Well aware that methods directly involving

yoga and hypnosis were not generally

applicable or acceptable, he continued
seeking universally acceptable means to tap
the vast mental reserve capacities of the
human mind we all have but which are
rarely used. Suggestion proved to be the
key.
Suggestopedia
Superlearning

Brain Friendly Learning

Accelerated Learning

Georgi Lozanov
Georgi Lozanov
Born: July 22, 1926; Died: May 6, 2012
Sofia, Bulgaria

Medical doctor specialized in psychiatry

and psychotherapy

Had a passion for understanding how human beings

learn

Established the Suggestology Research Institute in Sofia

to put his new system of teaching into practice
 ? That
learning
is easy
and
fun? Or
that 1
what
we are
teachin
g is so
difficult
Lozanov asked himself…
they
Lozanov asked himself…

• What beliefs do learners

2 bring with them about
what is possible for them
to accomplish?
Lozanov asked himself…

• How can teachers help

learners move beyond their
3 limiting beliefs and discover
their full human potential?
Concepts and Features
 Mental Reserve Capacities (MRC)

We all possess considerable

mental reserves which we
rarely if ever tap under normal
circumstances.
• Examples:
– the ability to learn rapidly and recall with ease
large quantities or material,
– solve problems with great rapidity and
spontaneous ease,
– respond to complex stimuli with facility and
creativity. The primary objective is to tap into the
MRC.

5 ~ 10%
 Psychological Set-up
Our response to every stimuli is complex, involving
unconscious processes which become automatic
responses.
The responses tend to be automatic and typical for
them - the result of an inner, unconscious
disposition or set-up, which is the product of
automatized, conditioned responses.
Our inner set-up operates when we encounter any
situation - entering a school, consulting a
physician- as examples.
Our unconscious set-up is extremely basic and
important to our behaviour and to our
survival –
and it can be extremely limiting, for it can
imprison us in unconscious, consistently
patterned responses which prevent us from
experiencing and exploring other alternatives
- which might be far more desirable and
beneficial to us.
Prevailing social norms, instilled in us
by all our social institutions,
including family and schools, are the
main carriers and enforcers of the
beliefs and responses which
contribute to the formation of our
inner set-up.
Only when a teacher or a doctor is able to
penetrate the set-up, engage it in a way
which allows it to be accepting and open
to extensions and transformation does the
real potential of a student/patient begin to
open up.
 Suggestion
• Suggestion is the direct to the set-
up.
• Suggestion is the key which Lozanov
found to penetrate through the “set-
up” and stimulate the mental reserve
capacities.
• Even more, through suggestion we can
facilitate the creation of new, richer
patterns of conscious/unconscious
responses or new (set-ups).
• It creates and utilises such types of set-
ups which would free and activate the
reserve capacities of the human being
 Suggestion
• DIRECT
• Direct suggestions are directed to conscious
processes, i.e., what one says that can and will
occur in the learning experience, suggestions
which can be made in printed
announcements, orally by the teacher, and/or
by text materials.
 Suggestion
• INDIRECT
• Indirect suggestion is largely unconsciously
perceived.
• It is always present in any communication and
involves many levels and degrees of subtlety.
• Lozanov speaks of it as the second plane of
communication and considers it to encompass
all those communication factors outside our
conscious awareness
• Examples: voice tone, facial expression, body
posture and movement, speech tempo,
rhythms, accent, etc.
• Other important indirect suggestive effects
result from room arrangement, decor, lighting,
noise level, institutional setting - for all these
factors are communicative stimuli
 Anti-Suggestive Barriers
• The first task of suggestology and
suggestopedia is to remove people’s
prior conditioning to de-suggest, to
find the way to escape the social
norm and open the way to
development of the personality.
This is perhaps the greatest problem
suggestology is confronted with,
since the person must be ‘convinced’
that his potential capacity is far
above what he thinks it is.
The individual protects himself
with psychological barriers,
according to Dr. Lozanov, just as
the organism protects itself from
physiological barriers
 it
a s
w d ?
h y lo p e
W ve
de
mental
spiritual

physical

Main Concern
 Stages of Suggestopedia
1. Presentation

2. First Concert—“Active Concert”

3. Second Concert—“Passive Review”

4. Practice
 Presentation
• A preparatory stage in which students
are helped to relax and move into a
positive frame of mind, with the
feeling that the learning is going to
be easy and fun.
First Concert–“Active Concert”
• This involves the active presentation
of the material to be learnt. For
example, in a foreign language
course there might be the dramatic
reading of a piece of text,
accompanied by classical music.
Second Concert–“Passive Review”

• The students are now invited to relax and

listen to some Baroque music, with the
text being read very quietly in the
background. The music is specially
selected to bring the students into the
optimum mental state for the effortless
acquisition of the material.
 Practice
• The use of a range of games,
puzzles, etc. to review and
consolidate the learning.
 music

Learning is a
games pleasurable,
natural process
art

role
playing
Learner Roles (Relaxer, True-Believer)

• Students volunteer for a suggestopedic

course, but having volunteered, they are
expected to be committed to the class and
its activities.
• Students are expected to tolerate and in
fact encourage their own
“infantilization.”
 Infantilization
• In the child's role that learner takes
part in role playing, games, songs,
and gymnastic exercises that help
"the older student regain the self-
confidence, spontaneity and
receptivity of the child.
Learner Roles (Relaxer, True-Believer)

• Groups of learners are ideally socially

homogeneous, 12 in number, and divided
equally between men and women.
• Learners sit in a circle, which encourages
face-to-face exchange and activity
participation.
 Teacher Roles (Auto-hypnotist,
Authority Figure)
• To create situations in which
learners are most suggestible and
then to present linguistic
material in a way most likely to
encourage positive reception and
retention by learners.
 Teacher Roles (Auto-hypnotist,
Authority Figure)
Lozanov lists several expected teacher behaviors as
follows:

1. Show absolute confidence in the method.

2. Display fastidious conduct in manners and dress.

3. Organize properly, and strictly observe the initial

stages of the teaching process—this includes
choice and play of music, as well as punctuality.
 Teacher Roles (Auto-hypnotist,
Authority Figure)
4. Maintain a solemn attitude towards the
session.

5. Give tests and respond tactfully to poor papers

(if any).

6. Maintain a modest enthusiasm.

 The role of instructional materials

• Materials consist of direct support

materials, primarily text and tape,
and indirect support materials,
including classroom fixtures and
music.
Suggestopedia apprentices use the
Learning Hypothesis
• I will learn because I was accepted
• I am now a native speaker, I can speak and
understand the language
• I learned the text during the concert session, I know
the language.
• The material is getting easier, I must be learning.
• I have successfully graduated from a language
course, I can use the language.
What are the benefits of this approach?

• You will address the learning needs and

styles of every student in your class.

• You will guarantee a higher and faster

success rate among learners.

• You will increase retention and recall of

material and long-term memory.
What are the benefits of this approach?

• You will instill higher confidence and self-esteem

in your learners.

• You will promote the creativity as well as the

learning and social competence of your students.

• You will create a pleasant, cooperative and fun

learning environment in your classroom.
What are the benefits of this approach?

• You will have motivated students coming to

your classes -- students who have rediscovered
the joy of learning.

And --

• … motivated students make motivated

teachers!!