Job Discussion Forums

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Thank you for your inquiry concerning SCOT47.

We are sorry to hear of your disappointing experience in using the Newbie Forum and we regret any misunderstanding that may have occurred in your encounters with the contributor.

Just for your information, SCOT47 is not a real person. It is a pedagogical training service instituted by Dave.

SCOT47 is a computer-generated behavioural response mechanism which is designed to simulate real-life scenarios characterized by conflict, negativity, frustration and institutional resistance. It can provide authentic, spontaneous and reflexive negative feedback for the purpose of preparing ESL professionals for negative experiences they are likely to encounter at all stages of their teaching career---for the neophyte who is just starting out, to the seasoned and well-travelled expert, to the veteran of the ESL classroom.

SCOT47 was originally a pilot computer program created by educational psychologists working at the University of Glasgow under the auspices of the Ministry of Defense, with the collaborative input of German scientists. German knowledge of Gestapo interrogation and provocation techniques was deemed invaluable by Allied education researchers in the post-war period. Certain aspects of the CELTA pedagogical and methodological aims, later to be developed at the University of Cambridge, originated in the early DARKSCOT prototype of 1946. Behavioural experiments carried out during this period remain shrouded in controversy to this day.

Recent SCOT47 programs are intended to duplicate the often arbitrary and contingent real-life situations encountered in the field by ESL and other Educational professionals with decades of experience. Raw narrative, documentary and anecdotal data from contributors have been compiled to form randomly generated negative scenarios of every conceivable type, allowing users of the program to experience unmediated and spontaneous hostile responses. A given reaction to SCOT47-generated provocation is then monitored and recorded by a central databank in the DAVECAFE auto-response-tracking matrix. A full reaction log is housed for research purposes in the Educational Psychology Department of the University of California at Davis, California.

If you have any further questions regarding the SCOT47 program, or if you wish to inquire about behavioural feedback to your personal responses to the program's activities, please send an e-mail to:

[email protected]

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

And I just thought Scot47 was an @ssh*le who liked to scare, belittle and demean neophytes for the fun of it. Go figure.

grahamb · Joined: 30 Apr 2003 Posts: 1945

Scot47 was teaching English long before many of said neophytes were even born, and hence speaketh with the voice of experience.
If he really were a scary, belittling, demeaning anal orifice, he'd be a politician instead of an EFL teacher.

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

Wait, really? Scot47 isn't real? I'm confused.

grahamb · Joined: 30 Apr 2003 Posts: 1945

Naturegirl, Scot47 is a real leg-puller.

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

Mr. 47--

Yeah, a certain dose of realism might help new teachers, but (warning: California-esque hippy-trippy drivel to follow): life really doesn't have to be all that bad...

hugs,
d

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Some people take themselves far too seriously !

Aramas · Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2004 3:40 pm Post subject:

Speaking from experience is all very well, but unless it's tempered with a little empathy it tends to be somewhat negative. If I'd listened to all the 'voices of experience' in my life I would never have left my home town, in which case I wouldn't be me. I would just be a flickering screen showing reruns of other people's lives.

Eijse · Joined: 17 Dec 2003 Posts: 119 Location: Yemen (Aden)

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

My precious !

What a nasty Eijse, my precious.

I am flattered by the comparison with Gollum !

Wolf · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 1245 Location: Middle Earth

As a long time non-hater of Scot47, I'm pleased to see that my hunch was right and he does indeed have both a sense of humor and a pretty accurate self image (of his online persona, anyway.)

There are plenty of slimy creatures in the EFL world who will sound nice to newbies in hopes of preying on them. But there's only one grumpy Scot(47) who gives grumpy but reasonable advice about what can and does go wrong in EFL.

By the way, I think that Scot's OP was his longest post on Dave's ever. Very Happy

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

A wolf in wolf's clothing ! How wonderful !

A much-maligned species, and I for one never believed all that propaganda from that Riding Hood Broad ! If you ask me she wasted her granny for the inheritance and then pinned the blame on Wolfie !

And as for those Three Little Pigs - they should have been bacon sandwiches a long time ago !

Clancy · Joined: 23 Apr 2004 Posts: 162

Keep up the good posts Sott 47.

Sometimes a Missourie Mule requires a 2 X 4 between the eyes. Sometimes a swift kick in the arse.
Sometimes an ear tickle.

Glad to see you have all of the weapons in your bag.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

"Sot47" ?

Well there was a time when I used to go sparring with John Barleycorn. He won too many times though so I quit, and I am no longer a "sot".