Prof. Franz Ludescher MAS, 2003 1 – translated by Marie-Claire GauthierDe-SuggestopediaDesuggestology undSuggestopedagogy1) Concepts1.1 What is Suggestopedia page 21.2 Other expressions for Suggestopedia 31.3 Suggestopädia on the basis of Suggestology 32) Dr. Lozanov 32.1 His research work 43) The three basic principles 53.1 The first basic principle 53.1.1 Self-fullfilling prophecies 63.1.2 Antisuggestive barriers 63.1.3 Manipulation – Suggestion: distinctions 73.1.4 Forms of Suggestion 83.1.5 De-suggestion tools 8Teachers’ authority 9Infantilisation 9Rituals 10Voice, music, intonation 10Surroundings 10Golden Harmony 103.1.6 Memorizing experiments 113.1.7 Nerve network 133.1.8 Stress, Eustress, Distress 143.2. Second basic principle 153.2.1 Concentrated relaxation 163.2.2 Lerning takes place on all levels of consciousness 163.3 Third basic principle 183.3.1 Secondary information 183.3.2 Peripheral stimuli 193.3.3 Children’s operas 204) Elaboration, Aktivation 21Prof. Franz Ludescher MAS, 2003 2I) The theoryThe basic principles

Herr L.I’m very pleased that you have so readily agreed to give me an interviewabout Suggestopedia.

Mr A.KnowledgeI’m happy to oblige as I hope that thanks to your programme, it will be possible to disseminate the ideas behind Suggestopedia

Herr L.Let’s go to the first question. What does Suggestopedia actually mean?

Mr A. KnowledgeWell.Suggestopedia is the holistic, inter-connected teaching and learning method developed by Prof. Dr. Lozanov (Sofia). To pedagogics, it adds the scientific findings of neurology, psychology as well as music. The method of imparting information is compatible with the natural brain functionsand stimulates simultaneously the conscious and unconscious,as well as the left (more rational) and the right (more emotional) brain hemispheres during the teaching process.

Mr L.The word Suggestopedia has a negative connotation for me.

Mr A. KnowledgeMaybe because German is your mother tongue! However, in English, to suggest intimates the idea of offering, recommending, bringing closer, directing, stimulating, indicating and gives a more accurate idea of the background principles of the method than the word in German does. Still, it was generally felt

that the name, or the word,needed to be changed. As a consequence, several substitutesof the word Suggestopedia appeared.“Superlearning” was only one of them, others are “Accelerated Learning”(Rose), “Psychopädie” (Baur), “Lozanov/Philipov-Method (Philipov), LIND/Learning in New Dimensions”(Schmid), “Sanftes Lernen”(Pelke) (Softlearning)or “Neues Lernen” (Hinkelmann). Dr Lozanov describes his research nowadays as Suggestopedagogics.The concept Suggestopedia,is a combination of suggestion and pedagogics, it describes a pedagogical approach,which integrates specific suggestive processes in order to enhance learning.

Herr L.What kind of scientific basis is there behind this approach?

Mr KnowledgeSuggestopedia is a science developed on the basis of suggestology, which concerns itself with all surrounding influences.We are constantly under various effects:light, music, esthetics or our thoughts.Everything influences us, consciously and pre-consciously.In order to stimulate positive personal development, these influences should be humanistically coordinated.It is also a science of the accelerateddevelopment of potential abilities, of the art of communication as well as the simultaneousstimulation of personality development.

Herr L.So these influences are studied in suggestologie

and applied in teaching and learning processes. This is actually Suggestopedia?

Mr KnowledgeQuite.Dr. Lozanov and his colleagues developed the science of suggestologie in 1965 and founded the Institute for Suggestologie and Personality Development in Sofia.

Herr L.Could you tell me more about Dr. Lozanov?Who is he?

Mr A. KnowledgeHe is the founder of this method.As a doctor, psychologist, neuro-physiologist, psycho-therapist and psychiatrist, he studied human ressourcesas well as energies and then specialisedin the unused potentiel of the brain

Herr L.How high, according to his estimate, are the unused ressources of the brain?

Mr A. KnowledgeOver 90 percent.

Herr L.He studied the potentiel of our brain. To which conclusions did he come?

