Hello. My name is Emma, and in today's video, I am going to teach you a way to remember
new vocabulary, new grammar, and pretty much how to remember anything you want.
So, what is the name of this method? It is called the "wrap method" or the "W-R-A-P method".
So, before I teach you this method, I have here four new words I want you to remember.
You are going to use this method to learn these four new words. The words you're going
to learn today are "bulk", "blue", "coworker", and "downside".
So, let's get started. The "w" in the "wrap method" stands for "write", "write it down".
When you're learning something new, it's important to write it down. This really helps you to
remember, and there's actually a difference between writing something down and typing
something down. It's actually better for your memory to take a pen or a pencil and
to actually write it on a piece of paper or in a notebook. So, "write it down" can help
your memory, and the nice thing about writing something down is it can help you to review
something.
So, I want you to write these four words down. You can pause the video, pay careful attention
to the spelling, okay, but actually write it down. After you write things down, you
can do something like this where you cover the word, you think, "Oh, what was the word
again? B-U-L-K, is that correct? Oh, yeah, I was right, it's 'bulk'." So, the nice thing
about writing things down is it helps you to test yourself as well, and the way to remember
things is to quiz yourself or test yourself. The more work your brain does, the better
your brain is able to remember things.
So, just to keep it simple, the "W" in "wrap" stands for "write it down". So, now let's
find out what the "R" stands for. Okay, so you've written these words down. You can also
write down their definitions or what they mean. "Bulk" is when something is big or there
is a lot of something. When we talk about "bulk", we're usually talking about something
that's large or a large amount. "Blue", you might know the colour blue. "Blue" can also
mean "sad". Okay, so "blue" is another way to say "sad". "I'm blue" means I'm sad.
We have here the word "coworker". A "coworker" is a person you work with. Another word for
"coworker" is "colleague", and we have here the word "downside". "Downside" is a problem
or it's a con, it's a disadvantage. So, another word for "downside" is "disadvantage". So,
we'll come back to these words in a moment, but if you want, you can write down their
definitions because, remember, by writing things down, it helps you to remember.
Now, the second part of "wrap it", or sorry, "wrap" method is the "R". "R" stands for "repeat".
In order to remember something, it's important to repeat it again and again and again. Repeating
something helps you to remember it. Now, there are different ways to repeat things. First
of all, what can really help is to space out your studying or your repetitions. So,
for example, maybe you repeat these words on Saturday. You look at them, you think,
okay, this is what they mean, you do that on Saturday. Then you repeat these words again
on Sunday. Then maybe on Monday you do the same thing. Now, you might be wondering, what
is the best way to repeat words? Is it good to spend the whole day repeating the words
over and over again and then never look at them again? Or is it better to do just a little
bit every day over a longer period of time? It's actually better to do a little bit every
day, even 10 minutes a day is amazing, if you're doing it over multiple days. So, when
you repeat, it's better to repeat things over multiple days instead of just one. So, I call
that my four-sleep rule. When I was in university, if I really wanted to remember something,
I would study it, then go to sleep, study it again, then go to sleep the next day. Then
I would study it, that night I would go to sleep, and then on the fourth day I would
study it again, and then go to sleep. Sleep is very important for memory. So, four-sleep
means pretty much four days. The more days you can do, the better, but for me, the minimum
was always four days or four sleeps. And again, this is just another way to say that. Repeat
what you want to learn every day, that is better than just repeating something on one day.
Another thing I should mention when it comes to repeat is when we are learning, the first
word on a list and the last word on a list are a lot easier for us to remember. These middle
words are less likely going to be remembered. So, if you want to remember something when
you're studying, put the most important thing first on your list and at the end of your
list. You can change this up every day, but you're more likely to remember the beginning
of a list and the end of a list.
Alright, now let's learn about what the "a" in the RAP method stands for. Okay, so what
does the "a" stand for in the RAP method? "A" stands for "associate it". When we associate
things, it means we connect them or we link them to information we already know or memories
we already have. So, we link it, we can link something new to something we already know.
I'm going to give you an example. I have here the word "bulk". So, "bulk" might be a new
word. I told you it means it's something that's very large or a large amount. When I think
about something that's large, I think of the Hulk. The Hulk is a green superhero and
it rhymes with "bulk". So, "Hulk" is something I already have in my brain. I can link this
new word to it because they have a similar sound, and when I think of the Hulk, I think
of something big. "Bulk" means very large. So, this association can help you to remember
this word "bulk". So, we can associate in different ways new words. We can think about
words that sound similar, so we can use sound when we associate things, or we can associate
things based on meaning, based on words we already know that are similar. We can associate
things based on people we know. So, there's different ways we can make associations. I'm
going to give you an example from when I lived in China. I was learning different animal
names in Mandarin, and the way I learned Mandarin many, many years ago. I have forgotten a lot
of Mandarin, but I'll give you an example of something I remember because I made an
association. In Mandarin, the word for "duck" is "yaza". How do I remember this? Well, I
imagine a duck playing jazz music. So, I think jazz sounds like "yaz", "yaza". So, I can
imagine a duck on a saxophone, and that association really helped me to remember how to say this
word.
Okay, so let's think of some other things that can help us, some other associations.
So, I told you to remember the "hulk" to think of "bulk". For "blue", I told you another
meaning of "blue" is "sad". Well, how can you remember this? Well, I have here a sad
face, and you'll notice the sad person has tears. "Tears are blue." So, when you cry,
blue tears come from your eyes. So, here are some tears. The color in cartoons or in pictures
is blue, so I can remember "blue". Okay. "Tears are blue." When we are blue, we are sad.
