Back Home: Using NLP in the Classroom

Bonnie Tsai, France

Bonnie Tsai is a teacher and teacher trainer who has worked around the world running teacher training courses for teachers of all ages, levels, and needs. She has been trained in such humanistic approaches such as Suggestopedia, N.L.P. and Psychodramaturgie Lingusitque. She has studied the theory and practice of Multiple Intelligence with Dr. Howard Gardner at Harvard University. Long time Pilgrims trainer. E-mail: tsaibonnie@hotmail.com

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The Logical Level of Living and Thinking
What can ‘Life Levels’ do?
The Logical Level of Living and Thinking
The China coffee cup
The story

The Logical Level of Living and Thinking

Pilgrims is one of the very few training centers which run NLP courses especially designed for teachers. The aim of this course is give teachers a sound basis in NLP and at the same time enabling them to adapt and use NLP in their classrooms. A good example of this is an NLP model called, The Logical Level of Living and Thinking.

This model focuses on the different aspects which determine how we make decisions, decide in what direction our life will go, and where problems and solutions to them can be found so that we can bring about the changes we want. Think about each one in relation to your own life.

Fulfillment comes when all the levels are in alignment. When one level or more is out of alignment, you can feel unease or great unhappiness.

What can ‘Life Levels’ do?

It can pinpoint where you need to focus your attention.
It can help you explore an outcome.
As a teacher, you need to ensure that all the levels are working to support the learning of your students.

Environment is conducive to learning
Classroom behavior and activities are relevant, interesting, and useful.
Learners develop abilities and skills and that they learn to learn.
Learners believe they can learn, and that they develop confidence.
Learners have a sense of themselves as proficient learners and users of the language at the level of identity.
Learners have a sense of spirit, of their learning as being worthwhile.

Last summer I had the privilege to work with a group of extraordinary teachers who chose NLP for Teachers, because they wanted to become better teachers on a deep and profound level. Working in pairs and groups they created and demonstrated an original activity based on some aspect of NLP that they would use in their classes. This one, The China Coffee Cup is the work of Stefania Rouchese from Italy and Maurice Angers from Germany, who participated in the July, 2009 NLP for Teachers course.

The China coffee cup

Materials needed to enhance sensory acuity while telling the story: A picture of a cupboard, a picture of the ocean, a fine bone china coffee cup with a wind rose on it, a CD with the sounds of the sea, and a picture of a ship wreck

This activity appeals to the different levels of logical thinking while at the same time it is possible to work on student motivation.

Different Levels of Logical Thinking: The Story unwinds from the description of the environmental situation of a china coffee cup to the complex levels of beliefs, identity and spirit, which affects areas of behavior and capability. The coffee cup conjures an outer and inner journey to clarity values and interconnectedness.

Matters of Motivation: With this story it is easy to start a discussion about the distinction between “away-from-motivation” and “moving towards-motivation”. You can either find: “I am a poor little coffee cup in a shabby household and I want to get away from that.” or “I am a tea cup made to serve, heal and comfort and my origin is China, where I want to go!” The solution of neither/nor in the end can give your students an idea how important the clarity of motivation is. Here the china coffee cup is used as a metaphor. Metaphor and story-telling are important aspects of NLP. The metaphor allows the listener to take form the story what is meaningful for him/her.

Story-telling comes to life throughout by the spoken word therefore this text is a model. It can be adapted or shortened if necessary for the purpose of your class.

The story

In a kitchen of a mariner’s house there was a beautiful, old cupboard, you know, the kind that a grandmother would leave to her favourite grandson, as the mariner was to her when he was a child. The cupboard had been filled with the finest handmade china cups when “grandma” was still alive, but now, the mariner’s wife , who did not really like “all that old stuff”, had managed to get rid of almost all of them one way or another Then she replaced them with some modern, trendy mugs.

There was however one cup left, a tiny porcelain coffee cup with a kind of unevenness in the bottom. It used to be paired with a saucer, which had been made uneven on purpose by an old Chinese potter. This was an unevenness which perfectly balanced that of the cup. The two were perfect together. But sadly the saucer had been shattered into pieces a while ago and the cup started feeling useless, unconfident, and definitely unbalanced without its saucer. Still, it was the mariner’s favorite cup. Every time he got back home, which unfortunately happened less and less often, he used to gently pick up the cup, feel the smoothness of its surface, watch his gentle reflection in the glazed whiteness of its fine bone china, and admire the beautiful wind rose skillfully miniaturized on it. He would fill the cup with the coffee he made from the precious freshly ground grains he brought home from his long journeys to the other hemisphere. He would also share his thoughts and tell the cup stories about his journeys. It would listen silently and attentively, much better than his wife, who would always intervene with her comments and questions, which he could not stand at all!

The cup felt lonely and forsaken when the mariner was not home. It was aware of the world outside. It had been imported a hundred years ago from China and on its long journey on a ship, had learned to speak several languages. It was good-mannered too, and could not stand the roughness of the other mugs in the cupboard and the harshness of the mariner’s wife.

