Affordable Coaching for Freelance EFL Teachers

Professional & Personal Coaching for

English Language Teaching Professionals.

Many teachers work intensively and with focus on their learners. The job requires a great deal of self-motivation and dedication to maintain inspiration and motivation in the classroom. Then they have to actually teach something useful, interesting and relevant to their sometimes less-than-willing students. Teaching might well be the most “noble profession”; how many teachers feel convinced of the truth of this?  

"In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something less."
Lee Iacocca

I believe a person has within them infinite capacity to achieve extraordinary things. Sometimes, we lose sight of what’s possible, what’s available to us, who is around to support and work with us. It’s the human condition. As a coach, my role is to provide a space where you can take time out to look at what’s going on with you and your environment. As a teacher, I empathise with many issues which can arise in the profession. I will listen with respect and attention, in absolute confidence, while you think through the issue currently blocking your way forward. Through a process of timely and incisive questioning, you will gradually unblock the way and uncover the answer you were looking for, and discover it was within you all along! 

“The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.”
Khalil Gibran

Investing in ourselves can sometimes feel like a guilty waste of time and money. I truly believe that I am giving my students a valuable additional service when I have spent time on learning more and developing myself.  Knowing the teaching profession as I do, I completely understand the conflict of personal development with paying the bills and doing as good a job as possible in too-short days! 

“People want amazing results with limited resources. They say they haven’t got time. We show them ways you can use coaching to free up time.” Shaun Lincoln, director of coaching and action learning at the Centre for Excellence in Leadership (CEL)

 With this in mind, if you are a freelance EFL teacher, I am prepared to work with you on a “pay-what-you-can” basis. In the open market, coaches offer their services for €100 – €300 per hour. That hour goes beyond the face-to-face interaction; the coach prepares appropriate material, considers which tools would be of most benefit and follows-up after sessions to check if their client needs additional support. It’s an important relationship which a coach nurtures and cherishes for as long as the client has agreed to work on something - and often beyond. 

 “Coaching links entirely with increasing capacity and raising attainment. It increases self-knowledge and helps direct communication and the ability to challenge in a non-confrontational way with clarity and purpose.” Lesley Mackenzie, head of Westfield Primary School in Radstock, Bath

You can reach me via e-mail: keeptraining.michelle@gmail.com 
or by mobile: 0174 97 22 5555. 
The first “chemistry” meeting is always a complimentary consulting session. 

Take Time to Think

I don't remember who game me this nor when. It's been stuck inside a cupboard door out of sight - and out of mind. Time to remind myself to think about how I'm using my time.

Thought you might like it too. 

Reorienting from ELT to Coaching

Fear arises from thinking we shan't be able to cope with what life throws at us, according to Susan Jeffers, author of "Feel the fear and do it anyway."

Towards the end of last year I made a potentially scary decision. After a number of years of procrastination, I have finally decided to break away from teaching. Although it is a profession I stumbled into with little fore thought or planning, I have become a proficient and successful teacher. It is an industry within which I feel at home, and where I have gained recognition as well as a good living.

Having overcome the fear of making the decision, I now face the bottom of a new learning curve. The world of coaching is, fortunately, not completely new to me but I am - to all intents and purposes - new to it. Coming from a place of confidence, recognition and success I am now in bright, shiny, new territory. And I have an incomplete map.

What helps me deal with the "bottom-of-the-learning-curve" insecurity is the knowledge that I've been here before. That curve straightened out for me then. It will again. The teaching map I have developed over the last 13 years must be re-written but there are a good number of routes which I can re-use. There are skills and experiences laid down in the contours and signposts of my map which will be reassuring markers I can use when I feel dis-oriented in the new territory.

The unknown inherent in new adventures is certainly scary. For me, knowing what I already know, I am excited and apprehensive in equal measures about what awaits in my new adventure.

If you are feeling fearful about a decision you need to make, take a deep breath, look back over your map, see how many roads you've already travelled and landmarks you are familiar with. You created that map, what's to say you can't create another one? You survived the roads you've already travelled, chances are you'll equally survive the ones you haven't yet travelled.

