how to spell: tip 3 spelling memory

How to remember & stop forgetting spellings. Spelling tip number 3 from howtospell.co.uk. Do you get stressed because you forget spellings so quickly? In this short video we're looking at how to remember and stop forgetting spellings (and most things).

The working memory (short term memory) holds information for a short time then is forgotten. If you want to hold onto something for future use then you have to transfer it from the short term memory to the long term memory.

This will only happen if you make it happen and this is especially true about spelling. Just because you've seen a word and copied it down once, doesn't mean it's yours to spell again. You won't own that word to use it when you want to without really learning it, committing it to memory.

*How to remember and stop forgetting.

Most forgetting happens in the first few hours.
· You need to revise little and often.
· You need to practise a new word you want to learn within 20 seconds or so, and then review it again after about an hour.
· Then look at the word again after an overnight rest, because sleep seems to help memorization.
· Don't leave it more than a week before you revise it again and do it at least once more within a month.
· The more you can use the word in your writing, or consciously take notice of it when it crops up in your reading, the more permanently it will become fixed in your memory.

One good method to fix spelling into your brain is the Look Say Cover Write Check method. Basically write the word you want to learn on a piece of paper, look at it, see the shape of it (you must write in lower case always), cover it, write it and check it carefully, and think why you've made that mistake and how to remember it. Then try again. - check my video on this great method for a more in depth look.

So my spelling tip 3 is: writing and spelling are interlinked. If you want to improve your spelling you must write. Use the words you want to learn in a piece of writing and it will help fix their meaning and their spelling in your mind. So The more you write the word the more it gets into your long term memory.


If you want more on memory and a great method for learning spellings called Look Say Cover Write Check then go to my website howtospell.co.uk and visit the lessons section.

Thank you for watching and see you in spelling tip number 4 about accents/pronunciation and spelling