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Brain Power Magazine: Issue 3
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THOU SHALT REMEMBER!
Caroline Lawrence explains how
Caroline Lawrence is a primary school teacher who has been using Mind Mapping and mnemonics with remarkable results. Here she explains her technique for helping children to memorise the Ten Commandments.
In Use Your Head, Tony Buzan presents a wonderful method for memorising up to ten items in a list - the Number-Rhyme System. As most readers of this magazine will know, it uses object 'pegs' which rhyme with the numbers one to ten. One is bun, three is tree, five is hive and so on. The even numbers follow the old children's ditty: one, two, buckle my shoe / three, four, knock at the door / five, six, pick up sticks / seven, eight, shut the gate / nine, ten, the big fat hen!
When I teach the Number-Rhyme System in primary school, I have noticed that my pupils are better at remembering the items on the first list they learn than items on subsequent lists. So I make the first one I teach useful: a list which means something and which they might be required to know at some point. I teach them a famous list of ten things - the Ten Commandments! Most people think they know them, but few can name more than five, and rarely in order. Can you?
The trick is finding a visual object to represent an abstract concept such as 'You shall have no other gods,' which is the first commandment. I summarise the commandment by saying 'No other gods'. The children and I think of a visual example of another god. We often choose the image of the Greek god Zeus as he is shown in the Disney cartoon Fantasia. Or the sea-god Poseidon, dripping, covered with seaweed and holding his trident.
When we have decided which version of an 'other' god we are going to use, I get the kids to close their eyes and really visualise him, using the elements outlined by Tony Buzan in the book: humour, exaggeration, movement, colour, and the five senses. Then we need to connect this image with a bun, the rhyme-word for one. The kids I teach usually come up with hilarious imagery, like Zeus toasting a giant got hot-crossed bun on his lightning bolt. We hear the sizzle of the bun, smell the toasty aroma and feel the heat of the lightning bolt. Then we imagine a huge red 'x' stamped across the whole picture, with Zeus looking up in surprise: No other gods!
The second commandment is, in essence: 'No idols'. I ask my students, 'What does the word "idol" conjure up when you read it?' The most famous idol in the Bible is the golden calf, which Moses found the children of Israel worshipping as he came down Mt Sinai with the commandments. If they choose the golden calf as their image for 'idol', they must then connect it with shoe, the link word for two; this will remind them that it is the link word for two. A golden calf tottering down the road in shiny, red high-heeled shoes makes an unforgettable picture.
The third commandment is essentially: 'Do not misuse God's name'. This is one of the hardest to remember because 'name' and the concept of 'misuse' are both difficult to visualise. We need to create a picture which involves these three concepts: 'God's name', 'misuse' and tree, the link word for three. Imagine you are carving the word 'God' in to the bark of a tree with a sharp knife and suddenly the tree throws up its branches in protest and cries 'Stop! You're hurting me.'
The fourth commandment is, in essence: 'Don't work on Sunday'. Whether we observe this particular commandment or not, we can learn it by linking 'no work', 'Sunday' and 'door'. One child I taught came up with this story/picture: 'The door is the door of my favourite sweet shop. When I try to push it, it won't budge. I really try hard, but I can't get in. Then I see a sign in the window: Closed Sundays. That shopkeeper doesn't work on Sunday!'
The next commandment is a positive one: 'Honour your father and mother...' It's the fifth commandment so we need to remember the link word for 'five'. It's hive. Imagine a bee hive, full of honey, with a few friendly buzzing bees around it. Before you read on, try to think of your own image to link the elements.
Here is the image I use. I imagine going to a hive and scooping out a handful of sweet, golden honeycomb. Then I take it to my parents - I visualise them standing before me - and kneeling on one knee I offer the sweet gift to them with my thanks. For this commandment I incorporate another element. I actually act out the story. I get up, go to an imaginary hive, scoop out imaginary honey and kneel before imaginary parents. I encourage the children to do this, too. All of this 'acting out' helps the retention process.
Before I teach my students the last five commandments, we review the first five. Frequent review is vital for retention and it's wonderfully encouraging for them to see how easily they can remember. See it you can remember the first five in order, and then backwards. Look away from this article and try it.
The last five commandments are much easier to remember than the first five. For each one, try to make up your own links from your personal data bank of images and experiences.
The sixth commandment: 'You shall not murder'. The link word is sticks. I have found that chopsticks work better with my children than ordinary twigs.
The seventh commandment: 'You shall not commit adultery'. The link word for seven is heaven.
The eighth commandment is 'You shall not steal'. Eight rhymes with gate.
The ninth commandment runs 'You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour', i.e. 'Don't lie'. The rhyme I use for nine is wine, because you can taste, smell, see, hear and touch it.
Finally, the tenth commandment: 'Do not covet your neighbour's house, wife, ox, donkey'...or hen!
A summary of the Ten Commandments in the Number-Rhyme System:
| 1 |
bun |
other-gods |
| 2 |
shoe |
idols |
| 3 |
tree |
god's-name |
| 4 |
door |
work-Sunday |
| 5 |
hive |
mum-and-dad |
| 6 |
sticks |
murder |
| 7 |
heaven |
adultery |
| 8 |
gate |
thief |
| 9 |
wine |
lying |
| 10 |
hen |
coveting |
Issue 3: Contents
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