It's probably a good idea for you to scroll back and take a look.
This time I'm going to try the same thing with a bit of Spanish. I suspect it might not work so easily in a second language ... but we won't know until we try, so off we go.... we'll use the first three lines of a Zahara song ....En la habitación ...
Read this out loud several times ..
Fumo sola en la terraza del hotel
recuerdo el humo
y la cerveza en tus manos.
You've read it out loud quite a few times ... now scroll down past the picture, which is just a spacer so you won't see what's next ...
Well, I've missed a little bit out this time ... I hope you remember what it was .. if you can't remember, put your finger on the spot where it was ... that can jog your memory ... if all else fails, go back and have a look..
Fumo sola en la terraza del ..........
recuerdo el humo
y la cerveza en tus manos.
OK ? Read the whole poem out several times more, out loud, including the missing bit that you have, I hope, remembered. Then scroll down to the next bit ...
Fumo sola en la terraza del ..........
recuerdo el humo
y la ............ en tus manos.
OK ... I hope you're getting the hang of this. According to the experts, this is not simply a memorization exercise, but it encourages your brain to recognise the structure of the language to help it recall the missing chunks.
A few more read-throughs, then scroll down ..
Fumo sola .... ..... tereza del ...........
recuerdo el humo
y la ............. en tus manos
Excellent ... usual thing... a few out-loud read-throughs, then on to the next bit ....
Fuma sola .... ..... tereza del ...........
.................. el humo
y la ............. en tus manos
Read-throughs, then scroll down ....
.............. sola .... ..... tereza del ...........
.................. el humo
y la ............. en tus manos
.............. sola .... ..... tereza del ...........
.................. el humo
y la ............. en tus .............
I'm doing all right by the way ... I've remembered everything so far ... don't forget I'm doing this "live" as I write it ...
.......... sola .... ..... tereza del ...........
.................. el humo
y la ............. ..... .... .............
moving on ... nearly there .....
.......... sola .... ..... ........... del ...........
.................. el humo
y la ............. ..... .... .............
remember to say the whole thing out loud a few times before moving on ...
.......... sola .... ..... ........... del ...........
.................. ..... .........
y la ............. ..... .... .............
.......... ....... .... ..... ........... del ...........
.................. ..... .........
y la ............. ..... .... .............
...almost done ... keep saying the words out loud ....
.......... ........ .... ..... ........... del ...........
.................. ..... .........
... .... ............. ..... .... .............
Well, I wonder what's next boys and girls ....
.......... ........ .... ..... ........... .... ...........
.................. ..... .........
... .... ............. ..... .... .............
Well .... I did it ! ...and I don't think it was any harder than it was with the English poem. .... which is a surprise to me. A big surprise that it works at all, and that you actually can read the whole thing from what is effectively a blank sheet of paper!
Of course, in real life you would do this with a sheet of paper with the words on, and just cross them out or rub them out one at a time ... which would be a lot quicker .
In its original form it was for teaching a class, so it would be written up on a board and the teacher would rub bits out... until the class could read the whole thing from an empty board.... magic !
As a reward, here's Zahara singing this lovely song in its complete form ... there are so many videos of this on't net it's hard to know where to begin ...