Mind Maps and Tony Buzan

There is a very powerful technique of learning and remembering anything - ANY information you need. Sounds promising, right? It’s called Mind Mapping.

Mind Mapping is not a trick, it’s not magical, this method has a proven psychological basis. I will not explain it in this brief blog post, but you can find lots of widely available resources in books and articles on Psychology and Human Learning.

I think you have heard about Mind Maps before and I suppose some of you use them. Mind maps are greatly applicable for language learning, especially for increasing your vocabulary. Teachers and learners all over the world make mind maps on blackboards, on paper and online. It seems like mind mapping  is something that has existed forever, but that’s not true. Mind maps were invented by one person: Tony Buzan. He is still alive! He writes books and gives talks on different aspects of learning, memory and speed reading.

I advise you to read Tony Buzan’s books, if you’re interested in self-development.  I read his book called “Use Your Memory” for the first time when I was thirteen. At that time I couldn’t read books in English, but luckily we had this book at home, a Russian translation called “Супер-Память”. That’s when I introduced myself to some memorization techniques that have influenced my life.

Today Tony Buzan’s books are available in different forms. There are some people (especially in the Internet) who want to get rich by tricking other people and selling Tony Buzan’s ideas as their own. So, if you see some over-promising advertisements like “learn any language in a month using mind maps” or “speed reading in a week” do not believe them. Tony Buzan’s method for mind maps is self-study. You don’t need to have a guru to learn effective mind mapping.

What I like most about Mind Maps is their universal nature. You can do it on your own, if you like learning individually. You can do it with other people, if you prefer company. You can mind map any topic or idea. Mind mapping is very flexible, that’s why it is so popular!

So, why I write about Mind Maps here in this post? Because it’s our topic for this week. You’re going to create your own mind map online using a web site www.Mind42.com If you have time check it, if not we’ll work on it in the classroom. You will have to work in pairs. This is a 2-week assignment. So, it means that your mind maps should be ready the same day as your blogs: Monday Feb 17. You can choose any topic you like. I advise you to choose something that can be useful for your other classes, maybe for Country Studies or English lessons.