“What if I could go back to China, my country of youth and bloom? I could eventually mingle with other cups like me, serve gentle and benign people and listen to their stories. I would miss my mariner, but he might always come and visit me sometimes, as he does now.”
But how could the cup get to China? The only way was to ask the mariner to take it with him. “There’s no point of asking him when he comes back home, though, he’s too tired and desperately longing to meet his wife after such a long time. “I’d better wait until he’s ready to set out for a new journey. He feels so sad when he has to leave home; he likes it here, after all. But the sea, oh, the call of the sea is too strong. I need to talk to him on his last night at home. I’m sure he will take me with him!”

It was nice to have the mariner at home, but the day came when he had to leave again. Was the cup sad? Not at all! It had waited a long time for the right moment to come. Every once in a while she heard him talk about a passage to China. Over the Mariner’s last coffee it whispered in its sweetest voice, “Will you take me with you on your journey to China? I’m longing for my home country and you are the only one who can take me there. I promise I’ll be good company for you on the long trip. I’ll warm up your hands in the cold winds and I’ll offer you the best hot drinks you’ll find on your stopovers. You can tell me all your stories, your thoughts, share your joys and sorrows. With my wind rose, I’ll help you detect the wind and find the right way to set your sails. I’m small and certainly fit into your pocket.”

“Oh well”, said the sailor, “You’ll come with me tomorrow!”

The cup was blissful and silently cheered. The next day they went off. The cup stored safe in the mariner’s bag, protected amidst a few soft shirts that the mariner’s wife had just ironed. It was as silent as it could be, not to be discovered by the rest of the crew on the boat.

The journey was long, they were bound to India first, and then had to pass the Cape of Good Hope. After days and days of flat sea, the temperature fell all of a sudden, dark clouds gathered in the sky, roaring winds started to blow from the South. The skilled mariner and his crew knew how to handle all this, but they hadn’t expected what was coming next.

A huge foaming wave from the Antarctic seemed to chase them. “Pull down all the sails!” cried the mariner to the crew. “Fasten yourselves to the ship! Here comes the wave …..” He could not even finish his command. The giant roaring wave had overwhelmed the ship. The fight was uneven between the scared men and the immensity of a cold, forceful sea. The ship was reduced to a wreck, the mariner and his crew was thrown into the cold, icy water. The cup, from its safe cabinet, initially could not understand what was going on. There were sharp sounds, shouts, screams, splashing of waters, gurgling bubbles filling the ship through a hole in the hull. It was a nightmare. Then, the water poured into the cabinet after tearing the little cover apart. The cup was not religious, but anxious and frightened it asked itself which heavenly powers it could turn to for rescue.

Suddenly, a familiar hand reached for her in the turbulent, boiling waters. How could that be? The enormous wave had passed and gone, and silence was all around now. Shattered pieces of the ship were floating around and the mariner and some of the crew could find some relief leaning on them. The counting of men actually revealed that a couple of them had not made it and had been swallowed by the sea. But the mariner was alive, and the cup was with him, safe in his soaked pocket.

After a first moment of jubilee, they realized how cold it was in the middle of nowhere, and doubts arose about how they could make it. Fortunately, mariners are good observers. They know the sea is their master and there is no way to contradict it. The sea gives them nourishment and life and then will take it away the other. After drifting in the sea all night long and just when they were close to giving up all hope, the splashes of merry dolphins were seen in the distance. Well, this is a good sign for a mariner, dolphins like men. And, most of all, they usually have a lot of fun swimming and playing around in the foam of big ships!

In silence that followed they floated on and on. Suddenly a crew member yelled: “Look there, a cargo ship!” Yes, with renewed strength, the men started waving their hands and shouted to the men on the ship to take notice of them. The cup had no arms, but it did all it could to attract attention too! Who knows, the fact was that, as soon as they were sighted, the captain ordered the cargo ship to steer towards them. They were all rescued! The cup was wiped carefully and stored in a safe cabinet. And soon friendly chatting started between the captain and the members of the two crews as they shared pleasant conversations about their cargo, country of origin, destination… And guess what, they were bound for China, exactly as the mariner and his crew were!

Was that a coincidence? The cup was as happy as ever in its life. Its dream was becoming real! China. Recollections of ancient ways, wise and healthy therapies, which the cup knew it could perfectly fit into were evoked. It was just a cup after all and its purpose was to serve tasty and healing drinks to those who use it.

But, all of a sudden, it realized that its life had changed. What about the mariner? Could the little cup be so ungrateful as to forget the strong hands that had cuddled it for years and saved it from the violent powers of the sea at his own risk? How could it give up the warm moments of intimacy with the mariner while listening to his stories?

“Well, my dear cup, get ready,” said the mariner in a sad but confident voice, “this journey is over and another one is beginning for you.”

“My dear mariner” , replied the cup, “I felt disregarded and useless in the cupboard in your kitchen. China is the place I come from and where I hoped to find my fulfillment. But now I know where I belong: in your pocket, to warm your hands when you need me and to comfort you on our long journeys across the sea. This is where I want to stay.”

Please check the NLP for Teachers course at Pilgrims website.