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自分なりの学び方を見つけよう
何歳になっても、何かを学び続けることは脳にとっての刺激になるし、生きがいを持ち続ける上でも大切だ。
しかし、学び方には人それぞれの得手不得手がある。
自分にとっての得手を見つけるには時間がかかるかもしれないが、それは一種の投資と考えればよいと筆者は言う。
Yearn to learn
I had a host mother in Osaka who, at age 63 and retired for three years, was infinitely busy. On any given day, she could be found volunteering at a preschool, attending English conversation classes, or learning Japanese traditional dance. When I asked her one evening over dinner how she does it all, her ever-sunny disposition suddenly became serious. She lowered her voice and said to me: "You know, when my friends retired at 60, one by one so many of them suddenly dropped dead — you're not going to see me go like that!"
She explained how she was pretty sure her friends' untimely passings were because they were no longer working, and so their brains were no longer challenged in the way they used to be. Whether it's manual labor, organizing spreadsheets or doing presentations, all these activities force us to use our brains — to keep ourselves learning new things.
I particularly like learning about how people learn. During my first few months as an English teaching intern, there was a student in my class, "H," who refused to do any written work. She would immediately develop a glazed look and go to sleep at her desk. Her spoken English was good, so at first I thought she was acting up because she was bored with the class. Then I wondered if she perhaps had a learning disability. If she was dyslexic, she would probably have difficulty dealing with exercises that involved a lot of reading and writing.
To test my theory, I got all the students to do an activity which involved running up to the board to match a picture with a word. To my delight, instead of falling asleep like she usually did, "H" fully participated in the lesson, running up to the board numerous times. I was excited to have tapped into a learning style that worked for her.
A learning disability is often seen to be a detrimental, negative thing. I prefer to see it as meaning "I'm not learning in a way that suits me." Some people learn best by reading. I learn best by observing, listening and doing. I find it virtually impossible to concentrate when I'm forced to only listen, which happened recently when I was on a telephone conference call. Not being able to see who I was talking to frustrated me to no end. Perhaps "H" learned better not when reading, but when listening and doing.
My favorite way to learn is to have a laugh while doing it. I used to create silly little stories to help me remember certain kanji like, "If you don't bathe for a MONTH, your ARMPITS are going to have a POWERFUL smell" (waki).
It might sometimes take a little more time, but think of it as an investment. A little extra effort spent to learn something in a way that suits your learning style means you're working smarter, not harder. And judging by my Osaka host mum, continually learning things can also keep you looking and feeling younger.
- Yearn to 〜
- 〜したいと心から思う(yearn と learn は韻を踏んでいる)
- infinitely
- 延々と
- ever-sunny disposition
- 常に明るく陽気な態度
- lowered
- 〜を低くした
- dropped dead
- ぽっくりと亡くなった
- untimely passings
- 早く亡くなること
- manual labor
- 肉体労働
- organizing spreadsheets
- 表計算ソフトを使うこと
- intern
- 実習生
- develop a glazed look
- うつろな目になる
- was acting up
- わがままに振る舞った
- was bored with 〜
- 〜に退屈した
- learning disability
- 学習障害
- dyslexic
- 失読症の
- dealing with 〜
- 〜に取り組む
- To test my theory
- 私の仮説を証明するために
- board
- 黒板
- numerous times
- 何度も
- have tapped into 〜
- 〜を活用した
- worked for 〜
- 〜に有効な
- detrimental
- 好ましくない
- virtually
- ほとんど
- on a telephone conference call
- 電話会議中に
- frustrated
- 〜をいらだたせた
- to no end
- どこまでも
- ARMPITS
- 脇の下
- you're working smarter, not harder
- 苦労して頑張るのではなく、賢くやっている