A lot has happened since I last posted something here. I have been overwhelmed with work, studies and health issues. 

I ended up being operated on and now that I cannot display my usual activities, I have decided to consider this situation as a kind of retreat.

Giving ourselves time to reflect and heal can be a powerful way to process the things that are happening in our lives. Going on a retreat means that we have set the intention to heal and learn more about ourselves and our spirit, but above all, it is a decision that we make for ourselves.

 

I had a hectic week last week with academic presentations to make, family decisions to support and health issues to take care of. I also had to sit for an exam on a topic I am just learning and had not prepared well enough for it. I really thought I would not be able to make it through the week. However, while I was talking to a good friend of mine -more as catharsis than to keep small talk - she told me she was convinced that I could manage since I had been through worse. What she said shocked me at the beginning but she said it so convincingly that her faith in me gave me the courage to do it all. The cherry at the top was bumping into the text below in a magazine, it raised my spirit so high that I decided to share it.  Hope it helps somebody else as it helped me. There are times in our lives when we may find ourselves facing challenges that can seem overwhelming. The situation or task we are struggling with seems hopeless, and it is easy to stop believing in ourselves, our goals, and our dreams. It is during these moments that it can be reassuring and reaffirming to turn to the people in our lives who do believe in us, especially when we are finding it hard to believe in ourselves. An encouraging word, a reassuring look, or hearing the words "I believe in you" from someone who matters can help us turn our situations around in an instant.  Everybody has someone who believes in them, whether this person is a teacher, parent, friend, loved one, or an employer. Often their belief can wrap us in warmth, bolster us, and offer us a supportive hand to grab onto until we can regain our own support. Having that special person who believes in our abilities and our worth is a wonderful gift. But when we are feeling unworthy, it may be difficult to take in something so precious. We may even feel like we need to do it all on our own and that we shouldn't be asking for help. However, in letting their belief and support impact you, you are acknowledging the part of yourself that knows you are worthy of trust and esteem. By allowing them to believe in you, your own belief in yourself and your abilities will start to emerge again. Borrow their vision, and you can make it your own.

It's difficult to clearly see what needs to be done when your environment is burdened with half-completed projects, unfinished to-do lists, old files, clothes that don't fit, and equipment that no longer works or serves any purpose. At moments like these I remember the words of a folk song that asks for taking everything out and making room for new things to come. Renewal as spring does in nature, that´s what we need. 

When 2017 started, I was committed to creating the best year of my life – a year that completely surpasses anything I've known before!  That would not happen if I do not clean out the old and make room for the new. 

It is half year now, I still have time!!!

  

When I was a child, I did not know what I wanted to become when I grew up: a doctor? a vet?. Not even once I thought about becoming a teacher!. In my mind I thought I would rather be dead before I work as one.

I started the university at the age of 16 and was lucky enough to enter one of the oldest and well known public universities with relative facility in spite of the few vacancies and the high number of applicants. And I was so proud I got into the Biological Science School, a field I got to like when I was in my fourth year of secondary school and my teacher from San Marcos University-where I entered- introduced us, silly girls, to the world of the phisiology of living things. I could not dissect the hens, rats, chicken or fish she made us buy and take to school but I remember wondering about how all the organs worked and contributed to keep the animal alive. So it was natural to study to become a biologist as she was.

San Marcos is an ancient public university, the first one founded in South America and it used to be a beacon of political ideas and revolts and in the early seventies it was not an exception, there were always strikes to support teachers´unions, students´unions or workers´unions. In fact, the seeds of the terrorist movement that assolated the country a decade later were planted in this university and the number of strikes we had, made it possible that I studied another career: English language teaching. First, as a language student and then taking specialisation course to teach.

I was always good for languages and loved studying so this was not sacrifice, besides my Dad was passionate about learning English and had registered all his children in the Britanico for the summer classes.
During my training as a teacher at Británico I realised I could click with students and that because I had a good ear my pronunciation was not so bad so I decided to improve and studied and attended as many lectures and workshops as possible. 

Strikes at San Marcos finally stopped but I had got a part-time job as a teacher of English at Británico that accommodated well between my classes at the University. I still remember my first day of classes, my knees  and my voice trembling until I got so carried away in the activities that I forgot I had not taught before and fell in love with teaching. 

Since then I have had many groups of students that I loved and cared for very much. I was not an extraordinary teacher and even now that I look back I realise I could have done better things and my classes could have been more effective but I must have done some things well since until now whenever I meet a student I had taught before, they greet me with love and ask me to remember how good our classes are. My teaching at Británico were probably the best years of my working life; not only for how they hepled to become a teacher but also for the friends I made among my colleagues, friends that I still have and love. 

My teaching at different universities prepared me more for the administrative and academic skills I had to develop when becoming a coordinator and now that I am an Academic Director. Those years were useful and very well used but I do not look back on them with the love as I do with my first teaching years.

