Mind Maps - How to learn vocabulary quickly, easily, and permanently

Okay, so take the bus here, then, the train. Get a ticket -- hi. James, from EngVid. Ever

tried finding a place or going to a new country, looking at the subway or transportation maps

to get from one place to another? If you look at those things, they're called maps, right?

It will tell you what the city looks like, where you can get a bus at what time. But

basically, it tells you what something looks like, and it gives you a picture of it. And

it may not be an exact picture, but it's generally a picture you can work with. One you can go,

"Okay, I'm here, and I want to get here, and that's how I'll do it." Maps are very effective

and very efficient, right? Now, "effective" means they get the job done, and "efficient",

they do it in a quick way. Why am I talking about maps? In many of the videos I do, you'll

see what I call mind maps. I may not have called them mind maps, but that's what they

are. A "mind map" is a device or a tool that we use to help us understand something and

memorize it. I primarily -- and "primarily" means "mostly" -- use it for vocabulary, but

you could use it for grammar; you could use it for learning an entire topic in a foreign

language, and in this case, it's English. What I want to do today is explain what it

is. For those students who have a problem thinking it's different or confusing, I want

to break it down or break it into smaller parts so you can see it, understand it, and

then use it yourself in studying English. You like that? Let's go to the board.

I'm looking for Mr. E. And here he is. You are here. He's here on a map, but I don't

know where, and I want to get to there. So I'm going to use this to help me figure out

where he is. And we're going to use mind maps now to learn how to work with our English.

The first thing you have to understand about a mind map is -- think about getting engaged.

[Sings] I know. That's the theme from Star Wars, the Death Star. That's how I look at

marriage. Sorry, ladies. I'm just joking. But "engage" means to bring things together.

When we use mind maps, we use them to take all these thoughts we have in our heads which

can be very confusing, and we want to organize them and make it a nice way to follow like

a highway, right? A road you drive through. We're going to organize so you know exactly

where to drive and it's nice and smooth.

So the mind map helps you because it takes you -- it takes what's in your head, and it

shows you, "This is what I know. This is what I understand. And I'm going to put it on a

paper so I can put it out there and know what's inside my head." And once it's outside of

my head, I can start moving it. Because sometimes, when information is in your head, it's confusing.

It just moves all around. And we want to make it nice and straight and easy to look at.

A mind map helps with that, with organization.

In a second I'm going to explain -- because this is a simple mind map -- but I'm actually

using a mind map to explain my maps. Woo! Woo! Okay. So we want to -- it helps us think

through, but it also helps us engage. Because it's my information, I'm putting it down,

I'm engaged, which means I'm part of the process, like "engagement", "part of". And I'm working

through it, okay? So you take it out of your head, put it down, and you're engaged. This

also helps with memory. And you're going to see me keep mentioning memory again and again.

Because part of what I promised is you will learn the language -- the new vocabulary when

you use this -- you can learn language and remember it permanently. Well, this is the

first part of helping with that memory -- getting it out of your head, on paper, helps you with

repetition. Looking at what you know because if you know it, it's in your memory already.

Next. So it helps you understand what you know and then organize the work. What's point 2?

Well, once you take it out and you put it on the mind map in another point, you have,

well these branches are the first part you see are the big ones: engage, key, memory,

colour. These points usually tell us what is important, what I must know about the subject

or the first thing that comes to my head. And I put that down. These are the key points

-- or in English, what's important -- that I must focus on, okay? So it makes it easy.

So instead of a book -- the EngVid book. Don't forget to get your copy of it. Remember? EngVid.

Okay. I'm joking. But it tells us what I need to really study. So I don't need to look at

the whole book. I can look at maybe the five pages or the five words I need. So this is

key points. Give me the word I need to unlock the door to my memory, right? And this helps

me engage further. What's important?

No. 3. This is what mind maps do. And this is what you want. It helps you get memory

-- a better memory. Think USB key. Because of the repetition of focus, we write it out.

Then, we look at the key points, okay? It helps us to focus our mind on what's important

and needed. It helps your memory because this is how your memory works, right? It starts

in the center, and then the ideas keep coming. And that's what we're doing here. And we're

not just putting any ideas down, we're putting key point, and they're going to things that

we associate. That's what helps with the memory. Here is association. "Associate", like "engage",

are the things that come together. For some people, they associate money with time. Other

people associate money with hard work. Other people associate money with love. And I'm

not buying that love, but I'm just saying with love. So association helps with our memory,

okay? Better memory.

And finally, it's just fun. I don't know about you, but when I make a list of information

and just go down the page, down the page, after a while, I forget what I'm doing. It's

not fun. It's mind numbing. "Mind-numbing" means it's very boring and not interesting.

This part of the conversation is probably mind numbing to you, and it surely is to me.

