Neuro Linguistic Programming as a

methodological resource for TEFL

- Keit Vargas

IQUIQUE, 2017
 Introduction
• The English Proficiency Index
• It included 10.000 adults above 18 years old
• Proficiency level attained per region out of 100
points

North Central
region region
47,91 pts. 50.58 pts

South region
48 pts
(Education First, 2016)
 Introduction
POSSIBLE PROBLEMS:

• Teachers might not know exactly how to access their

student’s mind to create long term learning.
• Students feel embarrassed or afraid to speak in English or
make mistake pronouncing because they know they can be
ridiculed by classmates or even the teacher. That creates
the feeling of incompetence.
• Low motivation. Learning English can be bit challenging.

That is why it is so important teachers nurture positive beliefs

about learning English and create positive environments
 Objectives
• General objective:
- To explain the contributions of Neuro Linguistic
Programming in an educational setting to strengthen and
develop social and cognitive skills in English teaching.

• Specific objectives:
- To describe the origins and benefits of NLP.
- To explain the contributions of NLP to the development of
socio-emotional and cognitive skill in English classes.
- To describe the uses of NLP on educational settings
- To provide NLP techniques to apply in the English class.
 Description of NLP
• Neuro: related to the connections our mind uses to process
reality.
• Linguistic related to the verbal & non-verbal language we
use to communicate.
People use language in thoughts, as well as in speech, to represent the
world to themselves and to embody their beliefs about world and about
life (Seebacher, 2012).
• Programming: the way we organize our ideas and actions
are programmed in a sort of automatic way.
 Origins of NLP
• NLP emerged in the 1970s in California.
John Grinder and Richard Bandler came up with a set of principles
that claimed that language and mind can be programed in such way
that they have an impact in the body and behavior of an individual.

• These 3 therapists used different techniques, but had similar

results helping their patients overcome difficulties.

• Frederick (Fritz) Perls, founder of Gestalt Therapy.

• Virginia Satir, the extraordinary family therapist, who consistently
was able to resolve difficult family relationships that many other
therapists found intractable (O’Connor & Seymour,1993).
• Milton Erickson, father of modern medical hypnotherapy and
founder of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (Vega, 2006 ).
 Benefits
• Get a more effective communication with others one’s
partner/couple, children, co-worker or friends.

• Understand our mind works, producing a better control on

actions and feelings.

• Overcoming negative past beliefs, not needed in the present

time.
 Beliefs

* Dr. Herbert Puchta, Ph.D. in Pedagogy at the University of Graz in Vienna, Austria, NLP
Master Practitioner and professor at the Teacher training university in Graz
Beliefs
 Beliefs
These 2 cases show us:

• Power of inner beliefs.

• How nurturing positive beliefs and future visualizations help in

learning English.

• Beliefs are generalization people make from the world that

surrounds them and make it to inner rules.
 LANGUAGE
• People of different sociolinguistic community will
have different ways to express the same phenomena
• Native American Maidu tribe
• Two “tulak” books
• “tulak” colors among yellow, orange
and brown.

• This example shows how the

sociolinguistic difference segregates us
from other communities
 Representational systems
Way used to collect, store and process information in
our minds
Visual Auditory
what we look and what we hear and
see listening
Gustatory
what people rely
on their sense of
taste

Kinesthetic
Olfactory
what people feel,
which includes what people rely
touch, movement on their sense of
and emotions smell
 Representational systems
• The term LEAD system is used to refer both phases (Revell &
Norman 1997).

EXTERNAL INTERNAL
VISUAL What we see What we visualize in our mind.

AUDITORY What we hear The voice we use to reflex in our

mind.

KINESTHETIC The tactile sensations Emotions, recalled sensations,

awareness on body space and
equilibrium.
 Representational systems
VISUAL
CONCEPTS EXPRESSIONS
-I see what you want to say -I do not see it clearly;
Imagination, scenes, visualization, do you have a clear image about that? –evidently
observation, lighting, look, perspective, -blind spot -a dark perspective -future looks bright -
reflex, clarify, examine, focus, reveal, -see life in rosy colors -this will bright up the situation
illustrate, show, vision, lucid -at first sight; can you take a look at this? -visible
- when you see this you will laugh.

