Have you ever wondered why you just can't remember something?
Or it's so hard to keep something in your mind?
My name is Oliver and welcome back to the Easy English Podcast.
The best place to learn English through listening to interesting topics and learning great new vocabulary.
And today's topic, we are going to peak.
So take a look into our amazing brains.
And we're going to talk about the science and psychology of English learning.
Looking at how your brain learns best.
So as always, before we get started, we're going to learn five new pieces of key vocabulary.
And I want you to listen for these words as we go through the podcast because I will use them.
They're great words and today's words are a little bit more complicated than usual.
So we're going to take a look.
I'm going to read you these words, with an example as well, an explanation, and then we will start the main podcast topic.
So let's get started.
The first word today is cognitive.
Cognitive.
Cognitive.
Oh, that's a complicated one.
So this word relates to the way that we think, understand and learn things.
Learning a new language is a great cognitive exercise.
It's what we do with our brain.
We are exercising our cognitive abilities, our brain, essentially.
The second word is repetition, repetition.
And this means doing or saying something again and again.
Repetition is often key to remembering new information.
The third is motivation, motivation.
Some of you will know this word already, of course, and this is the feeling or reason that makes you want to do something.
Having a strong motivation can really help you to stick to your English studies.
The fourth word is consolidation.
There's a lot of shuns at the end of these words today.
Consolidation.
And this is when your brain consolidates information.
So it means that it's making it stronger in your mind.
It's making it more stronger and more permanent in your memory for long term.
And this often can happen while you sleep.
And our final word today on our key vocabulary is intrinsic.
Intrinsic.
And this describes something that comes from within you.
From inside you like an inner desire, a wish or an enjoyment.
Intrinsic motivation.
For example, if we combine those two words like learning English because you love it.
So you don't need another reason.
It's because you love it.
And this intrinsic motivation can be very powerful.
OK, keep these difficult words in your brain because we will hear them as we learn.
So don't worry if they aren't all clear, because you will hear them again in context and you can come back to this section and listen to the definitions again.
Or, if you want to read, remember the vocabulary list for each episode is always linked in the description below.
It's free and on my website.
So you can check that out, the vocabulary list in the description below.
Okay, let's get started into our main topic.
So I've been thinking about this topic during the week.
And the main reason is I have had a very busy month.
May has been crazy.
I don't know about you, but I have had so much travel with my job.
For those of you that don't know, my job requires me to travel all around the country.
And during that time, I can get very tired and fatigued.
And at the same time, I'm trying to learn things.
Maybe listen to some useful podcasts like this one, but for other languages and topics.
I'm also trying to study a little bit of language in my free time and develop this project.
But I've noticed that the last week my brain was just not taking new information in very well.
What do I mean by that?
I mean, I was tired, I was travelling and I felt that even when I sat and I tried to focus, I wasn't remembering what I was learning.
Of course.
It could be just from being tired, but I had a thought, and it was to research and to look into the best way and really how our brains actually learn, particularly with language, with English, for you guys.
To see, you know, are we doing it right?
Is there anything that we can do better?
Perhaps even with being tired and traveling, there's some things that we can do to make sure that we are learning effectively.
Okay, let's get started into this topic.
So the human brain is truly incredible.
It's constantly learning and it's adapting.
And when you're learning English, there are some really interesting psychological things at play.
And these can actually help you to learn more effectively and probably as well a little bit faster.
And this is what I found when I started to research this topic.
One of the first things to think about is how we take in new information.
What way do we take this information in?
Our brains are like sponges, but sometimes the water just runs right off and it doesn't go inside, right.
And that's where things like cognitive strategies come in.
Let me tell you what a cognitive strategy is with an example.
For example, when you learn a new word, simply reading it to yourself once is, of course, not going to be enough for most people.
But if you try to use it in a sentence or connect it to a picture or an image in your mind, you're using more active cognitive processes.
So at different parts of the brain.
So when we say cognitive strategies, it is using different parts of your brain to try and help your brain keep that information, to remember that information.
I hope that makes sense.
And recently I was listening to, it was a podcast about memory.
This was maybe six or seven months ago from a famous UK magician, someone that does magic and mental tricks, called Darren Brown.
He's great, by the way.
I recommend checking out his stuff.
But he was explaining how, when we use images in our mind with these words, with this specific example it was remembering lists.
So lists and orders of items.
And he was showing and illustrating how much easier it is to remember these lists with images, creating the images and the scenes in our mind.
And I was shocked that it really worked.
It was so much easier to remember long lists of items by tying them to images.
