一、二年級讀默寫 家長義工計劃 Mr. Chan Wai Kit Student Guidance Personnel Mary of Providence Primary School

 協助一、二年級學生提昇識字量。  加強學生對常用字的記憶，從而提昇温習成效，增 強學習的自信心。  透過朗讀及默寫訓練，讓家長掌握協助子女溫習的 技巧。 計劃目標

日期： 2013 年 10 月 15 日至 2013 年 12 月 11 日 ( 逢星期一、三及四 ) ( 評估週及學校假期除外 ) 時間：早上 8:20 - 8:35 地點：本校 2 樓平台 形式：一位家長義工協助一位學生 (P.1-2) ，每次進行 15 分鐘 的讀默寫訓練。 計劃安排

 每周一次，養成經常溫習的習慣，不用臨渴掘。  每次份量不多 ，易於溫習 ，有成功感 !  鼓勵學生追求進步 ! 每周讀默寫有甚麼好處 ?

Learning vocabulary is a very important part of learning a language. The more words you know, the more you will be able to understand what you hear and read; and the better you will be able to say what you want to when speaking or writing. Why we need to learn vocabulary?

 Memories have different life spans  Short-term memory & Long-term memory  The more repetition cycles a given memory experienced, the more likely it was to persist in our mind…but…  The space between repetition is critical component for transforming temporary memories into more persistent forms.  Spaced learning is greatly superior to massed learning!! Memory

 Declarative memories: memories that involve conscious awareness e.g. our Hong Kong I.D. code  Non-declarative memories: are those cannot be experienced in our conscious awareness, such as the motor skills necessary to ride a bike. Two types of Memories

陳大文 : 李小強 : 朱明明 : GAME

 Research shows that the life cycle of declarative memory can be divided into four sequential steps: Encoding > storing > retrieving, and forgetting Life cycle of declarative memory

Hippo Encoding

 1) The more elaborately we encode information at the moment of learning, the stronger the memory. Cracking the code

An experiment TractorPastelAirplane GreenQuicklyJump AppleOceanLaugh ZeroNicelyTall WeatherCountertop

The group that processes the meaning of the words always remembers two to three times as many words as the group that looked only at the architecture of the individual letters. Result

The results are always the same!

 We remember things much better the more elaborately we encode what we encounter, especially if we can Personalize it!!! Make it personal

2) Retrieval may best be improved by replicating the conditions surrounding the initial encoding Cracking the code

Another experiment

 When you are trying to drive a piece of information into your brain’s memory system, make sure you understand exactly what that information means.  If you are trying to drive information into your child’s brain, make sure they know what it means. Don’t try to memorize the information by rote

 A simple trick involves the liberal use of relevant real- world examples embedded in the information, constantly peppering main learning points with meaningful experiences. Real-word example

hamburger

How about this?!

hamburger

There are three main ways of learning vocabulary: 1. Memorising 2. Using 3. Recycling How can we learn vocabulary?

 Say or write the words the students are learning — this can help your children remember them.  Record the words/phrases the students are learning on mobile phone, or as audio files, and play them to your children whenever you have some spare time (e.g. when travelling) — this way you will get used to the spoken form of the word as well as the written form. Memorising

 Ask a native or fluent speaker to record target words for your. You can then listen or record your own pronunciation of the words as well.  Write the words your children are learning on pieces of paper/stick-it notes and put them round your room or home. Memorising

 You can then play games such as ‘Memory’ or ‘Snap’ with a partner (or on your own) by matching words to meanings. Memorising Cat

Memorising

 If your children are visual person… Keyword method

You may try to use the Keyword method. This method has been found to be very effective with small numbers of words (e.g. a few hundred), even over many years. It is especially useful with 'concrete' words that can be easily visualised (e.g. Sugar) Keyword method

 You associate the target word in the foreign language with a word that sounds similar in your own language. This is the keyword.  Then you form a picture in your mind that combines the keyword and the meaning of the target word. Every time you see the target word, you remember the picture you have formed, and then remember the meaning of the target word. For example: How does it work?

 a Cantonese-speaker, learning the English word sugar, might think of the Cantonese word syu ga 書架 (the keyword) and picture a bookshelf with a bowl of sugar on it, as in the picture on the right: They would then remember the meaning of ‘sugar’ — i.e. 糖. How does it work?

書架 Sugar

Using

Create sentences of your own for the words you are learning, relating them to your own situation. Create a story that includes all the words you have learned. Using

 Watch movies or read books or magazines on particular topics  Read books at particular vocabulary levels. You have a high chance of meeting repeated vocabulary in simplified readers. Recycling

 Learn words repeatedly, with increasing intervals between learning sessions.  We all know that if learning is not repeated, we will forget the words we have learned. But research in Psychology shows that we do not forget things gradually. How can we avoid forgetting what we have 'learned'?

 Instead, as the graph below shows, most of our forgetting occurs within 20 minutes after we have first 'learned' something.  More is forgotten within one hour, and still more within 8 hours - but after 8 hours, the rate of forgetting stays surprisingly steady.

Rate of forgetting More is forgotten within one hour

 Have the words you want to learn with you wherever you go, so that you can use any ‘dead’ time, e.g. travelling to and from primary school.  Set aside a regular time for vocabulary learning or memorising — e.g. just before your children go to play. How to prevent it?

 Spend more time on the words that you find difficult.  Often, when learning vocabulary, people create a list with the target words on one side and meanings on the other, and go down the list from the first word to the last, trying to memorise each one. How to prevent it?

Animal 1.Dog 2.dolphin 3.Duck 4.Elephant 5.Fish 6.Fly 7.Fox 8.Goldfish 9.hamster A common way

 This method can have two problems:  Firstly, the words at the top of the list tend to be remembered better than those further down; and  Secondly, time is wasted going over words that the learner has already learned.

 One way of overcoming these problems is to spend more time on the words that you find difficult. A simple way of doing this is to delete the words you know from the list. ‘increasing learning intervals’

DAILYWEEKLYMONTHLY Dog dolphin Duck Elephant Fish Fly Fox Goldfish hamster At the beginning

A day later DAILYWEEKLYMONTHLY dolphinFish DuckFly ElephantFox GoldfishDog hamster

continue testing DAILYWEEKLYMONTHLY dolphinDuckFish hamsterElephantFly GoldfishFox Dog

Germany and Frankfurt International School: Language Center The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology: The brain rules: References