The Story of a Soul Adventurer and Rebel Educator
I am Philip, and being a university teacher in Thailand, I'm known as Ajarn Philip in the community. In 1991 I went on my travels to the mystical Far Eastern land of Thailand. To increase my spending money, and therefore maximise my time there, I went on a one-way ticket. I loved Thailand so much that, when my money ran out, I managed to land an English teaching job to extend my stay. Then I found that I loved teaching equally as much, and so I became an accidental educator who accidentally emigrated!
It was, at 27, a new life for me, and in 2022 I’m still on that one-way ticket!
Hello!
Island magic and teaching Thais
Throughout the 1990s my life alternated between brilliant bustling Bangkok and total teaching fun with my Thai students, and chilling on my hammock on the verandah of a beachside bungalow looking out at the sea and a deserted white sand beach cove, where the action highlight of the day would be a long-tail boat chugging its way across the bay. Life was a struggle!
But there’s a point to this, other than painting your skin green!
The direct consequence of this double blissful life I led during the 90s, the last one ever before the internet dramatically altered our world, is this whole venture I’m now undertaking, of which this website is my Headquarters, the central hub of Learning Empire operations!!
Because, even though I was experiencing so much magical living, it was in this decade that I came to be learning. Lots of it. I became intimately aware of the powerful nature of this innate human activity (that has been detrimentally suppressed by our school system, about which I talk elsewhere on this site), and I now know that in big part the joy of my life back then was because I was learning so much.
Learning, the real kind, is synonymous with exploration, joy, fun, freedom, peace, camaraderie, all the good human stuff! Learning makes living more rewarding and worthwhile.
It was non-stop, and on multiple fronts: political, philosophical, psychological, spiritual, educational, language and culture, history and, not least, learning about the holistic nature of LIFE itself. It felt like I was a semi-permanent traveller, a sort of pre-digital nomad, always on the road between urban and island life, meeting new students all the time, meeting new travellers all the time, loving work, loving life.
(And yes, while I’m happily married now, you might have guessed that at that time I was happily single!)
I had so much going on that it came to be that I was always investigating in my own head what it meant to be human, how this mind of ours works, and how we can most optimally navigate our one life. Always in my life I had baulked at problems, doing my best to prevent them, and then when one would appear, finding solutions to get rid of it. But also to help others with theirs: I like to see people happy, not suffering.
All this that was happening in my personal life took place against a background of an increasingly troubled human world, that then overtly exploded from 2001 onwards. And now we’re truly in the mire.
A love affair with learning
So this special decade took me from my mid-20s to my mid-30s. All my life I had been a prolific reader of books, I loved learning, I came top or second in my class every term for three or four years, and in much of my free time I would be in the great outdoors, conducting boyhood adventures in the playground of the glorious Sussex nature in southern England. I learned from the books, I learned from engaging with the natural world, I learned from life itself. And I learned from travel…
As a family, with my Dad working in the aviation world, we were lucky to travel to other countries in the era before mass plane travel, and this included visits to the USA, Canada, Bahrain, UAE, Canary Islands, France, and several trips to Kenya, which, with its animals and game parks and beaches and fruits and African vibes, had my young mind in raptures! I was madly into the moon and planets, and the skies, and watched Star Trek religiously. I wanted to be an astronaut.
So with all this in my blood as a young lad, perhaps it was why the universe kindly pushed me over to Thailand, and then prodded me into the classroom to become a teacher. Neither had ever been on my agenda until they happened.
And so, in this magical decade for me, I was in full-on learning, living and loving mode. Learning, observing, contemplating, discussing, reflecting all the time, and loving the living. I was learning to live and living to learn, and loving it all!
I knew nothing about teaching, nor about teaching English to Thai adults, who had a very low level and who, I was told right at the outset by the head teacher of my language school, wanted to practise speaking, and to have FUN. This turned out to be great advice for me, and great for all my students ever since: all I focused on was making learning happen, getting them to speak, and making it as fun and motivating as I possibly could.
In fact, it came to be that my single objective for every lesson - however it may be effected - was to ensure that at the end of it the students would be looking forward to the next lesson. This was always my driving force as a teacher, and has remained so ever since.
