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"... while she would dream over the pictures of the mountains and rivers with the queer foreign names." — Sylvia Plath, "Sunday at the Mintons" (1952)


Being good at geography is a useful and desirable skill, as well as fascinating in its own right. Here's how to immerse yourself in geographical information so that you can't help but become a master.

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EditSteps

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    Read. You can spend enjoyable hours browsing through encyclopedias, all the while picking up tips ranging from the names of world capitals, to an understanding of how a river system affects a particular country. Sets are a dime a dozen these days, so if you are willing to pick up one which is a few years old, these can often be found at a thrift store, or if not, you can always check your local library.
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    Gaze at maps. Get yourself a good atlas. Some of the larger bookstore chains offer quality atlases for reasonable prices. Whether you want to memorize the countries or just familiarize yourself with the major mountain chains, maps are a good place to start.
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    Post a world map on your wall and refer to it whenever a geographical question occurs to you. If your mom tells you you have a cousin in Mumbai, go to the map and see just where that is. If there has just been a 6.5 earthquake in Hawaii, check the map to find the location of the epicenter. Locating places in this way will help them stick in your mind.
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    Watch TV. Information about cities, cultures, and populations can be found on shows like Jeopardy, The Weather Channel, CNN, the BBC, or your local news. Watch the listings coming up for the Travel Channel, the Discovery Channel and the History Channel, and don't forget public TV.
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    Get a subscription to a weekly newspaper or news magazine. In reading one or two articles a week, you will learn about culture and follow the news. This will help you remember the general locations of places. If a country is having trouble with tidal flooding, for example, it is probably located on a coast.
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    Visit your local library often and read articles from such magazines as National Geographic. This publication offers in-depth information with engrossing photography.
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    Travel. Even traveling locally can help expand your understanding of how geography has shaped the world. For example, if you visit a historic town nearby, you may learn at a museum or visitor's center just which geographical features enticed the town leaders to build there.
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    Get a email pal or pen pal. Regular correspondence with a friend living overseas can expand your knowledge beyond what you can learn from books.
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    Play games based upon names of countries or towns. Suppose you say "California". "California" ends with letter "A", then your friend says name of a place which starts with "A". Say "Amsterdam" (the Dutch capital city). Then you say the name of some place which starts with "M". Say "Mexico" and so on... This way you can have fun and at the same time you will learn from others too!
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    Travel. When you are traveling to other places, you can learn about agriculture and which kinds of crops and fruits are grown in season.
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EditTips

  • Country names and borders change often, especially in eastern Europe, Africa, and southeastern Asia. If your maps are old, get new ones.
  • Study and ask questions.
  • A fun way to learn geography is to peel the sticker off of the fruit you buy in the grocery store and then place it on the corresponding country.
  • Another useful tool can be to find someone (a family member or friend) who has a similar interest and talk about it. For example, how many cities in the USA he has visited, what he liked most, what is the first place he would like to go to, etc.
  • Keep an index card containing a list of 5 countries, with names of their capitals & languages. Revise it once in a while during the week. Then pick up another card (which should contain the names of 5 other countries). Eventually you will realize that you know far more than you did originally.

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EditSources and Citations

Article Info

Categories: Geography

In other languages:

Español: ser bueno en geografía

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