“Super learning” (SL) is an accelerated learning technique and a fast-growing business, with varying results. Lessons usually last a whole day, and the course is often concentrated into a weekend. Some courses are based simply on suggestopedia, promising - but not always delivering - great results: “learn French in five days”. However, some successfully combine suggestopedia with other teaching methods to deliver good results.

SL is designed to aid the learning process by removing learning barriers, stimulating both hemispheres of the brain simultaneously, as well as activating some of the intelligences not normally represented in a traditional course.

The classroom environment is set up to facilitate subconscious learning, as well as the removal of learning barriers. A lot of attention is paid to the use of colour, the temperature in the room(s), the positioning of furniture, background music. Posters and displays are carefully selected with the aim of helping students to absorb vocabulary and ideas subconsciously. The emphasis is on making the student feel comfortable, relaxed and free from anxiety and stress. This usually involves an element of fun and a lot of encouragement from the teacher.

While in the traditional classroom environment the verbal-linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences are often over-represented, SL attempts to redress this imbalance by including activities which allow for the activation of other intelligences (such as spatial and musical). Games which involve movement, use of colour on worksheets, mind maps, word cards, realia, songs and music are employed throughout the day to reinforce the learning point, keeps students interested and motivated.

The Total Physical Response (TPR) method is used for memorizing vocabulary, or simple sentence structures at starter and elementary levels. Using body language imitates the way a child learns to speak (by association), and triggers the use of the brain’s right hemisphere (motor skills), thus intensifying the learning process. In the classroom, students and teacher stand in a circle. The teacher introduces a word or simple sentence while miming the activity. For example he says “I like reading” while opening his palms upwards to represent a book. The students then repeat what was said while miming the action of reading. After 6 or 8 actions are introduced and drilled, the teacher will mime the actions randomly and students mime and say the corresponding sentence: “I like sleeping”, “I like dancing” etc. The process usually involves a lot of laughter, and as students do everything in chorus, they are relaxed and not afraid of having to perform - and possibly fail - in front of their peers.

Suggestopedia aims to make the classroom atmosphere comfortable and relaxed in order to lower students’ affective filters (learning blockages) and give them confidence. In SL classes this method is used during the second half of the day, after some more physically active learning (e.g. TPR) has already taken place. As the first step the teacher pre-teaches the vocabulary, eliciting where possible. After this s/he tells a story, using dramatization to increase the impact. Students are then asked to sit in a chair comfortably, and contract and relax various muscles to the teacher’s instructions, while quiet classical music is playing in the background. This will get students into a relaxed state, usually with their eyes closed. The teacher then reads the story slowly. S/he walks around in the classroom, so students hear his/her voice from various angles and distances. After a few seconds of silence the teacher reads the story again the same way. Some students vividly visualize the story, while others might drift off for a few seconds. Nevertheless, the story does sink in, and the language gets memorized fairly well. To reinforce the learning, students will then walk around the room and read the story in chorus. The expression of emotion is encouraged to aid dramatization.

While some task-based exercises will be used to facilitate writing skills (write a letter to your friend), the emphasis is on verbal communication. Therefore it is best used at starter to pre-intermediate levels, and may not be effective in preparing students for certificate exams. However, despite its limitations SL is an effective and increasingly popular method used successfully by language teachers across the world.

Julia Davison