So maybe an example is and i will talk about this in a second with flip cards and repetition, so how this works.
If you even apply an image to those flip cards, if the app allows it, this can really help.
You can also do it in your head when you read the word, think of an image related to it, really imagine it.
And every time you see that word, you will imagine this image and they will connect and it will make that memory stronger.
At least that's what I have found with these memory practices.
What I think is probably most effective.
Okay, so we're going to go on and look at the power of repetition.
But first, I just want to say the support on the Patreon page has been amazing.
We've had so many new members signing up to Patreon in the last week, which has been fantastic.
And this week's episode.
To give you a highlight of the bonus episode this week, I am talking a little bit about my life in the part of the UK that I live in.
Northern Ireland.
So a little bit about my country, about the area that I live and some of the history here, some of the difficulties and problems that we have had in this country and how things are now.
So how life is in general now.
So if you're interested in finding out a little bit more about where I'm from and my country, then check out the Patreon.
It is the bonus episode and make sure that you've signed up to get that.
So it will be available on Tuesday this week.
It will be releasing.
So check that out on Tuesday.
Okay, let's continue.
So another very important aspect for our brains that I've seen and it keeps coming up, which is kind of ironic because what it is is repetition
And I've seen this a lot in different articles and studies.
So I know that repetition can sound a little bit boring.
It's often associated with education and studying for a very long time.
But we often think about, you know, doing grammar exercises over and over again, or repeating words and their meanings over and over again.
But the truth is, in general, our brains need to see and hear, at times, new things over and over again multiple times for it to stay there.
It's very, very unlikely that you're going to remember something for the first time for a long time, or sorry, remember something after hearing it for the first time for a long time.
I'll give you an example.
When I listen to a podcast, Often I will listen to something about a science topic or something very interesting related to politics.
And I will repeat this to my wife maybe some interesting points, some points that I enjoyed or I wanted to share.
But two weeks later, I don't remember them.
I can't remember the exact statistic or the exact point.
This is a totally normal experience.
And I think that for most people, that's the case because we haven't repeated it multiple times.
We haven't listened to it multiple times and reinforced that memory.
But if, for example, I started to tell lots of people about this you know one two, three times, and I'm explaining it and I'm hearing it I'm much more likely to remember that fact for longer, for a longer period of time.
You know, think about when you were learning the alphabet of your native language when you were a child.
So you probably repeated it many, many times in class, right?
So with English we have to do, in a way, do the same with vocabulary and grammar points, but it doesn't have to be boring.
You know, you can repeat these words and points in different ways.
You can use flip cards, of course, But you can also take those words and use them in sentences in writing.
You can look for them in reading.
The more language exposure you get, the more repetition you will have with these words.
So when I say repetition, don't stress.
It's not that you have to constantly repeat something.
Because the more English you do, the more you listen to this podcast, the more you watch movies in English or read, you're getting repetition of words that you're learning.
Even if I'm not teaching them in the key vocabulary.
For example, I'm using other words that you've probably learned at some point.
So your brain... is getting repetition of those words.
Isn't that amazing?
When you actually think about it.
You're passively training those words into your memory just by listening to this podcast.
Okay.
So now we're going to talk about something which is very important for the brain.
I've talked about it a lot and that is motivation, motivation.
So why are you learning english?
Is it for your job?
Is it to travel, to connect with friends from other countries, or maybe you just really enjoy the challenge?
Let me know in the comments below, because not a lot of people that listen to this podcast and there are over 20000 listeners, 20000 followers of this podcast not a lot of you have told me why you're learning English.
Why do you learn?
So let me know in the comments why you learn English.
But whatever your reasons, understanding your motivation is very important.
If your motivation is strong, you're much more likely to put in effort and keep going, even when things are tricky.
And guess what?
You will enjoy the process.
And when your motivation is intrinsic, it comes from that enjoyment.
That intrinsic motivation comes from your love of what you're doing.
It can make a huge difference.
So, in general, why I'm bringing up motivation is it relates very strongly to repetition, to building those healthy habits.
But ultimately, your routine with English, your habits and how you learn is much more important for your brain than motivation.
But motivation will help you to get this structure, this routine and these healthy habits in place.
So why I'm putting this in by memory and how your brain learn is that your brain needs this routine.
It needs repetition and it needs good structured learning.
But to do that and to keep at it, we need that initial strong motivation.
And that's why I think it's very important for you to sit down and remind yourself why you're learning English.
And remember that motivation and get out there and keep learning.
OK, so before we dive a little bit deeper into the brain science, I wanted to share some fantastic tips from you, from some of our listeners.
