11 September at 0900
28 September at 0830
Meet Zelna Lauwrens, founder of Equal Zeal® Training & Publishing and the heart and soul of the Equal Zeal® brand.
The year was 2005 and Zelna put her plan to make a real difference for children growing up with so many challenges against them into action. She is the developer of all Equal Zeal® programmes, products and course material and to understand why the work done by Equal Zeal® is so important, you’ll want to follow Zelna’s journey to Zeal for life®…
Zelna’s Zeal
Graduating cum laude from Durban Teachers training College in 1995, with majors in counselling and English Zelna was awarded the accolade for best practical student teacher for three consecutive years. Her teaching career began at a school for the learning disabled in Durban where she was gained valuable experience on the intricacies of the child with low self-esteem caused by factors such as ADD/ADHD. The seed had been planted.
Schooling the globe…
She went on to teach in schooling’s private sector in both Durban and Johannesburg from 1999 to 2001 teaching a large range of children from Grade 1 to 7 in English and Media Science. In 2001 she left for London and spent two years supply teaching in some of the worst schools in inner-city London. Her speciality was working with those children who were discarded from mainstream teaching due to behaviour problems caused by emotional deficiencies. Zelna quickly earned a sound reputation for assisting these learners in focussing on their own inner self and facilitating the improvement of their own choices - irrelevant of their circumstances. These were kids with sex workers or heroin addicted parents, and in many cases severe abuse was present too. She was often called back to assist in particularly difficult classrooms and she took great pride in assisting these inner-city children from feeling motivated with a renewed sense of purpose.
Home to hone…
Upon her return to South Africa in 2003, Zelna kick-started her career for two years in the same private school group by being given the opportunity to focus on teaching the Life Orientation curriculum to the primary school phase. It was here that she began to focus her attentions on developing tried and tested, effective materials which focussed primarily on enhancing self-esteem.
The seed begins to grow…
It was within this context that she realised the need for a programme to supplement the school curriculum with more focus being given to enhancing the thinking capacity of young children. She realised that the reality is that children who are sad, angry or depressed are not capable of reaching their true academic potential due to learning, memory and attention span being directly influenced by uncontrolled emotions. It was here that Equal Zeal® Training envisioned providing Life Skills Training for Kids by encouraging children to take personal responsibility for their own behaviour and choices. With effective skills training through the provision of a casual learning environment that encourages greater self-awareness and facilitates more conscious decision making, success was guaranteed.
Knowledge is power…
Fired up with lots of zeal, Zelna completed her Bachelor of Education Honours Degree in 2005 with specialisation in Educational psychology, Sociology and Parent Guidance. She is working on her Bachelor of Education Masters Degree with specialisation in Psychology of Education, focussing on family, school and community life in a contemporary society. Extensive research into the influence of the modern day world on the children of today is something that Zelna is permanently committed to.
The Toxic Avenger…
Currently, Zelna now commits herself on a full-time basis to the expansion of Equal Zeal®, sharing her training throughout South Africa and internationally. She writes for a variety of publications, has written of a series of children's motivational books as well as parent resources. Zelna is also a keen guest speaker for public events and believes in paying it forward by providing pro bono work to the outreach team at Umthombo Street Children's project as well as to the Social workers at Childline. Due to the success rate of Equal Zeal® Training in the greater Durban area, Zelna has expanded her business nationally, as well as internationally and is always on the look out for suitably qualified representatives to run her programmes on a franchise basis.
The year was 2005 and Zelna put her plan to make a real difference for children growing up with so many challenges against them into action. She is the developer of all Equal Zeal® programmes, products and course material and to understand why the work done by Equal Zeal® is so important, you’ll want to follow Zelna’s journey to Zeal for life®…
Zelna’s Zeal
Graduating cum laude from Durban Teachers training College in 1995, with majors in counselling and English Zelna was awarded the accolade for best practical student teacher for three consecutive years. Her teaching career began at a school for the learning disabled in Durban where she was gained valuable experience on the intricacies of the child with low self-esteem caused by factors such as ADD/ADHD. The seed had been planted.
Schooling the globe…
She went on to teach in schooling’s private sector in both Durban and Johannesburg from 1999 to 2001 teaching a large range of children from Grade 1 to 7 in English and Media Science. In 2001 she left for London and spent two years supply teaching in some of the worst schools in inner-city London. Her speciality was working with those children who were discarded from mainstream teaching due to behaviour problems caused by emotional deficiencies. Zelna quickly earned a sound reputation for assisting these learners in focussing on their own inner self and facilitating the improvement of their own choices - irrelevant of their circumstances. These were kids with sex workers or heroin addicted parents, and in many cases severe abuse was present too. She was often called back to assist in particularly difficult classrooms and she took great pride in assisting these inner-city children from feeling motivated with a renewed sense of purpose.
Home to hone…
Upon her return to South Africa in 2003, Zelna kick-started her career for two years in the same private school group by being given the opportunity to focus on teaching the Life Orientation curriculum to the primary school phase. It was here that she began to focus her attentions on developing tried and tested, effective materials which focussed primarily on enhancing self-esteem.
The seed begins to grow…
It was within this context that she realised the need for a programme to supplement the school curriculum with more focus being given to enhancing the thinking capacity of young children. She realised that the reality is that children who are sad, angry or depressed are not capable of reaching their true academic potential due to learning, memory and attention span being directly influenced by uncontrolled emotions. It was here that Equal Zeal® Training envisioned providing Life Skills Training for Kids by encouraging children to take personal responsibility for their own behaviour and choices. With effective skills training through the provision of a casual learning environment that encourages greater self-awareness and facilitates more conscious decision making, success was guaranteed.
Knowledge is power…
Fired up with lots of zeal, Zelna completed her Bachelor of Education Honours Degree in 2005 with specialisation in Educational psychology, Sociology and Parent Guidance. She is working on her Bachelor of Education Masters Degree with specialisation in Psychology of Education, focussing on family, school and community life in a contemporary society. Extensive research into the influence of the modern day world on the children of today is something that Zelna is permanently committed to.
The Toxic Avenger…
Currently, Zelna now commits herself on a full-time basis to the expansion of Equal Zeal®, sharing her training throughout South Africa and internationally. She writes for a variety of publications, has written of a series of children's motivational books as well as parent resources. Zelna is also a keen guest speaker for public events and believes in paying it forward by providing pro bono work to the outreach team at Umthombo Street Children's project as well as to the Social workers at Childline. Due to the success rate of Equal Zeal® Training in the greater Durban area, Zelna has expanded her business nationally, as well as internationally and is always on the look out for suitably qualified representatives to run her programmes on a franchise basis.
