I had the pleasure of attending a workshop held by my colleague Lori Ristevski concerning the practical application of "Brain Friendly

Learning" (otherwise known as effective/affective learning). During the workshop, Lori stated that this method of teaching is based on the idea that effective learning is suggestive in nature, not direct. In other words, learning takes place through a combination of different types of right and left brain functions. She stated that long-term memory is semi-conscious and that we must sidetrack people with other things in order to allow them to receive information through peripheral perception. In order to help us understand these concepts, Lori led us through a "concert". A "concert" is basically a story read (or sung by some) out loud by the teacher. Students concentrate on understanding the story and not on "learning" new vocabulary, grammar etc. Following are the steps of this exercise and an example text for a "concert". An important principle applied to this exercise (and, I imagine, all effective/affective materials) is the repeated exposure to new material. Music is also played in the background as a means of stimulating right brain participation. A Concert Step 1: Read (or sing in a quasi recitative style - good luck ;-) the concert to students. Make sure to not introduce the new material before the concert. Step 2: Have students split up into teams. Read the concert back with pauses, the focus information being presented, for the students to fill in. Each correct answer gets a point. For example: You are working on introducing prepositions, you have read the concert and now read "John went ____ the store ___ the corner". Students shout out "into!" and "on!" and the various teams get points. Step 3: Have students, in their respective teams, take cards (that you have prepared) with the new words/phrases on them. Students then place the cards in the correct order of usage, or combine them with other cards to make sense. For example: Cards have been created with prepositions and nouns. Students need to then match up the correct preposition with the noun. Step 4: Have students make up sentences in turn using the paired up cards. For example: Student A takes the pair "into, store" and says, "He went into the store to buy some food".

Now, here's the concert text. Thanks to another colleague, Judith Ruskin, for having created this text. The target language areas of this text are verb preposition, and adjective preposition combinations. Once upon a time there was a young man who was addicted to chocolate. He ate it for breakfast in the morning, at lunch and dinner - it seemed that he was never tired of eating it. Chocolate with cornflakes, chocolate on toast, chocolate and beer - he even boasted of eating chocolate and steak. He was married to a beautiful woman whom he had met when he was recovering from flu. She was a nurse, responsible for all the patients in the area and very content with her job. In fact the only problem these two had was his dependence on chocolate. One day the young wife decided on a plan to make her husband allergic to chocolate forever. She confided in her best friend and asked her to cooperate with her in playing a trick on her husband. She was aware of the fact that her friend suffered from rats and she asked if she could borrow some of her rat poison. Her friend was a little surprised at the request but agreed to it and gave her the poison. The young wife hurried home and started work in the kitchen, very satisfied with herself. An hour later she emerged from the kitchen proudly carrying a large chocolate cake and the empty tin of rat poison. "Darling - I've made a lovely chocolate cake for you!" she called fondly. Down the stairs the greedy husband ran and in short time he had polished it off, right down to the last crumb. He was released from hospital after only two weeks. He never accused his wife of poisoning him, but he was always slightly suspicious of her. Needles to say, he never again touched chocolate. Well, as you can tell my colleague is British and has that touch of famed British love of black humor... For further information on effective/affective learning: SEAL Society for Effective Affective Learning. UK based global association promoting effective/affective learning. Suggestopedia An introduction to Suggestopedia through a look at documentation on the Net concerning its theory, practice and principles. BRAIN friendly English Learning Take a look at this exciting approach to learning/teaching English which focuses on using all areas of the brain while enjoying learning.

"Headway Intermediate", a popular EFL student's book published by Oxford Press, gives another great example of setting the scene musically. Every extended listening is preceded and followed by a short snippet of related music - usually the beginning bars and the final tones of a given piece. These little touches do wonders to add atmosphere to an otherwise familiar classroom setting. Using Music Selectively To Enhance Concentration The most important point to remember when using music to accompany learning is that it be an aid to learning and not a distraction. Let me give an example, if your class is doing a grammar exercise and you want to use some music in the background to help students concentrate, choose music which employs regular periods (repeated phrases and patterns) - something like Hayden or Mozart, maybe Bach. Choosing abrasive, disharmonic music will distract students while their brains try to make sense of the disharmony. Choosing something melodic which employs musical patterns will not distract. Not only will this type of music not distract, the regular patterns of the music also help to underline the repetetive nature of grammar. Another example of using music selectively would be written descriptive exercises in which students need to use their imaginations. You can set the scene musically which will help stimulate their imagination. Let's say students need to describe their life as young children. Ravel's "Mother Goose Suite" playing softly in the background will help them return to those simpler times through its sweet harmonies and simple structures. Listening to Shostokovitch, on the other hand, would put them right off!

The origin of Suggestopedia

Suggestopedia is a language teaching method developed by the Bulgarian psychologist, Georgi Lozanov (see picture on the right.) Like Community Language Learning and the Silent Way Method, Suggestopedia is an innovative method that promises great effective language learning results. Lozanov claimed that by using this method one can teach languages approximately three to five times as quickly as conventional methods. The name of Suggestopedia is from the words suggestion and pedagogy. It is a set of learning recommendations derived from Suggestology, which Lozanov describes as a science concerned with systematic study of the nonrational and/or nonconscience influences that human beings are constantly responding to. The method also draws from insights from yoga and the Soviet psychology. From yoga it draws the importance of relaxation of mind for maximum retention of material. From Soviet psychology Lozanov took the idea that all sudents can be taught a given subject matter at the same level of skill. Jack C. Richards and Theodore S. Rodgers (1986) The main features of suggestopedia are:

The use of music to relax learners. The furniture, decoration and the arrangement of the classroom. Teachers authority. The teacher plays a central role and he/she is the source of all information.

In the classroom
The arrangements and the physical atmosphere in the classroom are paramount for making sure that the students feel comfortable and confident. The use of various techniques including art and music, are used by the trained teachers. In the beginning, the lesson based on Suggestopedia used to consist of three phases : deciphering, concert session (memorization sance), and elaboration. Later, it has developed into four phases as lots of experiments were done: introduction, concert session, elaboration, and production(cfLozanovs siteweb). 1. Introduction: The teacher teaches the material in a playful manner instead of analyzing lexis and grammar of the text in a directive manner.

2.

Concert session (active and passive): in the active session, the teacher reads with special intonantion as selected music is played. Occasionally, the students read the text together with the teacher, and listen only to the music as the teacher pauses in particular moments. The passive session is done more calmly. Elaboration: The students sing classical songs and play games while the teacher acts more like a consultant Production: The students spontaneously speak and interact in the target language without interruption or correction.

3. 4.

Criticism:
Suggestopedia has been criticised for a number of reasons:

It is not a practical method as teachers face the problem of the availability of music and comfortable chairs. Lozanov refers in a number of occasions to the importance of memorization, excluding any reference to comprehension and creative problem solving. In fact language is not only about the power of the mind to memeorize. Its about understanding, interacting and producing novel utterences in different unpredictable

situations. Advantages In spite of all these disadvantages, some tenets of Suggestopedia have been accepted and adapted by teachers worldwide.

Through Suggetopedia we learn to trust the power of the mind. We also learn that delibrately induced states of relaxation can be valuable at times in the classroom. We can also benefit from the use of music to get students sit back and relax.

These are some of the contributions of Suggestopedia that teachers may weigh and adapt to different situations.