Hi Reader,
This is Daria with updates from Smart English Learning online school. If you don't want to hear from me anymore, you can unsubscribe here.
How can you remember grammar rules and patterns more easily?
I hear sometimes during the lesson, ‘Well, when you explain it, it’s clear. But once the lesson is over, I can’t figure out HOW to say it correctly in my everyday communication’.
Learning rules or patterns is a logical process - and it’s great when you understand them.
But when you need to speak yourself, the whole complex of emotions, memory fragments, and associations arises, and logic doesn’t always work.
What should you do to make sure that the structures you learn actually become ACTIVE in your memory?
1) Pay more attention to examples, not rules.
You want to know HOW people actually say it. Rules will help you see some principles of usage, but that's not always enough.
Listen to and read as many examples with this structure as possible: go to sentence dictionaries, Youglish, ask ChatGPT to write example sentences for you. When you see REAL contexts and situations, your brain will be able to understand WHY this pattern exists and what IDEA it expresses.
2) Say them out loud and write them down (with your hand)
You need to FEEL the structure, not just look at it. Listening is important, but speaking - your own muscle memory - is very important too.
Yesterday, I was teaching the ‘a’ article before job names to my partner. And he said it was UNUSUAL for him to say ‘I’m A doctor’. It was something completely new to say because he doesn't have articles at all in his native language.
And until it becomes USUAL and comfortable, he’ll keep forgetting to use it in his own speaking - it is normal (but we will deal with it, of course ;)).
3) Make them your own
Think how often you express a similar idea in your own language. In what contexts? In what situations?
It’s always a good idea to make your own examples for the rule you’re studying. And it’s very easy to check if they are correctly structured using ChatGPT.
If you USE the pattern as soon as possible, your brain sees the significance of it and keeps it in your memory longer.
4) And finally, expose yourself to the language - I’ll never get tired of saying that.
If you’ve worked through the pattern as described in the previous steps, there is a good chance you’ll start noticing it in any dialogue or text you’re reading or listening to.
When I was preparing my phrasal verbs course a few years ago, I couldn’t watch movies for a while - there were sooooo many phrasal verbs in them. And my brain paid additional attention to them all because of the work I was doing. I just couldn’t help but notice them. They were like 'jumping at' me from the screen ;) And my partner, who assisted me with the course, said he felt the same.
It’s as simple as that: the more you notice it, the better you remember it.
And even though many adult English learners rely heavily on explanations, I think the key to success is in PRACTICE. Because understanding is just a small win, but MAKING IT YOUR OWN actually helps you succeed as a language learner in the long run.
And this is how I structure my books: theory to a minimum, but LOTS of examples and practice. For example, my ‘English Speaking Patterns Workbook’ - it will teach you the 25 most common spoken structures in context, so you can easily understand how to use them in your own English speaking. If it is what you are interested in, get it here >>
Feel free to reply to this email if you have any questions.
All the best,
Daria
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