plays.

Of course, the two hemispheres are physically connected and work together. The more you actively involve
each area in your learning, the more they can support each other and the stronger the connections that are made to the memory.

How do we remember? Why do we forget?


The memory is hugely complex and not completely understood. Looked at simply, it consists of two parts, the short term and the long-term memory. The short-term memory can hold only about seven items at a time. The long-term memory has an unlimited capacity and is made up of networks,
called "schemas". To find its way into the long-term memory, information such as new English words needs to be able to find a home in such a network. These networks are essential for effective learning. The more networks there are, the easier it is to find a home. The more interconnected and organized the networks in your long-term memory are, the easier it is to find the words and phrases when you need to speak or write them later. When we are not motivated to remember something new, it just disappears from our short-term memory. We forget it. We forget things we think we have already learned when they don't have enough connections to our memory networks and when they are not used often enough. In many cases, we don't want to remember things that were stressful or traumatic. New memories may override (auler Kraft setzen) old ones, or old memories may prevent new ones being stored.

Be active


Engaging your senses, making mental images, using humour - all of these stimulate different parts of the brain, increasing and strengthening the messages being sent to the memory. Whether you write, draw, tell jokes or stories, or ask questions using the words you want to learn - the more you interact with the words,
the stronger and more meaningful the connections to your long-term memory will be.
Make pictures in your mind. Make these mental images move, and make them in colour and larger than life.Use a variety of coloured marker pens for your vocabulary notes. Have a system: for example, highlight social English phrases in orange and phrases to use at meetings in green. When taking vocabulary notes, draw pictures instead of writing explanations if you can. Use symbols in your work, for example, warning triangles for typical mistakes or srnileys for words you really like.


Get connected
Some very old memorizing techniques work by making connections - by association. They can help you to
memorize things quickly and easily, and then to be able to remember them for a long time afterwards. Rather than just being tricks, it is now known that these techniques, called mnemonics (Eselsbrucken), just use the brain's natural ability. Here are some examples.
If you are having difficulty learning a word, think of a term that sounds the same in German, and build a mental picture of the two items together. For example, if you always forget the word "sparrow" (Spatz), then think of the German "Sperre" and imagine a line of birds blocking your way.

Another technique is to establish a route in your mind through a house that you know well. You then "place" one of the items you want to remember in each room and review the words by walking the route. A third technique is the number-rhyme system. First, establish a rhyming word for each number from one to ten, for example one = gun, two = shoe,' three = tree. You pick ten words to learn, and associate each with one of the rhyming words.

During revision or reading group, i will apply "be active" and   "Get connected" technique to design materials.