To that end, I quickly learned my craft, took three courses of study over the decade, devoured the teachers’ resource books to learn of many exciting and communicative tasks and activities to use with my students, and compared experiences and classroom successes and failures with my fellow teachers and friends, over dinners of delicious fiery hot Thai food and cold green bottles of beer. I read heaps of books and, in short, put the time in to always be honing and mastering the art and science of being a motivational and transformational teacher. My students were the barometer to how well I was doing.
I loved it. I loved the whole game of educating, and always being able to strive to be, and do, better. I was a teacher, yes, but always a learner too.
For me that is now sacrosanct : if parents, teachers, or leaders want to be successful, and be rewarded for their work with those who look to them for guidance, then never stop learning yourself.
Secret island in Krabi Province, Thailand (2018)
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The countries I have travelled to, and going roughly westwards:
Australia, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Nepal, India, Bahrain, Kuwait, Dubai, Sharjah, Kenya, Holland, France, Spain, Canary Islands, Austria, USA, Canada.
I’ve been to Australia 21 times!
I’ve been to 36 of the 76 provinces in Thailand, and 16 islands (I think).
I’ve been to Kenya seven times, including my last trip in 2004 to spread my Mum’s ashes all over Mount Kenya.
My favourite places I’ve been to are Pai and Ko Phangan in Thailand, Thamel in Kathmandu and Pokhara in Nepal, Malindi, Timau and Masai Mara National Reserve Park in Kenya, Byron Bay and Mount Molloy in Australia, Varkala in India, Majorca in Spain, Ubud in Bali, and Ilfracombe in Devon, England.
Top highlights out of all my trips everywhere are: trekking in the Annarpurnas in Nepal, bamboo rafting and kayaking in northern Thailand, being on safari at the Masai Mara and Meru National Parks, skiing in Courcheval in France, visiting Angkor Wat in Cambodia in 1998, chilling in Moulmein in Burma.
More to come in my Travel Tales, which you can find in The Blog section of this site. Happy travels!
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Certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language to Adults, University of Cambridge (1993)
Diploma in Teaching English as a Foreign Language to Adults, University of Cambridge (1998)
Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching, King’s College London, University of London (2002)
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My ‘teaching’ (in reality it’s making learning happen) always is encouraging, enabling and empowering my students to become autonomous, independent learners.
1. Skills development:
learning, listening, communication, problem-solving, questioning, teaching, leadership, thinking, reflecting, doing research, writing, reading, self-awareness
2. Topics:
group psychology, group leadership, motivation, teaching strategies, curriculum development, classroom inquiry, action research, the Information Processing System (how the brain works), language acquisition and mastery, memory and meaning, health and wellness, diet and lifestyle
3. Teaching Delivery:
inspiring, motivating, mentoring, facilitating, enabling, encouraging, empowering, emotionally supporting, cognitively challenging, questioning
and cultivating consciousness in students: self-awareness, self-belief, self-confidence, self-determination, self-esteem, self-inquiry, self-knowledge and self-worth
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“Philip is a phenomenal teacher of human language, behavior, and psychology who deepened my understanding of our shared experience in many remarkable ways.” ~ Michael Guenza, USA
“Philip is an exceptional teacher. He challenged students to express, reason and make the process of learning enjoyable.” ~ Grace Dee, Myanmar
“Philip far exceeded any expectation I had of what a good teacher should be. He asked deep questions which planted the seeds of continued self-development in his students. Philip encouraged us to go beyond just teaching English, to considering our role as one in which we could make the world a better place. He has a true teaching spirit.” ~ Oliver Dilly, England
“I have come across many outstanding teachers, but Philip is an extraordinary teacher who is able to connect with his students of all ages. He always respects every student’s ideas and opinions with a positive attitude and wonderful rapport.” ~ Nang Ji, Myanmar
“In Philip’s classroom, we didn’t just learn principles and ideas, we experienced them through his presence and actions. His wisdom, professionalism, calming spirit, gentle sense of humor, wealth of experience, and respect for human dignity have shaped me as a learner and as a university faculty member. I consider him one of the all-time best teachers I’ve ever had.” ~ Dr Oliver S. Crocco, Assistant Professor of Leadership and Human Resource Development, Louisiana State University, USA
“I have grown as the professional I am today because of great teachers like Philip, who allowed me to be myself and encouraged me to follow my dreams.” ~ Tatiana Aline Mohler, Brazil
“He did his research and was deeply knowledgeable on whatever subject he introduced. Philip’s classes often challenged me to think for myself and question my own ideas and strongly-held beliefs… one of the few teachers in my life that really inspired me to look at learning as a lifelong pursuit.” ~ Chris, USA
“He knows how to teach. He showed me, not taught me, how I should behave in a second language classroom.” ~ Liz Ning, China
“Philip is undoubtedly one of the best teachers I have ever had. He taught with passion… and his classes were a source of joy to us.” ~ Bonny Toufic, USA
Long-tail boat traversing a bay on the northern coast of Ko Phangan (2010)
Time and space for deeper learning
Meanwhile, probably on average three or four times each year (yes, really!), I would get down to my favourite islands for chill time. But here, too, I learned loads, perhaps even more. In Bangkok I learned how to teach and how to make learning happen, while on the islands it was more a case of learning about life from life itself, and from reflecting on life. Remember, this was pre-internet time, and the islands were still relatively undeveloped, and each of them was their own incredible Garden of Eden. I would meet travellers from all countries, and it was such fun comparing travel stories and adventures and life experiences, and this contributed to my thirst for learning, especially direct learning. Storytelling, being the teller or being the listener, is real learning in action, and it really builds in us a sense of camaraderie, compassion, and cooperation, not to mention communication skills.
