By: Cristina Poveda U. Silvia Rodrguez A. Amanda Vega S.
History
Georgi Lozanov, is a Bulgarian psychologist, researcher
and medical doctor from Sofia University, who specializes in hypnosis (a high level of relaxation) and hypermnesia (a strong awareness from past memories).
History
Between the decades of 1960 and 1970, he published
his thesis entitled Sugestologiia which focused on the study of suggestion and its potential applications to pedagogy.
History
Yoga was included and adapted to Suggestopedia from
India, because it was found that these types of exercises increased mind reserves and improved and accelerates memory faculties.
History
Nevertheless, in his teaching manual, Lozanov cites
over 896 sessions using Suggestopedia and his records sum up 1200 new words learned, with a following retention of 90% of the students.
History
He funded in 1965 the Institute of Suggestology with
the help of Dr. Evalina Gateva, who introduced the fine arts into the method, such as the use of music.
History
At last in 1978, the pedagogy committee from
UNESCO recognized the method, recommending its expansion and use for teachers training. Dr. Lozanov and Dr. Gateva kept making seminars about the method until 1979.
History
They continued their scientific work at Bulgaria, but
then had to stay there for ten years during the Cold War; they were not allowed to go out since their democratic and spiritual profile may jeopardize political interests.
Finally in the 80s they published together The
Foreign Language Teachers Suggestopedic Manual (1981), which did not contain however, basic points from his original thesis from the 60s.
For more than twenty years Lozanov has been
experimenting with accelerative approaches to learning, and wrote the book Suggestology and the Outlines or Suggestopedia (1997).
Teaching philosophy and principles
Based on the book of Ludger Schiffler Suggestopedic
Methods and Applications (1992); also, on the book Techniques and principles in language teaching (1986) by Diane Larsen-Freeman.
Hopes of the teacher: Accelerate the process of learning a foreing languange. Students mental power must be tapped. Dessugest psychological barriers learners bring with
them.
Teachers Role and Students Role The teacher is the only authority in the classroom.
Students must trust and respect the teacher.
Characteristics of the teaching/learning process The most important part of the suggestopedia classroom is to make the students feel as much confortable as possible. It is highly recommended to have soft lights, music, comfortable chairs, posters with grammatical rules.
One particular characterisctic of the Suggestopedic approach is that
students acquiere new identities by changing their names and occupations; so that later on they will create a new biography
The students work with dialogues presented in two concerts. The first
concert is called the receptive phase, in this phase the teacher reads the dialogue trying to keep a rythim and pitch of the background music, activating both hemispheres of the brain. teacher reading the dialogue at a normal and regular speed. The closure of the class involves several activities such as; role plays, songs, surveys, games, etc.
For the sencond concert, the students just relax and listen to the
Teacher student and student- student interaction The teacher interacts at the very beginning of the class with the whole group; then, with individuals. At the beginning of the class the students might answer only with body language of a few words; later on, the students develop more complex structures to answer. The student-student interaction takes place from the very beginning and is constant. Feelings of the students It is a fundamental principal of suggestopedia that students must feel relaxed and confident, they do not need to try hard to learn the language because it will come naturally. Areas and skills of language Vocabulary is emphasized, grammar is dealt with explicitly but minimally. Speaking communicatively is emphasized, students also read in the target language the dialogues.
Native language Role The native language of the students is used to make themeaning of a dialogue clear. The teacher can use it also to make clarifications. Evaluation It usually takes place while the student is in normal class, teachers must evaluate their performance there are not formal tests. Students errors reponse At the beginning erros are not corrected; later on, the teacher uses the correct form of the language during class.
Classroom Techniques New Identity Role-play First and second concerts
