4. TRAINING and TESTING
Example 2: NOT SO COMMON WORDS
Introduction
Let’s move on. Here are – I most certainly assure you – some English words.
You may never have heard of them before.
Doesn’t make ANY difference.
Your task: CREATE A PICTURE (I will tell you later what the words mean.)
REMEMBER:
Whatever you want to remember you HAVE to change into a picture.
Let’s do it step by step.
Here is a list of 10 (English) words.
- Condign
- Taw
- Adumbrate
- Acroparesthesia
- Bilby
- Mulct
- Vexillology
- Chthonic
- Irenic
- Logorrhea
What could be a picture for each one of them?
Before you click on hints, you might give it a go and come up with your own pictures.
Read the word, and let an image, a picture come to mind.
Your own pictures are a lot better than mine. Because they are yours.
Also: (usually) the first picture you come up with is the best. I don’t know why. So please take my word for it and accept it and simply try it out yourself.
If you want some hints on the above words, then CLICK HERE.
And: please use the play/pause button as you need it!
Now let’s go to an exercise.
It is very similar to the shopping lists in Step 1: Association.
Connect the word on the left with the description on the right (in the most bizarre and craziest way, of course).
You will notice that you don't have to do 'all' the words of the description. For example, if the description says:
'A large marble used to shoot at other marbles', then probably if you visualise ONE marble, that will do just nicely. Another example, if the description says: 'The scholarly study of flags and their history', then having flags only as a picture is very sufficient indeed.
CLICK HERE to go to the exercise.
You could even revise it, before you test yourself. Or you could use Test 1 as revision.
Test yourself: Test 1: CLICK HERE
Test yourself: Test 2: CLICK HERE
How is your result?
10 out of 10? Congratulations!
Did you surprise yourself?
Do you have 8 or 9 out of 10? That’s fine. Just keep practicing.
You might read some ideas in HINTS & TIPS.
If you have 7 or less, then EITHER you simply not concentrating enough OR you have to brush up on your connections. Please, please go back and re-read and practice, practice, practice Step 1: Association.
Once you have 10 out of 10 in those exercises, THEN you come back to this section.
Summary:
You do not have to know what the word means.
You do need to create a picture.
After a few exercises like this one, and I ask my students if this exercise was difficult,
they always answer: It was OK.
They simply do not realise the difference any more between 'easy' words and 'difficult' words.
Why?
BECAUSE THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE!
The question from now on is not: do you know what it means, but: Do you have a picture.
In the future if you want to remember something, then all you need to do is:
CREATE A PICTURE!
GO TO TOP OF STEP 3: VISUALISATION
