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Motivation
Sylvie was motivated to write a book about normal, healthy birth when she
realised what many women were experiencing as an alternative to ‘the healthy
processes’. She became aware of the frustration and disempowerment that often
results from so-called ‘pain-relief’ and unnecessary medical management and felt
moved to help women avoid similar problems in the future. Beginning to
understand what might be the reasons behind women’s negative experiences, she
set about formulating the ten steps outlined in the various editions of
Preparing for a Healthy Birth. She put her theories to the test (on a very
modest level), when she had her own third baby at the age of 43. Of course, she
had already experienced the benefits of optimal birth when she had her first
baby in Sri Lanka (with a ‘hands-off’ obstetrician in attendance) and in England
(with Michel Odent in attendance). For her third baby, she was supported by the
NHS. When she began researching and writing Sylvie started receiving accounts
from other women, men, children and professionals so she decided to be
systematic about collecting material. Michel Odent also provided ongoing help
and support.
In recent years, Sylvie has mostly worked from home, taking on writing,
reviewing, research or editing commissions and marking MA assignments (for a
Distance Master’s in teaching English as a foreign language). She sometimes
teaches or lectures at Durham University and continues to write for Cambridge
University Press.
Sylvie supports Michel Odent’s work through occasional editing. She is also a
regular writer for
Weight
Watchers and sometimes contributes articles to other magazines
or websites, such as
The Lady (An A-Z of Cricket) or Confectionery Production (A 100 Years
of Cadbury Dairy Milk) and
www.40plustravelandleisure.com
(Reasons to Roam).
Click
here to see 'No Pain, No Gain', one of Sylvie’s articles about natural birth
in
The Green Parent.
Click
here
to read one of Sylvie’s articles about travel.
Click
here
to read an article about cooking with flowers—a Weight Watchers piece.
Click
here to read a humourous piece about having a ferret as a pet....
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Sylvie pregnant
with her first daughter
Work experience
Before having children, Sylvie worked as a teacher of working adults, teacher
trainer and manager, working in Europe, North Africa, South Asia, South East
Asia, the Middle East and the Far East. Her first book—Teach
Business English (Cambridge University Press 2000)—is a synthesis of her
experience in the field of teaching and managing Business English courses. In
2001 she was a keynote speaker at the conference for the BESIG (Business English
Special Interest Group) of IATEFL (International Association of Teachers of
English as a Foreign Language) in Berne, Switzerland. She spoke about the
importance and logistics of addressing clients’ needs when providing Business
English training. She gave a workshop at this year's recent IATEFL conference
too (in Harrogate, in April) - with her husband - on the role and value of
praise in the language learning classroom. She continues to write about English
Language Teaching - for example she recently wrote 5 CD-ROMs for Cambridge
University Press for the
English Pronunciation in Use series. She also continues to teach
postgraduate students at Durham University (non-native speakers of English as
well as native speakers) courses such as 'Principles of Academic Writing',
'Aspects of Text Structure' and 'Dissertation writing for Business & Finance' -
and she also marks assignments for the Birmingham University Master's in
Teaching English as a Foreign Language to Speakers of Other Languages.
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