Hi! I'm Kerry-Ann and I have spent most of my life acting in plays, attending acting classes, participating in public speaking and debates, and overall being a high achiever in any area that requires memorization!
FAIR WARNING; THIS IS NOT AN EASY WAY OUT BUT I PROMISE YOU IT WILL HELP
Perhaps these tips won't resonate with everyone, however I do not focus only on one style of learning, therefore it is likely to work for more people.
I've made use of this method for over ten years now and it has never failed me. It is good for when you have a long time to prepare and when you at the last minute need to cram a lot of words into your head!
Here are the steps, to preferably be done in order, but you should what you believe will work best for you;
1.Read The Words
The first order of business is to read whatever it is you are trying to learn. The purpose of this to familiarize yourself with the words. An example of what we are trying to achieve is remembering song lyrics. Most of the time we don't sit down and carefully try remember the words to the songs we here, we just listen and eventually can join in without even thinking about it, the lyrics just flow out.
I recommend reading it three to four times. You won't remember it after this but in the next steps it will prove useful. You can read it as many times as you need to.
Tip: when learning words, try be calm. It is easier said than done but whenever you feel building anxiety just breathe. Breathe in for a few counts then breathe out until your lungs feel empty. Breathing out should be longer than breathing it.
2. Write It Out
This, for me, is the most boring part. Absolutely none of this is actually fun, but we are going to make use of how to write something down requires our brain to take the input of the words and for our hands to move and write it out.
So now grab a piece of a paper and write it out. Even if you originally wrote it out or if you typed it out, write it down. You can gladly throw the paper away afterwards and you can gladly write it as messily as you'd like; just write it down, the whole tedious speech/script.
(Do know that if you aren't reciting all of the words/remember all of the words, like if it's a script with multiple characters, you only need to write down all of YOUR parts)
3. Read Again, Out Loud, But Try Looking Up Momentarily
This is still pretty boring but we are going to read it again. This time, however, we are shaking things up. You will be reading it out loud, if you weren't already doing it. The difference from the first step is that you should look up every few words/sentences and try see if you remember enough to carry on without looking.
You will certainly suck at this the first few times but it's reinforcing what the first step does. Before we simply gave your brain a taste, now we are giving it slices.
I recommend also doing this three to four times but, again, due to time constraints and how well you are with learning you can pick your own amount of times until you feel comfortable.
The end goal of this step is to help you remember some of the pieces and you will have a feel of the flow a.k.a it will help you later to remember the order of the paragraphs and sentences.
(Once again, an edit for anyone who is doing a script with parts they don't have to do; ask someone to read the lines of the other character/s. If you don't have anyone to do that you can highlight your parts so when looking at the script for a prompt you can quickly see where to look depending on whether you are looking for your lines or their lines. This is important because if you don't know WHEN to say your lines, it's pretty useless to know your own lines.)
4. Hardcore Practice
Now, we are going to actually give your brain the whole meal and drill in every last word.
Start with the first sentence. Say it out loud while looking at the paper then say it once when not looking at the paper. Then move on to the next sentence and do the same. Once you have done it with the next sentence (aka once you have read it and said it out loud while looking and not looking) start from the top without looking. Say the first and second sentence without looking.
Now move on and do that for the third sentence (if there is one) and so on. Once you hit the end of the first paragraph you should have now done it with all of the sentences and should have gotten to the point of saying the whole paragraph without looking. If you could not recite it without looking, look back at any of the sentences to see what you forgot and then try again. (When I say "paragraph", if it is a script that refers to a singular line of yours, no matter how long.)
Once you successfully recite the whole paragraph without looking, move onto the next paragraph. You will do the same thing as before BUT when you "have done it with the next sentence (aka once you have read it and said it out loud while looking and not looking) start from the top without looking" you start from the first sentence of THAT paragraph. The first paragraph is done for the step, just do it paragraph at a time.
Repeat this process for however many paragraphs you have.
5. Recite It Paragraph By Paragraph
We are almost done, I swear!
What you do know is try recite the speech in part. Recite the first paragraph without looking (or at least try, if you have to you can look. Really though, try not to.)
Once you have done that, start again by saying the first and second paragraph without looking.
Then say the first, second and third without looking. Then continue to start from the top and add on a paragraph each time/ until you can say all of your lines in order.
6. Recite It, Because You Know It Now!
Literally just say the whole speech/all of your lines. You should know it by now or at least know it super well. If you cannot you TOTALLY can look down. Just try again and again until you can comfortably say it without your written words. You've got this, you WILL do amazing! I believe in you with allll of my heart!
But What If You Still Don't Know it?
So, due to a number of factors, you might still not have the whole speech in your head and that's totally okay. At this point I truly believe you are close to knowing all of it if you did the above steps so you won't have to work very hard to get it in your head. Simply, think back to which of the above steps helped most and do it again. Whether if it was the reading, the writing it out or whatever else else until it feels like a song; it just flows out of your brain. Once you have redone the steps that helped you most, redo number six.
Conclusion
I have spent many years having to learn words off by heart; some took me minutes and others took me days but in the end I remembered it... and so will you! You can always mix and match the steps, take out some of the steps, redo some of the steps- whatever helps you!
No matter who you are or what it is you are trying to learn, you totally have it in you to do it and to absolutely ace it! You've got this!
Lots of hugs,
Kerry-Ann
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