Can children improve their memories?

Is there really one particular approach that will help children learn and remember French verbs more effectively?

It has long been acknowledged that almost everyone’s memory can be improved dramatically, if only we use the right approach.

Indeed, as far back as the 1950s there were a number of performers on stage and on TV challenging the audience to pose questions on specific subjects (sport was a favourite) and they would then immediately have an answer.

But most, when questioned, would admit that “Anyone can do this; it is just a case of finding associations and ignoring all the usual excuses about having a poor memory.”

Unfortunately, because the approach these performers followed was variously promoted as “magic” or denigrated as “a trick” the techniques they used were not readily offered to children as a way of helping them remember key facts. 

And yet these simple approaches to memory can be applied to many aspects of learning, including of course the learning of irregular French verbs.

What children need in effect is a way of making new information move from the short-term memory to the long-term memory, by giving each new piece of information an association with what is already known.

This approach is thus based on using the way the memory works, for our brains have evolved over the millennia to take in everything, but to make available for recall only those items that are associated with existing knowledge or current situations.

This is the approach that the Petit Guide Conjugate French Verbs in the Present Tense with Memory Tricks uses, applying our understanding of what the memory is and how it works to the basics of conjugating French verbs.

As a result, what is learned is not only much more likely to become stored in the long-term (rather than the short-term) memory, but it also becomes available for immediate recall.

100 of the most commonly used verbs are covered in the Petit Guide and the results from employing this method of learning can be quite remarkable.

You can read more about this guide on our website.