Word card
A word card is a small piece of card that has the foreign word on one side and its translation on the other. (It does not have to be a translation, a definition or picture may also be fine. In fact anything that the learner feels can help here learn the word is fine).

How do we learn from word cards?
1. We make the cards. (We spend some time making word cards, but this is also a stage when we remember words which we write down on them.). On one side we write foreign word on the other we write translation.

2. Then we divide the word cards into small sets of about 10 - 12 words (Experience will tell us how many word cards should be in set, which depends on our learning abilities).

3 We can put whole set of word cards on right hand palm, and pick up top most word card with left hand and look at one side of the card trying to recall what is on the reverse side. So if our card has plum on one side we would try to remember its translation into the foreign word. It is vital that we try to recall BEFORE looking. We have to make a mental effort to help it go into memory. If we know its translation we put word card on left hand palm and if we don’t know its translation we look at on the other side to read the translation and after that put that word card on the bottom of right hand palm set. In that way we keep word cards which we don’t know always on right hand palm, those words which we know don’t distract us because they are on left hand palm, and we go through right hand palm set of word cards until all of them to be remembered. At that moment all word cards are on left hand palm.

4. Then we go through the whole set of 10-12 words again before moving onto set 2. We only move onto set 2 when all the words in a set are known.

5. It is extremely important that this is done systematically.

How to learn word pairs systematically?
We all know that any form of learning is best done with a plan in mind. It has long been known that forgetting words is natural and happens to all of us whether we like it or not. Fortunately, there is a lot that we can do about this if we are systematic about it.

Forgetting occurs for many reasons:
- Forgetting occurs because the first time we learn something the knowledge is quite fragile and thus easily lost. This is because we have not fitted the new knowledge into our knowledge system correctly yet.
- Forgetting occurs because the new word is not met again. We need to meet the word many times before we have 'got it'. Research suggests that it takes about 8-20 meetings of an average word to learn it.
Researchers have shown that there is a thing called the 'forgetting curve'.
Graph forgetting curve
How does it work? At the start (time0) let us assume that you have just learned say 20 new words from a word list. Your knowledge is "perfect" so to speak at time0. If you were tested then you would score 20/20 on a test. But the knowledge is only in a short-term memory state and will not stay in your head (long-term memory) unless you meet the word again and soon. If we let nature take its course and not attempt to meet the word again or relearn it, then by tomorrow maybe you can only remember say 15 words, by next week only say 8 and next month you will have almost completely forgotten most of them. Research into memory decay shows this finding to be very consistent. You may not even remember having met a particular word. It is important to note that most forgetting occurs very soon after learning, but if one does not meet the word again soon then the word is likely to be forgotten forever. This means that students have to meet words that they have learned soon after the learning so that forgetting is minimized. This is called "working against the Forgetting Curve". Thus a realistic distance between first learning (time0) and the second relearning (time1) should be very short, say a few minutes.

A Relearning Schedule
We also know from memory research that every time we relearn something the knowledge gets stronger and thus more resistant to forgetting (slip your mind). Thus the gap of a few minutes between time0 and time1 is shorter than the gap between time1 and time2. Paul Pimsleur calculated the ideal distance as multiples of 5. So learning and relearning should take place at a time period of 5 times longer than the previous gap. For example, this would be 5 minutes, 25 minutes, 125 minutes, 10 hours, 50 hours, and so on. Note that after about time10 the distance is very wide but that the person has met the word 9 times previously and there is a very high probability that the word will be cemented in memory.

Massed vs. Distributed practice
Massed practice means learning lots at one time whereas distributed practice refers to learning little bits at one over a longer period of time. Sitting down and learning 100 word pairs at once is massed practice. Distributed practice is learning the 100 words in sets of say 10 words, coming back to them after a time.

What are the implications of this?
We have to plan the relearning and ensure it takes place at the correct time so that we can minimize the effort in relearning something. As we shall see below it is better to space out the learning into small manageable time slots with manageable word card sets.
Of course not all learners will have the same forgetting curves so we have to bear this in mind when constructing relearning schedules.

