Me in Metaphors: Discovering and Uncovering Myself Through NLP and Multiple Intelligences

Anila R. Scott-Monkhouse and Enrica Rigamonti, Italy

Anila R. Scott-Monkhouse has been a teacher of English since 1991 and has taught both children and adults. She now teaches at Parma University (Italy), but also cooperates with the European College in Parma and is involved in training primary school teachers. She is an oral examiner for YLE, KET, PET and FCE. She has written articles and given talks on learner training, and together with M. Mezzadri and P. Taylor she has published two books on Italian grammar for English speaking learners. She is particularly interested in the student as an individual, and focuses on NLP, Suggestopaedia and Gardner’s theory on multiple intelligences applied to language teaching. E-mail: anila@unipr.it

Enrica Rigamonti teaches Italian as a foreign language at the University of Salzburg (Austria). Before moving there in 1992, she taught German as a Foreign language in an Italian secondary school and worked as a translator too. She also teaches adult students attending evening classes, and taught at high school (Abendmatura) too. She is an oral examiner for TELC and PLIDA. She is involved in training Teachers in Adult Education implementing the European Language Portfolio (ELP), has written on the topic and has cooperated with the VÖV in a European Project about Training Teachers using the ELP. She is particularly interested in the ELP, teacher training and developing language and culture awareness.

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Introduction
Lesson plan
Acknowledgements

Introduction

Anila and Enrica have known each other for many years, and for a long time wanted to develop something together. The idea for this activity came out in an informal chat in a café in Milan during the Easter holidays in 2009. It is aimed at teenage/young adult students (SS) at a B2 level (or higher), but it can be adapted to different levels and ages. As it is, the whole activity should last approx 40 mins.

The objectives are:

• to break the ice at the start of a course
• to get to know each other (including the teacher)
• for the teacher to discover what type of learners are in the class
• for the students to think and learn about themselves and each other in a fun way
• to activate the individuals’ different intelligences
• to foster real communication in class
• to stimulate both intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligences

The handout is based on metaphors relating to how the students see themselves. Each item has been deliberately chosen to represent a connection with sensory learning (NLP) and/or multiple intelligences. The handout given to the students would not contain the references printed in blue on the right-hand side of the table.

Lesson plan

Materials

- One handout of the “If I were …. , I’d be…” exercise per student (without the references printed in blue).

Part 1: Thinking about yourself in metaphors (15 mins)

The Teacher (T) gives each student a copy of the handout and reads the stems out aloud, explaining any difficult points.

The Students (SS) complete the sentences thinking about themselves but do this as instinctively as possible.(e.g. If I were an invention I’d be a mobile phone). The T monitors and helps with vocabulary if necessary.

The T asks each S to choose the five metaphors which they feel represent them best and think of why they have made such a choice (e.g. If I were a work of art I’d be a photograph because I cherish memories).

Part 2: Talking about yourself and getting to know your partner (15 mins)

The T models the activity by describing her own five choices and explaining the reason for them. S/he encourages additional questions from the SS. This will help SS understand the activity and also get to know their T.

The SS work in pairs and get to know each other by describing themselves through metaphors and exchanging information. The T monitors.

[While monitoring in both Parts 1 and 2, the T makes a note of the SS’ choices in order to get to know what types of learners are in the class on the basis of the metaphors they have chosen. This will help in planning future work.]

Part 3: Class feedback (10 mins)

The T asks each S to remember one metaphor their partner used to describe themselves and to use this metaphor to introduce the partner to the rest of the class (e.g. This is Erika. If she were an item of clothing she would be a pair of jeans because she is a very practical person.)

Follow-up (raising intercultural awareness)

The same stem sentences and the whole activity itself can be used to encourage SS think about how they feel about their own language (L1) and culture (C1), then about the language and culture they are learning (L2 and C2).

In their classes Anila and Enrica used the following, respectively:
If Italians were …., they’d be…(L1/C1)         If the British were …, they’d be… (L2/C2)
If Austrians were …, they’d be… (L1/C1)      If Italians were …, they’d be…. (L2/C2)

The aim was to get SS to concentrate on the metaphors they had chosen and think of how much these might be influenced by prejudices and stereotypes.

Acknowledgements

Anila wishes to thank Gabriella Spadaro and Chaz Pugliese for opening up the world of Multiple Intelligences to her through their workshops (“Is the way we learnt the best way to teach?”, Bologna, 11 November 2006, and “Are we failing to reach our bodily-kinaesthetic and musically intelligent students?”, Canterbury, 12 August 2008, respectively). She would also like to thank Bonnie Tsai for all her precious teaching in the course “NLP for Teachers”.

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Anila and Enrica further developed the present lesson plan into the workshop “Myself, my language and my culture. Who am I? Identity, Language and Culture through NLP and Multiple Intelligences” within the conference “Multilingualism: a Challenge for Science and Teaching. Research, Development and Practice” (University of Salzburg, Austria, 7 November 2009), and the article related to their work is to be published in the conference proceedings.

Please check the Teaching English Through Multiple Intelligences course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the NLP for Teachers course at Pilgrims website.