The "Totem"
:::: SEANCE THREE ::::
THE TOTEM
Learning Spanish or English (or French, or Russian…) has A LOT to do with logic and common sense: if you go to a concert, be prepared to have words related to a concert, such as: BAND, STAGE, INSTRUMENTS, TICKET, ROW, BELONGINGS….
If you have an appointment with the doctor, be prepared with words like: APPOINTMENT, SORE THROAT, HEADACHE, TEMPERATURE, WEAK, WATERY EYES, TONGUE…
Keep at home at least five lists of this groups, use sticky notes on the fridge, and then try to make up a story, to anticipate to the future. Let’s put the DOCTOR as a list and example, and some words previously listed there:
—(You) Good Morning. I have an APPOINTMENT with doctor…
—(Receptionist) Name please?
—(Say your name, phone number, etc., as required)
ONCE WITH THE DOCTOR
…
—(You) I’ve been having this PAINFUL SORE THROAT for 3 days in a row.
—(Doctor) Do you have any allergies, penicillin maybe?
—No.
—Are you taking any antibiotics, or pain relievers?
—Only aspirin for the headache. I am not sure if the chamomile tea made from my great-grandmother is considered as a pain reliever.
—No, is not. So ok, let’s take a look into your throat. Open your mouth and say “aaaaaa”…
As soon as you get your lists, fit EVERY one of the words you wrote down into a phrase, and look for the words that stick properly before and after (articles, prepositions, adjectives, verbs, etc), this is:
—PAIN: I have a PAIN on my chest.
—NAUSEA: I’ve been having NAUSEA and dizziness almost every morning since 3 weeks ago.
—SLEEP: I haven’t been SLEEPING enough.
—WATERY EYES: I have to work, so I don’t like my EYES from WATERING.
Did you notice in this phrases how some words have changed?… this is because we are no Tarzan, then our home work also consist in find (on the internet, if you feel comfortable) at least one way to use EVERY word on our lists in a correct manner. Do not overwhelm yourself, take maximum five words on each list.
Ask google ALWAYS in ENGLISH, perform your searches thinking in ENGLISH, do like this: “does anyone is having issues finding objects related to SOCCER (choose the subject/topic according to what you’re looking for on the internet, could be KITCHEN, LOVE, JOB, etc).”
Don’t forget to open your mouth every time you’re writing and reading while you’re thinking in English, this will help you to convince yourself (and your brain) that you’re being serious about learning English, and you must not allow your brain during these five minutes to think in Spanish or other languages.
If you don’t know how to say a word in English, don’t panic, take your time, DON´T SWITCH BACK to Spanish, is better if you look for a different way to say what you want to say, don’t get stuck in your mind just for one unknown word. As a help, let’s use our lists as “totems” (they’re pretty handy/useful and easy to use). Allow me to explain myself:
:::: THE TOTEM ::::
Have you seen the movie “Inception”?… A totem is an object that you can see, and that triggers something: a lapse of time, a memory, an idea, or in this case: the switch to start thinking and speaking in English. Believe it or not, it works, so when you finish doing your lists, put something in there that you can recognize easily, preferably make each list in an unique color, so that way the BLUE list may be related to doctor, RED list with grocery store, and so on.
Train your brain and comprehension by telling yourself that every time you see that sticky note in RED, you should pack the knowledge in there in ENGLISH, and to direct the conversation you will have at the GROCERY STORE to those subjects and objects in the list. Surely not all the conversation will end up wrapping around your list, so think in “yes/no” answers as well, but specially try not to be shy to say and ask: “Sorry, I didn’t get you”, “Excuse me, I did’t hear what you said”, “Could you repeat me that please?”…
Also, it could be that the RED list has already an association in your mind, related to a person, or your family, or other stuff in Spanish, well, in that case, make your RED list for groceries slightly different, or add an extra ingredient to this RED list to make it a “unique totem”, that way when you associate your RED sticky note “with a double scratch in the upper-left corner” then your brain should admit that you are planing at that moment to speak English at the grocery store, and that you need to unpack the little suitcase (the list) with the words inside there.
So remember: have your own totems. Learning English could be like a blurry image, and is easy (and NORMAL) to get lost very quickly, so it helps a lot to use objects (totems) to give your ideas a solid tool to project what you want to say, to communicate.
In the future, it could be that you don’t need anymore a list for "bathroom", or "room", or "kitchen", because if you already train your brain to take a green apple as a “totem”, this image will trigger what you already know about kitchen, but with a whole luxury suitcase full with words and phrases in English that you already learned from your previous totem (the list).
QUICK NOTE
Even if many of you are not entirely comfortable with these seances all in English, at least try to read and repeat. It doesn’t matter if you do it wrong, eventually it will come and you get use to.
If you’re at home, record your voice, or at least read the whole lesson to hear your own voice (do ti with normal voice, no need to scream out loud), that way your ear is going to start listening what you same have to say, like if this was a double training (two birds with one stone). NEVER, during this five minutes, correlate a thing or a statement with words in Spanish, lock it yourself during this time, start building “totems” to associate real and visible objects with the English language. Images are truly helpful to learn a language.
