Repetition

Repetition is arguably the most important factor in the learning process. It would seem obvious that the more often we see, hear and do something, the more likely we are to remember it.

On the other hand, teachers must find ever-changing ways of providing students with the opportunity to repeat language in different ways, using different skills without boring them, or themselves, stiff.

One particularly effective way of memorising vocabulary is a systematic technique for "learning" a word by revising it six times after having come across it for the first time. Once the vocabulary item has been written down in a student's notebook, a series of boxes can be drawn on the same line and ticked off corresponding to the following intervals it is revised: no more than 1 hour later; 24 hours; 3 days; 1 week; 2 weeks; 1 month.