HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR MEMORY

          Language students often think they have a memory problem. They worry because they can't remember vocabulary. They think something is wrong with their brain. In fact, the problem is not their brain or their memory. The problem is the way they study.
         If you want to improve your memory, it's important to understand how it works. There are two kinds of memory: short-term and long - term. All information goes into your short-term memory first. But it can stay there for just a few minutes. In order to remember something for more than a few minutes, it must move into your long-term memory.
         Only some things move into your long-term memory. Which things? This is an improtant  question for a student. In fact, your long-term memory keeps things that are interesting or important to you. That's why you remember big events in your life or your favourite sports events. Your long-term memory keeps other things,too. It holds onto things that you have thought about and worked with so If you want to remember words, you have to work witth them in some way.

          Many students study vocabulary by repeating the words. This may be enough to remember them for a while. But after a day or week, you may  have lost them. The reason for this is very somple. Long-term memory is like a very big library with many, many books. And like a library, it is organized. When you put away a book or a memory you can't just leave it anywhere. If you want to find it again, you have to put it in a certain place.
          Repeating a new word doesn't help you remember it for long, because it doesn't give you any way to find it again. You need to make a place for the word in your long-term memory. There are many ways you can do this. You can write sentences with the word. Or you can make a very short story about it. You can also make a picture in your mind with the word. For example, if the word is height, you can think of the tallest person you know and try to guess his height.
         All of these activities are ways to work with words. They make the meaning of words stronger in your long-term memory. And they give you a way to find a word when you need it.