I do not teach students any more. For the past 7 years I have been working as a teacher training and the interaction is completely different since there is a lot of life sharing in our conversations now and it is harder for my trainees now to keep up for all the reasons: lack of time, life , loads of work, etc. However, and even if I have myself decided to reduce my workload, I think I will never stop teaching, I will never stop sharing if I still have something to share. 

With teaching, it is a life-time relationship: once a teacher, always a teacher!

I have always heard that personal evolution is a slow and gradual process, even painful, and that very often it is difficult to recognize the scope of the changes taking place in our lives. Yet it is important  to acknowledge our ongoing growth and even better, to see how to reward ourselves for the self-improvement we have accomplished.

I am reaching a stage in my life when there is more behind than ahead and I need to remind myself of the insights I have gained with time and how my life in the present differs from the experiences I lived through the past. Of course I had my share of success and failures as everybody else but all that has made me who I am now.

My attitudes, opinions, and values have marked me in different ways along my life and these differences can be ascribed, I think, to  one main thing: my willingness to accept that  I still have much to learn.

Today I need to give myself credit for these changes, to think about the goals I realized, the lives  I touched, the wisdom I acquired with time, and the level of enlightenment I attained over the past years. 
Knowing that  I am brighter, stronger, and more grounded than  I once  was allows me to look forward to the changes to come. 

On Labour Day, I remember my Dad more than ever. He was the one who taught us to study hard and work hard. He said, everything could be achieved if we worked hard...and so we did.

He demonstrated how important education was in the seek for a good job and even if we did not have luxury at home, we never failed to have books.

Dad used to say that reading will take you anywhere and will inevitably attract success, and he was right.

Thanks for your advice Dad, your children can enjoy a good life and success because of you and can inspire others to do the same.

Easter Holidays have different meanings and celebrations for me. For my family in USA it is a happy time, a time when the land renews and happy things are expected. For my family in Peru, it means a time of reflection and prayers since we celebrate the Holy Week, the death and resurrection of Jesus.

In any case, it is a good time to stop and think of how life is presented to us and it is also a time to be grateful for all the wonders God has put in front of us.

There are a lot of evil things taking place in all the world. There are also lots of tragedies and catastrophes happening, but we should not lose faith that we have been put in this world to help each other and to do good.

Whatever the meaning of Easter is for you, celebrate and rejoice because God is with us.

Making changes in our lives

I am attending a course in NLP to shape some aspects of my behaviour that - I believe- can make my life more useful. Today I read an article about editing our lives and I thought it was close to what I wanted to express so I chose some excerpts.

"Our lives can be compared to an ongoing movie script over which we have complete creative control. Within us lies the power to examine what works or isn't working in our lives and make "edits" to our life's script, accordingly. Choosing to actively edit your life can be incredibly empowering. As you evolve, you have the choice to accept the script you've written thus far or edit it so you can create a life that fulfills you. You can cut out from your life's script what is no longer working for you. Acknowledging that you are responsible for the experience you create gives you the ability to create the life you've always longed for".
Isn´t it wonderful? However, I am not sure editing your real life  is as easy as erasing a line of text, especially if you've carried emotional baggage . But when you do cut out what isn't working from your life, you'll feel lighter and more alive. Editing out activities that you find stressful, disassociating yourself from people that drain your energy, and letting go of your emotional baggage are all beneficial cuts you can make.

What can we put in the empty spaces that are left behind? That´s the magic! you can add in anything you like. We can now include the kinds of positive experiences, people, and beliefs that you would like to fill your life with.   

I can´t wait to start!

We are really excited to begin our first Grammar games course this year. Watch the video of a  Grammar games session we ran in Toquepala, in the south of Peru.

March 8th 2017

Let´s get together!!!

I bumped into this video and couldn´t help sharing it everywhere. I have always believed there are a lot more things that unite us than separate us and it makes me feel good that other people think the same.

A wonderful start for 2017 !!!

CTS Fourth Summer Course for Top English Language Teachers 2017

The time to Blossom is now

Having a vision for our future that differs from our current circumstances can be inspiring and exciting, but it can also keep us from fully committing to our present placement.  

There are no guarantees in this life, so when we hold back we do so at the risk of never fully blossoming. This present moment always offers us the ground in which we can take root and open our hearts now.  

We have a habit of presenting life with a set of conditions--ifs and whens that must be fulfilled before we will say yes to the gift of our lives.

Now is the time for each of us to bloom where we are planted, overriding our tendency to hold back.

Now is the time to say yes, to be brave and commit fully to ourselves, because until we do no one else will.

Now is the time to be vulnerable, unfolding delicately yet fully into the space in which we find ourselves.

(Extracts from the Daily Om. www.dailyom.org)

Happy Chinese New Year 2017!!!!

May your life go smoothly

May you find success in your career

Fortune will  smile on you

May  all your wishes come true

Thanks 2016 for all the lessons -some of them really hard to learn- and the challenges.

With Jenny Chavez, a participant that has accompanied us since 2013, our First Summer course. We are really happy to have contributed to her professional development.

Welcome 2017 with whatever you bring.!!!