The power of imagination is said to have no limit. You can move mountains,see yourself as the new manager or punch your enemy just by using...imagination.
But what is so wonderful about imagination? It can create real life situations,worlds in worlds,it is your training camp for real life.
Wouldn't it be great to use it for learning languages as well?
Of course,if you know how!
Many writing or speaking exercises ask you to imagine/think about real life situations and then speak about it or write down your thoughts.
But that is just a single exercise among other types (more or less boring) such as fill in or rephrase exercises.
Your teacher will not encourage you to imagine too much for fear of catching you day dreaming later on.
So I said that imagination help us recreate similar-to-real-life situations.How?By using words? Do you actually see words before your eyes or grammar rules when you are imagining a situation?
No.You are using concepts,mental images or representations.
The human brain works with 3D images.A word connects to one or mental concepts and even feelings (depending on the previous personal experience of the person.
Any type of thought,memory or idea is a concept at the mental level while when we talk we 'code' them into words and structures.
So one thing that can really help you learn really fast (and not forget everything afterwards) is imagining communication situations.
For example if you need to learn how to book a room ,you have prepared the vocabulary and you can use the present tense here is what you need to do:
1.write down the vocabulary you need
2.write down the grammar structures you want to use ( the more structured is your material the better things will go,as your brain works with logical structures)
3. imagine with full details for example how you enter the hotel,how you greet the receptionist,how you ask her about the information you need,her reaction,how you pay and all the actions you do.
4.The more involved you get,the better you use the rules. Why? Because in order to learn something you need to pay a lot to focus a lot. But you cannot focus on something that means nothing to you.
That is why you need to learn by creating contexts you are sure you are going to use (women will try to talk about fashion and shopping while men will talk about cars)
How to practice English by using your imagining situations :)
Let's take the following task (for beginner/pre-intermediate)
Make a dialogue in which you describe how you go to the hotel to get a room.
-Hello!
-Hello! I want a single room, with bathroom please
-One moment!What is your name?
-Allan Peter.I need the room for 2 days.
-Ok. We have room 28 for you. Do you want to pay cash or credit?
-I want to pay cash.
-Ok. Here is your key!Enjoy your stay!
-Thank you! Bye!
-Bye!
You can also add this to your dialogue:
The receptionist is friendly/nice.
She answers my questions
She smiles
I listen to the receptionist
The hotel is nice/beautiful/big/famous.
I see many flowers in the garden.
The sun is shining.
It is Monday.
I take out my wallet.
I pay for the room.
I leave the hotel.
There is a wide variety of small sentences you can make to add other type of information depending on what you want to learn.
What is good about it is that no matter what story you invent there is always a happy ending: you learn anywhere you are,in the bus,in your bed before going to sleep, you can do it once or twice per day,before an exam or talking to someone on the phone.It is the best rehersal you can get and the best way to test and improve your knowledge without the help of any teacher :)
But what is so wonderful about imagination? It can create real life situations,worlds in worlds,it is your training camp for real life.
Wouldn't it be great to use it for learning languages as well?
Of course,if you know how!
Many writing or speaking exercises ask you to imagine/think about real life situations and then speak about it or write down your thoughts.
But that is just a single exercise among other types (more or less boring) such as fill in or rephrase exercises.
Your teacher will not encourage you to imagine too much for fear of catching you day dreaming later on.
So I said that imagination help us recreate similar-to-real-life situations.How?By using words? Do you actually see words before your eyes or grammar rules when you are imagining a situation?
No.You are using concepts,mental images or representations.
The human brain works with 3D images.A word connects to one or mental concepts and even feelings (depending on the previous personal experience of the person.
Any type of thought,memory or idea is a concept at the mental level while when we talk we 'code' them into words and structures.
So one thing that can really help you learn really fast (and not forget everything afterwards) is imagining communication situations.
For example if you need to learn how to book a room ,you have prepared the vocabulary and you can use the present tense here is what you need to do:
1.write down the vocabulary you need
2.write down the grammar structures you want to use ( the more structured is your material the better things will go,as your brain works with logical structures)
3. imagine with full details for example how you enter the hotel,how you greet the receptionist,how you ask her about the information you need,her reaction,how you pay and all the actions you do.
4.The more involved you get,the better you use the rules. Why? Because in order to learn something you need to pay a lot to focus a lot. But you cannot focus on something that means nothing to you.
That is why you need to learn by creating contexts you are sure you are going to use (women will try to talk about fashion and shopping while men will talk about cars)
How to practice English by using your imagining situations :)
Let's take the following task (for beginner/pre-intermediate)
Make a dialogue in which you describe how you go to the hotel to get a room.
-Hello!
-Hello! I want a single room, with bathroom please
-One moment!What is your name?
-Allan Peter.I need the room for 2 days.
-Ok. We have room 28 for you. Do you want to pay cash or credit?
-I want to pay cash.
-Ok. Here is your key!Enjoy your stay!
-Thank you! Bye!
-Bye!
You can also add this to your dialogue:
The receptionist is friendly/nice.
She answers my questions
She smiles
I listen to the receptionist
The hotel is nice/beautiful/big/famous.
I see many flowers in the garden.
The sun is shining.
It is Monday.
I take out my wallet.
I pay for the room.
I leave the hotel.
There is a wide variety of small sentences you can make to add other type of information depending on what you want to learn.
What is good about it is that no matter what story you invent there is always a happy ending: you learn anywhere you are,in the bus,in your bed before going to sleep, you can do it once or twice per day,before an exam or talking to someone on the phone.It is the best rehersal you can get and the best way to test and improve your knowledge without the help of any teacher :)
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