Mr KnowledgeOur brain can do much more than is usually required of it. This was Lozanov’s justificationfor stipulating that we canall learn much faster than was previously believed.We can enlarge

our capacity, improve recall, stimulate intellectual activityand develop personal creativity.

Herr L.I often receive materials advertising so called "Superlearning Courses". Among other allegations, they claim that one learns up to one thousand words a day “in a state close to sleep”and that we can improve our learningup to twenty fold.

Mr KnowledgeThis is of course beside the point.As in all others, this area has black sheep. In 1979 Nancy Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder wrote a book titled "Superlearning", aiming to give Lozanov’s research a new, marketable lookwhich resulted in an oversimplified version, concentrating on the "Super results" of the method.In their footsteps appeared, mainly in America, publications flaunting “Miracle results”. At that time the cultural framewas the constantly developing "New Age" movement which related to a market-easy ”Superlearning” promising effortless learning.To these days, affirmations such as"1000 new words a day" or"Learing incredible amounts in a sleeplike state”have not been confirmed empirically.

Herr L.Our brain, our personality, our understanding,

have hidden capacities. How does Lozanov attempt to tap into the reserve potentiels?

Mr A. KnowledgeDuring his long years of research, Lozanov was involved with yoga, among other approaches,as well as psychological deep relaxationwith classical music and theatrical work. He also did work on hypermnesia, or hyper memory based on the above norm memorization feats demonstrated by some Yogis und Maoris. There is for instance the example ofa Maori chief in New Zealand who was able to tell the story of his tribe 45 generations back,covering over 1000 years.Indian Brahmans learnt all the holy writings by heart.

Herr L.That’s an unbelievable quantity!

Mr A.KnowledgeLozanov developed the 3 basic principles of his method. The first basic principle is:Suggestion is the tool giving access to unused mental resources to enable enhanced learning.

Herr L.How is this discovery integrated into teaching?

Mr A. KnowledgeThe basic factor in accelerated learning, according to Lozanovis the teacher’s level of expectation which influences the learners’ learning performance expectation.The phenomenon, that

people perform in the way authority figures around them expect them to, is known as “Self-Fullfilling- Prophecy” or the Pygmalion effect. For this, different forms of suggestion must be used.Being influenceable has nothing to do with being credulous.Influencing emotions and especially the pre-conscious mindplays an important role in the learning process.If it were impossible to influence us,it would be very difficult to learn.Suggestion is a powerful learning tool. When the belief of success is developedas well as a positive “self-image”one can only succeed.Success breeds success. When one is successfulone expects to remain so. Failure works in the same way.The level of expectation works in the same way as a placebo.Every perception process is marked bysuggestive milestones,but antisuggestive barriers prevent conscious perception and memorisation.

Herr L.What are antisuggestive barriers?

Mr A. KnowledgeThey can be, for example,doubts concerning ones abilities, that find confirmation in school failure.Antisuggestive barriers are mental barriers such as fear, complexes, stress, etc…, that impede natural learning abilities.Obviously, a learner needs a certain quantity of energyto be able to actually carry out the learning process.This energy is understandably

lost for learning itself.Under these circumstances, learning seemsto be difficult and tiring.Thanks to suggestion, it is possible to overcome barriers and blocks. Suggestion is a key to mental reserves.We differenciate emotional, logical and ethical-moral barriers.

Herr L.What are these barriers?

Mr A. KnowledgeThe intuitive, emotional barriersgenerate self-talk, they say: “I like that, it’s interesting.”but also: “I don’t like that, it’s bland, boring.”The critical logical barriers say what is logical, what is credible,what is unlogical, less credible, or false.The ethical-moral barriersare our conscience. When our actions are in harmony with our values, we become more credible and therefore easier believed and accepted.

Herr L.I can imagine that here, the teacher’s behaviouris of prime importance. A teacher, who has a certain amount of authority can bring his pupilsto success faster.

Mr A. KnowledgeAlthough the word authority should be seen in relation with the concept of respect here

Herr L.Is Suggestopedia a form of hypnosis?

