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own goals and existing knowledge. "The more you link, the more you
learn." The flower is the perfect metaphor to link to positive imagery: "What
does it take to make your flower grow?"
Another technique to guarantee involvement from the
start is for the learners and the instructor to toss a squashy, brightly colored Koosh
ball to volunteers to tell one main point they already know about a topic, and to draw
Mind Maps covering the same points - from a pre-prepared map that lists the main
"learning branches".
The sequence is designed to encourage the learners of
every subject to start by identifying what they want to know, and then proceeding from
what they already know - generally an amazing amount.
The entire presentation must also be positive. The
facilitator should never suggest in any way that the session is anything but fun - no
"now the break's over, let's get back to the hard work" talk.
Lozanov called his fast-learning process
"suggestopedia," from "suggestology" - but that is an unfortunate
translation into English. Says Stockwell: "The name is rather unusual, but if you see
'to suggest' in the sense of 'to propose' or 'to recommend' then it is easier to
under-stand the relationship."22
As we've touched on in the previous chapter, the power
of suggestion is paramount in learning: we all do best when we think we can do it; we fail
if we expect to fail. Every adult has seen how infants' learning abilities soar in a
favorable, positive atmosphere. All good Lozanov-style facilitators try to recreate the
same kind of positive fun-filled atmosphere in the classroom. And like all good
advertising copywriters, they go out of their way to stress how easy the project is.
Japanese-language teachers may well use the "Itchy knee; sun, she go rock!"
exercise we've covered on page 34.
Business-seminars may well start with the story of Ray
Krok, the 52-year-old seller of milkshake machines, who first visited a Californian
hamburger restaurant in 1952 and saw the start of an idea that ended up as McDonald's - an
example to show how great projects can grow from very modest beginnings.
Lozanov stresses the important links between conscious
and subconscious presentation. He believes each of us has an enormous reserve of brain
power waiting to be tapped. He believes that by far the most important part of all
learning is subconscious; and that good teachers remove the barriers to learning by making
their presentations logical,
Contents Page Preface
Introduction
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