Word of the Day: Suggestopedia

 http://www.jwelford.demon.co.uk/brainwaremap/suggest.html

Key Elements of Suggestopedia

Some of the key elements of Suggestopedia include a rich sensory learning environment (pictures, colour, music, etc.), a positive expectation of success and the use of a varied range of methods: dramatised texts, music, active participation in songs and games, etc.
Suggestopedia adopts a carefully structured approach, using four main stages as follows:

• Presentation
  A preparatory stage in which 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.
• First Concert - "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.
• Second Concert - "Passive Review"
  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.
• Practice
  The use of a range of games, puzzles, etc. to review and consolidate the learning. 

Enable students to take control of their learning

While the teacher provides the necessary instruction, modeling, and support, the students work to develop the metacognitive skills necessary for independent problem solving.

from: Mastering ESL and Bilingual Methods by Socorro G. Herrera and Kevin G. Murry

ASCD Inservice: Every Child, Every Day

ASCD Inservice: Every Child, Every Day:
"Examine the literacy activities that struggling readers in your school experience every day. Do all of them spend at least two-thirds of their reading and writing lessons actually reading and writing? Or do they spend larger amounts of time on specific skill-work activities, and little time reading and writing?


When struggling readers interact with texts all day long, in science and social studies lessons, for instance, do they read with 98% accuracy or higher -- or do they struggle with reading accuracy, then fluency, and finally comprehension? What are students learning about language and literacy in settings where they have an uninterrupted diet of challenging texts?


Ask yourself:

• Are the adults in our school making decisions that create struggling readers?
• Are instructional systems and uses of time designed to ensure the activities recommended above? If not, what is in their place?
• What am I going to do to ensure that every child spends most of every day in high-quality, literate, learning environments?"

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