Now, I have another word, "coworker". So, what associations might I make with this word?
Well, in English, "er" usually means a person. We have "teacher", "manager", "office worker".
Many words in English that have to do with a person end in "er". So, I can think, okay,
this is about a person. We have "er" here. We have the word "work". Okay, so I can think
this has to do with "work". The main part of this that might be difficult to remember
is the "co". In English, "co" means "together". "Coworker" is someone who works together with
you. You can think of other words that are similar, like "cooperate". You cooperate with
your coworker. So, that's one way you might remember this. Or maybe you have a coworker
who has the "co" sound in their name. I don't know, like, I can't think of a good one. "Courtney".
You might think "Courtney", "co", "coworker". So, just thinking about associations can really
help remember. Now, I have this word "downside". So, "downside", if we imagine the word "down",
usually when things go down, like our money, if our money goes down, that's a bad thing.
So, you can remember, okay, "down" means "bad". The downside of something is the bad side
of something, the disadvantage of something. Now, when we make associations, the best associations
are the funny ones, the strange ones, the ones that really help you to remember. Like,
for example, my duck playing the saxophone. Imagining that really helped me to remember
this word. So, I really encourage you with these words to try to imagine the strangest
things you can to help you remember them. Okay, so now we are going to learn about the
"p" in the RAP method. Okay, so this is the most fun part of the RAP method, and that
is the "p", which stands for "picture it". When we learn new things, we can really help
our memory by imagining what we're trying to learn. Now, when we picture things, it's
good to create an image in our head, use our imagination, and try to remember things in
our head in a silly, funny, or crazy way. So, we're going to do this for these four
words. I'm really going to try to get you to remember these four words.
So, what I want you to do now is you're going to imagine this in your head. Remember, "bulk"
and "hulk", very similar. The hulk is big; "bulk" means large, so very similar, or large
amounts. So, I want you to remember the hulk. Now, imagine the hulk is blue. Why is his
color blue? Usually, he's green, but he's blue because he's sad. Okay? So, you can imagine
a sad hulk whose color is blue. Okay? Now, beside the hulk is his co-worker, Captain
America. Now, "co-worker" starts with a "c", "captain" starts with a "c", "co" and "ca",
okay? It almost looks the same. I'm just going to imagine that's an "o" for a moment to help
us remember "co", "co-worker", just to help our memories. So, they work together. They
are co-workers. So, imagine the hulk, who's blue, with Captain America. Where is Captain
America sitting? He is sitting down beside the hulk. So, I want you to imagine he's sitting
down beside the hulk. "Down" and "beside" should help you remember "downside". Okay?
Where is he sitting? He's sitting down beside the hulk. So, imagine this in your head. I'll
say it one more time. You have the hulk. He's blue because he's sad. He is with Captain
America, his co-worker, and Captain America is sitting down beside the hulk to cheer the
hulk up. He's trying to make the hulk happy. So, imagine that for a moment. And now, we
are going to do a little quiz. Okay? So, I'm going to erase these words and we're going
to see if you remember them or you don't. Maybe you'll remember some of them. Maybe
you won't remember any of them. But this is a great technique to help you remember important
things. So, let's try this. Okay, so let's see if you can remember this. So, the first
thing I wanted you to remember was the hulk. What word is like "hulk" and it means "very
large"? Did you think the word "bulk"? You're correct. Okay, so "blue" was one of the words,
but do you remember the meaning of the word "blue"? It means a color, but what's the other
meaning? If you said "sad", you're correct. "Blue" means "sad". When we imagine the hulk
and his color is blue, he's feeling very sad. So, the second word was "blue". Okay, then
we talked about Captain America. Who is Captain America with the hulk? They're both on the
Avengers. They are, so maybe you remember the last part of the word. They work together,
so we can think, okay, "worker". They work together and they're people. What is the first
part of that word? Well, it's kind of like "captain". It starts with a "c", and I told
you, here it's an "a", but in this word, it's not an "a". It means like "cooperate" or "together".
Get it? "Coworker". They are coworkers. The hulk, Thor, Black Widow, they're all coworkers
in the Avengers. Okay, and what was the last word? So, Captain America was sitting down
beside the hulk to cheer him up. Well, we have "sit down". Oh, okay, it's not part of
the word. "Down". And what was the other part? Captain America is sitting beside the
hulk. "Side", "downside". Okay, and again, "downside". Do you remember the picture I
drew earlier? I drew a picture of your money going down. That's something you never want
to see. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? It's bad. "Downside" is a bad thing. So, when
we talk about downsides, we're talking about the disadvantage of something. For example,
the downside of watching too many superhero movies is you start to... maybe you study
less. Maybe that's a downside. If you're always watching movies, you study less. I don't really
believe that's true, but that's an example of a downside. So, again, the RAP method,
do you remember what it stands for? This is when I test you. It stands for "write it down",
"repeat it", "associate it", and "picture it". The more work your brain does, the more you
will remember things you want to remember. So, thank you so much for watching this. I
recommend you come and visit our website at www.engvid.com. There you can actually
take a quiz on what I talked about in this video. You can also subscribe to my YouTube
channel. I have a lot more resources for learning languages, for study skills, and many other
different topics. Finally, you can visit my website at www.teacheremma.com for more English
resources. Thanks for watching.