Suggestopedia Ⅰ. Introduction A.

Suggestopedia
    Good morning, everyone. As a language learner, there are so many approaches to learn a foreign language. In today’s lecture, we will talk about an excellent way to learn a language, which is called suggestopedia.
    The term "suggestopedia”, derived from suggestion and pedagogy, is often used loosely to refer to similar accelerated learning approaches. So it is often claimed that it can teach languages approximately three times as quickly as conventional methods. Some of the key elements of suggestopedia include a rich sensory learning environment, a positive expectation of success and the use of a varied range of methods. And it adopts a carefully structured approach, using four main stages as follows. The first stage is presentation. In this stage, 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. The second stage is called " 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. The third stage is passive review. In this section, 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. The last stage is practice. A range of games and puzzles will be used to review and consolidate the learning.
    Then what should be paid attention to?
    The first aspect is the music. The music should have slow tempo, regular patterns, voices and instruments should not stand out against the orchestra, because they are likely to distract the students. Ideally, the orchestra must have a neutral color—that is why the best choice is string orchestras. That is to say, the intonation and rhythm need to be coordinated with a musical background which will help to induce a relaxed attitude.
    The second aspect is the teacher. The teacher in a suggestopedic course not only radiates effective suggestive stimulation, but also coordinates environmental suggestive stimulation in a positive way for students to learn. What should a teacher do? Firstly, they should cover a huge bulk of learning materials in class. Secondly, they can structure the materials in the suggestopedic way, which means they have to put the materials in golden proportion. Thirdly, they should be highly prestigious, reliable and credible. Lastly, teachers usually act as authority and security in this learning method. They should be confident and trustworthy to their students and afford a cheerful classroom atmosphere. The third aspect that we should pay attention to is the activities. The activities consist of acting out portions of the text, singing specially prepared songs and playing games, telling stories, carrying on short conversations and psycho-dramas.
    It is true that if we can use some of the suggestopedic methods in learning a foreign language, it will greatly accelerate our students’ progress. Certain elements of the approach can be taken and incorporated into the more comprehensive approach to language teaching widely in evidence today.