So in a previous episode I mentioned and I asked sort of what's one thing that people, that you guys do to help learn new English words to stick in your memory.
So I had a few people that wrote into me about some things that they do and a few answers about what they actually do to help them to learn English words.
So I thought I'd share a few of these with you.
So first up, we have Maria from Brazil.
And Maria says and I'll quote it here.
Sorry, I try to use new words immediately in a sentence, even if I'm just talking to myself.
If I learn enthusiastic, for example, so the word enthusiastic I'll say I'm very enthusiastic about learning English.
It helps me to remember.
That's a brilliant way to put new vocabulary into context and action, Maria.
And I think that it ties in very well with what we're talking about today, with using our cognitive functions, our cognitive processes in the brain.
So next, we had someone write from Japan.
I don't have their name.
But they said that, they said, I draw little pictures next to new words in my notebook.
It makes the word feel special and I can remember the image even if I forget the spelling at first.
That's a wonderful visual memory strategy that we actually mentioned earlier in the episode.
So fantastic making those mental connections.
Okay, so one final tip that was sent in from Fatima from Egypt.
She said, I always try to listen to the new word in different contexts, maybe in a song or another podcast.
Hearing it used naturally helps me to understand its feeling and how to use it.
That's an excellent point, Fatima.
So exposure through varied repetition and hearing that word in natural context.
I like the word you used, the feeling of the word.
It allows you to get that natural feeling of its use, which is very important.
So thank you all for your valuable insights that you sent in.
It's really inspiring to hear how you are working on your English language, and I'm sure it's very inspiring for everyone else too.
OK, so we're going to look at the importance of consolidation of our memory.
So have you ever?
You know, you've studied really, really hard and then you feel like you've forgotten everything the next day?
Well, that's where consolidation comes in.
Our brains don't just instantly store everything when we learn them.
A lot of the hard work of remembering actually happens while you sleep.
And I know I'm not going to stay on this point too long, because I made a separate podcast episode about sleep, about why it's important
But in relation to the memory, which is today's topic, about how we learn better, Sleep is very important and getting good sleep it goes hand in hand with the work and the learning that you're doing during the day.
You need the sleep to help those memories to form at night time.
So finally today, our last topic is about making connections and I'll explain what that means.
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Okay.
So our brains love to link new information to things that we already know.
When you learn a new english word, you could try to relate that word so to connect it to something else like, for example, a word that you know already in your own native language, one which sounds similar, or you could think and connect it with a situation or an image in which you may use it, And creating these connections makes it easier for our brain to remember and recall the information later.
So, for example, if you're learning the word happy, you might think of a time when you felt happy and you can try and associate it with that English word.
The way I like to think about it is if you think of a memory as a snowball, so a ball of snow, when we start to make that memory, the snowball is very small, it's very tiny.
And as we add these connections, these mental connections, the snowball starts to grow.
It gets bigger and bigger and you're adding more snow to it.
So it's easier to find, it's easier to pick up and it's easier to throw it whenever you need it.
Of course, let's not talk about what happens when that snowball gets too big and too heavy to throw.
But you get the general idea.
So thank you so much for listening today.
We can see that, I guess as always, learning a language is a journey.
But understanding how our brain works, with learning that we need that repetition, which I think was important to remind myself that it's okay to forget things.
It's okay to not remember things perfectly.
Your brain needs that repetition and it needs that input from lots of different angles.
So using some of these cognitive strategies, by embracing repetition, by creating mental connections, by getting enough sleep.
All of these things using motivation to create healthy habits and getting that consolidation through sleep really helps us to learn better.
So your brain is a learning machine.
It's amazing.
And what you've learned already is fantastic.
The fact you're even listening to this podcast today.
So, with a little understanding of how your brain works, you will be speaking English even more fluently before you know it.
So keep using these strategies.
Keep doing what works best for you as well.
Don't let anyone tell you what to do.
You know your brain better than I do.
And keep looking out for these new key vocabulary words that we covered today.
So thank you very much for listening.
Remember the bonus episode on the Patreon about the country that I'm from, the area of the UK.
And a little bit about life here and the history of it will be on Patreon on Tuesday.
So if you want to sign up and support, you'll get access to that episode plus all of the previous bonus episodes.
I think between the two series which are on there, there's over 40, maybe even 50 episodes on there that you get access to immediately and new episodes every single week.
So thank you very much for supporting.
Thank you for listening to the podcast and for being great fans and supporters.
So I will see you in the next episode.
Have a wonderful rest of your day.
Goodbye.