Mr A. KnowledgeSuggestology, the theory which analyzes the different typesof suggestion, systematizes them and indicates how and when they should be used. Critics think thatthe use of suggestion meansautomatic mental manipulation and as a consequence, connect suggestion with hypnosis.Scientific research has shown that people who have attended a suggestopedic course, usually as foreign language acquisition, are conscious of the strength of positive suggestion and are actually less prone to be influenced by other types of suggestion.The degree of suggestability, or sensitivity to the influence of suggestion decreases as the ability to chooseand filter information increase

Herr L.It is very important to insist here on the fact that the research on suggestion is not connected with the concept of conditioning, limiting or manipulating, but with the idea of proposing, offering, meaning giving a person a wide array of possibilities, in the way nature does it.

Mr A. KnowledgeVery right. This extension of personal freedom of choicerealises itself through the use of para-conscious elementswhich give the holistic conscious-pre-conscious

communication aspects,which in turn increase the readiness to use our brain reserve capacity beneficially in a controled way.One difference between suggestion and manipulation is thata suggestion is perceived as an offer, a manipulation deprives of the freedom of choice.We go to a concert, for example, to be positively influenced. We have the freedom to accept or reject these influences. In my opinion, certain forms of of advertising come closer to manipulationthan the traditionally defined hypnosis with its formal trance criteriaThe goal of the type of advertising I am referring to is to motivate someone to do something, that he/she wouldn’t do of his/her own freewill.

Herr L.Which forms of suggestion do you use?

Mr A. KnowledgeFirst of all, suggestion can be verbal or nonverbal.Words can carry suggestions across, as in for example: “While you are relaxing, notice that learning is easy.” Dr. Lozanov is against this style of suggestion as well as guided fantasybecause they appear to be more manipulativethan suggestive to him.The atmosphere, the games, the songs, the music, the way the room is set up and above all, the teacher’s attitude, influence our imagination.For this reason,

Dr. Lozanov believes that guided fantasies are not necessary to create an ideal learning environment.Suggestion can also start from the environment.If Italian or lively English music is playing in the background, it is a non-verbal suggestion that learning here will be lively and fun.The secret of suggested success is, that one suggests that the desired goal is already reached.Success lies, not in the future butis already reachable in the present.Thus suggested, some learners experienced a 60% increasein their learning capacity.

Herr L.What I don’t quite understand,is the use of “suggestion” and “de-suggestion”. what is the difference between the two?

Mr. A. KnowledgeAccording to the theory of Suggestopediaboth the process of suggestion and de-suggestion come into the suggestopedic learning atmosphere.The de-suggestion process is a spontaneous liberationfrom old, fixed norms, during the suggestion process,the increasing use of the brain’s reserve potentiel influences the mind. In the most recent developmentsof Suggestopedia the accent is on the de-suggestion process. This new direction resulted in the renaming of the method as "De-Suggestopedia", in extenso:"The Desuggestopedy: Reserve Capacities Communicative Method orRE-CA-CO Method"

Herr L.In order to suggest something new, one has to de-suggest the old. To enable accelerate learningto take place, one has to overcome the old fixed norms.What are the tools for de-suggestion?

Mr. A. KnowledgeThe first is the suggestive authority of the teacher.The success of the learning process depends greatly on the teacher’s assertiveness which is transferred to the learners and gives them the feelingthat they are learning “right”. The learners should also be convinced that the method is beneficial to them. The suggestive authority of the teacher has to be liberating in the sense of freeing the learning process of insecurity and fear.Additionally it is important to try to dispose of the social norms that are hidden in each of us, in order to make clear to the learners that they are capableof more than they think they are.A second de-suggestion tool is “Infantilisation”, which is what Lozanov called the state in which children are when they are motivated to discover and learn. This state is distinguished by: curiosity, high motivation, absolute attention and a pleasant atmosphere in which mistakes can be made. Lozanov argues that we adults can, in the same way as children, be in that state and use it for accelerated learning.

Herr L.

Infantilisation is another expression that has negative connotations.

Mr. A. KnowledgeTrue. Still, we adults can use this state in a pleasant,stress-free atmosphere, without losing our critical abilities. We aren’t children any more.Here the question is more of a psychological learning state than of actual childish behaviour.Games remind us of childhood and in the process of a game, we can automatically come into the state of infantilisation.

Herr. L.Are there other de-suggestive tools?

