Day Five

This is what to do.

We have a book:

[A BIG
FAT BOOK]

A big fat maths book.

A good maths book should have more than lots of pictures.

It should have lots of words too.

And exercises.

The first few exercises you will probably know how to do already.

You will know what answers should LOOK RIGHT.

But we are going to read and understand the words between the exercises.

They should explain the connections:

In this simple way we are going to save your life:

Here you are just before the rescue.

[YOU SWIMMING
IN A SEA
OF NUMBERS]

First we send you a life-boat:

[LIFEBOAT
BEING PARACHUTED
DOWN TO YOU.
IT IS CALLED
READ-ME]

To get into this life-boat, all you have to do is to take ONE sentence at a time from the book.

And read it silently to yourself.

[YOU
READING
SILENTLY]

Now read it again aloud, as if you are trying to tell it to someone else what it says:

[YOU
READING
ALOUD
- VERY
LOUD!]

Now it has to make sense to an audience.

Pretend that you have an audience!

[YOU READING
TO THE FISH, WHALES,
SEAGULLS, AND SEALS
AROUND YOUR BOAT]

This sentence it is now much more your own idea.

You have used your right-brain to recognise the words.

[YOU
LOOKING
AT THE
BOOK]

And then your left-brain has turned them into sounds.

[YOU
READING
FROM
THE BOOK]

For the first time ALL of your brain is seeing, hearing, and thinking.

Now comes the most important of all.

To make this idea entirely yours, now tell your audience what the sentence means IN YOUR OWN WORDS.

This is where Albert had to try so hard.

So will you.

It is difficult at first.

It will get easier.

When you are doing this the whole of the brain is working with you, making connections in YOUR mind that no-one can make better than you.

See what you look like now.

[YOU WITH
YOUR WHOLE HEAD
LIT UP WITH IDEAS LIKE FIREWORKS
COMING INTO YOUR EYES,
OUT OF YOU MOUTH,
AND INTO YOUR EARS]

Try to do this with all the text you come to.

It should not take you more than ten minutes a day.

You will become happier and more confident, cleverer and calmer.

In your own words, what have you learnt from this book?

WE HAVE ALMOST FINISHED: ONLY ONE MORE DAY TO GO!