What Is Suggestopedia?
Sugestopedia Is a Pedagogical System of Education That Combines Pedagogy, Psychology and Artistic Techniques.
To understand what suggestopedia is and why suggestopedia is the methodology that gives the highest results with a lasting effect, we must highlight the main differences from traditional forms of education.
Suggestopedia is the result of many years of work, research and observations of Prof. Dr. Georgi Lozanov, psychiatrist, psychotherapist, brain physiologist and pedagogue. More than 50 years ago, Prof. Lozanov began targeted research on the potential of the individual and their accelerated and harmonious development.
Methodology of Suggestopedia
The basics of suggestopedia are based on the 7 LAWS OF SUGESTOPEDIA, which allow to successfully acquire new knowledge by stimulating all the senses and intellect of man.
The offered information is assimilated spontaneously with joy and relaxation effect. A lot of music and classical art is included in the learning process, which brings a lot of positive experiences and inspiration for the students.
Fundamentals of Suggestopedia
Suggestopedia is based on the unlocking and development of human potential, the so-called reserves of the human personality, which everyone has.
Their disclosure helps to learn much faster and more effectively (3 to 5 times faster than in traditional pedagogy), as well as to preserve the acquired knowledge. This answers the question of what suggestopedia is and why suggestopedia gives such high results in a short time.
Various means are used for joyful and full communication, which activate the reserve complex.
The heart of the methodology is the active and passive concert session, where the lessons are read in a specific way against the background of classical music.
The methodology of suggestopedia includes many role-playing games and interactive learning techniques, popular songs and reproductions of great artists.
Why Sugestopedia?
In the course of the training, both the consciousness and the paraconsciousness and the peripheral perceptions are engaged with specially selected emotional stimuli. The imagination of the students is unlocked. This leads to the harmonious work of the two hemispheres in the human brain and is an extremely important moment for activating long-term memory.
Suggestopedia is a natural method of teaching. It is a kind of communication – free, generating love and pleasure for the senses, which is the secret to reaching the reserves of the personality.
This makes suggestopedia a “higher teaching methodology” according to the assessment of UNESCO from 1978. Even then a special international commission arrived in Bulgaria in search of answers to the questions: what is suggestopedia and why suggestopedia should be applied in different fields of education.
The 7 Laws of Suggestopedia
Love
Love for man. Not that sentimental, personal, but this great, universal love.
Every teacher brings and radiates love. To your students, to the learning process, to yourself. This creates an environment of liberation, trust, calm, stimulates our expression and self-sharing, encourages communication.
Freedom
A supreme value in communication and sharing between the teacher and the learners. It also contains the idea of the student’s freedom to engage or not in an activity, according to his personal disposition. As well as the teacher to recreate the training in his own unique way according to his personality and the peculiarities of the group, based on the general suggestopedic methodology.
The Teacher’s Convincement That Something Unusual Is Happening
When the teacher is convinced that something unusual is happening in the learning process, it inspires him and is passed on to the learners. His attitude and behavior are subject to this belief in the extraordinary, and he emits authentic signals that stimulate people and give impetus to the disclosure of their own reserves.
Greatly Enhanced Teaching Materials
“The more the memory is loaded, the better the results,” says Prof. Lozanov.
“Now learners are able to learn the material at least two to three times and up to five to ten times faster and better than the results in traditional methods, with a beneficial effect on health and education. In the future, this rhythm of assimilation may increase many times over”.
Prof. Lozanov
The Connection Whole – Part, Part – Whole
The part is inseparable from the whole. That is why the parts are taught through the whole, always in the general context, in global history. For example, we have a complete history, part of which are the various topics (dating, travel, meetings, telephone conversations, etc.); some of these topics are expressions; words, grammar are part of expressions; the letters are part of the words, etc. It’s all one. The learning process is harmonized by teaching the parts through the whole, where the whole is leading.
The Golden Proportion
We can find it everywhere in nature. We can also find it in classical art. Applied in learning, it helps us learn without fatigue. It is expressed in the number 0.618… The golden section guides us in determining the duration of the various activities in suggestopedic training and harmonizes the whole process.
Use of Classical Art
Specially selected classical works – musical, literary, reproductions of masterpieces of fine arts, as well as the overall aesthetics, help to create a pleasant, calm and harmonious environment without tension. Suggestopedic art stimulates inspiration, supports the acquisition of new knowledge and improves the culture of trainers and learners.