Tired of struggling to remember vocabulary words and phrases when learning Spanish as a new language?
These memory exercisescan do wonders for learning process as an Academia Contacto student: you can bid goodbye for good to the tedious technique of memorizing words and phrases!
They are called techniques for retention: one effective encoding strategy is to create associations. Link new words to familiar concepts, images, or even emotions. Creating mnemonic devices for tricky vocabulary, grammar rules, or pronunciation helps the mind grasp concepts better.
To effortlessly recall foreign words and phrases with precision and fast, you can create powerful visual images that make that expression iconic: for example, having a notebook nearby and drawing something that helps you remember better. It can be a funny character that you invent (you can ever put a name to it), and you draw with different accessories. If you are learning the Spanish word “sombrero”, you can put a hat on your character. We guarantee that the more ridiculous you draw it, the better you will remember! Creating vivid mental associations facilitates better retention.
Other memory exercises
Another effective memory exercises is repetition. Flashcards, now found digital through apps and websites, help storing and building a linguistic archive. You can “play” at least 15 minutes a day, to help your brain add new items to its list on a daily basis. Regularly revisiting words and concepts reinforces neural connections, making them more resistant to forgetting.
Once you have acquired this custom, you will need to move further: retrieval. Bringing knowledge to the forefront is your goal. Not just to memorize but to retrieve information when needed. Retrieval involves recalling words, phrases, and rules from memory and using them in real-life situations. This goes hand in hand with practicing oral conversation, for which we suggest attending Language exchange meetings held at bars. In Madrid, you find them in the central area several times a week.
David’s Thursdays Language Exchange at Beer Station (22:00h), published in Meetup. They also gather on Sundays at the same place (19:30h).
Citylife’s Meet & Speak is held every Wednesday at 21:00 at “Calle 365” bar (Calle Echegaray, 18). The nearest metro stops are Sol & Sevilla. Entry is free (drinks are on you!). In the very same area (Alebrije Bar, Calle Echegaray 19), you will find MadridBabel’s exchange meetings. Thursdays at 19:00h, a free international meetup with discounts for all the attendees in all kinds of drinks and delicious food.
Those are the ones we know, popular among our students of Spanish Intensive Courses.
Don’t worry if you are shy and don’t feel like attending one of these bars alone, just get talking! Good luck!
Additionally, we found a web called https://tandem.net/, a platform to find your conversation partner. It works matching students who want to practice a second (or third, or sometimes fourth!) language with natives from those countries.
