In 2012, when Australian hypnotherapist Sophia Davis arrived in Guadalajara and pursued learning Spanish, she found herself in familiar territory.
Having already lived, worked and learned the native tongues of both France and Japan, she well knew the bumps on the road to learning a language as an adult.
So Davis decided to put her skills as a hypnotherapist to work on herself in learning Spanish. She developed practical techniques focused on relaxing, building motivation and avoiding panic and embarrassment when confronted with real-life conversations.
“After I first got here, I had some instruction and my level of Spanish was okay after a while, but I really lacked confidence. Then I remembered teaching ESL [English as a second language] to adults in Japan, where I saw the same thing — they had a good level of knowledge but got very shy or even panicky in a conversation. It might make them give up. I interviewed 20 people to zero in on exactly what the blocks are and I came up with techniques that enabled people, including myself, to get around these blocks.”
Davis gave a presentation last week at the American Society of Jalisco (Amsoc) in Guadalajara, explaining the nine-week Internet based course that she developed and named the SMART Language Confidence Coaching Program.
“Everyone knows that children easily absorb a second language,” she pointed out. “With adults it isn’t so automatic, but there are very big benefits for them — for example, learning a language can help people avoid dementia. And there is a spillover effect into other areas of your life, once you develop confidence in a new language.”
“I’m in the realm she talks about, because I’m still trying to learn Spanish, I get tongue tied; I can’t speak,” said Teri Saya, who attended Davis’ talk at Amsoc. “I think her approach is a very good idea.”
Davis noted that her techniques apply to learning any language and that Mexican clients can use it to learn English. “They need an intermediate level of English, because the motivational materials are in English, although they are not difficult to understand.”
“The course includes three personal coaching sessions,” she added, “where I give people concrete suggestions tailored to their needs and level. I may direct them to language learning apps, or have them carry a notebook to write down things they learn, or suggest music or memorizing key phrases for one of their weekly challenges, such as having a conversation with someone you don’t know.
“It actually can involve only ten minutes a day, except for listening to the hypnosis track, which takes a bit longer. One thing I focus on is making it enjoyable, moving out of the paradigm of ‘should’ so that people get in the right mindset. I change the definition of fluency from not making any mistakes, to simply keeping the conversation going. And my tapes are set up to get the brain waves into the theta state.”
The course includes use of an online forum with other course participants as well as lifetime access to course materials, she said.
Davis explained that she offers a big discount to people in Mexico who sign up for the course. See This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or call 33-1214-8918.