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Using Positive Reinforcement in your Spanish Study

There is a reason why most people learn more efficiently when they can see examples. Positive reinforcement. When you hear a correct Spanish phrase multiple times, the structure will gradually become embedded in your brain. How can we boost this process using our normal study techniques? Hearing or reading Spanish helps to embed it. So does writing it, and best of all is speaking it out loud to yourself. So instead of doing a bit of Spanish reading one day, then some writing in Spanish, and finally speaking Spanish with a friend, try to combine them all in one intense burst of positive reinforcement.

Here is an example,

  1. I start by listening to a story that interests me on the BBC Mundo news podcast.
  2. Then I read the same story on the BBC Mundo website.
  3. I write down and look up any unfamilair vocabulary.
  4. I read the same story again on other news sites such as El Pais, to get a differently expressed version of the same facts.
  5. I speak some of the sentences out loud to myself.
  6. Listen again to the podcast. It should all be a lot clearer now, if you missed things the first time around.
  7. The next time I meet with a friend or an intercambio I will be able to talk confidently about this subject and reinforce all of the vocabulary and expressions associated with it. Because I am familiar with the details of the story I will be able to have a more freely flowing conversation.

If you think this technique will be useful to other language students, please share this page on your favourite social network.

How do you increase the effectiveness of your study time? Let me know in the comments below. I am always looking for better ways of studying Spanish.