Category: English Courses

I had contact from a Turkish lady I had met whilst giving courses in Turkey, and this course Learning English with NLP.

When I first met her, her English was quite poor, she would sit in the corner, her head lowered, and would not say much at all, although her loverly personality shone through.

She is a lady that takes care of her appearance, her looks. Her choice of clothes are well co-ordinated and of high quality. Whereas others would be in jeans and tee shirts, she would not be. She must have taken time in considering what to wear.

Her hair, long and blond, must have taken a long time to do in the morning.

Her makeup was like her clothes, carefully considered, matched with the whole appearance.

I initially thought that she would be a problem, one that perhaps did not really want to learn, was there for another reason. But as the time went by, I noticed that she really did want to learn, and that she was putting into practice what I was teaching, not only that, she was helping others to do the same, not by force, but by example.

I taught the my RAM (click for more) principle from my Memory Course. R to be relaxed, A to give attention, M to be motivated.

She attended all my sessions, including my relaxation sessions, or should I say hypnosis sessions, trying to be first to be able to get the bean bag cushion, or a couple of smaller cushions so she did not have to sit on a chair.

Whenever I spoke, in a session or at tea/coffee break, she hung on every word I said, and I could tell when she was having difficulty understanding, so that enabled me to modify my language content, so that she could understand me.

She knew what she wanted. I know she had a plan, she could see the outcome, she knows where she wants to be.

To continue her learning, she is to attend a course in England, in the south coast seaside resort of Bournemouth, starting in the next few months, and is due to last for six months.

In her messages, she asked for information. What is Bournemouth like, do I know the school she will attend, but especially, do I know anyone that can be available to help her if she needs it?

Well Bournemouth is a popular seaside town, especially in the summer months, but also popular with people at the end of their life, who retire there, as the air and temperature is good and warm most of the time.

Bournemouth in summertime, with steep cliffs to the rear.

Although there is a higher than the national average of “old age pensioners” in the town, there is also a growing number of students, which means there is good entertainment, nightlife, disco’s, bars. There is also an out of season influx of business people who will attend conferences in the well appointed hotels.

Like many south coast towns in the UK, schools and colleges have opened to cater for the worldwide appetite to learn English, some are small, some belonging to universities. There are thousands, so I do not know any to recommend or to talk about.

Unfortunately or fortunately, I will not be in England that much as I give courses around the world, and the pending departure to Malaysia. But, I do have a cousin near by, and friends and acquaintances in the area, perhaps one may volunteer just to be there, to give a helping hand.

Of course, I will be always available, albeit at a distance, to help, and if we find ourselves in the same town, I hope we can meet up, and have a drink or two. That is what friends are for.

Good luck Anit (tweety). Contact me if you need anything.

I have just heard that a fellow teacher/trainer I had worked with in Turkey, both in Istanbul and Ankara has passed away.

Saadet Kimyon, was a girl who had a smile, no matter what the experience she was going through, she always worked to her full potential, offering her participants she was teaching English to, only the best.

It is Saadet I mention in my courses, who had worked in England, near Oxford, for many years, only speaking and teaching in English.

It was when she returned to Turkey with her partner to live and work, that she found that though a native Turkish speaker, her ability to speak in her own tongue, was reduced.

It was through Saadet’s experience of memory usage, and relaying this to my participants in my metaphors, that we can understand that you must “use it, or loose it“.

If we do not practice or do what is taught or what we have learned, be it NLP, Mind Maps, Memory, PhotoReading or whatever, then what we have invested in time and money will be wasted.

But, I have said that whatever you have learned in the past, that memory or learning can be accessed and used again. It may take effort.

So it was with Saadet, she soon spoke Turkish as a native.

Saadet, may you rest in peace.

So OK I am getting better from the cold or virus (virus or bacteria click to read) I developed, with runny nose, sore throat, and a thick head. But, last night it felt as if I had something stuck in the back of my throat, a pocket type thing, hanging from the roof of the back of my mouth.

What was it?

Had I eaten some strange food that got caught, had I scratch the roof of my mouth?

On looking inside the mouth, I saw the uvula the small finger like thing hanging at the back of the mouth, between the tonsils, if you still have them.
                                            
It was inflamed and swollen. It is highly infected.

It seems that an infection can be caused by a number of things, including dehydration, well I am drinking a lot so it can not be that, smoking, I gave that up 30 years ago and no-one smokes here, or allergic reaction, it could be that as I have no idea what I am eating, or snoring, I know I do not snore even though people say I do, I know they are lying, or a viral or bacterial infection (click to read Virus v Bacteria).

They say the best thing to do is to gargle with salt water. Well I will give it a try.

As I had no idea what the purpose of the uvula is, I researched I found some interesting information. I know why we have legs and arms, but this thing hanging from the top of the mouth, the soft palate?

It seems it is used to stop food going the wrong way down, in other words down our wind pipe, it is also useful for making sounds.
 
For a few years I had taken participants learning English in Turkey (click on the Category Archives on the left hand panel “English Courses” for more information), who were on a nine day course from 9am until 9pm, and three times a day, I would teach them some skills using NLP, some relaxation and memory skills, and during the sessions I would teach that language was a whole body experience.

It seems that the uvula plays an important part in language and talking.

When making sounds with the air coming from the lungs, the uvula is used along with the tongue, in English to make guttural sounds, to stop air passing through the nose to make sounds like my wifes family name NG. Different languages use the uvula to make different sounds.

Ok another piece of useless information to add to my collection.