Who is Jill Johnson

Jill Johnson graduated in Modern Languages (French, German and Latin) in 1957 but has never worked in the academic world. She delights in the message of Thomas Kuhn in “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” (1962) that people outside a discipline find it easier to make creative breakthroughs which become the “new paradigm” (though annoyingly a quick check with today’s Wikipedia found no mention of this aspect of his thinking!)

Instead, many years in the world of administration, marketing and computers led her to become increasingly interested in how human beings process information. In 1980 she set up Mind Management as a “learning to learn” consultancy and spent many years being inspired by the now defunct charity, SEAL (Society for Effective and Affective Learning).

Her life-long interest in tackling numerous foreign languages, her own frustration with traditional methods and course materials, together with occasional simultaneous interpreting assignments for an international federation all drove her to search for better ways for adults to tackle language learning. She called it FOCUS and attached the ambitious slogan Changing the World of Foreign Language Learning. Unfortunately, personal circumstances meant that, while she is still coaching adults in many different languages, including those she does not know herself, she has not put energy in finding allies for the World Changing. Completing the FOCUS Handbook, “Why do foreigners speak so fast?”, a practical primer for learners wanting to take charge of their own learning, is the current priority.