Why ESL Teachers Should Train Memory, Not Just Teach Language

ESL-Wise: Blog 9

Why ESL Teachers Should Train Memory, Not Just Teach Language

By Alan David Pritchard

There’s a quiet truth that took me a long time to learn:

I'm not just teaching language. I'm training memory.

The realisation usually crept in after one of those (often too few) “golden” lessons - you know the kind. Everything seemingly went well. Students understood the grammar, used the phrases, nailed the pronunciation. The class left smiling, and I thought: That stuck.

And then… a week later?

Gone.

The structures, the sentence frames, even that key vocabulary, all vanished like one of my cats knowing it was time to go to the vet.

You get polite stares, hesitant shrugs, and that awkward pause that says: I did know this… once.

At first, it feels like a failure for them, maybe even for us. But it’s not. It’s just how memory works.

And that’s the point: language learning isn’t just a teaching challenge. It’s a memory challenge.

Unless we start treating it that way, students will keep forgetting.

How I Got Hooked on Memory Training

Ever since I read Alistair Smith’s Accelerated Learning all those years ago, I’ve been fascinated by ways to help students remember what they learn.

I even spent nine years with an education company specialising in memory-improvement techniques before returning to the classroom where I began adapting those methods for ESL.

The publication, years later, of Make it Stick by  Henry L. Roediger III, Mark A. McDaniel, and Peter C. Brown really validated my interest in incorporating memory-improvement techniques into my lessons.

And here’s what I discovered: when you treat memory as a skill to be trained, not a passive by-product, everything changes.

One question changed everything for me:

Not “How will we learn this?” But “How will we remember this?”

Let’s explore what that means for us in the ESL classroom.

1. Forgetting is Natural Unless We Fight It

Hermann Ebbinghaus, a 19th-century German psychologist, was the first to map the forgetting curve. And his results weren’t comforting.

Left to its own devices, the brain forgets new information fast. Within 24 hours, up to 70% of what we “learned” can fade unless we deliberately bring it back.

Think about that.

It means that every beautifully scaffolded grammar lesson or functional phrase practice (unless followed by targeted recall) is vulnerable to collapse.

If we don’t build review into our routines, we’re not teaching language. We’re throwing it into a black hole.

And let’s remember: our students aren’t just taking in our class content. They have full days of information from different subjects and teachers competing for brain space. Without spaced retrieval, the noise drowns out what we want them to recall.

2. Spaced Repetition Beats Cramming Every Time

We all know students who revise the night before a test and pull off a pass.

But, obviously, what they gain in short-term retrieval, they lose in long-term retention.

The antidote? Spaced repetition.

This means revisiting information at carefully increasing intervals: after one day, then three days, then a week, then two. Each successful retrieval strengthens the memory trace.

It’s not about more exposure. It’s about better timing.

And it’s surprisingly easy to build into lessons:

• A 3-minute recall starter every Monday

• A midweek “memory quiz” on sentence frames

• A Friday review game for last week’s idioms

I’ve long used Quizizz (now Wayground) for quick, low-stakes recall games. Simple, engaging, and effective. Just a quick tip: you might be tempted to use other teachers' quizzes, but some contain errors, so always check before assigning to students.

3. Input Is Not Enough. Retrieval Builds Memory

Most of us focus on input by default: we present the grammar, we model the structure, we give a reading text.

And yes, input matters.

But what builds memory is output - the act of pulling something from memory without a prompt. Even if students get it wrong.

According to RetrievalPractice.org, every attempt to recall strengthens the pathway. It’s like walking the same forest trail again and again: the more you walk it, the clearer it becomes.

So rather than asking:“Do you remember this phrase?”

Ask:

• “Write two polite requests using Would you mind…?  - no help.”

• “Tell your partner three things from yesterday’s lesson.”

• “Explain the past perfect to a partner without looking at your notes.”

It’s the struggle that makes the pathway strong.

A good technique that I use is I get one student to write on the board what he/she remembers about what was learnt. Then another student gets up and adds to that. And so on. It takes the pressure off one individual to remember everything.

4. Mnemonics and Imagery Aren’t Just for Words

Memory athletes rarely repeat information mindlessly. They turn it into stories, pictures, locations, absurdities. The crazier the association, the easier the recall.

Why? Because the brain doesn’t remember boring things. It remembers vivid, strange, sensory-rich associations.

Yes, you can use this for vocabulary, but also for grammar or sentence frames.

And the process of deciding how best to turn written information into visual information is what helps lock that information into our memories.

For example, every year I provide my students with lists of homophone pairs and get them to create a graphic homophone poster.

Here's one by a Korean student.

Here is an example of a graphic homophones poster.

Another of my favourite techniques is word loading: adding sound or story cues that make the word stick.

Here’s an example I use:

Take the word restaurant. On its own, there’s nothing to help recall the spelling. Now, let’s load it:

• Break it into parts: rest | AU | rant

• Add a story: You rest at the restaurant. Then you see the huge bill. “HEY YOU!” (sounds like AU) you rant.

• Make it visual: Students write rest, then write AU big and in colour, then shout out rant as they write it.

rest AU rant

Now the word is loaded with sound, movement, and humour.

And later, the retrieval question is easy:“How did we load the word restaurant?”

The same principle works for grammar rules and phrases: make it weird, make it physical, make it stick.

If this excites you, watch my short promo video on using memory techniques for teaching Macbeth. (Full resource available on TPT. You will find the link in video description.) In the book, I show teachers how to teach Macbeth by using a bedroom as a location to load key concepts and plot details.

Here is the cover of my book on how to teach Macbeth using memory-improvement methods.

5. Let's Train Memory

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most classrooms test memory more than they train it.

We ask:“Do you remember this structure?” Students hesitate. We sigh. We reteach. We test again.

But what if memory training was part of every lesson?

• How are we going to remember these 5 cohesive devices?

• What images can we draw to help us remember these idioms?

• A movement game: “Stand up if you can form a passive question correctly.”

These aren’t extras. They’re essentials. They build memory as deliberately as we build fluency or grammar control.

And focusing on creative ways to remember? Honestly, it’s a lot of fun.

Final Thought: Not Just Content

In ESL, our job isn’t just to teach content.

It’s to make it memorable, usable, retrievable.

Because language that isn’t remembered… isn’t really learned.

So let’s stop seeing forgetting as a nuisance. Let’s start seeing recall as central to planning, assessing, and celebrating success.

Every time a student retrieves a phrase, a structure, or a word (even after struggle) that’s when learning takes root.

Look out for my upcoming webinar series about this topic called Teaching to Remember. Details will follow.

Please feel free to share your thoughts on this topic in the comments section below.

I’d love to hear from you.

Further Reading

• Ebbinghaus, Hermann – “Replication and Analysis of Ebbinghaus' Forgetting Curve” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4492928/

• Wang, L. – “Research on the Influence of Retrieval Practice on ESL Vocabulary Memory” https://www.researchgate.net/publication/382814255_Research_on_the_Influence_of_Retrieval_Practice_on_ESL_Vocabulary_Memory

• Sanako – “6 Memorization Techniques to Help Your Language Learners” https://sanako.com/6-memorization-techniques-to-help-your-language-learners

• Alleo – “Master Language Learning: 5 Proven Techniques to Enhance Retention” https://alleo.ai/blog/improving-retention/master-language-learning-5-proven-techniques-to-enhance-your-vocabulary-retention

Right Fast is my teacher-designed, classroom-tested game series that helps learners build academic language through fast-paced retrieval and timed oral rehearsal. Perfect for ages 14+

 Click the image or explore all 10 categories and 100 sets HERE.