Affordable Coaching for Freelance EFL Teachers

Professional & Personal Coaching for

English Language Teaching Professionals.

Photo: eltpics, @aClilToClimb

Many teachers work intensively and with focus on their learners. The job requires a great deal of self-motivation and dedication to maintaining 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 patience, 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! 

Photo: eltpics, a ClilToClimb

“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! 

Photo: eltpics, @ALiCe_M

“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. 

Photo: eltpics, @sandymillin

 “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: michelle@keeptraining.de or by mobile: 0174 97 22 5555. The first “chemistry” meeting is always a complimentary consulting session. 

Special thanks to eltpics for making such great photos available for free and to all the photographers who contribute. Good effort folks. Thank you. 

 

Coaching for ELF Teachers - BESIG / TESOL France Symposium June 2012

What a weekend it was in Paris! Of all the teachers' conferences I've been to the last few years, it's up there at the top of my "had a great time" list.

The half hour talk I did went much better than I expected. Despite not getting across everything I wanted to in exactly the way I would have wished. Perfection is such an elusive goal. Luckily I'm not someone who needs to reach it very often. I was in a positive frame of mind, the music perked me up and the audience, spread around the lecture room were receptive and friendly. Above all, Roy very generously agreed to be my guest coachee!

Had to share this shot - simply silly expressions!

This one is more like it - a real coaching session...

 And another thank you to Tom for being an excellent scribe. Quiet, unobtrusive yet observant and careful in his capturing of what Roy said. Thanks so much gentlemen.

Checking what Tom has written on the flip. Which option to focus on.

This post is essentially a follow-up to that and the request for my slides and book list.

So. Here's the list of books I've read since beginning my Post Grad coaching course:

Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl (very moving and highly inspiring. An extraordinary story)
Time to Think, Nancy Kline ("Ease creates; urgency destroys" lady!)
More Time to Think, Nancy Kline
Coaching for Performance, Sir John Whitmore (The GROW model guy)
The Psychology of Executive Coaching, Bruce Peltier (heavy going; haven't finished it yet)
The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle (v.spiritual and absolutely worth reading if you rush around a lot)
Egan's Skilled Helper Model..., Val Wosket (just read part of those - want to finish it soon.)
Further Techniques for Coaching & Mentoring, David Megginson (not read all)
The Chimp Paradox, Dr. Steve Peters (an absolute must!)
Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking, Malcom Gladwell (thoroughly readable and highly fascinating)
Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell (in the middle of it now. Brilliant!)
The Element: How Finding your Passion Changes Everything, Lou Aronica and Ken Robinson (excellent and utterly inspiring)
Personal and Leadership Development: The Foundations for Continuous Growth, Sean Reddaway
Procrastination: Why You Do It, What To Do About It Now, Jane B. Burka and Lenora M. Yuen - (a pair of professional procrastinators - they really know what they're talking about!!)
The Tools: 5 Life-Changing Techniques to Unlock Your Potential, Phil Michaels, Barry Stutz, (have read only the sample from Kindle. Will download when I've finished the 3 other books I've got on the go at the moment!)
The Magic of Metaphor: 77 Stories for Teachers, Trainers & Thinkers, Nick Owen. (The book from which I read The Grammarian story in my talk).
Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman (a classic!)
The Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships, Eric Berne, MD (another classic; if you can stick with his writing style and some outdated (in my opinion) attitudes, it's a really fascinating, insightful read).
Introducing NLP: Pyschological Skills for Understanding and Influencing People, Joseph O'Connor & John Seymour (I'd already read their NLP for Trainers a number of years ago - deeply helpful for me professionally. The authors write in a very accessible way)

And the three other books I shared with you on Saturday:
Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, Susan Jeffers - If you're someone who worries a lot - or just from time-to-time - read this even if you don't read any of the others.
The Prosperity Plan: 10 Steps to Beating The Odds and Creating Extraordinary Wealth (and Happiness), Laura B. Fortgang (her Little Book of Meaning is a lovely read too!)
And of course our very own Duncan Foord: The Developing Teacher.

OMG. That's quite a long list. I'm surprised I've had time to do any work the past 10 months! Luckily I'm an avid reader.

Anyway, there you go.

Can't upload the slides from the talk on Saturday here so have put them on the ELTAS group page on Facebook. Am contemplating sharing the video I made of Roy's coaching session - not sure about that one though.
Maybe we'll make do with the photos above.
 
In closing, here's the text from my last slide: Whitmore's coaching "prayer"!

„Where there is confusion, coaching can bring clarity.

