Recently qualified as a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction teacher (MBSR) by Brown University School of Professional studies, my main concern after a long teaching career is to endeavour to alleviate stress in the Education community.

I currently teach MBSR courses for teachers and professors, college students, and school and university staff (both in English and Spanish language). Duration of MBSR courses is 8 weeks following the MBSR Curriculum that was originally designed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of Mindfulness.

I was born in a family of teachers. My mother ran a kindergarten, my father was a Primary School teacher. I was only a teenager when, during my summer holidays, I used to help Mum and Dad teach little kids how to read and write, and do Maths. As soon as I learned English at my Dad’s private practice I started teaching English myself to teenagers. We sang songs and learned the lyrics, practised every day English dialogues, or told stories. Kids loved their “speaking” lessons!

My interest in British language and culture developed when I lived in Kew Gardens (London) while preparing my tests to become an English teacher for Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas de Andalucía (Languages Schools which belong to the Andalucian Government). British culture became an issue and still is nowadays when I am spending Christmas with my extended family in London as I am writing this.

In 1993 I passed all the tests and started my career at Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas (EOIs) in the beautiful town Ronda. Thirty years later I can say I have experienced being Head of English, Head of Studies, Head of Administration, Deputy Headmistress, and Headmistress, at different EOIs in the whole of the Andalucian region, sharing work with many many colleagues from all over Spain and abroad.

From Day One I showed an interest in Emotional Intelligence, attending courses that developed techniques and strategies which would engage students through emotionally intelligent activities. A section is devoted in this blog to emotional intelligence in the classroom. In 2018 I became acquainted with the practice of Mindfulness which led me to deliver online talks on Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence.

In this blog I share learning activities for emotionally intelligent ESL classrooms which have proven successful with my students. I also present Mindfulness activities that ESL students can practice in the classroom before (or as regular training for) their speaking exams. And ultimately, I deliver professional MBSR courses online for participants who wish to learn how to  reduce stress in their daily lives through Mindfulness based practices.

After I undertook my MEd. in PINEP at the University of Málaga (Spain) my concern about students with learning difficulties grew considerably, becoming a SENCo of projects with a focus on Inclusivity and getting involved in the creation of dyslexia-friendly activities for ESL Classrooms.  I have two publications.

I am currently being trained at the birthplace of the landmark Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program to become a Certified MBSR Teacher by Brown University School of Professional Studies. The MBSR program was created by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness in 1979.