Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

TEFLers, pack your bags and go home

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • TEFLers, pack your bags and go home

    I had a long chat with some Chinese business people a short while ago, discussing the likelihood of an instant translating device.
    I'm lucky because I'm old, fat and uncool so losing my job isn't such a killer but you kids out there starting your TEFL career are seriously shagged.
    I didn't expect this for another few years but it's almost ready for production.
    Just fifteen languages now and pretty limited but give them or Google a little bit of time ...


    http://www.waverlylabs.com/pilot-translation-kit/

  • #2
    I've got an impressive portfolio of all the craps jobs I've had in my life but tefling was easily the worst. Ironic because I was good at it. All the other top teachers I knew invariably hated it too. The only people I met who didn't hate it were usually not very good at it.

    When I gave it up I swore I would rather live in abject poverty than take it up again just to support myself. A wise decision as it obliged me look into alternative incomes to stay here , which has panned out pretty well.

    Comment


    • #3
      I was mediocre at it and was not crazy about the job, but did not hate it either. However, after I found a much better job, I have never wanted to go back to it. I felt sorry for the students because no matter how good the teacher is, the Thai system works against them ever becoming very proficient.

      Comment


      • #4
        I don't TEFL as such for a few reasons, partially because I hate grammar with a passion and a lot because I'm a lot crap at it anyway.
        That means I have no interest in becoming an English teacher and simply don't have the required skills to do it properly.

        I do have a wild imagination, a lot of creativity and a willingness to work like a donkey so I can teach the spoken word, and do so in very strange and weird ways that work amazingly well.
        I've created a dedicated English room with loads of pictures about the English language, its use, morphology and history, and even a stage with lighting and radio microphones so the kids have somewhere reasonable to practice public speaking.
        I've added a projector and sound system that allow me to expand the kids' abilities, all done with powerpoint presentations designed to provoke response. "A pencil" becomes "A long, green, 2B pencil in grade 1, chapter 2.
        You have to see what the kids can do with colours and shapes in grade one, chapter five to believe it, then you might not believe it isn't fake.

        I believe I've made what is likely the best language facility in Indonesia, maybe even the world as far as schools are concerned and I've probably got the wildest and best spoken word course in history.
        I'm maybe exaggerating a little ... but not much.
        Grade 6 have a chapter about food so I added a little performance art, that being pictures of starving kids on the screen and a group of kids sitting at a table eating McD and (Very loudly) telling each other how nice the food is and how little they care about the kids in the pictures or the rest of the class having nothing. I prime the 'have' group in secret, the rest of the class thinking they're gong to have a class discussion about poverty, that explaining the homework they get to explore poverty and hunger.
        You should hear the 'have not' kids all trying to give as many reasons they can (All backed up with logic) why the 'have' kids shouldn't eat, and showing empathy with the starving kids in the pictures.

        It's wild and crazy, but it works like you wouldn't believe.
        This sort of stuff may allow me to keep a job when the majority have no further use, maybe just for a few years so I can retire into obscurity with enough cash to keep me going through my dotage.
        Last edited by fred; 12-17-2017, 06:33 AM.

        Comment


        • #5
          That took some doing - what the merry flick flack is that protector thing that came up on screen, asking me to prove I'm not a robot but refusing to allow me to post because it's blocked my IP?

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Bonglek View Post
            I've got an impressive portfolio of all the craps jobs I've had in my life but tefling was easily the worst. Ironic because I was good at it. All the other top teachers I knew invariably hated it too. The only people I met who didn't hate it were usually not very good at it.

            When I gave it up I swore I would rather live in abject poverty than take it up again just to support myself. A wise decision as it obliged me look into alternative incomes to stay here , which has panned out pretty well.
            Such is using TEFLing as a vehicle to live in LOS.
            LWO Community strong!

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Boots View Post
              Such is using TEFLing as a vehicle to live in LOS.
              Yep, could not agree more. Mind you , 30 years ago there were less choices than now. The internet changed all that.

              I remember that just before computers and the internet exploded into everyone's lives , the postal services in many countries were not doing that well. Ecommerce has certainly been a financial saviour to many of them and provided work to millions of people.

              Comment


              • #8
                Swedish people have the most foreign language skills in he world, English being first.

                Comment


                • #9
                  thats what i found too,most swedes seem to pick up Thai with ease.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by fred View Post
                    I had a long chat with some Chinese business people a short while ago, discussing the likelihood of an instant translating device.
                    I'm lucky because I'm old, fat and uncool so losing my job isn't such a killer but you kids out there starting your TEFL career are seriously shagged.
                    I didn't expect this for another few years but it's almost ready for production.
                    Just fifteen languages now and pretty limited but give them or Google a little bit of time ...


                    http://www.waverlylabs.com/pilot-translation-kit/
                    It won't work with Thai, have you tried that crazy Google translate program? It really makes and absolute mess out of Thai.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Bet its better than my attempts at Thai


                      Just back from my pilgrimage. Even the immigration official give me a telling off saying someone who spends as much time in Thailand should speak better Thai than I do,

                      Comment

                      Valentina Jewels gets pounded like a btich dog ?????? ??????? ????????? ???????? ???? diferentes tipos de bajinas
                      antalya escort bayan
                      Working...
                      X