ATL - Memorisation techniques Woche 5

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ATL - Memorisation techniques

ATL - Research skills: Information Literacy

Lesson goals

To improve memorisation skills by engaging with various memorisation techniques

How does your memory work?

Short-term memory

is very brief (hence the name!), lasting 15-30 seconds and can hold between 5 and 9 (the average number is 7) items of information.

Our long-term memory 

has a much longer time span (from a few minutes to a lifetime) with practically unlimited capacity. For information to be transferred from your short-term memory into your long term memory, you need to repeat it or interact with it at least a few times. 

What is the Forgetting Curve?

After you have just learned something, memory retention is 100%. However, it drops rapidly to 40% within just a few days. After that, the declination of memory retention slows down again. 

Memory Techniques

Learning Vocabulary by Word Associations

Mnemonic techniques help to store vocabulary in the long term memory

Example 1 : You want to learn the German word Senf (mustard)

Step 1) Find an English word which initially sounds sort of similar (it doesn't have to be related by meaning at all) for example Zen

Step 2) Create a sentence starting with the translation of the word you want to learn and finish with the word that sounds similar to the German word: Mustard … Zen

Step 3) Make up a sentence which can be as nonsensical as you want, for example:

Mustard helps me to become Zen

Learning Vocabulary by Word Associations

Example 2 : You want to learn the German word Gift (poison)

The same principle but you come up with a mental image or story instead of a sentence or additionally to your association sentence

Step 1) Find an English word: gift

Step 2) Create a sentence: Poison was all that I received as a gift 

Step 3) Imagine a scene where a gift with hidden poison is given 

Learning Vocabulary by Word Associations

Example 3 : You want to learn the German word Tisch (table)

The same principle but you come up with a mental image or story instead of a sentence or additionally to your association sentence

Step 1) Find an English word that sound alike: dish (satellite dish)

Step 2) Create an image in your head: Picture a table with a (satellite) dish attached to it

Step 3) Make up a sentence which can be as nonsensical as you want, for example:

My table has a satellite dish.

Create your own word association. The German word Entschuldigung.

Memory Palace

The technique was developed by ancient Greeks, but it doesn’t make it any less effective. Many people use it today to remember all sorts of information such as cards in a game of poker, names at a party, formulas needed for an exam, grocery lists, and, of course, vocabulary.  A memory palace is a place you visualise in your mind where you can store mnemonic images and other information. It doesn’t have to be an actual palace – in fact, it works much more effectively if you imagine a place that you know well, like your home or office.  Creating a memory palace works by creating a strong association of the word with an image and, in this case, a physical location. 

Steps:

Imagine a place you know well in your mind, like your home or office.

Map your way through it: entering the front door, walking along the corridor, entering rooms, etc. Imagine the furniture you see on your way and other objects.

Take a list of what you need to memorize – say, some new vocabulary – and place the items or words along your way. 

To make it even more memorable, make the objects and words you remember interact with the location and create other associations if possible. For instance, ‘el gato’ (the cat) can meet you at the gate scratching at the gate-post. 

Create you own memory palace

• Start with 15 Words from the following list:

https://quizlet.com/268767788/mein-zuhause-und-meine-stadt-flash-cards/?i=p0opz&x=1jqt

• Pick the words you consider difficult to memorise (for example because they are so different from other languages)
• Create your memory palace following the steps shown before or laid out in the following source: https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/memory-palace-language-learning
• Continue with the next set of words when you feel ready