WAYS OF SPEAKING Speak quickly and in a high-pitched, nasal tone, making sounds strained.

BODY TENSION Visual people carry tension in the upper body, especially in the area of
shoulders and abdomen They tend to point at things, and have hunched
shoulders and an extended neck.

BREATHING They often have a shallow breathing.

 Representational systems
AUDITORY
CONCEPTS EXPRESSIONS

I am listening, carry on; I want to say this loud and

echo, listening, hearing, rhythm, intonation, deaf, clear; that information is correct; word by word;
emphasize, say, proclaim, shout, speechless, it does not ring a bell; that does not sound bad;
do you hear what I say?; turn a deaf ear; a way
harmonic, tuned, mute, pitch, sounds, resonates, of speaking; loud and clear; that sounds weird;
notice, arguing. I am hearing things.

WAYS OF SPEAKING speak in a more modulated tone at a pace more balanced than the visual
person.

BODY TENSION Their muscle tension may be more balanced, although there may be some
slouching of the shoulders and tilting of the head slightly to side.

BREATHING They tend to take deeper breaths using the whole chest.
 Representational systems
KINESTHETIC
CONCEPTS EXPRESSIONS

common sense; feet on the ground; it smells like;

push, warm, cold, grab, pressure, sensitive, suffer, firm foundations; control yourself; goose bumps;
touch, contact, solid, stress, tension, concrete, break the ice; turn to dust;
we will get in touch; with my heart on my sleeve;
soft, scratch, hold, smooth, experiment.
you rub salt in a wound; scratch the surface.

WAYS OF SPEAKING speak in a slow tempo, in a voice that is deep and low.

BODY TENSION Their posture tends to be solid, strong, with the head sitting squarely on the
shoulders

BREATHING They may pause often when speaking.

 NLP in Education
• NLP is useful in Education to get rapport and create safe
learning environments for our students.

• The concept of rapport was introduced by Milton Erickson.

Erickson would consciously ‘match’ the body language, voice
tone and types of language that his clients used in order to
gain insights into their ‘map of the world’ and to build
relationships and trust as part of the process of
hypnotherapy (Carey, Churches, Hutchinson, Jones, & Tosey, 2010)
 NLP in Education
• NLP states the first step in effective teaching is to be aware of one’s reality, then
the others reality and finally attempt to consider both when teaching.

• Recognizing the lead system

When you… Visual Auditory Kinaesthetic

Spell Do you try to see the word? Do you try to sound out words Do you write the word down to
(phonetics)? find if it feels right?

Visualize Do you see vivid detailed Do you think in sounds? Do you have a few images that
pictures? involve movement?

Concentrate Do you get distracted by Do you get distracted by sounds? Do you get distracted by
untidiness or movement? movement?

Are angry Do you become silent and Do you express it in an outburst? Do you storm off, grit your fists?
seethe?

Forget something Do you forget names but Do you forget faces but Do you remember best what you
remember faces? remember names? did?
Contact people Do you prefer a direct, personal Do you prefer the telephone? Do you talk it out whilst walking
meeting face to face? or during another activity?

Are relaxing Do you prefer to watch TV, videos Do you prefer to listen to the Do you prefer to play sports or
or read? radio or listen to music? games?

Enjoy the arts Do you like painting? Do you like music? Do you like dancing?

Reward someone Do you write remarks of praise as Do you give oral praise or thanks? Do you give them a high five,
reward? thumbs up, winking or smiling?

Try to interpret moods Do you look at their facial Do you listen to their tone of Do you watch people’s body
expression? voice? movements to guess how they are
feeling?