Keeping Calm and Carrying on in Prague

This is a copy of the Facebook post I wrote soon after returning, safe & sound, from Prague on 11.11.13

So. Leaving Prague this morning did not go quite according to plan. It was an excellent opportunity to practice the classic British Motto: Keep Calm and Carry On.
My car could not be opened. The key buttons functioned for the boot and locking mechanism. Just not the opening mechanism. After half an hour and help from hotel staff, we found the key hole into which the real key (from inside the techie electronic key) could be inserted. Door open! Alarm set off... Fixed that. Exited parking garage. Checked with navi for location of Gaby's hotel. No satellite reception. Decided to drive straight up road and finally found Gaby (who has her own hotel disaster story to tell...) Satellite found by Navi, directions to Germany plugged in. 5 mins down the road, flagged down by fellow motorist - flat, almost-to-the-rim tyre!!! Luckily McDonald's and petrol station just round next corner. Calmly called ADAC; while giving details of life history since birth, random man watching us suggested it was a simple case of temperature change causing natural deflation of tyre. Cancelled call to ADAC guy and let random (very nice & friendly) man inflate both front tyres. He declined our offer of a thank you coffee and went on his way. 

Meanwhile, the indomitable trio (Gaby, Patty & me) went for coffee at McD's keeping car in our sight at all times having been too nervous about locking it in case problem no.1 recurred. Exiting the establishment, we decided tyres had remained inflated and that it would be safe to carry on our way. Destination reached a mere 2 hours later than original schedule.
Thank goodness we had each other and were able to see the funny side. But if I ever catch the B*****d who let the air out of our tyres and messed with the alarm system on the car, I shan't behave quite so British-like.

Spontaneous Conference Inspired Lesson

Today I was all at sea! No time to prepare for my round of Tuesday lessons. Having grabbed a stack of possible ideas on the way out the door this morning, I felt neither focused nor motivated.

On arrival, I had a flash of inspiration. Get my two learners (the first group is often a small one!) to guess where I'd been and what I'd done this past weekend. (If you saw the FB post I wrote Monday evening, you'll have an inkling of what transpired...)

As I was suggesting this idea, my brain was racing one step ahead calculating how much I could get out of it and what learning could be achieved. Here is the lesson which evolved and which I consequently used for the ensuing 2 more lessons.

Aim of Lesson:
1.) to review question forms in simple past and present perfect
2.) to practise talking about where people come from - what their nationality is.

Process:
1.) Twenty Questions - learners have up to 20 questions to figure out where the teacher was and what she did at the weekend.
2.) Having guessed - In Prague at a business English teachers' conference - learners guess which nationalities were represented at the conference. Nationalities not represented were written down in a separate column.
3.) Go back and look at questions posed in first part - at least one person in every group asked "Where have you been at the weekend?" And other present perfect structured questions. We looked at why this tense does not work when asking about what someone did last weekend.

Outcome:
1.) Learners found out more about the exciting world of BE teachers!
2.) Reviewing the difference between simple past and present perfect was a very useful (and seemingly necessary) exercise. Equally, checking the difference between closed and open questions and how small talk can be helped or hindered.
3.) It was fun thinking of so many different nationalities - keeping a close eye on how to say them in English.
4.) A group talk sharing "Have you ever....?" experiences.

With each group, I was able to refine the "lesson plan" and adapt to the higher levels. Where the first group benefited from a fresh, spontaneous idea, the last group benefited from a more structured and thought-through lesson. I was happy to share my story and to know my learners had a solid reminder of some important grammar in a context that was a change from their everyday experience.

PS: If you didn't catch the FB post I wrote, I've copied it into the next blog post, with a photo of my fellow travellers ;-)

Why create a CPD programme for teachers?

I'll tell you why....

Learning should be something joyful, mind-stretching and rewarding. How many learners can honestly say that has consistently been their experience of learning / being taught?

