Desuggestopedia Concerts: the Rationale behind the Name
In the desuggestopedia framework of teaching, the second and third stages are called ‘concerts’. Some candidates on our Module One DELTA Preparation Course are a bit surprised why these two stages are called so. Their astonishment even increases when they know that students in the first concert will listen to the teacher reading from a text without having any task to do. These feelings can be easily traced back to what most of them have learnt in their Level 5 courses. They used to be told that it was unnatural to ask students to listen without giving them a reason; and this reason in ELT could be simply a question to answer. However, this is not how Lozanov, the originator of desuggestopedia, saw things. The man wanted students to be super relaxed so that all negative suggestions about learning a language fade away. And because relaxation was what he was looking for, he wanted to provide students with the same state our minds have when at a concert. It is the state when we just chill out, listen to music, watch some drama and forget about the whole universe with its burdens. This is why when candidates say: Shady, how come students are not given a reason for this listening part? I always say: who said so? The reason is pleasure, isn’t pleasure a feeling that can stand as a reason itself?