Humanising Language Teaching
Year 2; Issue 5; September 2000

Dear Mario,

….. I can also write you some words that I read on a poster in the nurses' school in St Malo, where my French friend works:

Entre ce que je pense           Between what I think
ce que je veux dire             what I want to say
ce que je crois dire            what I think I am saying
ce que je dis                   what I say
ce que vous voulez entendre     what you want to hear
ce que vous entendez            what you hear
ce que vous croyez comprendre   what you think you understand
ce que vous voulez  comprendre  what you want to understand
et ce que vous comprenez        and what you understand
il y a au moins 9 possibilites  there are at least 9 chances 
de ne pas s'entendre.           That we will not understand 
                                each other

Bye,

Mari Taverna.

The next letter illustrates to a "t" the NLP presupposition, or dictum, that the map is not the territory. It is clear that the territory must somehow lie between the employer's view and the employee's. Neither of their mappings could sensibly to taken to pass for "reality".

Hi there,

This is a nice one I found on the web.

When you take a long time, you are slow.
When you boss takes a long time, he is thorough.
When you don't get something done, you're lazy.
When your boss doesn't get something done, he is too busy.
When you make a mistake, you're an idiot.
When you boss makes a mistake, he is only human.
When you do it your own way, you don't do what you're told.
When you boss does it his way, he's showing creativity.
When you do it on your own, you're overstepping your bounds.
When your boss does it, he's demonstrating initiative.
When you take a stand you're being bull-headed.
When you boss takes a stand he's being principled.
……………………….
If you go shopping during work hours, you're a slacker.
If your boss does the same, he's picking up office supplies.
When you get a raise, you're lucky.
When he gets one, he really earned it.
When you do a good job, you get a pat on the back.
When he does a good job, he gets a bonus.

Yours warmly,

Monica (from Sweden)