Where there is fear, coaching can build trust.

Where there is concern, coaching can bring hope.

Where there is isolation, coaching can bring connection.

Where there is competition, coaching can bring cooperation.“

Inspirational

Sitting in departures of Glasgow airport waiting for my gate notification, the running digital ad board alongside the info board, was showing a promo:
“Scotland is inspirational in many ways.” “How has Scotland inspired you?”
Being in Scotland this week has inspired me greatly. Not because I was in Scotland but because I was at the IATEFL conference in Glasgow. The fact that it was my first experience of IATEFL and it was in Glasgow will be inextricably linked for me. What a friendly city. As clichéd as that may sound, I found it to be absolutely true. And what a friendly, approachable, welcoming lot the IATEFL crew are. On Sunday when I was unsure about where to go for the pre-conference associates’ dinner, my Twitter plea for information was answered by the President no less!
Now, despite my post-conference fatigue, I can say I’ve felt inspired this whole week in Glasgow. My first ever IATEFL Annual Conference. I’d never made the effort before thinking the distance, inconvenience, time and energy needed to get me there and through the whole experience just weren’t worth it. As a small, freelance teacher of mostly in-company BE courses, what could IATEFL offer me? There would be mostly “proper” teachers; people who became teachers by design rather than by accident and who subsequently take ELT very seriously.
Those people are definitely there – in their thousands. What I discovered is that I fit right in! I met up with people I know and struck up conference friendships with new people – colleagues with whom I intend to stay in touch.
Instead of feeling like an imposter or a semi-fraud, I felt right at home! Indeed I found the whole experience extremely inspiring, stimulating, (re-)motivational and lots of fun. There are many different types of teachers at IATEFL, and I mean more than those from the different SIGs and therefore teaching with a different focus (business English, ELT for young learners,teaching full-time in schools – public or private). There are traditional English school teachers, the pragmatic “this is my business”, entrepreneur-minded and the real actual academics. I peeked into the world of ELT in academia where people study the process of teaching, the effects on learners of different types of teaching, the whole educational psychology aspect. It’s fascinating! There are so many big, “technical” words for language, language teaching, language learning – a never ending source of material for academic discourse. A whole other world from that which I inhabit on a daily basis.  And utterly fascinating.
As well as conversing quite comfortably with the IATFEL President, I fell in with a number of renowned and highly respected ELT authors, with movers and shakers of the wider community, I chatted with representatives from the publishers, owners of international language schools. In other industries I could imagine the “famous” people being less approachable. At IATEFL, it’s much more a “we’re one big family” environment. Ultimately, everyone is a teacher and with that commonality at the core, building relationships and making connections is as natural as drinking gallons of coffee between the many talks and workshops during the conference!
Being an international conference, meeting teachers from around the world was also very exciting – I talked with teachers from Cameroon, Ghana, Serbia, Poland, Turkey, Wales (!). Talking with some of them reminded me of how privileged we are in Germany in terms of infrastructure (unlimited access to internet) and good pay. And all the many different accents floating around the SECC!! People talking sometimes in their native language but often using English to chat between nationalities. A brilliant example of ELF in action! Personally, I found it quite strange – in a good way – to know that no matter who I wanted to speak to, I was guaranteed they would understand me and be able to confidently chat back. A refreshing change for an English woman living in a foreign country
So what I am ultimately saying. Being at IATEFL Glasgow was exhausting, at times frankly overwhelming. Ultimately, though, I found it highly professionally organised, varied, informative, fun and utterly inspiring. If you were also there, how would you respond to a banner ad flashing up next to the departures screen:
 
“IATEFL is inspirational in many ways. How has IATEFL inspired you?” 
Michelle.

PS: Here are some pictures from the week. Thanks to Mike Hogan for sharing on Flickr: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjyJ2D5y

Holding My Horses

I’m all a flutter. Thoughts are continually whizzing around my mind; ideas popping like firecrackers on new year’s eve. A slow churning of subtle excitement and anticipation – a few nerves too – accompanies me during the day. And keeps me awake at night (well, one night so far, if I’m honest!)

What’s going on, you may well ask…

Nothing earth-shattering nor particularly monumental. I volunteered to be part of my local teachers’ association. The difference this time (I’ve been on the committee team before) is that my role is to chair the group. My experience of those who have gone before gives me a great sense of responsibility. It is a role which requires management and leadership; commitment to doing the best for the association members. It requires creativity and forward-thinking; clear and transparent communication between committee team members and the wider membership.

I’m also discovering, fortunately in the early stages, it also requires patience and an understanding of the nature of the people who make up the membership. It requires me to “hold my horses”!

