Learn, Brain, Learn!

An interesting, but scary, read is David Sousa's book, How the Brain Learns.  Posted here in Figure 21 is a brain processing model, which represents our brain...in a Spanish Immersion classroom starting June 9, 2014.  Figure 21 shows how we receive information, how we sort it, and how we determine what stays and what doesn't.  Our goal is for our new Spanish lessons to stay and be placed in  Long-Term Storage or Memory.  Let us preference all of this by adding there are a few things that have landed in our Procedural Memory. Like you, we have memory dedicated to habits, skills, and ways of doing things. We all have a lot of stuff memorized.   For example, we know how to prepare for overseas travel because we have packed to either visit or live in 35 countries.  Certainly, we keep a list, which is just beginning to live in the photo to the right.  Could we pack without the list?  Could you recall what to do once you step inside your car and prepare to drive to Panera?  Of course.

There are some details that are habitual, and we are thankful for this.
But, looping back to our brains in Figure 21, we need Semantic Memory, which stores material that is acquired in a formal manner through education.  For us, that's where we get our traction.  As laypersons, let's analyze what will happen to us in 3-4 hours of class time Monday-Friday for four full weeks.  Our professor will introduce new Spanish vocabulary, sentence patterns, pronunciation, and grammar each day.  We will briefly place that information in Short-term Memory, see the clipboard.  Here we determine its importance within a minute and decide whether to drop it or keep it.  If it makes sense and has meaning, we will move it to Working Memory, see the work table.  Here, we become more conscious of the information because it was defined as meaningful and useful.  But, this Working Memory has a limited capacity and can hold only a few items at once (more as we age...Hallelujah!) We have to work fast to build it, take it apart or rework it to determine if we want to move it on to Long-Term Memory (Storage).  How long will our new information stay at our work table?  Maybe less than 45 minutes! Remember, (now you are at your worktable) if the information made sense and had meaning, the probability of permanent storage increased significantly.  To illustrate, if we learn important Spanish phrases such as 'Me llamo Jim. Como te llamas?' ( My name is Jim.  What is your name?), and we know introductions make sense and have meaning, we will store those phrases.  Because we want to long-term store it, does that mean it will happen?  Unfortunately, no.  Retention of newly acquired information will not hang around longer than 24 hours, and if we can't readily recall it after that, then it had not been stored. We lost it.  How do we keep it and make sure it moves into Long-Term Memory/Storage?  Practice.  Rehearsal.  As with anything from learning to swim to memorizing scripture to learning a language, "use it or lose it."   Rehearsal takes it to storage where we can store, retrieve, and use the language.  Our brains are amazing, and they mean business!

Where is all of our brain processing occurring?
In San Jose, Costa Rica at our Nazarene Seminary where they offer short-or-long-term immersion opportunities. 
Here are a few postings of the campus, so you will know where our clipboards and worktables will be engaged. 











May we share with you our requests for encouragement?

• Strong health and Godly protection
• Productive language processing and storage
• Rehearsal time with Spanish speakers
• Community service and goodwill
• Beneficial diet and restorative rest
• Spiritual growth
• Fellowship and outreach
• Eyes to see and ears to hear

"I (We) can do all things through Him (Christ) Who gives me (us) strength."

Keep Looking Up!  And thank you for following our blog!

J:m and L:nda

Nosotros Vamos! We are Going!

Nosotros vamos!  We are going...to Costa Rica and Panama and the Dominican Republic, and we are living it in Espanol! 

You have been following our mission/travel blog since 2012 when we received our first Mission Corps assignment and started packing for Riobamba, Ecuador.  That was an unforgettable experience, teaching in grades 1-12 in a Nazarene school up in the Andes.   There were few Gringos in Riobamba, but we didn't mind.  From there each week, the two of us welcomed the spirit of adventure.  Fueled daily with pollo y Arroz, we escaped wild dogs on a biking tour in the Andes and traveled by canoe down the Curaray River with the Auca Indians. We walked 40 miles a week, and we struggled to understand and be understood.  It was an amazing adventure where we made life-long friendships, experienced a world of acceptance and protection and saw Jesus unashamedly exalted in a way that we Gringos had never before seen or felt.

Then, we went to Germany/Switzerland for three months, a civilization far away from the drizzling cold Andes and burning hot jungles of Ecuador.  We lived on a college campus located on the banks of the Rhein River and met professors, missionaries, pastors and lay people dedicated to sharing the gospel.  This was a fourth-soil, storybook environment.  And, we learned and we worked.   A lot.  The world's history surrounded us in the form of age-old castles, magnificent cathedrals, a rail system that beckons the wayfarer to come and see and go and tell.   And, we learned to come and see and go and tell.  Jesus is alive and thrives there, but moves in quieter and more gentler ways.  Oh, Christ is there; He has to be introduced differently.

Now, we are packing again - this time, for several assignments.  First, our love for the Spanish culture and people has invited us to learn more, to go a little deeper.  And, so we are...in June. We have enrolled in a Spanish Immersion Program and will sit in a classroom for 5 weeks...on a seminary campus in San Jose, Costa Rica. We have a teacher,  textbooks, and assignments!

This is a new kind of adventure for us, but we are good for each other in this way.  We have taken Spanish classes and private Spanish instruction and have been in Spanish Bible studies.  Nosotros practicamos (We practice) our Spanish with a Spanish conversation group.  God has warmed our hearts, so we know that He will open our right brains to creative patterns that will help our left brains receive and retain the Spanish language.   Operation Immersion!


Then in September, we go to the Dominican Republic to play a small role in missionary training.  Here is where our classes bump into reality as every responsibility there has to be fulfilled in Spanish.
Life is an adventure, and Jesus is in the driver's seat - and we are along for the ride. Possibilities are like a heart and soul endorphin for us.

Finally, we invite you to follow our blog and wade on steppingstones into fresh water with us.  We will blog every ounce of our newest journey.
 
Keep Looking Up!
                                                                                               J:m and L:nda