The Weekly Column

Cahill and Halpern suggest in their book “The Ceremonial Circle” (Mandala 1991) that there are three distinct stages in ceremony which need to be honored for the experience to touch us deeply: Severance- leaving behind the everyday world, entering Sacred Time & Space – going beyond ourselves, and Reincorporation – returning with new self-knowledge. As these are the same psychological processes that compose our lives, there is a strong case to be made for following the same steps in class.

Einstein famously remarked that we cannot solve problems from within the mind frame that created the problems in the first place. Any time that we step outside our assumptions or habitual way of seeing things by entering Sacred Time & Space, we are experiencing what Danah Zohar calls our SQ (Spiritual Intelligence) and to some small extent, at least, using it for the purpose of self-development.

Reincorporation, like recollection, entails the bringing together of our world inside and our world outside, the meeting of the deep, inner self and its innate wisdom or spiritual intelligence with the outer ego and its worldly concerns, strategies and activities. Recollection can be defined as SQ in action.

In a story telling session, you leave the everyday world behind you the moment the storyteller says once upon a time, you’re transported beyond yourself into another setting during the telling of the tale, and you return with new self-knowledge if the story worked as a metaphor for you.

Through guided imagery, you can leave behind the stress of daily life through relaxation, you go beyond yourself by entering a light state of trance, and you return with the visions you had on your journey.

In a role play, you can leave behind the everyday world by taking on a new identity. You can go beyond yourself when you act out the part, and you return with new self-knowledge by discovering the kind of performance you’re capable of and perhaps by gaining a deeper insight into the nature of the character you portray.

The next time you plan a lesson, see whether the three stages described in this model can be applied to it. If they can’t, then perhaps there is something missing - a vital ingredient that could make it work better.

Three sample lesson plans are presented below to illustrate the process. The story of “The Boy With The Magic Brush” is taken from my book “A Multiple Intelligences Road To An ELT Classroom” published by Crown House. “The Learning Place” is taken from “The Power of Metaphor” due to be published in Spring 2000.

When you are in power and in control of your life, there is nothing you are unable to do. Ma Liang, in the Chinese folktale that follows, even has power over the Elements. You too can have a magic brush like the boy in the story - all you need is belief in yourself:

Once upon a time in a little village, a poor boy named Ma Liang was born. It was not long before his parents died, so he became an orphan. To survive he had to work for a landlord. He worked day and night.

One day, after finishing his work, he returned to his shabby bed in his shabby little house. When he passed the window of the landlord’s house, he saw an artist drawing a picture for the landlord. What a beautiful scene it was! Ma Liang admired it very much. He wanted so much to have a brush to draw with.

At this, everyone present laughed at Ma Liang. This made him so angry that he made up his mind there and then to learn how to draw. And he vowed to draw only for the poor.

From there on, he began to practise drawing. Whatever he saw and wherever he was, he drew. Because he had no brush, he used a branch or whatever else he could get his hands on. He had no paper, so he often drew in the sand.

Years went by and Ma Liang became a good artist. Everything he drew was as lovely as if it were real. He only wished he had a brush!

One night, after practising drawing, he went to bed. Because he was so tired he began to dream very quickly. Suddenly he was in a different place. A brook led off into the distance with all kinds of flowers on both banks, and an old man stood in front of him. Ma Liang was too surprised to say a word!

"Well then, I will give you a brush, but remember that you promised to draw only for the poor." With this, the old man disappeared.

When Ma Liang awoke, he realised that it had only been a dream, but to his surprise there was a real brush in his bed. He was very pleased. The first thing he did was to draw a cock on the wall. No sooner had he finished the drawing than the cock stepped out of the wall and came to life. Ma Liang had received a magic brush!

Ma Liang began to draw for the poor. Because he could draw whatever he wanted and whatever he drew came to life, he did a lot of good with his brush. It was not long before the emperor heard the news and ordered his soldiers to bring Ma Liang to him.

The emperor met Ma Liang in his big hall. The emperor said. "I have heard that you have a magic brush that can bring whatever you draw to life. Is this true?

"How dare you say that?" fumed the emperor. "I am the emperor. You must obey me!" At this, two guards snatched the brush from Ma Liang’s hands.