Are reading Do you like descriptive scenes or Do you enjoy listening to Do you prefer actions stories or
take little notice of pictures? dialogues and conversations, are not keen on reading?
hearing characters talk?
 NLP in Education
The Lead VAK test (Revell & Norman’s book “In your hands” 1997).
0 = impossible 1 = difficult 2 = OK 3 = easy

__SEE a kangaroo __SEE your front door

__SEE your toothbrush __SEE a friend’s face
__SEE a plate of food __SEE a TV show
__WATCH the TV scene change

__HEAR a song __HEAR rain

__HEAR a fire alarm __HEAR a friend’s voice
__HEAR your own voice __HEAR birds singing…
__HEAR the birdsong change to a call of alarm

__FEEL excited __FEEL yourself swimming

__FEEL grass under your feet __FEEL a cat on your lap
__FEEL hot __FEEL your fingers on a piano keyboard
__FEEL your fingers playing a few notes
 Activities and Games
• Spelling : one single letter can change the meaning of words.

Ship Chip
 Spelling
Hamilton (2003).

• Create a card with the word on it; hold it up high

and to your left
• Ask students to look at the word and spell it
• Ask students to open and close their eyes as if they
were taking a picture.
• Ask them to close their eyes and visualize the
mental picture
• Ask them to modify this mental image, adding
color, background color, change the size or font,
different textures, bigger, brighter, etc.
 Spelling
• Ask students to look at the word and trace the
spelling in the air with their fingers.
• Do that again, they can trace it in the air using
different imaginary colors.
• Ask students to see the word, close their eyes and
draw it mentally while moving their finger, adding
color, font, size, etc.
• Finally ask the to select the words and move
through the air to save in a mental folder with
their hands as if they were in a computer screen
using a mouse in.
 Activities and Games
Guidelines to use playing to teach

• The games must be oriented to the goal; students express

themselves in the English language.

• Playing must reinforce previously learned concepts actively and

dynamically.

• Allows repetition to assimilate linguistic expressions

• Allows global visualization by visualizing the classroom into different

scenarios and
• Practice vocabulary in different contexts (students can imagine they are
in a foreign city using English, buying at a market, etc.)
 Activities and Games
• STOP
Example:

To reinforce description of
objects and it purpose
- Ask students to make
sentences
LETTER ANIMALS CLOTHES FURNITURE
C Crocodile cardigan cupboard

- A cupboard is used to store

glasses or food
 Activities and Games
• STOP
• Auditory: recalling of the different sounds and words that
start with certain letter.
listening sentences created by others.
• Visual: making them mentally see the words while
recalling and then writing them down.
• Kinesthetic: Running to the whiteboard to write
sentences.
 Activities and Games
• TABOO
Word: Paris
Taboo words: Eiffel
tower, France, French,
city.

-You are a place famous

for its wine.
-It’s said to be a very
romantic place.
-Most people eat
croissants there.
 Activities and Games
• TABOO

• Auditory: improve hearing by paying close attention to the

words said by his team and opponent team
• Visual: foster imaginary when mentally visualize the
place, characteristics and objects it has to describe it.
• Kinesthetic: Imagine and feel as if they were in the place
and collect vocabulary to describe it
 CONCLUSION
• NLP principles allows teachers to understand what set of expression each student uses
to create their own version of reality. Being aware of that helps teachers to communicate
in their same language which helps students create long term learning
• It creates safe environment and trust.
• NLP uses communication patterns to create effective rapport and positive classroom
environment these will foster socio-emotional growth in their students.
• Fostering positive language pattern helps our students overcome momentary failure or
fear of mockery as well as it helps create positive inner thought and beliefs.
• Mistakes are nothing to be afraid of, they are a natural part of the learning process and
identify them helps improvement and better language production.
• Successful future visualizations help students feel motivated and are the key to
overcome the momentary feelings of incompetence.
• This research aimed at helping teachers find useful NLP tools to create positive learning
environments where students can enjoy English and succeed in it.