tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714045366168902489.post2152998809872485242..comments2024-02-06T07:49:22.830-08:00Comments on Evidence Based EFL: A note on Mindfulnessmallingualhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13278408615407649532noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714045366168902489.post-8537236764712415122012-11-28T01:01:50.784-08:002012-11-28T01:01:50.784-08:00Look forward to that.. :)Look forward to that.. :)Rachael Robertshttp://www.elt-resourceful.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714045366168902489.post-3523100868476806012012-11-25T20:42:22.983-08:002012-11-25T20:42:22.983-08:00thanks for your reply! I appreciate it.
you'...thanks for your reply! I appreciate it.<br /><br />you've inspired me to look into it more deeply and I think I'll probably write another post about it soon!mallingualhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13278408615407649532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714045366168902489.post-43584724784323272282012-11-24T15:22:13.260-08:002012-11-24T15:22:13.260-08:00The first thing to say is that I do think that the...The first thing to say is that I do think that there is actually quite a lot of crossover between therapy and teaching. Models of education, such as person-centred/student-centredness, behaviourism etc, have often crossed the divide. That said, I certainly DON'T think that we should be trying to therapize students. That isn't what they come for, and it certainly isn't something that most teachers are in any way equipped to deal with. So, as you know, I'm not a fan of NLP techniques in the classroom, and, although I enjoy them myself, I very rarely use techniques such as visualisation because as soon as you start to tap into the unconscious, you don't know what stuff might come up.<br />However, mindfulness is not a form of therapy. It's a tool or technique which can be used therapeutically. And there are other techniques, like listening carefully to each other, or talking about our own lives, or giving praise, which can be used therapeutically, but also have a place in the classroom.<br />It also is not remotely religious- again, it is a tool which is used in some religions, but so are memorisation, silence, speaking chorally.....<br />So, you ask what is it? It's a bit hard to sum up in a few lines, really, but some basic ideas:<br />1. Most of the time most of us are not really present in our lives. We aren't fully aware of it, but we usually have a voice yapping away in our heads, worrying about the future, or what we said to someone yesterday, or how stupid we are to have done/not done something, or what we need to do next.<br />2. We all tend to be very critical and judgemental (of ourselves as much as anyone else), and most of these criticisms and judgements are based on past experience, and are often completely wrong.<br />3. Because we have all this chatter and judging going on, we tend to actually miss most of what is happening as it happens. Like the couple who spend most of their wedding day having their photos taken rather than actually enjoying the moment, we aren't really present.<br />Mindfulness is simply about:<br />1 Becoming aware of all the chatter and judgements and realising that it's just noise; that we don't have to be guided by it.<br />2 Being able, as a a result, to judge each situation in a fresher way, and to be more aware of what is actually happening.<br />As teachers, I think it can be really helpful and I know that as a result of practising mindfulness (in a rather on-off sort of way) I have become less anxious, better able to communicate, less defensive, more self-trusting- and this has made me a better teacher. So, I'd recommend it, and like to tell people about it. However, it's obviously up to everyone whether it's something they're interested in.<br />For students, I think it's trickier, as I agree that it isn't our place to try to make them 'better people'. That said, in the same way that I would encourage students to get better at listening to each other, or at self-evaluation, I think there can be a place for activities which could encourage mindfulness (while still having a clear language aim).<br />So, having written about mindfulness for teachers this week http://elt-resourceful.com/2012/11/22/mindfulness-for-teachers/ , I am going to try and tackle ideas for students next week. But rest assured, there will NOT be any drumming, bells, meditation, lotus position etc involved!<br /><br />Rachael Robertshttp://www.elt-resourceful.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714045366168902489.post-44320770626116141002012-11-22T18:05:28.343-08:002012-11-22T18:05:28.343-08:00Thanks for commeting I'm gld you did and I thi...Thanks for commeting I'm gld you did and I think I noticed you retweeting a few things from "daily mindfulness" (was that you?)<br /><br />I decided in this post to reserve judgement on mindfulness. TBH I'm still not entirely sure what it is. I read the descriptions like " a way of being. It's about being sufficiently conscious of what's happening now that we don't just judge situations or people, or ourselves using our pre-conceived ideas" and I have trouble understanding what that means. <br /><br />do you think you could enlighten me as to the actual nut and bolts of mindfulness? <br /><br />another thing, which I took out of this article, was a comment about the religious nature of mindfulness. I know it's not overtly religious but in the video you can see a guy using some kind of Tibetan drum thing. I couldn't help wondering how this kind of thing would go down in an english class in say saudi Arabia?<br /><br />also, as you say, as it is not a teaching technique, -do we have any right to bring it into the classroom? Our students pay us to teach them English, not make them better, calmer people or relieve their stress, do they?<br /><br />Looking forward to your reply. mallingualhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13278408615407649532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714045366168902489.post-33387397328878142982012-11-22T07:39:22.543-08:002012-11-22T07:39:22.543-08:00Just seen this post- and as I'm just writing a...Just seen this post- and as I'm just writing a post on mindfulness and teaching, I thought I'd comment (better late than never).<br />The first thing to say is that mindfulness isn't a teaching technique; it's a way of being. It's about being sufficiently conscious of what's happening now that we don't just judge situations or people, or ourselves using our pre-conceived ideas, judgements, fears and so on.<br />For teachers, it's very helpful, however, as it can help us to interact more effectively with students (and everyone else), as well as enjoy teaching more as we are more likely to get into a pleasurable state of 'flow'.<br />Most of us spend very little time actually in the present, we're usually distracted by plans, worries, all the chatter in our heads. Mindfulness isn't about being in this precise second necessarily (so it's fine to remember what happened 5 minutes ago!), but it is about not sitting in the classroom planning what you're going to have for tea, or berating yourself because you're really bad at X,Y,Z (based on past experience) etc..<br />To get better at this kind of concentrating takes quite a lot of practice- and that's what mindfulness activities are all about.<br />I don't think mindfulness rules out automaticity by the way, because being in the flow is often about a certain amount of automaticity- as you say, fluency requires it. But it does rule out being elsewhere.<br />Rachael Robertshttp://www.elt-resourceful.comnoreply@blogger.com