http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQaoAKtucT0&feature=vmdshb

My Teaching Philosophy

Spain has been my home for the last 7 years and during that time I have worked as a Marketing Professor and a Business ESL Teacher. For me this opportunity has been nothing less than luck mixed with the desire to be able to combine my teaching talents with my knowledge of business.

In the process of teaching ESL to a variety of students I realized that after years of studying English in public and private institutions few students could actually converse in English. They could successfully fill out grammar exercises, but the nuances of the language were lost to many. Here was a great parallel to my rather inept ability to learn Spanish after eight years of high school and university classes.

So I decided to go back to basics and investigate all of the learning theory that I had studied while I was an Education major. Nothing there, just more exercises to fill in, fill out, and file. Then I remembered as a Psychology major in Los Angeles I took a class in Physiological Psychology, studying what chemical and neuronal processes take place as we learn. Nothing there either. Finally I turned on the computer and watched a TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson, “Schools Kill Creativity,” and I remembered. We learn by doing, not by pulling apart a whole, organic, living language.

Moreover a quick search on the Internet revealed from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research: Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction that language is not just for those left brained people any more. Science now recognizes that it is the right side of the brain’s hemisphere that interprets the emotional connotation of words or how we say something. This connotation of words is what we learn when we are actually living the language.

I refocused my classes away from grammar books and pulled out my CDs, DVDs, lap top and paint brushes. I began to develop classes in both Marketing and ESL based on interactivity. The more I could engage the class the less likely I was to see the Deer In Headlights Look from my students and behavior problems declined. I used songs, dance steps, TV, radio, played games, told stories, showed films, read cartoons, did role playing, baked cookies, shared recipes, set up a market, wrote mystery stories, and worked with Lumosity.com to help develop conceptualization skills. In short my goal was to make learning an interactive, interesting, and memorable event. And just coincidentally, I learned Spanish in the process as I had to communicate in real time with all of the shop owners, taxi cab drivers, police officers, and bus drivers, who directed me across the city of Barcelona as I made the purchases that would facilitate learning in my classrooms.

These classes have been a joy to teach both the Marketing and the ESL classes.  It has been a fantastic experience to watch students from all over the world develop that "Ah ha moment" when the concepts and principles of learning by doing become realized. 

Celebrating Fall !

http://smilebox.com/playBlog/4d6a59344e5463304e7a593d0d0a&blogview=true

IGUANA - something old something new

Walk Like An Egyptian (song)

What the Hell Do You Teach in Barcelona?

In response to those Enquiring minds I’ve written the following;

  

I’m not quite sure how to answer an inquiry concerning my design background and MBA teaching, but I will try by explaining a bit about my classes.

I have been teaching a class called Design Management in Barcelona for about the last four years. It is essentially a combination of business and art. So, why art? Research shows that the more creative we are, the more innovative we become. It is this factor or "out of the box" thinking that allows us to be effective in our problem solving. The ability to problem solve effectively catapults a company to leading edge technology, product design and management, and leading behavioral organization. This is all a very fancy way of saying, innovation facilitates profitability!

These classes spawned another series of classes which answer the question: Ok, Innovation and Creativity are wonderful ideas for business, but how do you teach for creativity or innovation?¿

Hence my new series of classes was born and surprisingly enough called; Creativity & Innovation. It is within this series of classes that I use my artistic thinking for developing exercises that will lead professionals to take a different look at problem solving in order to develop new, efficient, effective and yes, profitable ways of doing business.

And, this class has been a joy to teach! It has been a fantastic experience to watch students develop that "Ah ha moment" when the concepts and principles of my teachings become realized. 

So in a nut shell that is basically what my work is about here in Barna. There has been an increase in corporate demand for this type of class or workshop as global competition from countries like India, Turkey, Chile, and of course China has increased also.

If you have any questions about my work, let me know and I will do my best to help you resolve them. I am also available by Skype.

