What is Brain Friendly Learning?
An elephant never forgets: los elefantes nunca olvidan.
Brain friendly learning, the technique used in ‘Classes with Claire’ is sometimes called ‘brain-based’ learning. It’s a way of teaching that lines up with the way the brain naturally learns best: attention, emotion, memory, and pattern recognition.
Calling on neuroscience and psychology, brain friendly teaching/training helps the learner/student learn more effectively, feel more engaged, and recall what they’ve learned more effectively.
Attention/Engagement
In every class, you will probably be up out of your seat and working with another student at some point. It might be a friendly competition with other students in the class. It may be a quiz. Perhaps you’ll be giving each other instructions, or creating a wall chart.
This does several things for you as a student:
it’s harder to let your brain wander off;
the learning will be more memorable than reading from a book that you could have read at home on your own - you may not even realise you’re learning.
Effective Learning
One of the most effective ways to learn is to teach.
This doesn’t mean you’ll be giving classes, but you will, at times, help explain things to other students.
This might be formal (with me helping you to prepare), or it may be spontaneous. If you’ve learned any Spanish before and you’ve been taught a different way. the way you had things explained may be a useful alternative for a student who’s struggling to grasp a particular term or topic. And it will test your existing learning at the same time.
This all helps create moments (and language) to remember.
All this needs is for me to put my ego as your ‘teacher’ to one side: we all bring something to class.
Advanced students may have been told sayings that help you remember things.
Beginner students may find it easier to ask questions that everyone’s thinking but no-one wants to admit to.
Example:
(Don’t let this put you off if you know no Spanish at all yet. You might want to skip this bit)
In Spanish there is no exact translation for ‘the’ as in the chair (la silla), the table (la mesa), the boy (el niño).
If something ends in an ‘o’ there’s every chance it’s masculine (el), if it end is an ‘a’ it’s usually feminine (la).
But problema (problem) is masculine, and solución gives you no apparent clues as to wether it’s masculine or feminine.
A little ditty comes to the rescue (usually causing a memorable stir in class!): Los problemas son masculinos; Las soluciones son siempre femeninas.
Roughly translated: problems are always male - the solutions are always female.
Yep - sexist (but done very lightheartedly to help learning). The discussions that follow throw a light on lots of patterns, and there will be plenty of chances for male students to get friendly revenge later. Meanwhile we all have a memorable moment - because we’ve also engaged an emotion.
Say ‘no’ to learning by rote (mostly!)
If you have always learned by rote (memorising and reciting), brain friendly learning will offer you a different experience.
Sometimes students will find it hard to break old habits, and so I do break the brain friendly mould in ‘Classes with Claire’ and offer the option of learning that way if you’re more comfortable, or have already started learning that way.
Emotion/feelings matter
Positive emotions (like interest, curiosity, motivation) help your learning stick. Stress and boredom can block your learning.
I have no control over what happens outside of the classroom, but I can try and make the class fun and engaging - a game many grab your attention, immerse you in the subject and help your memory/recall. Subject matter is important. When we tap into emotions like happiness, the things that matter to us, our hopes, the learning experience is more effective.
(This fits nicely with the work I did for my - as yet unfinished - PhD, based in part around the work of Freire, whose teaching methods were based upon relevance, something I’ll blog about another time. But in essence the theory is that you are going to learn a language better if the learning material is relevant to you.)
Being Active
In every class you’ll get up and move around. Maybe it will be to put a date on the board. Maybe it will just be moving to help create physical patterns with words. Moving around will keep your energy level higher.
Similarly we may discuss a topic together. Or practise with each other.
All that won’t happen is being sat being talked at for 1.5 hours!
Little by little
Your brain likes bitesized pieces of information. An average adult attention span is 30-45 minutes. So you’ll find the classes split up into sections.
And many of the exercises designed to help you work things out for yourself!
You won’t be just left to it - I’ll work hard to make sure we get the point of what we’re doing!
Repetition
Repeating things, coming back to them periodically over time, helps strengthen memory.
So we’ll cover a topic, use it, and then it will be embedded into later lessons so that you can use it naturally.
(Incidentally, Duolingo sits very well alongside ‘Classes with Claire’ - the classes bring the why, the depth, the explanations, Duolingo is good at constant repetition.)
Making Connections
You’ll be encouraged to make connections that make sense for you.
For example, translating words with a group, using your knowledge or, which your phones as back up, will help you to recognise patterns in certain word endings and how they might translate - immediately extending your vocabulary and comprehension without the stress of ‘learning vocab’.
Learning Styles
We all learn differently and have preferred styles.
If you like learning completely on your own, a group class is probably not for you, and you may feel more secure tucked away with Duo Lingo. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that - you might prefer an occassional opportunity to practise what you’ve learned in a group chat or a one to one lesson.
But the majority of us have a preferred learning style: Visual; Auditory; Reading and Writing; or Kinesthetic.
Visual learners learn, as the name suggests, by seeing things: illustrations, charts, presentations.
Auditory/aural learners, also as the name suggests, learn by listening (and speaking).
Reading and writing (verbal) learners learn by, yes, you guessed it, reading and - importantly - writing things down
And kinesthetic learners like to experience and interact with things to help them learn.
Whilst academics would have you believe tat we all have a single preferred style, the reality is that different things may chime with you in different ways, so ‘Classes with Claire’ aims to mix things up a bit.
You will have some handouts, but you’ll be expected to make your own notes to help you remember better. And we’ll try multiple ways to help with each subject.
Proven Effectiveness of Brain Friendly Learning
Brain-friendly learning:
recall: it helps improves memory retention;
it increases your focus;
can be more motivational;
removes the stress and boredom of old fashioned, Victorian style classroom teaching;
is more enjoyable, meaning you are more likely to stick with it.
In summary: Brain-friendly ‘teaching’ is about you, the student, learning in ways that match how your brain naturally focuses, processes, and remembers information.
For advanced speakers/learners, just for a bit of practise, because we’ve been talking about memory here:
Video in Spanish: Los elefantes nunca olvidan
(An elephant never forgets: the truth behind the legend)