As a person who thrives on new ideas, looking for different ways of doing things, being creative and getting things done, I have to avoid riding roughshod over others. Thank goodness the chair is but one person among a group of bright, intelligent, knowledgeable people. People who hold a gentle restraining hand on me, while supporting other ideas with enthusiasm and willingness.

Personally, it is disconcerting and frustrating for me when I hear cautious voices. Those who question my ideas and present an alternative perspective. On one level, I understand the importance and validity of those voices; doesn’t stop me from feeling annoyed, irritated and frustrated, though!

Feeling a certain way about something is OK – I firmly believe. It’s how we deal with those feelings that is important. As I want this experience to be a personal developmental one, I set myself the challenge of behaving like an “adult” (those who familiar with transactional analysis will know what I mean!).

So, I will continue to indulge my penchant for idea storming. Then I will listen to those around me and accept that not all of my ideas will be possible to implement. I will value the judgment and wisdom of my team and work on mutually agreeable solutions. I will hold my horses back for a certain amount of time.

Do I sound like a Chairperson yet? I’m really looking forward to doing positive, useful and interesting things with – and for – ELTAS. I will keep an eye on my passion while not allowing it to be dampened too much.

There now, there’s that churning excitement in the pit of my stomach. Potential, I love it. The start of something new and improved. Let’s see what the team and I achieve together.

I’ll keep you posted!

From Trainer to Coach?

It was something I felt unsure about. As a trainer, a significant part of my job involves informing, advising, actively guiding participants along a path I have pre-designed. As a teacher, there’s often an expectation to simple “tell”.

Coaches are trained to – well, not do any of that!

Nevertheless, being around so many coaches and reading so much about it as a “theoretical subject”, I wanted to find out more about coaching firsthand. And boy, did I!

I tell you, when you look in the market at who to learn with, there are so many coaching companies out there, all offering top notch programmes. In the end, I went for a UK-based coaching company – it’s a subject I needed to learn in my native language. Then, having had a couple of unrelated, separate recommendations for the same provider, I though it must be “a sign”! Plus, I was able to negotiate a good deal because the owner is a fellow Springboard trainer!! I signed up for the university accredited Business & Professional post graduate certificate with Barefootcoaching.

What a good decision it turned out to be. I found myself in a group of 9 other wonderful individuals. We worked and learnt together for a total of 12 days over a 3-month period. Each module we were treated to a renowned, published speaker with years of experience as coaches – John Perry, stress coach; sports psychologist and ‘Liquid Thinker’, Damian Hughes; and top executive coach, Tom Preston. Barefoot also invites US Thinking Environment founder, Nancy Klein each year. I was unable to attend that session but I find myself utterly convinced of her ideas (see my previous blog post!).

Coaching, as I have understood it, is all about listening. Training involves listening too, then with a degree of input or advice being expected. With coaching, the fundamental belief is that the client has the answer – whether they are consciously aware of it or not. Working as a coach, according to the Barefoot philosophy, I found myself feeling liberated. My natural habit has been to (half) listen to someone while trying to come up with a brilliant, clever solution for them. As is so often the case, we think a person with a problem is looking for an answer from us. What happens when they go away with our solution to their problem? Usually not much! For best solutions, we need to come up with our own – we know the ‘problem’ from our own perspective and we have the answer which will best fit us. The coach’s job is to facilitate the thinking process so that we uncover that best answer.

With Barefootcoaching, I have been exposed to a multitude of differing methods and approaches to coaching. For me, this was ideal. I am not a specific NLP- or systemic- or CBT-coach. I work with a mixture of methods and tools according to what I feel best suits my client’s needs. I feel myself to be unique; my coaching style is the ‘Michelle Hunter’ style of coaching. No doubt, as my experience grows, my style will develop, become more informed and richer. The more people I work with, the more I am learning. I’m already noticing how my new-found coaching skills are impacting my training courses and ELT classes. I may have initially been unsure about the value of embarking on a coaching course, now I feel it has been invaluable. I now have skills which add to my own personal growth, boost my current trainer skills, and which provide me another avenue of business.

So, friends! Spread the word – I am an English-speaking coach in the middle of Europe. Ideal for all you English-speakers living and working in Europe who could benefit from someone who will truly listen to you with the goal of moving you forward – professionally and/or personally (it's all about 'mobility'). It’s early days but watch out for news on more keeptraining coaching offerings in 2012. I’ll certainly keep you posted!

For now, have a wonderful, peaceful festive season.