How to work against forgetting curve and use distributed practice with relearning schedule?
Research has shown that distributed practice is more effective than massed practice because of the effects of the forgetting curve. This implies that it is better to break a list of words into sets of say 10–12 words rather than trying to learn 100 at once.
We can take the benefit of a relearning schedule and distributed rehearsal if we time the learning of the sets to minimize the effect of the Forgetting curve. This is how we do it. First we learn all 10 words in set 1. Then we learn the 10 words in set 2. In order that we do not forget too many of set 1 we have to meet them again, and similarly we have to meet set 2 again before we go on to set 3. Notice that the gap between the times we return to set 1 is lengthening in line with the relearning schedule.

Thus the set learning order will be:

1

1 2

1 2 3

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4 5

1 2 3 4 5 6

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

By this time set, 1 will have been met 10 times and it is likely that it will be remembered.

Unfortunately most learners are not this systematic. Compare the above to a learner who ‘organized’ his / her learning of the sets like this.

1 2 5 8 4 3 7 5 1 9 3 7 3 4 5 8…

Note that we have to wait a long time before returning to set 1, and some sets are never relearned. The Forgetting Curve will be working overtime!

Summary
- don’t be lazy. Make the word cards
- work with a manageable amount of words divided in word sets. Adjust the number of sets worked with or adjust the number of words in each set according to own learning ability
- minimize the effect of the Forgetting Curve both by spacing the learning and by recycling the words. (Use set learning order (1; 1, 2; 1, 2, 3; 1, 2, 3, 4; …) and relearning schedule as multiples of 5, e.g.: 5 minutes, 25 minutes, 125 minutes, 10 hours, 50 hours, and so on.)
- measure your progress. Keep records of how many words have been learned. Set your word learning goals.

How to memorize phone numbers?
For my money, it is easier to memorize words than numbers, so why not use some systems to transfer numbers in word(s) and memorize word(s) instead of numbers. When I have been to USA, I have noticed that some toll-free (800 numbers) were written with word instead of numbers. For example call center of Harrah’s Casino is 1-800-HARRAHS instead 1-800-427-7247, it is obvious that is easier to remember and recall, when is needed, former than latter. What is correlation between word HARRAHS and number 427-7247? On every telephone with keys, beside numbers on the top of some keys there are also three or four letters. Table shows correlation between each number and letters.
Number 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Letters ABC DEF GHI JKL MNO PQRS TUV WXYZ
If we want to dial call center of Harrah’s Casino we should press button with appropriate letter of the word HARRAHS, which is the name of the casino. This is very good system for memorizing phone numbers, but to may dismay it is used for a very limited amount of phone numbers due to difficulty creating single word from numerals of phone number.

Since the above explained technique has its limitations, it is useful to know more powerful techniques, such as major system combined with link or story technique.If we want to memorize a phone number we can divide phone number in sets of numbers with two or three numerals. For example phone number 235-298 can be divided in three sets of numbers with two numerals 23 52 98. Than we can transfer sets of numbers into words, link those words and make some story with them, which will be vivid enough to memorize it and recall it when is needed.
How can we transfer sets of numbers into words?
We can use several techniques; I prefer major system, which works by linking numbers to consonant sound groups, and then by linking these into words, and linking them together with another memory system (link or story technique), large amounts of information can be accurately memorized.

The Major System
It requires a significant investment of time to learn and master, however once it is learned it is extremely useful.

How to use
The system works by converting number sequences into nouns, nouns into images, and linking images into sequences. The building blocks of the system are the association of the numbers below with the following consonant sounds:

0 – z – remember as 'z is first letter of zero'
1 – t – remember as letter with 1 down stroke
2 – n – remember as letter with 2 down strokes
3 – m – remember as letter with 3 down strokes
4 – r – imagine a 4 and an R glued together back–to–back
5 – L – in Roman numeral L represents 50
6 – g – g is 6 rotated 180 degrees.
7 – k – imagine K as two 7s rotated and glued together
8 – f – imagine f as 8 rotated 180 degrees with vertical line between circulars of 8
9 – b – b as 9 rotated 180 degrees.

These associations really must be learned before proceeding.
The trick with the conversion into words is to use only the consonants that code information within the word, while using vowels to pad the consonants out with meaning.
If consonants have to be used to make a word, use only those that are not already used – i.e. x, y, z, and q…
Since we now know how to correlate numbers with consonants using major system, let’s go back to the example mentioned above and transform 23 52 98 into words 23 = name 52 = line 98 beef, and finally make a story with words.

Acronyms. Have your child make a word out of the first letters of the item to be recalled. For instance, the letters that spell HOMES represent each of the Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior.