Adrian Underhill's picnic in the park

Which park would you go to?
A large warm one. With a lake. And non-threatening wildlife. And some interesting ruins of ancient buildings. Any country will do.

Who would you go with?
Anyone I like but don't know too well, and perhaps who can laugh at him/herself. Perhaps an ecologist who could tune me in to what's around.

What would you take to the park?
- a book John Ayto's "Dictionary of Word Origins".
- a CD "Far Wes" by Wes Montgomery or "Djabote" by Doudou Ndiaye Rose.
- a magazine Flamenco International.
- a video to watch later A performance of the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
- anything else? My attention, in order to enjoy and be nourished by the park, and to participate in the park's parkishness.

Inside your picnic basket what would you take
- to eat? Olives, fresh bread, cheese, mango, chillis.
- to drink? Water. If mid to late afternoon then I'd take tea, Ferns import, a special mix of Assam and Ceylon.

Who would you like to meet in the park?
I'd like any meeting that turned out to be delightful and surprising.

What would you talk about?
Making the impossible possible. Or maybe the weather.

What would you do afterwards?
Depends who I met. But hopefully it would also be delightful and surprising. Perhaps a peaceful balloon ride over the park, to see it in a different light. Otherwise, or as well, I'd go for a good beer somewhere.

Adrian Underhill works as a consultant to teachers and trainers in many countries on personal and professional development, humanistic education, management training, interpersonal skills and learning pronunciation. He is Training Consultant to ILC Teacher Training, Hastings UK, which offers a wide range of short specialist courses to EFL teachers throughout the world. He is author of Sound Foundations: Living Phonology (Macmillan) and editor of the Heinemann Teacher Development Series, as well has many articles for ELT journals and newsletters.

Adrian is currently Vice-President of the International Association for Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) and is the founder of the IATEFL Teacher Development Groups.

Click here to read a transcript of Adrian Underhill's richmondpark chat, I can be trained; I can be educated but nobody can develop me: I develop!

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