When was the last time you felt truly listened too?

I’ve recently discovered something amazingly powerful and simply – well, simple.

Listening.

Being at ease, interested and totally focused on the person talking, I can give the gift of true listening. The results can be extremely powerful. How do I know this? I’ve begun to experience it on the coaching course I’ve just started. It’s early days and my fellow students and I are slowly getting to grips with it ourselves – along with dozens of other fascinating coaching tools.

“Ease creates. Urgency destroys.” Nancy Kline

The source of this philosophy is an American lady called Nancy Kline. Over a period of 15 years, she developed the “Thinking Environment”. Her book, “Time to Think” gives a full and detailed account of how she and her colleagues have worked through ideas based on listening to help individuals and organisations move forward. It’s a set book on our course and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who’s job or daily life revolves around communicating with others.

“A Thinking Environment is not just a theory and set of skills. It is a way of being in the world.” Shirley Edwards of Xerox

I’m nearly at the end of the book, at the part where she describes how doctors advised that her alternative course of action to deal with her cancer would kill her within a month. That was nearly 40 years ago. One major aspect of her experience was how the medical profession didn’t listen to her, treated her as something to be fixed without taking her – the person – into (much) consideration. A common trap for those of us whose mission it is to help.

“We think that to help is only to talk, to ask, to suggest.” NK

We believe, in our rushed, busy lives, that by delivering a quick answer or solution we’re saving time. But are we?

“To take time to listen thoroughly is to increase the total time available to you. Interrupting takes twice as long.” NK

Learning about thinking carefully and listening thoroughly, I started to see how this philosophy could be applied to teaching. Teacher Talking Time regularly pops up as an issue for discussion. I know I’m fond of talking about my favourite subjects. I like to show my students how wise, knowledgeable and well-educated I am by telling them all the ways they can improve their English skills. When given half the chance, they do actually come up with their own ideas for improvement. More experienced learners can often fix their own mistakes when given space to think in their own time.

“If you really believe that someone can think well for themselves, you do not feel the need to think for them… The quality of your listening will ignite their thinking.” Course notes, Barefoot Coaching.

Being aware of the power and value of listening, I’m going to test it out in my teaching sessions and see what impact my new skills have on my students. Away from professional life, I’m applying this new found knowledge at home too. And you know what? It’s actually a huge relief to not feel the need to come up with the solution all the time. Listening – truly, genuinely and actively listening is definitely a skill to be learned. The reward is more energy. Wracking your brains for the answer, trying to come up with the next pithy question before the other person has finished, or jumping in to complete the other person’s sentence – that can be exhausting. Sit back with ease, relax, keep your ears and eyes – and heart – open, and you’ll be amazed at how the other person blossoms before your eyes!

 

Teaching CLIL in an International environment

After listening with great interest to the discussions about Content Language Integrated Learning at the Professional Development conference last Saturday, I had my own first experience of CLIL teaching this week. I was asked, at very short notice, to step in and give a 2 1/2 day presentations skills seminar at a local university. Sure, no problem! I said. I currently run an in-company "Presenting in English" workshop. Adapting the material for this assignment should be no problem.

What I discovered was that my Presenting in English material was, pretty much, directly useable for straight presenting skills. Good to know that my English learners are benefitting from a strong emphasis on this essential skill. For me personally, the refreshing aspect was being able to focus solely on the presenting skills. Taking the emphasis off language issues was great!

Naturally, when the job is to focus more on the language than the specific presentation skills, I give my all to do that. What I discovered in the CLIL situation was how refreshing it was to pull back and monitor the overall effect the presenter had on the audience. The English teacher in me did hear the minor linguistic errors, occasional mis-pronunciations etc., but I could let them go and concentrate on the most interesting aspects: body language, voice power, presenter interaction, visual aids useage, power point impact and overall effect on the audience.

The students found it considerably more difficult using English to do something a number of them already felt confident doing. We agreed up front that our focus was not on their English skills - nor would they be marked down for any language-related mistakes. This took a certain amount of pressure off them! They also acknowledged the benefit of making the extra effort to work in English; most expected to have to present in English in the near future in order to get internship places or jobs.

It turned out to be a very positive few days for both myself and the students. They said they had enjoyed the hands-on practise and personal feedback on their presenting styles. I experienced first hand how CLIL works and the advantages having a teaching English background can have when working in an international environment such as a European business school. Most especially, I enjoyed doing what I do with a different emphasis - it felt a little like a holiday, to not focus solely on English! Integrating content and language seems like a logical and sensible step forward to me. I will certainly be doing more of it!