Just joking. But it's fun. You get to use colour, draw, use your creative side. And

that's what a mind map does. It takes your logical side -- think through -- with your

fun side, and puts them together. Because in real life, what we engage in and what we

enjoy doing or what we focus on, the key points of life, are alive and full of colour. And

a mind map brings this to you because then it helps you with your memory. My favorite

thing to say to students is, "Do you remember the last party you were at?" And they'll say,

"Yeah." And I go, "A month ago?" "Yeah." "Were you drinking?" "Yeah." "Do you remember the

girl in the red dress?" "Yeah." Then, I ask them, the test we did last Tuesday, what was

the second question?" "I have no idea." Fun versus not fun. This is what helps you, okay?

That's why we do mind maps. And even if you hate them, you'll think, "I remember that

lesson. I hate it when he did this point here with the worm at the other end --" but you

remember it. That's all I have to do. That's my job. Your job is to think it through to

make it better for you.

So now that we understand what this beauty is, why don't we quickly go through how to

make one. The first thing you'll notice is I have a center image. It's in the middle

of the board, not to the side. Because it's here, I can freely go anywhere. I can go up,

down, and around. When you start in a corner, you're stuck. And you're also telling your

brain, "This is how it works." It doesn't. This is a branch. A "branch" is like from

a tree. When you have a tree -- okay. Better to put a tree up here. Okay, this little line

here -- that's a branch. It connects the leaf to the tree. Okay? So when we have these branches

and they spread out, we're telling ourselves is, "I have this main thought, but like money,

sometimes money is time; it's love; it's other things. There are things that are associated.

And if I start in the center, I'm free to go any direction I want. I'm not limited."

Okay?

Second: colours. Colours are life. Imagine a rose. Imagine a rose with no colour. It's

hard isn't it? Because you made it black and white, didn't you? Right? Because we always

have some kind of colour, something. Even if it's black and white. We can't just imagine

nothing. Bringing colours -- you know, black and white is nice, but look at this. This

catches your eye versus this. It's almost the same. But you look at the pictures and

the colour. That's what I mean. It brings you -- it helps you know how you think and

keeps your focus there. And when you're focused, it's easier to learn.

Connect. These branches connect to each other saying, "Hey, look. It's not just about a

map. It's about my memory and how to make my memory better. It shows the connection

in how I think." We're all different. I don't know how you would draw it. But you would

draw your own map and remember it as well as -- if not better than -- what I've done.

All right? So we need these connections, this association to make it easier for each other.

Okay? Your way might be different than mine. You might not have a clown here. You might

have a beer. I don't know. Or a soccer ball.

Finally, the curved lines -- it's silly. It's a very small point. But the funny thing about

wavy lines is it's much more fun for our eyes to focus on -- much more interesting than

straight lines, all right? And you think about everything around us. They have edges and

lines. It's the curvy ones that draw your attention because in nature, there are no

right angles, right? A right angle is 90 degrees. You've always got some kind of curve or angle

or circle to it.

And finally, one word -- no. I'm not finished talking. I mean one word, which is different.

Each branch has one word because that leads to focus, okay? If you have whole sentences,

you cannot go from a sentence because that's a thought. But a word can be colour is fun.

Colour is exciting. Colour is new. You can go from many different ways. But once you

say, "colour is blah, blah, blah," it kind of finishes stuck. So each one -- each branch

will have a word. Because from here, you can go memory -- not just better, but memory deeper,

memory attached or included, right? You can just add words, and one word gives you that

freedom once again, or I would say, flexibility and focus. Many F words here. That's interesting.

Okay, so this is how we work with mind maps. This is how I use them. So now, I'm hoping

if you just study this -- look at this lesson. Then, look at my other lessons and go back.

You'll go, "Wowee! That's what he did. I saw him do that, and I didn't get it, but now

I do. I honestly do." Start with the center image. Started from the bottom; now, we're

here. Drake, you owe me money. So we start here, and we move out. And then, they seem

crazy at the beginning, but when you step out -- excuse me. Yep. When I step out, it

makes more sense. And that's what I want you to do. Put it down. Step away from the page.

Look at the page. And then, look at how the branches go and how the thoughts go. And then,

you'll go, "I understand him. He's a genius." Look. You don't have to believe me. But if

you want to know, guys like Einstein, Galileo -- that's right -- Leonardo DaVinci -- they

used mind maps. And now you can be with the pantheon of gods. Or you could be, you know,

just like them. Take the pictures in your head. Put them on the paper. Have a better

memory. Have more fun. And learn permanently. Cool? I thought you'd like that. Okay. So

there's the little clown for some colour.

Anyway. I've got to get going. I need to take my map and find my friend. He's holding my

drink right now. You've had fun. I've had fun. But before I go, I'm getting a message

right now. It's not on the map, but it's in my mind. You need to go to www.engvid.com,

"eng" as in "English", "vid" as in "video", where you'll find myself, Mr. E, and our other

friends and teachers there to teach you. It's a map and a guideline for you, right? Just

like the mind map. Search it. Learn how to think and remember. I'm out. See you later.

Have a good one.