Mr. A. KnowledgeAnother tool to get round barriers is the use of rituals.Rituals give us security.A well-known ritual is that of “bedtime” for children. They are read or told a story to get them ready to sleep.It is often a different story, or the same story with a different ending.This ritual gives children security and trust.A ritual for adults during lessons is the similarity of structure within the suggestopedic units.The different levels are complementary and follow the same order. We will come to the suggestopedic cycle later.Naturally, other de-suggestive tools play an important role in the learning process.Besides our voices

that we can play like instrumentsand music that we can play to reach a state of inner quiet that Lozanov describes as a „spontaneous state of calmness“.

Herr L.Are there de-suggestive tools, that do not comedirectly from the teacher?

Mr. A. KnowledgeYes, of course. One of them is the room, the set up, the lighting, the plants and the fresh, pleasant temperature.Another is the peripheral stimuli such as pictures, posters,everything that fits with the “Golden Harmony” rule.

Herr L.I don’t quite understand.Mr. A. Knowledge"The golden harmony" is the name of a relationship of sizebetween two elements which is perceived as harmonious. It is found in works of art, in particular during the Renaissance, which, as far as spatial relationships are concerned, are very appealing to the eye.A relationship between two elements can be described as a “Golden Harmony”, when the smaller parts relate proportionally to the next bigger parts in the same way, such as in:a : b = b : (a + b)Moreover, the Golden Harmony describes a relation of partition of unity.Within it, the total distance or range “a”is divided into two parts. The larger of the two parts “b” (the major) has the same proportional relationship to “a” as the smaller (minor) “c” has to “b”.The Golden Harmony is found in nature,

in the arrangement of rose petals for example, the structure of a snail’s shell,the anatomy of the human body,the parts in classical music, to the distances between the planets of our sun system.This relationship is perceived as harmonious, obviously because it comes from nature.

Herr L.I understand.

Mr A. KnowledgeThe teacher’s authority, infantilisation, the voice, the intonation, rituals, music, the room, the elements of Golden Harmony, all help us to overcome normative barriers so that accelerative learning can take place.

Herr L.How is that to be understood?

Mr A. KnowledgeAs I hinted to earlier, each participant has critical, logical barriers, that tell him that he can’t learn more than 30 words or structures in one sessionand remember them durably. The intuitive, emotional barriers can make a participant not believe that learning can be fun, that learning and playing are not contradictory, but closely linked to one another.These beliefs are based on previous learning experiencesand should be overcome, right at the beginning.I am now going to tell about an experiment that Lozanov and Gatevacarried out in Sofia that clearly shows the influence of logical barriers:Lozanov invited different people. He gave them a list

of 3000 words in a foreign language and asked the participants to cross out the words they already knew. On the next day, the same people were invited again and were given a list of words that were unknown to all of them.First each of them was given the possibility to read the whole list with the Bulgarian translation.This was followed by an active and a passive concert, during which the list was repeated.I will come back to the significance of these concerts laterin the practical part.This way, the participants read the words and actually heard them three times.On the third day they were given a list of the same wordsthe only difference being the order in which the words were listed, half of them having changed place. The percentage of recalled words was much higher than expected. This type of testing is also possible months later, and usually gives better results. In relation to this I heard from Ms Sigrid Gassner-Robertswho informed me about her research in Adelaide, Australia.She said that the group that she was teaching German toin a suggestopedic way,sat, unprepared, for the same test at the beginning of the summeras at the end of the school year. All the participants, with the exclusion of one young lady, performed better in the summer session than in the school exam.Ms Gassner-Roberts had the opportunity to talk to the young lady later and found out that she had missed lecturesa few times during the passed year and, shortly before the exam did a lot of “cramming”, of which,

most of, two months later, had been forgotten naturally.Now for Lozanov’s results:Number of words per day memorized after 3 “sessions”100 92,2 +-2,9%100 - 200 96,8 +-1,2%201 - 400 93,1 +-5,2%401 - 600 90,4 +-8,08%1000 - 1200 96,1 +-7,32%Up to 100 words:this number is still within the belief system of our students.Up to 500 words: the most conflictual situation with the logical barriers (I can’t do it, it’s ridiculous).Up to 1200 words: these numbers become too high for the logical barriers to relate to them. They stop “telling the brain how to learn”, enabling “natural learning”

Herr L.Wouldn’t stress increase with such a high number of words?

