Activating memory in the language classroom - Hugh Dellar

Hugh Dellar started his talk using the image from one of the felines from the musical Cats, and eliciting one of their famous songs. "Memories" is the one, and even though most of the audience had heard it countless times, noone present was able to remember the full lyrics. Why does this happen?

He presented some impressive numbers:

• to be ranked level B2/C1, you should know between 3.000-4.000 words
• if you know 15.000 words, you can understand about 98% of written texts
• 20.000 is the average number of words a native speaker can use
• most language teaching books teach only about 3.000 words by advanced level

If this is so, why can't we remember what we learn at the same speed that we learn it?

The thing is we must actively engage our brains in learning, and a passive attitude is never enough. Simply coming to class does not make students learn, and teachers paly a vital role telling them they must do their part at home, at work, in the shower! Language needs to be internalised/proceduralised and made part of automatic behaviour.

He demonstrated a few activities which in his opinion contribute to encouraging students to perform/demonstrate what they're vearnt, making then language more active and useful.

As he wisely put it, 'practice makes perfect', and teachers must learn their techniques such as elicitation and modelling in order to obtain better results from students. In his experience, the more we expect students to remember, the more they will be able to remember! Here I must agree, and say we teachers must develop a positive attitude towards teaching and learners, for the teacher is ALWAYS a model.

His final thought was indeed special: "If you never have a dream, then you/ll never have a dream come true."

Way to go, Hugh! Memorable moments.