Best,
:::: TYGRUS ::::
THE TOTEM
Learning Spanish or English (or French, or Russian…) has A LOT to do with logic and common sense: if you go to a concert, be prepared to have words related to a concert, such as: BAND, STAGE, INSTRUMENTS, TICKET, ROW, BELONGINGS….
If you have an appointment with the doctor, be prepared with words like: APPOINTMENT, SORE THROAT, HEADACHE, TEMPERATURE, WEAK, WATERY EYES, TONGUE…
Keep at home at least five lists of this groups, use sticky notes on the fridge, and then try to make up a story, to anticipate to the future. Let’s put the DOCTOR as a list and example, and some words previously listed there:
—(You) Good Morning. I have an APPOINTMENT with doctor…
—(Receptionist) Name please?
—(Say your name, phone number, etc., as required)
ONCE WITH THE DOCTOR
…
—(You) I’ve been having this PAINFUL SORE THROAT for 3 days in a row.
—(Doctor) Do you have any allergies, penicillin maybe?
—No.
—Are you taking any antibiotics, or pain relievers?
—Only aspirin for the headache. I am not sure if the chamomile tea made from my great-grandmother is considered as a pain reliever.
—No, is not. So ok, let’s take a look into your throat. Open your mouth and say “aaaaaa”…
As soon as you get your lists, fit EVERY one of the words you wrote down into a phrase, and look for the words that stick properly before and after (articles, prepositions, adjectives, verbs, etc), this is:
—PAIN: I have a PAIN on my chest.
—NAUSEA: I’ve been having NAUSEA and dizziness almost every morning since 3 weeks ago.
—SLEEP: I haven’t been SLEEPING enough.
—WATERY EYES: I have to work, so I don’t like my EYES from WATERING.
Did you notice in this phrases how some words have changed?… this is because we are no Tarzan, then our home work also consist in find (on the internet, if you feel comfortable) at least one way to use EVERY word on our lists in a correct manner. Do not overwhelm yourself, take maximum five words on each list.
Ask google ALWAYS in ENGLISH, perform your searches thinking in ENGLISH, do like this: “does anyone is having issues finding objects related to SOCCER (choose the subject/topic according to what you’re looking for on the internet, could be KITCHEN, LOVE, JOB, etc).”
Don’t forget to open your mouth every time you’re writing and reading while you’re thinking in English, this will help you to convince yourself (and your brain) that you’re being serious about learning English, and you must not allow your brain during these five minutes to think in Spanish or other languages.
If you don’t know how to say a word in English, don’t panic, take your time, DON´T SWITCH BACK to Spanish, is better if you look for a different way to say what you want to say, don’t get stuck in your mind just for one unknown word. As a help, let’s use our lists as “totems” (they’re pretty handy/useful and easy to use). Allow me to explain myself:
:::: THE TOTEM ::::
Have you seen the movie “Inception”?… A totem is an object that you can see, and that triggers something: a lapse of time, a memory, an idea, or in this case: the switch to start thinking and speaking in English. Believe it or not, it works, so when you finish doing your lists, put something in there that you can recognize easily, preferably make each list in an unique color, so that way the BLUE list may be related to doctor, RED list with grocery store, and so on.
Train your brain and comprehension by telling yourself that every time you see that sticky note in RED, you should pack the knowledge in there in ENGLISH, and to direct the conversation you will have at the GROCERY STORE to those subjects and objects in the list. Surely not all the conversation will end up wrapping around your list, so think in “yes/no” answers as well, but specially try not to be shy to say and ask: “Sorry, I didn’t get you”, “Excuse me, I did’t hear what you said”, “Could you repeat me that please?”…
Also, it could be that the RED list has already an association in your mind, related to a person, or your family, or other stuff in Spanish, well, in that case, make your RED list for groceries slightly different, or add an extra ingredient to this RED list to make it a “unique totem”, that way when you associate your RED sticky note “with a double scratch in the upper-left corner” then your brain should admit that you are planing at that moment to speak English at the grocery store, and that you need to unpack the little suitcase (the list) with the words inside there.
So remember: have your own totems. Learning English could be like a blurry image, and is easy (and NORMAL) to get lost very quickly, so it helps a lot to use objects (totems) to give your ideas a solid tool to project what you want to say, to communicate.
In the future, it could be that you don’t need anymore a list for "bathroom", or "room", or "kitchen", because if you already train your brain to take a green apple as a “totem”, this image will trigger what you already know about kitchen, but with a whole luxury suitcase full with words and phrases in English that you already learned from your previous totem (the list).
QUICK NOTE
Even if many of you are not entirely comfortable with these seances all in English, at least try to read and repeat. It doesn’t matter if you do it wrong, eventually it will come and you get use to.
If you’re at home, record your voice, or at least read the whole lesson to hear your own voice (do ti with normal voice, no need to scream out loud), that way your ear is going to start listening what you same have to say, like if this was a double training (two birds with one stone). NEVER, during this five minutes, correlate a thing or a statement with words in Spanish, lock it yourself during this time, start building “totems” to associate real and visible objects with the English language. Images are truly helpful to learn a language.
Best,
:::: TYGRUS ::::