The emperor put the brush into the hands of the most respected painter in the kingdom and asked him to draw something, but his painting did not become real. Seeing that his plan was not working, the emperor tried to persuade Ma Liang to draw something. Ma Liang, however, decided to teach the emperor a lesson.

"Now draw a ship," ordered the emperor. A ship soon appeared in the picture. The emperor hurriedly jumped into the ship with his guards and prime minister to set sail for the isalnd of gold. The ship sat quietly, so the emperor once again ordered Ma Liang to draw, this time wind so that the ship could move.

Ma Liang wasted no time in drawing a violent wind that almost capsized the ship. The emperor screamed for Ma Liang to stop, but Ma Liang only drew more and more bad weather until the ship disappeared out of sight.

NOTES FOR TEACHERS

If I had a magic brush and could make whatever I painted come true

I’d paint new houses for the homeless and happiness for me and you.

What would you paint if you had a magic brush? Invite the participants, working in small groups, to consider what they would paint, possibly with a view to contributing towards a collective poem.

SCRIPT FOR THE GUIDE: (To be read in a gentle trance-inducing voice.) Make yourself comfortable and close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths to help you relax. Breathe in the light and breathe out all your tightness. Feel the tension disappear stage by stage from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. Let your surroundings fade away as you gradually sink backwards through time and actuality and pass through the gateway of reality into the dreamtime. (When the participants are fully relaxed, begin the next stage.)

Suddenly you find yourself in a different place, somewhere in the countryside, somewhere you remember from a long ago distant time – a time of trust and innocence, far removed from your current everyday concerns. It’s your favourite season of the year and your favourite time of day. A brook leads off into the distance with all kinds of flowers on both banks. Take a minute of clock time, equal to all the time you need, to savour all the sights, sounds and smells of this peaceful place, this place that’s so special for you …..

And now you’re roused from your reveries because you sense you’re no longer alone. You look up from the place where you’ve been resting to see an old man standing in front of you. There’s kindness in his eyes, a smile on his face and he greets you as a friend. Take a minute of clock time, equal to all the time you need, to make the most of this opportunity you’ve been given to meet with this wise old soul …..

"I’ve been expecting you and I knew you’d come. You want your own brush, don’t you?" the old man asks.

"Yes, I do!" You reply, without hesitation. Because you know that you’re worthy of this gift and that you will make good use of it.

"Well then, I will give you a brush, but remember that you promised to use it only for worthy purposes and not for greed." With this, the old man disappears, and you’re left with the brush in your hands. Study it carefully, feel its texture and note the markings carved into its handle. Treasure it because its value is immeasurable.

You know it would be all too easy to let the power that you have been given access to go straight to your head. So take a minute of clock time now, equal to all the time you need, to reflect on the uses to which you can put it, for the benefit not only of yourself but also for those near and dear to you …..

Now the time has come for you to return with the magic brush, back, back, along the banks of the bubbling brook and back to the place you started from. The magic of the brush is your own power, the power you have to shape your own destiny – this is the power that has been unveiled to you and that you now hold in your hands. For as long as you believe in this power, its strength will never desert you. And as you retrace your steps along the banks of the brook, once again savour the sights, sounds, and smells of this extra special place, a place you can return to again and again whenever you should feel the need. And as you continue to make your way back, back through the gateway between the two worlds give thanks for the treasure you’ve been blessed with.

Take a deep breath, release it, open your eyes and stretch your arms and legs. Stamp your feet on the ground to make sure you’re really back. Welcome home! Take a few minutes in silence to take some notes on the experiences you had on your journeys, which you can then share with the rest of the group/ make a note of in your dream journal.

In the story of Noah’s Ark the water of the flood serves as a means of selection – deciding who deserves to live and who deserves to die. In the story of the bird and her chicks, the bird takes on the role of the Creator to make that decision. It’s a traditional Yiddish tale which takes a humorous look at the difficult problem that many of us will have to face one day:

Once upon a time a mother bird who had three chicks wanted to cross a river. So she put the first one under her wing and started flying across. As she flew she said, "Tell me, child, when I’m old and frail, will you carry me under your wing as I’m carrying you now?"

"Ah," said the mother bird, "you’re lying." With that she let the chick slip, and it fell into the river and drowned.

