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learn spanish in context
When we learn, electrical impulses are generated repeatedly between neurons. This repetition strengthens the synapses between them. Here also helps the myelin sheath: the substance that protects these connections. It speeds the communication between neurons.
Imagine when you learned to ride a bike. At the beginning you were careful about where to put your right leg, your left leg, how to balance yourself... Now you probably just ride a bike, you do not have to think about it. This is because the connection of neurons that took place is still active. The neural pathway is memorized. If you don't ride bikes, just think of anything you learned a time ago.
Now you may want to ride a mountain bike. You take from the knowledge of riding a bike from you and create new pathways in your brain that will lead you to ride a mountain bike. That is, you have created new synapsis and you have activated the older synapsis from your memory.
When learning a language it's desirable that you repeat structures again and again and also connect old pathways with new synapsis. In order to achieve this, look for texts/audios/videos that are suited for you, not too difficult (but also not so easy), something that you can mostly understand; and relevant to you, input that appeals to you, that you want to know from the bottom of your heart. 💜🧠✨
When we are curious about something, it's easier to learn about it.
In an experiment done with a group of people, questions were asked about topics that interested them very much. They would get the answers in 14 seconds. During this period of time, the reward system in the brain was activated (the one that gives us pleasure), and also the hippocampus (short-time memory area). These two areas also communicated better. So well that the people still remembered the information the next day.
When learning a language, choose your area of interest and learn about the language. For example, if you like yoga, then learn about yoga in Spanish.
An example of building associations in language learning is the TPR (Total Physical Response) technique. It is a way of teaching a language that involves associating an instruction with a movement. For example, "Take a step to the right," and the student takes a step to the right. "Stand up," and the student stands up.
By associating instructions with movement, more neural connections are generated, and more words are retained in less time.
Additionally, vocabulary is repeated, but it doesn't become repetitive. Repetition helps create more neural connections.
Moreover, it's dynamic, engaging, and helps us focus our attention.When doing some type of stretching or relaxing movement before learning or studying, this has an effect on your brain. It creates new connections between neurons and strengthens existing ones to help you understand, speak, read, and write in that language.
It also helps you increase your attention.
Did you know that within 15 minutes of learning something, we've already forgotten 40% of it? Stress and lack of attention also accelerate forgetting. How can we remember better? Memory is always linked to emotion. Things we learn with motivation are learned faster, while boring things are harder to learn.
Why? The hippocampus (center of memory) is anatomically closely related to the amygdala, the structure most closely tied to emotion.
“When we don’t know how to handle an emotion, we are deregulated”, says psychologist Peter Lavine.
We can manage our stress response: fight, flight, freeze through exercicies to regulate. This way we can train stress management. Some exercises: diaphragmatic breathing, grounding (feeling the physical sensations of your feet on the ground or your back on the chair or the floor), bringing your attention to your breathing or the different senses, singing.
According to a study of the Medicine faculty in Chicago.
In 2020 a study was conducted about the impact of the pranayama (breathing exercise) in the brain. The conclusion was that anxiety levels and negative emotions decrease.
The interoception is the ability to sense the internal state of the body. It tells me if I’m hungry, thirsty, if I need to go to the bathroom, if something hurts… It allows me to choose the options that are best for me, and gives me the ability to communicate with myself and regulate myself, as well as with the world around me. Interoception can help us connect with our emotions and guide our intuition. Doing an interoception exercise before class can help us concentrate by bringing our attention to different parts of the body. Controlling the attention increases alpha waves in your brain. Alpha waves work to inhibit areas not involved in a specific task to avoid the distractions.
Propioception deals with the touch and the position of your body in space.
If we want to train it, the best areas to focus on are the face and the hands, as these occupy more space in the brain and are more important to the brain. Propioception increases theta waves, which are the waves in your brain involved with implicit learning and memorizing.
Castellanos, Nazareth: Neurociencia del cuerpo. KAIROS, S.A. 2022
Fulgencio Pimentel, Ed., "Comerse el tarro": Guía ilustrada para descubrir el cerebro. Editorial Fulgencio Pimentel; 2018.
