Two Weeks in The Land of NLP
Bonnie Tsai and Bruno Rinvolucri
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 Lingusitique. She has studied the theory and practice of Multiple Intelligence with Dr. Howard Gardner at Harvard University. Long time Pilgrims trainer. Recently Bonnie and Judit Feher published The Individual as a Resource: From Creative resources, Atlanta. E-mail: tsaibonnie@hotmail.com
Bruno Rinvolucri grew up in Kent before spending a year in Brazil followed by a year in Leeds. He is in the first year of a degree in Social Anthropology at the school of Oriental and African studies, University of London, UK. E-mail: brinvolucri@yahoo.co.uk
In July of 2006, 16 exceptional people came together in Canterbury to begin a 2 week journey into NLP. For some there was already real knowledge and experience to share and work with while for others Neuro Linguistic Programming was something very new and certainly strange. All were coming because somewhere deep inside they wanted a change. There was something in their teaching or their approach to teaching that seemed to be missing or out of tune. They were looking for answers that were deep inside of themselves waiting to be uncovered.
The first thing that everyone did was to write a letter to their trainer giving her information about their understanding and experience in NLP. Here are two examples that clearly show that while knowledge and understanding varied, everyone came with an openness of mind and spirit.
( Illustration 1.a, 1.b)
The first part of the course dealt with Outcome Thinking. This is the starting point in any NLP course. It answers the question, what do you want to change and what will it be like when the change occurs.
( Illustration 2.a, 2.b)
Since this was an NLP course for teachers, one of the most enjoyable moments for everyone was using Robert Dilts' model, T.O.T.E. This enable teachers to explore deeply learning styles and teaching styles.
( Illustration 5)
In preparation for working on the T.O.T.E model, the trainer told the group about the Parable of the Dolphin. This brings out one of the pre-suppositions of NLP; there is no failure only feedback and the possibility for change...
The group leapt into a joyful period of giving and receiving little sincere messages of thanks and gratitude, called metaphorically, "FISH."
(Illustration 4a, 4.b, 4. c)
Working with the NLP Metaprogrammes is one of if not the most useful tools for teachers. One of the Metaprogrammes is about self-referenced and other-referenced people. The trainer told a story and asked everyone to finish it. This led people on the course to decide if the main character in the story, the duck was self-reference or other referenced. Opinions were divided. The endings often were an outlet for teachers to show their understanding of N.L.P. terminology in wonderful and creative ways. 6
(Illustration 6)
Mid course feedback
(Illustrations 3 a,3.b, 3. c)
Please check the Neuro Linguistic Programming course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.
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