I also came to see the oneness, the unity, the shared characteristics and desires of all humans, regardless of where we come from.
Much of the day time was spent in my hammock, and here I contemplated upon life, and reflected upon my observations, learnings, and all my experiences - in Bangkok, in the media, from my books, previous travels, and memories from my life in England.
Crucially, the hammock and my regular trips to the islands gave me time and space to do this.
Island View Cabana Resort, Mae Had, Ko Phangan (2007)
I didn’t know it at the time, but I was practising much meditation, mindfulness, and was on my own spiritual odyssey.
I would watch all the butterflies, dragonflies, giant bumble bees, and other assorted members of the insect fraternity going about their business of simply enjoying life. I marvelled at this. Green-headed, red-bodied lizards would scurry about on the sand, as would small crabs; palm trees, bulging with coconuts, would gently sway in the sea breeze; the blues and greens of sea and sky danced together; cicadas would suddenly burst into a round of deafening cicada noise and then, in an instant, all stop at the same time, bringing silence back to the locale; and from time to time a human would walk across my vista along the white sand beach. I would always choose a beach where there was no road anywhere nearby, so my idyllic life would be uninterrupted by any human noise, save from the chug-chug of the odd long-tail boat or fishing vessel passing across the bay. And I liked that noise!
(The photo above is from one such beach, and that was my ‘dining room’ for the whole of June 2007!)
I might listen to my reggae on my Walkman. I might read a book. I might go for a walk along the beach, have a swim, pick some shells. I might get creative and think up new exciting tasks and activities for my students back in Bangkok. Always I had my notebooks, to write down all my thoughts, observations, reflections, creations, insights.
And often, OFTEN, I would think about the madnesses and beauties of the human world, and how it was that we humans could be so cruel, brutal, barbaric, and yet kind, compassionate, loving and beautiful beings. I pondered and I wondered. How could it be? It came back to my observation that the wealthier a nation was the less happy it was and the less it shared with others. Also, it seemed, the richest nations were those busiest at war and making weapons and the suchlike.
I was on these stunningly beautiful islands, staying in spartan but clean bungalows, eating outstanding natural fresh foods, amongst super friendly locals, meeting friendly and interesting travellers, no technology as such, and life was free as a bird. No wonder I had instantly become highly addicted to it all! The contrast to my land of birth was frequently stark. (The gap, sadly, has since closed a bit, as Thailand itself develops according to the altar and God of material progress.)
So you see, my friend, much learning for me during work time, during holiday time, in the classroom, on the hammock, from friends and students, from travellers, from my own inner reflections, from the books, from having keen listening and observation skills (which I developed as part of being a skilled teacher)… learning from everywhere! Oh, and from trips back to England, and latterly down to Australia where my sister had now emigrated and married. Comparing and contrasting is a great learning tool.
Always the countries with more, appeared to have less.
My Learning Empire is born
In time, during this amazing decade, and moving into the 21st century which found me now educating the educators in the north of Thailand, by and by I got my answers. I could clearly see the problems, the root causes, the solutions, and how to address and apply the solutions.