Mr A. KnowledgeOn the contrary. Up to 100 words, most people have the feelingthat they can remember all of them.The expectation to remember all of them decreases with the quantitative increase of the task.

Herr L.Is it scientifically proven that a stress- and fear-free environment is better for the learning process?

Mr A. KnowledgeThis is dependant on the structure of our nervous system, as you may know, our nerve cells, or actually their dendritesare connected with each other. The connection pointsare also called synapses. Electric impulses,

which run through the nerve axonare transmitted at each synapse to the next following axon. The transmission takes place through a special chemical transmission substance.Through, fear, stress and also fatigue, the provision of this substance is blocked. The electric impulsescannot circulate freely along the nerve axons.Learning is stopped as a consequence.Memory is also strongly impeded.

Herr L.Still, there is such a thing as motivating stress,which is perceived as a healthy challenge. One can also die of boredom!

Mr A. KnowledgeWe call this positive stress "Eustress". Naturally, stress has its postive aspects too, when it is connected with its natural functions. Go back to the situation when men still lived in the wilderness.You are slinking through the dark forest, when, suddenly, a shout, a shadow from above! You are immediately in a state of alarm! Your body reacts instinctively:adrenaline is released, heartbeat and blood pressure increase, sugar and fat are ready for muscle energy…In short, all energy reserves are ready for an attackor for flight. In this situation the reaction is a reflex; lengthy reflexion is out of place here

Herr L.A stress situation can actually be a lifesaver then.

Mr A. KnowledgeThis is exactly

what it was planned for originally. In a natural environment, stress means a momentary state of alarm.In our civilisation, most people live in a constant state of stress, generated by an endless shellfire of aggravations such as noise, exhaust, image flood, overwhelming tasks, etc. Even when the outside pressure has subsided, It often happensthat we still can’t switch off mentally.We react not only to physical threat with stress, but also to social stress, such as situations when one feels one is being critisized, or unadjusted, or doing something wrong, etc.Just the thought of a threat (for example an exam) can trigger stress.

Herr L.For teaching purposes, stress avoidance is of the utmost importance. Stress generates an intellectual block!What was initially a meaningful biological reaction, the possibility to either flee or attack without any long reflexion, becomes a problem for a learner. The performance of brain cells is so impaired by stress hormones, that information can’t be processed optimally.

Mr A. KnowledgeThe biological innate reaction to stress, namely physical reactions through attack or retreat, is, in our society, seldom possible. We cannot allow ourselves to run away from fear, or to hit out in anger. When the available energy is blocked, it leads to tension and muscle cramps.The movement impulse, which is originally externally directed, is repressed and internally directed.

The stress-connectedtension generates fear and helplessnessand additional stress. In a later meeting, I’ll be happy to explain how to get out of this situation.

Herr L.Thank you.Are there other basic principles of the Lozanov-Method?

Mr A. KnowledgeYes the second principle is:LEARNING SHOULD HAPPEN WITH PLEASUREAND SHOULD BE CHARACTERIZED BY AN ABSENCE OF TENSION Herr L.Is Suggestopedia a relaxation technique?

Mr A. KnowledgeNot directly, although relaxation is frequently used. Actually, more than relaxation is necessary for Suggestopedia to work. Relaxation is importantto build a stress-free environment. But exactly in this areaDr. Lozanov has changed his work in the light of scientific results.Today he avoids all types of deep relaxation, not only because it is already the first level of hypnosis, which is forbidden in almost all countries

Herr L.I can’t really understand this. Up until now, I believed that the more relaxed we were, the more receptive we were.The goal of each suggestopedic course is to bring the participants into the alpha state, in order to overcome barriers and opposition.

