Achieve Rapid Results

In the 72-hour Foundation Course, you can expect to achieve rapid conversational results. Typically, this program is delivered over a 6 to 10 week period, with 2 to 4 3-hour class sessions per week. You will learn using the suggestopedic method developed by the European researcher, Dr. Georgi Lozanov.

The emphasis at this level is on developing comprehension and speaking skills. A basic foundation of the grammatical structure of the language is developed within the context of a highly functional 2,000 word vocabulary. By the end of the course, students enjoy an active use of between 1,200 and 1,500 vocabulary words and passively comprehend between 1,500 and 2,000. Students will be using the present, past and future tenses.

Upon completion of Foundation Course, students are well prepared to rapidly expand their proficiency in the language through continued usage. Even without further use, the knowledge gained remains available for subsequent reactivation months and years later. This is because learning, by suggestopedic means, is directed toward long-term memory.

The Method

This method is based on harmonizing the teaching process with the complete scope of the mind - that is, with both the conscious and paraconscious (beyond the conscious, including the unconscious) parts of the mind. Conventional methods focus almost exclusively on the conscious mind and, due to ignorance about the significance of the para-conscious aspects - are often, unintentionally, provoking emotional and mental barriers to learning. Our teachers, besides being very well prepared in the conventional academic sense, are trained to deal with the emotional, interpersonal and suggestive aspects of teaching and mentoring. Through a mastery of these communicative factors, they are able to accelerate the rate of learning - for all participants - several times over what can be achieved in conventional classes.

All learning gives rise to a certain amount of stress. The most effective learners are able to manage - and in some cases eliminate this stress. In the Pars Omni™ program, we give much emphasis to eliminating stress of all kinds. Learning to speak a new language - especially at the beginning - tends to arouse discomfort and embarrassment on the part of most adults. But, typically, in our programs, students report that they find the classes highly enjoyable and relaxing; often, they report that they have more energy at the end of a three hour session than they had at the beginning. This is as it should be: as the teaching-learning rate is accelerated, stress must simultaneously be reduced.

Classes

Class size ranges from 6 to 14 students. Each student is screened to ensure that everyone is starting at the same approximate level. In the screening interview, we also explore other factors that could impact the desired results. By the end of the course, we expect that all students will be successful - though with varying skill levels. The range between the lowest and highest skill levels is closer than that found in conventional classes - and, everyone in the class will be communicating at a level rarely achieved in 1 to 2 years of study in a high school or university program.

It is difficult to describe the range of teaching activities that take place in the program, except to say that games, music and enjoyable, highly interactive 'activations' characterize every class meeting. Just as we learned our own native language - as children - in a highly interactive social setting, you will find that you are learning Spanish in a highly interactive, supportive and friendly small group setting. The main difference is that your Spanish class experience is - from the point of view of the teacher - highly structured; though you, as a student, will often experience it as spontaneous and free.

Class meetings are normally three hours long. Evening classes run from 6:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., with a 30 minute break in the middle. Morning classes go from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., including the 30 minute break. Length of course varies from a 4 week intensive program to a 10 week program - determined by the number of meetings per week.

No Homework

No outside work (‘homework’) is required. In fact, extensive outside work during the early part of the course can actually be counter-productive. As the course progresses, students begin to appreciate new ways to enhance their own learning. In the beginning, any outside work we do is heavily conditioned by study habits we picked up in school. These habits, though perhaps effective in those old school contexts, often create additional stress and are generally oriented to short term memory. And in all of our programs, we are targeting long term memory.