The mother went back for the second chick, which she took under her wing. Once more as she was flying across the river, she said, "Tell me, child, when I’m old and frail, will you carry me under your wing the way I’m carrying you now?"

"Ah," said the mother bird, "you’re lying." With that she let the second chick slip, and it also drowned.

Then the mother went back for the third chick, which she took under her wing. Once more she asked in mid-flight, "Tell me, child, when I’m old and frail, will you carry me under your wing the way I’m carrying you now?"

"No, mother," replied the third chick. "How could I? By then I’ll have chicks of my own to carry."

"Ah, my dearest child," said the mother bird, "you’re the one who tells the truth." And with that she carried the third chick to the other bank of the river.

NOTES FOR TEACHERS

Pre-listening: Is it our duty to look after our parents when they grow old or should they go into an Old People’s Home?

While Listening: Ask the listeners to predict what will happen next after the mother bird poses her questions.

Post-listening: You might like to set up role-plays with the participants working in groups of three. If one group of four is necessary, the fourth person can take on the role of one of the children.

A: You’re a middle-aged woman with two young children and a full-time job. Your elderly mother lives with you and needs a lot of attention. You’re finding it difficult to cope with everything but you feelm it’s your duty to look after her.

B: Your wife is suffering from stress and you’re worried about her health. You feel she has too much to cope with and that it would be better if her elderly mother went into a Home where she could be properly looked after.

C: You want to live an independent life and don’t like the idea of going into a Home. You feel you still have a valuable role to play and that you can help your daughter to look after her children. You blame your son-in-law for the situation because you think he doesn’t like you and that’s why he proposed the idea.

It is emotions, not logic, that drive our attention, meaning-making and memory. This suggests the importance of eliciting curiosity, suspense, humour, excitement, joy and laughter. Story telling can provide an ideal means of achieving this. An example of how story as metaphor can be used in an educational setting to promote positive expectations is presented below. You can start by inviting the learners to describe to each other the places where they first studied a foreign language, then to compare their own experiences with the place described in the tale:

This is the story of Alessandra, a young woman who leaves her parents’ home to make her own way in the world. She’s looking for something more than the familiar everyday routine of her family, the challenge of the new and unfamiliar. So she travels to the Learning Place, a special place visited by seekers of all kinds, in the land known as Dan Glen. She arrives in Autumn, just as the leaves are beginning to change to colours of deep red, orange and yellow, and the trees themselves are turning within for the winter.

Alessandra’s feeling a bit nervous because she’s never been to Dan Glen before and doesn’t understand the language spoken there. So when she arrives and hears the people speaking so quickly, she gets frightened and thinks perhaps she’s made a big mistake. Many learners are based in the Centre besides herself and she notices they don’t appear to be afraid. In fact, they seem to be enjoying life to the full and this helps to reassure her.

Alessandra walks around the Centre feeling rather lost until she meets one of the welcome guides who helps new arrivals to feel at home. The guide’s name is Karelov. Karelov is a kind, gentle man who soon makes her feel comfortable listening to his native language. She’s surprised at how relaxed and confident she feels with her guide. Her understanding of the new language grows quickly, and before long she’s beginning to use the language too. Karelov recognizes that Alessandra has all the abilities she needs to do very well.

With Karelov’s support and encouragement, Alessandra begins to open her mind and heart to all the new opportunities around her. Karelov spends many hours with Alessandra and the other new arrivals. He tells them lots of stories, he plays lots of games and listens with patience and interest. They all learn quickly without even realizing it’s happening and Alessandra’s confidence quickly grows. She makes friends with the other new arrivals in her group and she recognizes that their situations are similar to her own. .

One of these friends, Eduardo, invites her to the annual festival of dance in Dan Glen. Karelov has taught them the traditional dances and they demonstrate their skills at the festival with ease and delight. Even the natives are impressed and congratulate them on the naturalness and ease of their performance.

During one of the breaks, a traditional dance instructor called Killjoy asks them how many hours and days they must have struggled to reach such a high standard. He can’t believe it when they tell him that it was no struggle at all and that they enjoyed every minute of it. He thinks they must be lying. Alessandra and Eduardo become a little confused and wonder if they did something wrong. They can’t understand all this analysis of their learning which just happened so naturally.

