Improve your memory and learning: Practical classroom applications
Robert Murphy

Many of the ideas in this "Crash Course in the Brain", were credited to Brian Hudson at Harvard University where Murphy does neurolinguistic research to try to become a better language teacher in Japan by helping students retain and use English more effectively. Contrary to popular metaphors portraying it as book- or computer-like, memory in fact exists in gist form as neural links in a hierarchically organized brain. One hundred billion neurons making a quadrillion connections offer potential dynamic skills development—if properly tweaked by the teacher. It's all about exciting neurons and building networks to bring students from their merely functional level upon entering the classroom to an optimal level with a battery of questions or similar stimuli and then continuing to generate interest and attention through emotional connections with personal, so meaningful and hence enjoyable, attractive topics. His PowerPoint slides offered clear illustrations, including how grammar-translation methodology does a great disservice to authentic English, rendering it simply a manifestation of Japanese.
This is the kind of thinking behind Murphy's EFL textbooks. He concluded his presentation by fielding some ideas from us for applying these principles to classroom practice, which included helping students to discover grammatical connections, set goals and negotiate syllabuses.
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