Workshops

Rupprecht S. Baur

Relaxed learning? Suggestopedia for the design of holistic and creative learning processes

Many foreign language teachers who come into contact with Suggestopedia have the desire to learn more about the procedures and basics of Suggestopedia. This desire is based on the fact

- that suggestopedia has the reputation of combining particularly effective teaching and learning procedures and promises "learning without stress",

- that teaching and learning methods that have become known through suggestopedia (such as the use of movement, music and relaxation) are increasingly being combined with other methods of language teaching,

- that Suggestopedia has remained open to new developments and insights, so that it can be seen as a reservoir of creative ideas for the design of teaching and learning processes.

In the first part of the workshop, the participants get to know Suggestopedia in the form of a self-experience with a foreign language they are not familiar with. The different presentation phases, in which nonverbal and paraverbal forms of expression, music and relaxation and learner-activating exercises are used, give the participants a clear idea of the method and its procedures.

In a second part, creative exercises are carried out (in German), which offer suggestions on how the suggestopaedic procedures can also be used in the classroom with advanced learners.

Experiences in foreign language teacher training have shown that suggestopedia stimulates the examination of foreign language learning processes and motivates to expand one's own repertoire of actions. This is also the goal of this workshop.

Literature:

Baur, Rupprecht S. (1996): Suggestopedia. In: Fremdsprachen Lehren und Lernen 25, 106-137.

Michael Koenig

Creative exercise design - from the planning to the teaching level

My contribution deals on the one hand with current aspects of exercise design from the professional discussion, such as focus on form or automation and fluency up to playful approaches and how these can be found in teaching materials (planning level) and realized in everyday practical lessons (teaching level). 

In this context, it is of course important to consider the criteria for "good" exercises in foreign language teaching and to analyze existing exercises in textbooks accordingly.

However, the central question for the entire workshop will be how teachers can design conventional exercises (or activities in general) more creatively and in a way that is more suitable for the target group, or how they can replace them with their own ideas, and which basic principles or "philosophy" of exercise design are helpful for this. A small (probably revealing) excursus on the current creativity potential of the participants will also serve this purpose.

So we will play through and reflect on the topic of exercise design, perhaps even (hopefully) develop some new things, and at the same time 'ponder' and 'do' intensively.

Stefanie Morgret

Musical possibilities for the promotion of pronunciation in DaF lessons

The use of music can not only enhance learners' motivation, but also their pronunciation. In recent years, various studies have found links between phonetic and musical skills in adult learners' foreign language acquisition. Positive effects of singing on speaking and memorization have been observed, and shared and overlapping neural resources in language and music processing have been documented.

This raises the question of the extent to which music can also be used within the foreign language classroom with adult learners to enhance their phonetic skills.

Although songs and raps are occasionally used in existing DaF textbooks, they often lack methodological-didactic information with detailed learning steps for pronunciation or they are oriented towards the target group of children. Authentic music is rarely used.

The workshop will focus on the methodological-didactic possibilities of music in teaching practice. On the basis of concrete examples, it will be presented how phonetic competencies can be promoted in adult learners at the elementary level through the active use of music and especially in the form of musical chunks (rhythmic-melodic units).

On the basis of theoretical foundations, concrete teaching materials as well as own empirical studies, different possibilities of using music with adult learners are presented, tested and discussed. The focus is on speech rhythms, raps and authentic songs. The promotion of pronunciation is also linked to other skills (grammar, etc.) within the framework of integrative phonetics. 

Karin Rottmann

Museum Graffiti & Co -

Methods in the context of language teaching in museums

Museums are places of inspiration and communication. Language teaching can also benefit from this extraordinary potential of these learning spaces.

In the workshop different methods and exercises will be presented, tested and discussed in the context of language didactics and different learning levels. In working groups we will place museum graffities with strings on the museum floor and explore museum spaces, exhibits and their relationships through individual words. "Language Games with Art" will open up opportunities for us to add a fun element to vocabulary work and grammar in the museum. A repertoire of writing recipes empowers even untrained students to write poetic texts about works of art.

In the workshop, the poems will be recited as a "poetry walk" in the museum. In this context, we discuss the importance of presenting the results of the work.

Maik Walter (Text Movement Berlin)

The spoken stage: theater techniques as teaching techniques

When talking about theater in foreign language teaching, the focus is usually on the learner. The workshop now focuses on the teachers with their performative competence and takes up the idea of teaching as a staging again. Theater can provide important impulses for this. First of all, the idea of a dramaturgically structured teaching is obvious, but also concrete theater techniques like the technique of the hot chair can contribute to a staged teaching.

The workshop presents this idea using the technique of the spoken stage. Here, in the fictional Als Ob, a room is constructed in which further teaching sequences can take place. After a short introduction, the technique will be demonstrated and tried out by the workshop participants. In the following reflection, the possibilities and limits of the technique in the teaching context are discussed on the basis of self-experience.