Parents' Guide

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3 Super Memory Techniques to Teach Your Children

Using these memory techniques, your children can easily remember what they studied.

Parents, when was the last time something slipped your mind? It happens really often, doesn’t it? Think about it: If we need several memos to do everyday things like buying milk or calling the aircon repair guy, how tough is it for our children to remember complex information like the periodic table?

If you ask your children, they’ve probably used the “chanting” method before. This old-school method involves covering the textbook content and saying the points out loud, again and again, until they “remember”. Sounds familiar? Problem is, the information doesn’t really stick, and students find themselves staring blankly the next time they visit the chapter.

Here, we share with you memory tricks to help your children remember content with ease and cut down their revision time!

#1 The Link System

The Link System is used to remember a list of words.It is especially useful for studying subjects with a lot of hard facts,like physics, history, literature and geography. There are two steps, visualisation and association.

A simple example: remembering a shopping list.

  1. Egg
  2. Beef
  3. Fork & spoon
  4. Bikini
  5. Perfume
  6. Banana
  1. Glasses
  2. Orange Juice
  3. Soap
  4. Toothbrush
  5. Paint
  6. Nail Polish
cow-fork-spoon


Using the Link System, visualise yourself holding a smooth, hot egg as you leave your house. As you feel the smoothness, you make a hole in the shell. Out of this hole pops a cow’s head (reminds you of beef) with two horns. One horn is shaped like a spoon and the other, a fork. The fork jabs a girl who is wearing a polka-dotted bikini, and she reeks of sweet-smelling perfume. The pain makes her drop the yellow banana she was holding.

You trip on the banana and crash into a row of crystal glasses filled with orange juice. The orange juice spills and you have to clean it up with soap and a toothbrush. But while cleaning, you accidentally scrape off the red paint. You cover up the paint scratches with red nail polish.

#2 Similar Sound Technique

It may be difficult to visualise a scientific word like“chlorine”, but we can replace it with the word “crawling” which sounds similar.

With that, we can form a mental picture of a person crawling on the floor.
crawling

#3 Trigger Technique

This means to use the first image that pops into your mind when you think of an abstract word.

For example, what comes to your mind when you think of the word “politics”? You may think of “President Obama” or “parliament”. What about “oxygenated blood”? You may imagine each small red blood cell wearing an oxygen mask.

Let’s look at an example that uses the Trigger Technique.

An effective thermometer is:

  • Easy to read
  • Safe to use
  • Inexpensive
  • Sensitive to temperature changes
  • Has a big range of temperatures

Let’s turn all the abstract terms above into images!

  • Easy to read Reading a book quickly
  • Safe to use A safety deposit box
  • Inexpensive A bag of 1-cent coins
  • Sensitive Someone crying
  • Big range A big shooting range

The next step is to link them up with a nonsensical story like the grocery example.

A thermometer was reading a book quickly, and found a black metal safe between the pages of the box. He opens the safe only to find a bag of 1-cent coins. Disappointed, the thermometer starts to cry. To cheer himself up, he goes to a big shooting range to practise shooting.

Isn’t it easy to remember now?

The techniques mentioned above are only the tip of the iceberg. Your children will learn more advanced memory techniques and study strategies such as note-making, identifying keywords, speed reading at the I Am Gifted!™ programme.

Founded in 2002, I Am Gifted!™ believes in holistic learning for students. After all, scoring A’s only gets our children into the interview room. What happens after that depends on the person’s EQ and life experiences.

Last Updated on 14 June 2024

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My Learning Journey – Celestine Ng - Parents' Guide® Asia
5 October 2016 12:08 am

[…] down her studying hours by more than half. She also finds it easier to remember information using Super Memory techniques. I was most impacted and touched on the Graduation Night. I think most of us have never […]

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