Mr A. KnowledgeThis is contradicted

by the following comments; Following this theory, sleep should be the most receptive time.Which means “Learning asleep” is a good way to learn something.It has been proven that “Learning asleep” is a success only because of the high level of expectancy of the learner, meaning something was learnt only because the learner was convinced that it would be.This type of learning is also only short-term.(Comparison between 2 groups: both were promisedto be played the text that they had been learning once more in their sleep. Although this took place actually in one group only, both groups performed equally when tested)Alpha waves are often a by-product. Earlier it was believed that the door to the unconscious mindopened wider as the state of relaxation deepened.This isn’t true. The more alert our minds are, the more receptive we are.The ideal way to relax for learning purposesis concentrative relaxation: in this state, the “ideal state of mind”is reached, the ideal consciousness or feeling of comfort.That means, when the ideal learning atmosphere is developed, pleasant, motivating, playfull, varied,and the students are completely involved, a state of concentrative relaxation is achieved.Lozanov’s scientific research highlightedthat the students who were not in the Alpha stateperformed better. Relaxation on its own can compensate a lack of sleep. Long periods of concentration only, without relaxation, can jeopardize health. Relaxation leaves energy free for learning.

The body needs less energy, leaving more for brain workAs Lozanov said: “Pleasantness is only the means, not the aim”Before I tell you more about this, I must add one of the most important discoveriesof learning research: “Learning is state of mind dependent”.As our “state of mind” constantly changes when we are awake, it is important to have different “States of mind”while learning too. Look at this small graph. as states of mind are always altering and vary from one person to the next, I must send out as many signals as possible in order to relate to as many minds as I can.

Herr L.What kind of support can a teacher get in this situation?

Mr A. KnowledgeOne type is music. Dr. Lozanov and Dr. Gateva choose whole pieces for the active and the passive concerts.This means that they play not only the Largos and the Adagos, but also the Allegros and the Andantes in order to capt all the “states of mind” and awaken the participants’ mindsAnother help is naturally the language and intonation of the educator who should use all the voice possibilities (Chest, head and combined voice). Dr. Gateva recommends to only use the chest and head voices in combination with one another at the beginning, as the head voice alone can sound too childish. This again is done in order to send out as many different signals

as possible so as to reach more “states of mind”.If you think of the computer “war games” when enemy planes appear unexpectedly from different places and move constantly, to reach them, as many signals as possible have to be sent out.Success in learning also depends on it

Herr L.If I have understood you rightly, the active dynamic music and the different readings of the texttake “state dependent learning” into account too .

Mr A. KnowledgeIf something is learnt in a state of awakefulnessit can be recalled. Lozanov says: “All states of mind during awakeness are normal. When deeply relaxed you can memorize things but not recall them." For this reason, Dr. Gateva gave the participants the possibility to get up and read with herwhen she had the feeling that some of them could fall asleep. She also read the passive concertmuch faster than “normal” speech to counter-effectthe music-induced drowsiness.

Herr L.Is this the reason why so-called "subliminals" can’t work?

Mr A. KnowledgeOur consciousness experiencesconstant state changes. Where should the subliminals be integrated?If they are placed high, they are consciously perceived,if they are placed too low, they aren’t perceived any more.

The success rate of pre-conscious information perception, is around 10 %.Peripheral stimuli are much more effective as they are perceived consciously as well as pre-consciouslyand can be stored in the long-term memory.The fact that learning depends on the pre-consciousas well as the conscious factors, is one of the basic principles of Suggestopedia.We have here Dr. Lozanov’s 3rd basic principle:AS PEOPLE WE ACT ON CONSCIOUSAND PRE-CONSCIOUS LEVELS.

Herr L.What does that mean exactly?

Mr A. KnowledgeIt means that the learning process is not limited to information concerning facts, but includesother perceptions too. These additional perceptionsare also called packaging, environmental perceptions, secondary information. The implications thereof for learning are impressive. The whole information includesthe sounds heard, the smells in the room, the positive and negative feelings experienced,the sun that is shining in the room at that moment, in short the whole surroundings.The set up of the room is a tool that can be used to influencethe learning process positively (suggestibility).The atmosphere in the room, the sitting arrangements, communication between learners and their teacher, between the learners themselves and much more, which has very little to do directly with intellectual processes, belongs to secondary information

through feelings and perceptions which can enhance or diminish the pleasure of learning.The actual contents is linked to perceptions and feelings experienced during the learning process.These links are advantageous to learning when the new content is connected to trusted, pleasant secondary information. These associations are generally looked down upon in traditional teachingas they are considered as distractors from the “essentiel”.Most information is not saved through conscious perception into the short term memory (over the ultra-short term memory), but through by-passing the conscious mind. This means that long- term memory is dependent on the pre-conscious mind.