Hope all is well in your part of the world, still lovin´ BCN after all these years!

Un abrazo fuerte,

Linda

A Letter About The Ride-2006

May 1, 2006

Dear Family and Friends:

It has been almost a year and a half since I made the decision to sell my home in Sacramento and move to Santa Cruz de Tenerife in Spain. What a ride it has been!!!!!! Looking back on all that has transpired during this time I can´t believe that I found the cojones to sell everything and move to a country where I thought I knew the language. That said, I am still in the process of taking more and more Spanish classes so that I can become totally fluent and hopefully to be able to do business in Spanish. My goals in moving here were to become fluent in Spanish and find the time to actually do some oil paintings for myself instead of the commercial type of work that I had done in the past.

Challenges: October 8, 2004, upon arrival in Tenerife I discovered that my relationship with a male friend was not to be as advertised, and I found myself at a lost and madly searching for answers to his peculiar behavior. However, as I believe that there is a reason for everything, it was my first Spanish blessing in the disguise of a huge heartache. I immediately rented an apartment, rented a car so that I could travel to the local IKEA, bought furniture as I arrived in Tenerife with only 2 suitcases, and started to arrange my new nest. For me it was the first time that I had made decisions based on what I wanted to do. They were not based on what would be great for my children, and I have to admit it was a wonderful learning experience to accept the responsibility for all of my decision. I can no longer say, well I had to do that for Jamie or Ryan. Oh my God, I think that I am becoming an adult!!!!!! I am finding strengths that I never knew existed.

More confusion: In November of 2004 I was to learn that my nephew, my ex-sister-in-law´s son, was killed in Iraq. Although I had lost direct contact with him after my divorce from his uncle, my boys, who were close in age, also suffered an amazing lost of their cousin.  They both loved and admired him greatly. This young man, JP, was an exceptional person on so many levels. My heart hurts for his family and my ex-sister-in-law, we had been pregnant at the same time, and for me as a mother, this could only be a mother´s greatest nightmare.

My confusion was immense; do I return to the US, what if I lost one of my sons, what the hell am I doing in Spain? Through many nights turned into mornings and liters of Spanish Rioja, I decided to light a candle in the Catedral de San Francisco for my nephew JP and to ask the Virgen for an answer and let go of my quest to control my life.

The blessing begins: a phone call, from a friend exponentially removed 700 times, included an invitation to a dinner for Acciones de Gracia; a.k.a.,Thanksgiving. Sure, I could bring some wine, but do I have to share it? After all, life had become TOTALLY about me realizing how victimized I had been by life. An introduction, a smile, a kiss on the cheek, a Spanish woman trying desperately to communicate with me in English, a turkey in Spain like a hamburger in India, the impossible was happening. I was beginning to find my place in Spain, I was beginning to move with the flow of this lifestyle, and I was finally beginning to understand that the most important things I have are choices. The choice to bury myself in the depression of all the things that had not happened in my life or the choice to move through the pain and embrace the opportunity of my lifetime, to live and learn in this beautiful country.

Obviously, I chose to stay and the ride continues. I have started teaching business english classes to international companies here in Spain and also at the Oficial Escuela de Idioma. Through these experiences I have met an amazing cluster of people from all over the world. Sharing their experiences with me has taught me that we are all the same. We are all looking for the same things; a good life, a loving partner, children, and a meaningful career. To quote John Lennon and the Apostle Paul, ¨all there is, is love.¨ Many of you through hours of long telephone conversations knew about my turmoil while it was happening and I am truly blessed to have had your love, confidence, and advice during this time.

On the Home Front: I am looking into the possibilities of moving to either the northern side of the island or perhaps Barcelona.

Job: Exploring working in mainland Spain at an English summer camp for 2 months.

Men: Have met many wonderful Spanish caballeros, and look forward to meeting even more!!!

I am so grateful for this experience and for my supporting friends and family. The journey continues, and continues, and continues.

Love, Besos, and Abrazos,

Linda