LAS LENGUAS INGLESA Y ESPAÑOLA de Delfín Carbonell

 I am unable to read a book, novel, essay, or biography without a highlighter or pencil at hand. When using my iPad or Kindle, I have it even easier, as these devices come with several useful features, including built-in dictionaries. The point is that I regard reading as a form of learning: words, idioms, turns of phrase, and ideas. When a book is worth rereading, I highlight the important passages and keep them ready to refresh my memory whenever I return to it. I also often transfer notes to my phone or to a notebook. I grant that this may seem a bit cumbersome, but I find it helpful, since learning is my ultimate aim. I admit that I am a bit weird, but I am much too old to change. And as The Anglican Book of Common Prayer tells us: "Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest." 

Why are so many educators today averse to memorization? When did committing facts, lines of poetry, or elegant ideas to memory become unfashionable? I come from a generation that learned verses, literary passages, equations, historical dates, and geography by heart —and here I stand, none the worse for wear. In fact, I maintain that we are our memory; we are what we carry in the mind. It is no accident that Mnemosyne, goddess of memory, was mother to the nine Muses. I still honor her by memorizing as much as I can, even at my age. I explore these thoughts further in my article for VivaFifty :   https://www.vivafifty.com/aprende-memoria-mente-7450/  

Clues I find on the Internet lead me to think, much to my regret, that learning is being watered down, trivialized, and banalized. The other day, an "expert" TV personality told the audience about the wonders of free Internet education available to all. She named one site where courses on multiple subjects could be taken: MOOC, or  Massive Open Online Courses. I rushed to check the site only to find that the courses are not free, although a few can be joined gratis. The offerings come from prestigious universities such as Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Complutense... on multiple subjects that range from the art of giving, to how to be happy. I peeked into one, about the European Union, offered by the University of Hong Kong, just to see. The lecturer has a thick accent that sometimes prevents the student from grasping what the man is trying to say. He added that he was not ashamed to admit he loves Europe, triggering the question: why should he be? Also, accessing from Spain, I find...

Surfing YouTube, and apropos of calligraphy, I stumbled upon this which I found both profound and interesting, and which can be applied to any type of learning: I have good and bad news. Good news: You will improve through regular practice. Bad news: You will only improve through regular practice.

Como no gusta el verbo "estudiar" propongo que para aprender no hace falta estudiar. No es necesario poner los codos sobre una mesa. No es esencial encerrarse en un cuartucho como monje enclaustrado. Para aprender sólo necesitamos aprender: asimilar, retener en la mente algo, lo que sea, almacenarlo en la memoria y poder usarlo cuando queramos. Y eso se puede conseguir dando un paseo, echando una rápida mirada a una frase o párrafo, oyendo un nombre o número de teléfono, por fugazmente que sea, escribiendo algo o, mejor aún, haciendo un esfuerzo consciente y extremo para almacenar aquello que queremos recordar o retener en la memoria. Hacer un acto de concentración mental activa, ahora que el mindfulness está tan de moda. Si empleamos la palabra concentrarse en vez de estudiar nos daremos cuenta de que la cuestión ya ha cambiado. Todos sabemos que podemos intentar leer un libro, y lo leemos, pero varias páginas después de comenzar nos damos cuenta de que no sabemos d...