How is Pars Omni® teaching different from other teaching methods?

In the Pars Omni® approach the materials and the teaching are organized in harmony with the laws that govern brain functioning - especially with the ability of brain to function simultaneously at conscious and paraconscious (i.e. peripheral) levels. The Pars Omni® program's research and data are rooted in psychophysiology. Because of this, larger amounts of information can be easily assimilated; whereas other teaching methods rely only on the conscious mind's capacity to process the information, creating an unnatural and somewhat stressful condition.

Don't all of us, including children, have different learning styles and therefore no one teaching style is adequate for all?

The reason there are so-called different learning styles is because we have been taught different approaches to learning in school, at home and in our culture. Children need a natural approach, which is seeing the global and the detailed elements simultaneously. Normally, all of our perceptions are always simultaneous and the Pars Omni® method works in harmony with this natural process.

Is the Pars Omni® reading program for children a 'whole language approach' or a 'phonics approach'?

In the field of teaching reading a controversy has raged between the analytic and the synthetic approaches. The Pars Omni® reading approach, using the method developed by Dr. Georgi Lozanov, has effectively transcended this problem by employing analysis and synthesis in a simultaneous process. So it is neither a 'whole language approach' nor a 'phonics approach.' What we see in the conventional methods are elements analyzed and studied in isolation from the sense-bearing whole. Elements become automated through tiring drills before they can be connected systematically to form meaning. Phonics are studied this way in most phonetic languages.

Or, at the other end of the spectrum, the whole word, sentence or larger unit is studied with little or no attention to its components. On a physiological level, analytical-synthetic activity normally is accomplished simultaneously. In a Pars Omni® class, phonetic details are taught simultaneously with the meaning of words and sentences.

Is the Pars Omni® approach different from current holistic methods?

Yes. Current holistic methods rely mostly on the conscious mental processes in their teaching practices. The teaching in Pars Omni® simultaneously addresses both the consciousness and the para-consciousness.

What does the term Suggestopedia mean?

Suggestopedia is a teaching methodology, created by Dr. Georgi Lozanov, which takes into account the many suggestive influences around us, both on a conscious and an unconscious level. He coined this term in order to make us aware that at all times we are immersed in a sea of suggestions; suggestions which can either uplift or suppress us, motivate us or instill fear, increase creativity or dull us. By being aware of the role suggestion plays in our everyday lives, "we can free it from its unorganized use and employ it for creation, to stimulate human progress." Dr. Lozanov (1973)

What is the earliest age children can be taught to read?

Actually children can start learning to read as soon as they start speaking. Some people have concerns about placing children under undo stress by teaching them to read at an early age (4 or younger). However, they are really objecting to the possible stress of the teaching process - which is a real concern. The Pars Omni® approach to reading accords with the natural way the brain processes information: taking in the whole and the elements simultaneously. This fosters more flexbility in the child's thinking (i.e. he tends to have more strategies available when approaching new situations). This has a considerable impact on how he approaches learning in general. In other words, the earlier a child can see the elements in the whole and the whole in the elements, the greater his ability to learn.

Dr. Lozanov taught 3-year old children how to read and later followed their progress in school and found them to have above average social adaptation and academic success.

What is the difference between a conventional teacher and a Pars Omni® teacher?

Conventional teachers are not trained to use the 'peripheral perceptions' nor are they effectively trained in how to provide a healthy (in all its senses) educational environment. Their general approach is to focus the student's conscious attention on the material to be learned. A conventional teacher walks into the classroom and may be operating from the belief: What I teach and what the students learn can only be perceived through the conscious mind of the students. This belief then colors the entire teaching process. The Pars Omni® teacher, is aware of the unity of the consciousness and the paraconsciousness in the teaching process. With such a perspective we expect that our students:

• to learn more in less time than they would in conventional classes



• to express and enjoy more creativity and self-determination



• to show signs that they are happy, healthy and socially well integrated people

How is it possible that students feel rested after they are exposed to large volumes of information in a Pars Omni® class?

Because Pars Omni® taps the 'reserve capacities' - capacities that are sometimes tapped in extraordinary or difficult situations, but not normally in evidence in the humdrum life at school.

Why do you say that students who take Pars Omni® classes are less 'suggestible'?

When students participate in a Pars Omni® learning environment, they start to learn how to choose what suggestions are good for them. For example, the music used, the teacher's behavior, the kind of songs used, etc. Students start to understand what is helping them to learn better - and what hinders, as well.

Is the Pars Omni® approach the same as 'accelerated learning'?

Learning in a Pars Omni® class is accelerated as a natural by-product of instruction that works within the framework of the 'reserve capacities'. Other approaches are talking about accelerated learning only within the framework of the 'social suggestive norm'.

How widely used is your teaching method?

Dr. Lozanov's discoveries, as a developed teaching method, came to be in the mid 1970's in Bulgaria. In 1979 UNESCO investigated and corroborated the research of Dr. Lozanov. Because of Dr. Lozanov's success with his new method, he traveled extensively giving lectures. He came to the United States as well. However, the Bulgarian government felt he might be divulging too much information to the West and because of the political climate during the Cold War, his research was suppressed and he was put under house arrest during most of the 1980's. Since the end of the Cold War, Dr. Lozanov, now based in Austria and Bulgaria, has resumed his development work. He has now trained several teacher trainers in Europe, America and Asia, and the method is becoming more available. Eventually, the superior results of this method make it inevitable that it be adopted on a much wider scale in the public sector, though, because it requires significant institutional change, the adoption rate will likely be slow at first.

I understand that games are used a lot in this method, but is this conducive to real learning?

The use of games and play in the Pars Omni® class is just an extension of working with peripheral perceptions. The games always embed information to be learned (lexical, grammatical, logical, informational, etc.) and should be of artistic value. Also, the correct use of games allows the student to develop his ability to concentrate and focus attention on any task in a joyful manner. Since children communicate mostly on an emotional level, games help to connect children to their natural way of communicating.

How long does it take to be trained as a teacher in the Pars Omni® approach?

People sometimes see the Pars Omni® approach as a collection of techniques and therefore think that a weekend workshop will suffice in learning how to teach at a basic level. What they don't see is that this method consists of a very flexible and rich level of communication on the level of the reserve capacities. One of the ways to experience what reserve capacities are is having new trainees take a foreign language course. In so doing, they come to realize how large amounts of information can be easily assimilated in a short time.

Trainees are taught the psychological, the didactic and the artistic means to accomplish beneficial results. While such training does not involve becoming psychologists, new teachers must learn to develop psychotherapeutic attitudes toward their students. They must become masters in the art of employing positive suggestion even in the most negative of situations. Teachers are expected to adapt the theoretical principles to what are familiar experiences in the lives of their students. The theoretical and practical training they receive enables them to consciously employ emotional stimuli and peripheral perception which are considered to be basic factors in our teaching because of their unconscious role in active and passive attention.

Teachers are taught how to use voice intonation in an artistic way as well as a means to present didactic material. The training also includes a successful presentation by each new teacher showing that he or she is capable of teaching at the level of the reserve capacties. A two or three month period is necessary for the initial training.