Education is a Lifelong Mission

I have been working in the field of languages and teaching for over fifteen years. I started working as a private tutor with university students; a great deal of exposure to many different subjects taught in English, and a great experience in English for Special Purposes, ESP.

Firstly, I started my teaching career development, attending workshops at the British Council, and later on teaching training in the UK, at Bell, Bedgeburry Kent and Frisby’s College Limited, Great Yarmouth. After that, I did my bachelor in philosophy and religions before starting my first job working for the National Guard, in Saudi Arabia. A few years later I did my Masters in Linguistics, specialising in Pragmatics. At the time, I worked as a part time librarian as well.

In 2013, I started working for BAE Systems, teaching English for the Royal Saudi Airforce Cadets. For two years now I have been working as an Academic Senior instructor, for BAE. Recently, I have become a certified and accredited professional Neurolanguage Coach® (US and European trademark RM Paling) – and a Licensed ELC Language Coaching Certification Trainer, certified by Efficient Language Coaching and accredited with the International Coaching Federation, ICF.

Curiosity Nourishes the Mind

For years I had given a lot of thought to learners in terms of their emotions; whether, as teachers, we were supposed to be sympathetic or empathetic, whether following the heart was acceptable in the classroom, or should one just stick to the lesson plan, deliver the target language regardless of what learners were going through. Is it right to just push through with a lesson when you are very aware that some of the learners in front of you are not in their best shape to carry out the simplest of acts, let alone acquire knowledge or even learn a language? But how would one know what to do, where to go or simply what was happening in the brain?

To me, there was this missing piece of the puzzle, something that triggered an urge to find out more.

There is More to Learners than What the Eye Sees

I have come to learn that a learner is a brain, a heart and guts. A combination that, at first glance, looks complicated. However, as we learn more about the brain, the heart and the gut , we come to realise that yes, it is absolutely complicated unless one studies and learns about how our brains function, what chemicals are involved in our decision making, how to deal with them, what the heart has got to do with all the emotional pain which can be worse than the physical pain.

Neurolanguage Coaching

It all started when Rachel, Efficient Language Coaching ‘ELC’ Director, and Creator of the Language Coaching Certification and Neurolangauge Coaching® introduced this new concept to me a few years ago. Explaining all about the brain, motivation, autonomy, how the learner is the leader in the education process, how learners get to decide what to learn, how they want to learn i.e. what their learning style is, or whether it’s a combination of styles, when they want to learn, where, how often, which pace, etc.

What Rachel explianed just felt right. My gut intuition told me so. I felt it in the the Vagus nerve that connects the guts and the brain. Neuroscience had always been there I had felt it but I hadn’t the words to put to the feelings.

When I set foot into the world of Neurolangauge Coaching there was no going back. I learnt so many things about the brain: its nerves and nerve networks, its chemicals and enzymes, its different parts and their jobs, its connection to other parts of the body and the effects and influence they have upon each other, its preference and ideal learning state, its non-stop firing and wiring even when we are not aware, its dedication and perseverance when it’s motivated and committed, its forever lasting flow of energy when it owns its goals.There was no stopping my learning process.

Rachel took me through the first certification where I was introduced to the basics of coaching and neuroscience, then she took me through the Advanced Certification as I was being exposed to deeper knowledge and thoughts on different types and schools of coaching, more complicated scenarios of team coaching. This second course gets more specific, examining the fine details of when and where language started, when and where coaching began, studying humans to the last spec and eventually it led to me becoming a licensed trainer, fully equipped, highly skilful and trained to deliver the Neurolanguage Coaching First Certification.

All along this new and exciting path, Rachel has woven all the parts together to create an International Neurolanguage Coaching Network through outstanding conferences, starting with the first International Conference in Germany, the second in Edinburgh, the third in Lisbon. Attendants, all over the world gathered to be part of this growing phenomenon. And so the legacy will continue at the fourth International Conference in London next year, 2020.

A Neurolangauge Coach

Honestly, it’s been a brilliant transformation. As educators we have got the expertise in the content and subject matter. We understand how emotions can influence the way we learn, what a brain friendly environment can do to maximise the speed and efficiency of what we learn, how learners can feel confident and safe so they can be creative and innovative, how no two brains are the same,how we can become great listeners and how to ask powerful questions, how we deal with all learners no matter what age, as brains are plastic and it’s never too late to learn.

We have come to learn what blocks the learning process and how to avoid it, how teams work together and what roles individuals can take to make a terrific team. Moreover, learners are witnessing the difference. They have noticed how Neurolanguage Coaching gives them the lead, the trust, the safe learning environment where they acquire knowledge, how they can make mistakes and learn from them through a constructive feedback process. Educational corporations are getting curious, as the message is reaching the horizon.

What is Next?

Human beings will always be driven by curiosity, constantly questioning their surroundings. Neurloanguage Coaching was born this way. As enlightened coaches, we will always remain eager to seek knowledge, to learn more about the brain by following what neuroscience is constantly discovering and revealing. We will learn more about the heart and its effect on the brain, more about intuition and how we follow our guts, more about education and educators, more about learners as they are the essential drive behind this great motion, the core of this notion.

They make the decisions, choose the routes, pick up the aids, they are ultimately autonomous. If learning was a journey where the means of transport was a bus, it would be learners who would choose when to start, where to get on, where to stop, how fast to go, they would simply have the keys as they would be the drivers and the owners of the bus.