At this moment Karelov and his partner Bella, who are also attending the dance, invite the young couple to join them in a dance for four. They tell Karelov about their conversation with the old dance instructor and Karelov smiles. He explains that unfortunately there are still teachers like Killjoy in the Centre with old-fashioned beliefs about how learning takes place. Killjoy, it seems, has forgotten that learning can be an enjoyable experience and that when people feel relaxed they can produce their best work. Alessandra and Eduardo realize from their own recent experiences that what Karelov is saying is true and a smile of recognition appears on the young couple’s faces as they join Karelov and his partner for the dance.

The next day Karelov announces to Alessandra and the rest of the group that their initiation is now complete. They have all mastered naturally and with ease a basic understanding of the language and they are ready to move on. Their understanding of themselves and others has grown and so has their confidence. The friendships will last, the pleasant memories will remain, and the ending is just a beginning. As Karelov concludes his remarks, he invites everyone to hold hands and to join him in a circle, a circle of strength and unity.

Alessandra has since become a fine teacher herself and Eduardo is now working as an interpreter. And we leave them to continue their journey through life, following easily and naturally the best guide of all – the Karelov who resides within them.

A number of factors contribute to the way in which an individual approaches learning experiences including environmental, emotional, sociological, physical and psychological. The visualisation presented below can be used to stimulate participants into thinking about their preferred patterns of learning. It is taken from "Accelerated Learning in the Classroom" by Alistair Smith. You can follow the process by inviting the learners to describe to each other what they discovered about their preferred patterns and what they can do to bring these conditions about:

"As you listen to the music, I'd like you to relax. Feel the soles of your feet on the floor, settle down and prepare to enjoy a journey. You may close you eyes if you wish. Breathe deeply. As you listen to the music, relax from the top of your head to the soles of your feet. Enjoy the feeling.

...Pause... We are about to begin a journey to explore how you enjoy learning best. When we return you'll know all you need to know to help you begin to learn successfully. ...Pause... As you relax your eyes and your mouth and your ears and your neck continue to breathe deeply and enjoy the music.

Take yourself to a place where you enjoy learning. Enjoy the sights and sounds of being there. As you continue to relax and listen to the music, enjoy the sounds as you learn successfully. Whether your place is light or dark or warm or cool, you can feel success as a learner when you are there. When you are being even more successful as a learner enjoy the experience, continue to relax, asking yourself what is it that is making me so successful here? Is the learning fun? What is making it fun? Is it useful? In what ways is it useful? ...Pause... As you continue to relax and see and hear and feel yourself being a successful learner, how are others helping you be successful? Breathe deeply, listen to the music ... And as you enjoy being in your perfect learning place, ask yourself what's the best time of day for me to be learning?

As you enjoy the music and continue to breathe deeply you may like to think a little more about how you learn best ... what sort of things do you enjoy doing as you learn? Think of the subject you learn best. What is it you do in that subject that helps you more than anything else? And as you continue to breathe deeply, enjoying the music and your successes in learning spend some time there ...Pause... before preparing to come back with all the secrets of your learning successes. And as the music fades and my voice rises be aware of being back here (in the classroom) and of the others around you. Gently stretch out as the music stops."

How important is grammar? Working in small groups, discuss the question, then elect a spokesperson to present your views to the rest of the class.

Once upon a time a grammarian went down to the seaside and decided to take a boat trip. So he rented a boat from a Gypsy whose business this was. While the gypsy was rowing the boat, the grammarian asked him if he knew anything about literature or grammar.

The boatman answered that he’d never had time to learn how to read - he’d been too busy working and trying to feed his family to bother about such things. "I know my work, all there is to know about boats, and that’s all I have to know."

The grammarian replied, "What a shame – you’ve wasted half your life with boats and know nothing about the more refined things in life."

Just then, all of a sudden, the weather changed, the sea got rough and things began to get scary. So the boatman asked the grammarian, "Hey, do you know how to swim?"

"Oh, what a shame – you’ve spent half your life studying literature and grammar and you never learnt how to swim?" Well, if you don’t learn how to swim now, it’s going to be the end of your life!"

THE LESSON AS A CEREMONY