Memory tricks dazzle students
It takes Huang Jingu, a Grade 4 primary [ˈpraiməri] student, 30 minutes to memorize [ˈmeməraiz] 80 English words and 44 seconds to read and comprehend [ˌkɔmpriˈhend] a 16-page newspaper. The 9-year-old student of Baiyunlu primary school is notexceptional [ikˈsepʃənl]; she is attending a short private training class that promises outstanding [ˌautˈstændiŋ]nclick="document.getElementById.src='http://res.iciba.com/resource/amp3/0/0/c5/52/c552473b4b58e3b52111f4e6900a0076.mp3'" src="http://www.spiiker.com/js/editer/play.gif"> memory and speed-reading skills.
The eight-day course cosplayts almost 4,000 yuan and has Huang sitting classes on memory, English, study interests and speed-reading.The school is also not exceptional.
Pan Jianchao, president of Tangtech, a school that focuses on improving the skill set, said Beijing had five training schools like his last year. That number has climbed to 15 this year.
And there is demand [diˈmɑ:nd] to go with supply, with Tangtech receiving more than 300 students this year for summer vacationclasses in Beijing and 4,000 nationwide [ˌneɪʃənˈwaɪd] - a 50 and 80 percent increase respectively [risˈpektivli], compared with last year.
Huang's father Huang Jin'e is pleased with his daughter's performance [pəˈfɔ:məns]nclick="document.getElementById.src='http://res.iciba.com/resource/amp3/0/0/c0/5f/c05f6c233521207f6fe311afef550c3c.mp3'" src="http://www.spiiker.com/js/editer/play.gif">.
"She remembers things much faster than before. It used to take her forever to memorize a few English words," he said.
"China's education system places a lot of emphasis [ˈemfəsis] on recitation [resiˈteiʃn], so this method will help a lot."
Rapid memory recall has gained popularity [ˌpɔpjəˈlærɪti:] among parents after a primary school girl recited The Book of Family Names at the 2010 Spring Festival Gala.
He said the World Memory Championships, which will be held in Guangzhou this year, also contributes to popularizing the skill.
"Rapid memory recall and speed-reading are ways to save and access details. They are powerful abilities, especially in the era of information explosion," he said.
"once students grasp [ɡrɑ:sp] these methods, they will benefit for their whole life."
But this type of study is not a new phenomenon [fiˈnɔminən，fəˈnɒmɪnən]nclick="document.getElementById.src='http://res.iciba.com/resource/amp3/0/0/d1/70/d1702b8feaa5b02b8756b31cb341bf2d.mp3'" src="http://www.spiiker.com/js/editer/play.gif"> - in the late 1990s, kids were into mental arithmetic [əˈriθmətik].
Again, the interest was sparked by an outstanding performance
at the Spring Festival Gala, this time in 1999, when a girl displayed a dramatic grasp of number puzzles.
Three years later, the market surrounding mental arithmetic was valued at 200 million yuan in Hebei province alone. However, the fad [fæd] soon faded because students sought out quick results without understanding the process.
Pan believes rapid memory recall will be different, because it helps logic [ˈlɔdʒik] and image development.
"Attaining a quick memory is not magic, it's a science," he said.
Pan said the idea behind rapid memory recall is to utilize [ˈju:tilaiz] logical thinking on the left side of the brain, and image processing on the right. Techniques are used to match, associate and oppose.
Take English vocabulary [vəˈkæbjuləri] as an example, the image reverse [riˈvə:s] of the letter b is p, so "pest" is also opposite to "best".
For the word "scarf" , an s symbolizes a snake while an f looks something like an umbrella. Students can create a story for the words, such as a snake gripping [ˈgripiŋ] a scarf in a car, which can only be removed with an umbrella.
"With the correct method and constant [ˈkɔnstənt]practice, a student can recall a set of cards, or several English words, in a blink of an eye," Pan said.
A broad look at the courses on offer shows they typically recruit [riˈkru:t] students aged 7 to 15, with tuition fees ranging from 4,000 to 10,000 yuan for eight to 10 days' study.
However, parents and education experts are questioning whether the high fees are justified.
