The Best Way to Learn an Additional Language in My Experience

There are a few things that stick in my mind regarding this matter. 
I still remember some of the German I learned in the junior classes at high school and the reason is it was taught to me in a quirky way. The teacher had us draw pictures in our books featuring characters from a Wagner opera, gods no less! I drew Wotan behind a tree and wrote on my page "Wotan ist hinter dem baum" and I drew Siegfreid on top of a Volkswagon and wrote "Siegfreid ist auf der Volkswagon." I think these sentences have stuck in my head because of their quirkiness and fun and because I had accompanied them with visual images. So I think allowing room for creativity and fun and bringing in a visual dimension can facilitate language learning.
Another thing that I think helps stick language form in one's mind is the matching card game. Matching words with pictures, parts of speech, definitions, translations, collocations and so on is fun and the more connections we make for a word, the easier it is to remember it. In addition, when you match elements on cards, a kinaesthetic element is added, which can assist retention of knowledge for some.
David :-)



Comments

  1. Maha HongJune 24, 2021 at 6:12 PM

    I certainly agree with you. It was an effective technique which is drawing the picture and matching the words that you had used for memorizing the vocabulary. Pictures help us to remember easily. In addition, it's the easier way to bring us to recognize the sense of language. That means whatever had happened in a spiritual dimension. It will be remembered deeply for a long period of time.

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    1. David WoodfieldJune 24, 2021 at 8:28 PM

      Interesting comments, Hong. Thanks! I am interested to know more about what you call the 'spiritual dimension' though. How can we bring such a dimension into the learning of vocabulary?

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