I believe most teachers start out with the best intentions of facilitating learning among their students. How, then, does the gap between teachers’ intentions and learners’ experience arise?

I’m sure there are myriad reasons due to circumstances and all sorts of differing factors. The one aspect which fascinates me personally is “The Teacher” herself. Without an excellent teacher, there can seldom be joyful, mind-stretching and rewarding learning. What form that teacher takes can also be many different things – a school teacher, a relative, sibling, friend, internet tool, book, guru. Whatever, whoever.

The force which drives me to explore this gap and to work on ways of ensuring consistent, quality learning, is the fact that without it, future generations stand little chance of dealing with the global issues our world currently faces.

A cliché it may be but “Knowledge is Power” and is primarily acquired through learning. Teachers have a huge responsibility to facilitate good and thorough learning. They also face considerable barriers to doing that, both intrinsically and extrinsically. Believing that learning and development is key, my goal is to collaborate with teaching colleagues in:

· deepening our own learning,

· increasing our knowledge & skills acquisition, and

· growing our self-awareness, through experience and reflection.

No one person has all the answers; no single human can possible be the font of all knowledge. This is something many people have noticed, the more they learn, the more they realise there is still to learn. Through my own learning, I feel I have something I can share to start others off on their own journeys. At the very least, I can be a catalyst to constructive networking. Through the power of many teachers learning and sharing together, who knows how much knowledge and joyful learning may arise?



Watch this space for details of a programme designed specifically for teachers keen to learn more about themselves and discover ways of facilitating quality learning among their learners.

Goals vs Intentions - Chimps Knickers in a Twist.

A curious thing occurred yesterday. I had a strong emotional reaction to a video clip during a teacher development workshop in Ulm. The clip was just over 3 minutes long, well presented by a respected and admired (by many) philanthropist. He delivered his message in an entertaining, well structured, classic TED format. He had scientifically based evidence for the validity of his message. Yet I felt highly disturbed; my cage was distinctly rattled.

Derek Sivers, the accidental entrepreneur and patron of independent musicians, is compulsive viewing. What did he say which so upset my belief system?

Don't announce your plans. If you have a goal, don't talk about it. 

One of the most influential things I learned from my coaching training was Nancy Kline's Thinking Environment approach, and the importance of thinking through your ideas aloud. I have seen first hand - indeed, experienced myself - the value of saying aloud what's going on in my mind. The process of explaining to another person what my intentions, dreams and wishes are, helps clarify that tricky question, "What do I want?" The starting point for setting a goal and formulating an action plan.

My concern about the message Sivers delivers in his TED talk was that it would deter people from setting a goal at all! What I discerned from the 3 minutes is that if I share my goal, I'll end up abandoning it, so what's the point in setting a goal in the first place. As a coach who focuses on helping people with their goal-setting, this was anathema to me. What do you think?

What I now think is that my Chimp was enraged by what it felt went against the Chimp's view of the world. Even at the time, I was aware of a quiet voice in my brain pointing out the validity of Siver's point. I have experienced instances of social reality where the feeling of satisfaction from merely mentioning my "goal" was enough and I didn't work on my "goal" anymore.

However, in full Chimp mode, I allowed my indignation to run away with me and prevent me from acknowledging the truth of the matter.

Now applying my Human brain thinking, I can separate emotion from reality. For me, the issue lies in the difference between what a "goal" is and what my "intention" to do something is. By opening his talk with the word "goal" when in effect he was talking about people's dreams, wishes, intentions, caused - for me - a huge degree of incongruity.  Hence my Chimp was aroused.

Fortunately, in his blog on the same topic, he uses the - for me - correct terminology! He ends with this statement:

It may seem unnatural to keep your intentions and plans private, but try it. If you do tell a friend, make sure not to say it as a satisfaction (“I've joined a gym and bought running shoes. I'm going to do it!”), but as dissatisfaction (“I want to lose 20 pounds, so kick my ass if I don't, OK?”) 

Now that I - and my Chimp - can live with!.