Home

 

Learning English

e-mail

Nlp > Index.

 

 

 

top

 

    Nlp means Neuro-Linguistic Programming.

    A one minute introduction to it would go like this:

 

"Ladies and Gentlemen, to be successful in life you only need to remember three things:
 

      - Firstly, know what you want, have a clear idea of your goal in each situation.

      - Secondly, be alert and keep your senses open to know what you are getting.

      - Thirdly, be flexible and change your behaviour until you get what you want.

                - GOAL
                - SENSITIVITY
                - FLEXIBILITY

 

 

 

Nlp for you

    Nlp begins with an interest in people. It's about how we do things. Nlp in Education tells us about how we think and learn. It does this by enabling us to explore the structure of our own subjective experience : how we construct our view of the world. Used in Education Nlp empowers us to submerge into the inner, virtual-world each of us creates as a way of understanding the outside world.

An analogy of Nlp is the example of a history teacher I know. He has recreated a medieval castle in virtual reality. His aim is to be able to take his students for a virtual walk round the house so that they can explore it in 3D.

In a similar way Nlp techniques enable us to demonstrate to students their own inner learning processes. This brings them much closer to learning to manage their own rich internal software: their images, sounds and feelings. Bit-by-bit they will come to understand and even learn how to control the way they think. In short they will learn how to learn. This is surely our goal as educators.

 

 

Reading Comprehension Modelling project (summary)

(Sabbatical project financed by The Education Department of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain).

Goal:
To improve reading comprehension.

Method:
Modelling efficient readers' comprehension strategies then applying these strategies to less efficient readers as resources.

Practice:
We asked the English departments in seven schools to choose several excellent readers who were then given a cloze test to establish a level of reference. We chose 15 students who showed a similar level of comprehension in the cloze test and interviewed them.

The goals of individual interviews were three-fold :
- to establish students' habitual learning pattern.
- to observe how they went about reading a text.
- to enable discussion with them on the observations made.

Conclusion:
Most of the efficient readers whom we observed used their habitual learning pattern to read the texts proposed.

Hypothesis formed :
Less efficient readers do not use their habitual learning strategy to read foreign language texts and should be directed to do so.

Testing : We studied the reading strategies of 5 students considered by their teachers as inefficient readers and found that they did not use their habitual learning strategy when reading instead applied another strategy.

Realignment:
We followed the progress of these inefficient readers during the rest of the school year, advising each one about how to realign their reading strategy. Each one showed improvement in reading comprehension abilities.

Conclusions: One common problem appeared : the inefficient readers all showed a basic metacognitive ignorance. These readers were less competent at analysing their own strategies and developing them because they remained unaware of them and so they were unable to make judgments on improvement. In this way, although some did realign their strategy they did it at an unconscious level. This made practice on their own rather difficult because they were unaware of progress.

It has become clear that less capable students can improve their reading comprehension by readjusting their reading strategy to fit with their learning strategy. However they will need intensive accompanied practice in the new strategy sequences in order to effect change because they usually lack metacognitive strategies.

Read Full Report

Download Full Report in Acrobat form

 

Read on

Bandler,R., & Grinder, J., Frogs into Princes, Real people Press(1979).
A classic and entertaining introduction to Nlp.

Buzan,T., The Mind Map Book,  Penguin(1996) A method for organising complex information in a simple form. (See below for software information.)

Cleveland, B. Master teaching Techniques, The Connecting Link Press, Georgia, USA, (1987)
A clear user-friendly introduction to functional educational techniques based upon the Nlp communication model. Constant practical exercises make the book both experiential and more comprehensible.

Dilts, R., Epstein, T., Dynamic Learning, Meta Publications(1995)
New techniques for learning Reading, Writing, Memorisation, Spelling, Languages and assessment. (See  Robert Dilts' Website   for more techniques.)

Dortu,J-C.,  Une classe de rêve ,  CLE International, Bruxelles(1986). Visualisations for the classroom.

Gerngross,G. & Puchta,H,  Creative Grammar practice: Getting learners to use both sides of the brain,  Pilgrims-Longman,(1992)
Grammar structures presented using Nlp models. Practical approach and a fresh look at new ways to present traditional grammar.

Grinder,M.,  Righting the Educational Conveyor Belt ,  Metamorphous Press, Oregon, USA. (1991)
Grinder presents ways to enrich teaching through understanding how students perceive and by adapting methods to suit different learning styles. Worksheets provide plenty of practice for teachers who like hands on learning.

Grinder,M.,  Envoy, M.Grinder & Associates, WA. USA.(1993) A practical workbook-style introduction to classroom management techniques.

Jacobson,S.  Meta-cation (Vol.III), Meta Publications, California. (1986).
Nlp techniques for use in education, understood in the broadest sense. Full of problem-solving advice directly applicable in school, particularly in remedial situations.

Hager,M.  Target Fluency,  Metamorphous Press, Oregon, USA.(1994)
A wide-ranging introductory application of  Nlp insights to ELT.

Lloyd,L.  Classroom magic,  Metamorphous Press, Oregon, USA. (1990)
A week by week programme to gradually introduce Nlp techniques into your classroom parallel to the curriculum.

McCarthy,B.,  The 4Mat System ,  Arlington Heights, Illinois: Exel,Inc.,(1980)

O'Connor,J.& Seymour,J. Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming,  (Mandala) HarperCollins, London(1990).
Nlp is described by O'Connor as a systematic way of learning how to learn. Instead of using an external, behaviourist approach to learning, Nlp concentrates on techniques to help learners change their inner subjective experience: the way they perceive their world. (See Joseph O'Connor's Website  for creative techniques.)

Scheele, P., The PhotoReading Whole Mind System, Learning Strategies Corporation(1993).
An easy guide to boosting reading speed AND comprehension.

Tomlinson,B., Openings,  Lingua House,(1986)
Studies on how visualisation can help reading comprehension.

Verlee Williams, L. Teaching for the two-sided mind , (Prentice-Hall), New Jersey, (1983).
Other ways to present information in classrooms : visual, metaphoric and multisensorial strategies. Many practical examples are provided.

 

 

    Listserv.

    - Nlp in Education

    This e-mail group discusses Nlp as applied to educational issues. At present we are over 200 subscribers including teachers, educational therapists and writers.

    Most of the exchanges concern cases of a highly practical nature encouraging participants to experiment with and expand the boundaries of educational practice through Nlp. Membership is open and free.

    Subscribe (click and send a blank e-mail.)

Mind Maps

The Information Age will enable us to access huge amounts of data. The problem we will now face is how to organise all this information. One efficient solution is to use Mind Maps.

A Mind Map is a design which enables you to present complex data in a direct and memorable form.  Its design is elegant  and it can usually sit nicely on a sheet of A4 paper thus allowing you to access all the information at one glance. This format is particularly recommendable for organisers or students who have to remember and relate large masses of material. To view the mind map of this page click on top :