Herr LTeachers have an influence on learners that depends not only on what they say but also on the intentions mirrored into their voices, their smiles, their movements, their clothes, and their whole attitude towards learners.

Mr A. KnowledgeLozanov took Suggestopedia originally as a clear psychological experiment that was destined to increase memory capacity during the teaching andlearning process.Currently it involves the use of pre-conscious learning channels as well as the integration of the more recent understandingof visual, auditive, kinesthetic learning styles (seeing, hearing, feeling), and a playful, stress-free, childlike atmosphere encouraging curiosity and creativity.Suggestive is everything that stimulates the perception and anchoring of information

through intuition, feelings and fantasy.Information on cards and posters, as well as picturesthat are present in the room (peripheral stimuli),are also memorised pre-consciously.This is what is called peripheral and para-conscious perception.These peripheral stimuli are very effectiveand are perceived by all,consciously and pre-consciously.They are very close to "subliminal" perception.

Herr L.Is there any research concerning peripheral and pre-conscious learning?

Mr A. KnowledgeYes, there is. Research demonstrates interesting results.All, what was perceived preconsciously, can’t be recalled automatically at a later point in time, actually longer term.We all know the effect of learning just before an examand forgetting everything very quickly.Connected with this, I would like to tell you about an experiment made by Dr. Lozanov and Dr. Gateva.Dr. Gateva wrote and directed “didactic” operas for children aged between 6 and 7.These operas appeared on television. While they were shown, the children were introduced to the maths curriculum of the first school year and the first half of the second (peripheral perception - defocused learning). On the top left hand of the screen there were sums such as 5 + 7 = 5 +5 + 2 = 12.One opera lasted between 30 and 40 minutes. The subsequent test yielded positive results.

Herr L.Are there possibilities to introduce "defocused learning"into traditional teaching situations too?

Mr A. KnowledgeOf course there are ways. In addition to working with peripheral stimuli, one can, for example, give a usual active concert for children and then follow it with a pseudo-passive concertduring which the teacher asks the children to draw a picture.On the next day, the pictures are used for the elaboration.

Herr L.What would such an elaboration be like?

Mr A. KnowledgeI hope you’ll agree to let me explain that to you in the practical part. In most schools there is an unwritten agreement that gamesand learning are contradictory. Everyone goes there to learnand as a consequence, not to play. School should be taken earnestly and efforts should be made, behaviour should be disciplined and concentrated. Games are more and more excluded from lessons. This is in fact a senseless and irrational conviction, which can be proven by considering how learning took place before school.Everything was learnt by secondary perception, through playful interaction with the environment, motivated by natural curiosity and joy of learning.Children learn without effort or stress. Learning and playing are identical to them. For children, learning is a natural process and goes without saying.It is perceived as pleasant and enjoyable, unfortunately, this joy decreases for most peopleas they increase their time in school.

Herr L.Does this mean that with the Lozanov methodpeople learn again as children do?What is the amount of time spent for activities during lessons, or how long does the activation phase last?

Mr A. KnowledgeSuggestopedia helps to regain the natural energy, that so many people have lost.New information should be activated within 48 hours. Learners play with sentences, analyse themand use the new information, they draw, play different roles, solve problems, play different games, such as ball games, dice, etc…Through games, the ability to store in the long-term memory is enhanced. The game phenomenahas been proven to be a condition for effective recall.Here the homo ludens transforms learning into learn performance. Games that distract the conscious mind from the contents, enable the pre-conscious memorisation of the same. When people learn with pleasure, success, curiosity, connected with fun and games, the information is more efficiently anchored.Activities should count for at least 70 % of the whole lesson time.

Herr L.We learn best in a playful, pleasant, stimulating atmosphereShould all difficulties be avoided?

Mr A. KnowledgeOur brain needs certain challenges to develop.It is only when difficulties are encountered, that our reserve mental capacities are activated. In the second part of our conversation, I shall explain that this statement

is not in fact in contradiction with the idea that brain compatible learning should take place in a non-threatening atmosphere.

Herr L.Thank you very much for your detailed overview.