It’s what led to me writing my book, and it’s why I’ve found myself on this journey to promote REAL education and the joy of REAL learning, far and wide by using the online platform. While I was educating the educators at the university (studying for their master’s in teaching English), I increasingly began to conceive of a plan to widen my reach. I could see the human world more and more nosediving, unable to stop the rot. Problems aplenty, solutions empty.
So, by now I’d been on my hammock and in my classroom working on the whole theme of problems and solutions for two decades now!
So, to follow up on, and complement my book - information here - I have created The Infinity Learning Academy which will, in the coming months and years, offer various learning materials and multiple online learning courses. It will all be seriously useful for all adults and youth, but most especially parents, home educators, teachers, coaches, coordinators, and all types of leaders. Since they - you?! - work with children and other adults, if I reach them, they then reach lots of others.
And ‘reach’ is crucial, for we urgently need a healing of humankind, and my life experience tells me it only comes about through citizens empowering themselves by mastering the learning, communication, and problem-solving skills.
These crucial life skills are not only not taught during our 12 years of schooling, but they are actively suppressed; a crime against ALL humans. It’s happening with today’s generation of children. Until we adults learn to learn ourselves, then we cannot stop this madness.
Education is paramount for the good of us all, and the foremost foundational pillar of society. If education fails the children, it fails us as adults, and society at some point fails and crumbles. That’s what we now see happening in real time. The time of reckoning has arrived, while you and me are alive!
Since ‘education’ stuffed us up, only education can get us out of our mess, and that means all adults need rapidly to acquire life skills, self-knowledge, and get rid of the self-doubt and lack of worthiness that dog us, thanks to our useless, damaging and dehumanising preparations for adulthood.
In all my hammock time, all my teaching, all my travels, in all my 10,000s of hours of contemplations, reflections and research i have come to one inescapable conclusion:
A Spiritual Revolution is the ONLY solution for individual humans and the whole of humankind alike.
YOU must empower YOURself, nobody else can do it for you (learning is a personal affair), and when you do empower yourself, you add to the collective positive energy pot of empowered citizens, and when the pot is big enough the madness stops and the healing of humankind is irreversible.
Everything I produce, all the content I write and will write, film and will film, teach and will teach, is for the enjoyment of learning, the empowerment of the learner, and an aid to one’s spiritual revolution. As our numbers grow, so does the health of society and our human family.
I can tell you without any doubt in my mind that the kind of teaching I learned, and have used for 30 years with all my students in all my classrooms, if applied in all the schools of the world, would dramatically change humanity’s fortunes. It’s called Task-Based Learning, and just look out for my online learning courses which you can sign up for! TBL is real learning in action.
In the shell of a nut, The Infinity Learning Academy exists to empower you to empower yourself. The double whammy of amazingness contained within Task-Based Learning is that when you become a skilled learner you will then be the educator too. Now you will be empowering others to empower themselves. Neat, eh!!
We humans will continue suffering forevermore, generation after generation, until/unless we consciously address this psychological and spiritual burden we all carry in our heart, mind and soul, thanks to the disempowering schooling we all had.
I hope you agree with me that, NOW, in OUR generation, it’s time to call an end to it all. It’s literally up to you and me. All individuals count, but only if they put their hand up to be counted. If you do nothing, then you count for nothing, if you do something, you count for something!
So, why not join me on my quest for the healing of humankind and the liberation of all our children!
One last tale here. In 2008 I changed my diet and lifestyle around, in order to overcome increasingly frequent back pain. I tried all traditional means, but nobody could help me. With the help I got, I was astounded at what an impact diet and food choices have on our health, and my ignorance was, again, thanks to the useless ‘education’ system which fails to teach us about our body and mind and soul.
Within a week of getting proper information from an Ayurveda centre, my pains were gone, it was a revelation! No doubt I shall write about it in a blog post soon, but I’ve already shared the tale in my book. But what it did do, was unleash a brand new round of research for me to get my teeth into: on nutrition, health and wellness, and health care modalities. As I wrap this page up, here are two thoughts for you to chew on, one relating to you personally, one to society at large, but, ultimately, everything is interlinked:
We only get one life, there are no dress rehearsals, no dummy runs, no second goes, this is your lot. So what are you doing about it?! And, if you lose your health, what have you got?
Today’s society is yesterday’s classroom, today’s classroom is tomorrow’s society…