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Using learning strategies to remember

1.Rhymes: 'I before E except after C.' This easily remembered spelling rule avoids spelling mistakes in words like 'receive' and 'retrieve'. Get students to invent rhyming raps to memorise grammar rules.

2.Physical prompts: in Libya, I was taught to use my two fists to remember the days in the months. If the first high bone is January (31) it is followed by a dip, February (28/29). March (31) is the next bone followed by a dip, April (30). July (31) is the last bone on one hand and August (31) is the first bone on the other hand.

3.Memory workout: read, cover, write, say, check. (Repeat the workout circuit many times!)

4.Visualisation prompts: to remember a sequence of facts, think of a regular journey such as to school or to the shops. Connect each fact to a point on the journey.

5.Sound prompts: the same as above but connect each fact to a stage in a piece of music you know well.

29. Read some information about general principles to aid memory and choose the best ones. Why have you chosen them?

Create interest: find a purpose, 'This will be useful for ...' Understand it: it's impossible to learn what you don't understand.

Positive thinking and confidence: often we fail to learn because we are convinced we can't do it.

Intend to attend to it!: be determined to learn – avoid distractions. Organise information into sensible chunks and rehearse. Do not try to learn too much at one time – remember your short term memory can only hold seven items. Plan what you are going to learn.

Create associations: it's much easier to learn something new if you link it to something you already know.

Look for meaning and compare with what you already know: comparative grammar is not a waste of time – most languages have countable and uncountable nouns!

Develop a system of memory triggers for each item you wish to remember. A 'souvenir' will trigger your memory of a holiday.

Use a multisensory approach: employ a combination of audio, visual and physical strategies to use your audio, visual and motor memories.

Be relaxed: play non-lyrical music to help your brain's Alpha waves buzz.

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Doodle, highlight, cartoon, underline: decorate your notes with colour and pictures to make them more memorable.

Involve your emotions: feel happy and reward yourself when your memory works well. Develop an emotional relationship with the information you are learning!

Use concrete materials: make a model or game to represent the information you need to remember.

You remember best the information you receive at the beginning or end of a work session: Try having a short change in the middle of a work session so you have two beginnings and two endings.

30.Give your partner a piece of advice about effective memorizing. Let him make some notes.

31.Have you been to some other countries? Would you like to study abroad? Why? What are the main difficulties for foreign students?

32.Match the words with their definitions.

33. Scan the text and fill in the first 2 columns of the table:

Exams

Level of teaching

Resources

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Becoming an exchange student gives you more than knowledge about another country and its language and culture. A year abroad teaches you about building friendships, taking responsibility for yourself, respecting differences and tolerating the beliefs of others.

Exchange students develop leadership skills, self-confidence and a greater understanding of the complexities of the world around them. This is why the best universities, as well as corporations and professionals, look favourably on students who have spent a school year abroad. They know that former international exchange students bring a higher level of maturity and a global frame of reference to their university studies and activities.

If you become an exchange student abroad, you will experience life in another culture, and make close friends in your host country. Sit in the small cafés, play sports, shop in the same outdoor markets; these are things tourists miss, and this is where you really discover the way of life in another country, with all its subtleties.

While you live the typical daily life of another culture, you are learning every minute of every day. You might live in a French city meant for walking, with cobblestone streets so narrow you can touch the walls of buildings with outstretched arms on both sides. Or you may live in a Spanish village where the remains of an entire castle lie. Perhaps you’ll find yourself in Sweden living in a walled city dating back to medieval days, or that your homestay town in Germany includes a “living castle,” an actual private residence still being used today. These are the sorts of discoveries you will make as you learn firsthand about what you have only studied in the classroom until now.

You’ll also find that the school systems are among the best in the world, and that the teenagers are much the same as they are at home. They work hard at their studies, play sports, love parties and cinema, and pursue hobbies just like you. A few will become your friends for life.

The best way to truly become involved in the culture of a foreign country is to live among its people as a member of a family. Every exchange student does just that. Host families are carefully screened and consider it a privilege to welcome students like you into their home. Host families feel they benefit from the experience as much as you do! They want to learn about your culture and introduce you to theirs. Many families have children your age, and you may find that a family member speaks English, even if it’s only a little.

While someone in your host family may speak your language, you’ll quickly realize that it’s not of much concern. In fact, you’ll probably find

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