Job Discussion Forums

[johnslat]

The ONLY benefit I've ever received form attending conference (and I've attended more than a few) was that, occasionally, I'd encounter someone who was doing work similar to mine and we'd exchange e-mail addresses and share resources/materials.

Regards,
John

[spiral78]

I attend a few specific conferences regularly and occasionally present. I think they can be useful for networking as johnslat notes, but I've also heard some presentations that helped to inform our own work, and been introduced to research and work that I wouldn't have run across otherwise. They can be pretty good (or abysmal).

[Hod]

Going back to my conference as I like to drip feed fluffy MA with details, I remember filling in a form asking what facilities I would like on the day. There were interactive whiteboards, internet access, projector screens, laser displays, refreshments, live music (please specify jazz/classical guitar/barbershop quarter, etc). I ticked a few boxes at random expecting diddly squat, and I wasn't disappointed. To be fair, the sofas in the corner of the hotel reception were quite comfortable for my audience of 20 or so Moroccan teachers.

Not one to repeat myself, but they too were there for the paid-up holiday and wondered why this monoglot (bit harsh) whitey had been invited. I don't blame them. I'd feel the same. Hence I had to work my audience or use classroom management as C/DELTA people call it. Half the teachers were there for a laugh, which left the other half who were actually interested. Bit of a seating rearrangement: Two groups A and B aka Bored and Interested respectively. Group A watched the back of my head for 45 minutes. They came to be bored. They too weren't disappointed.

I'm sure a Master of Arts would've handled it differently, i.e. worse, but it worked for me and Group B.

More next time. How would you have handled it, fluffy MA?

[MI6agent]

[fluffyhamster]

Glad you got a holiday from work, Hod. And awww, it's so sweet that you want to keep eliciting replies from me, I guess you really enjoy your I mean our conversations. How would I have handled it though? With rubber gloves, I think. As for the workshop, it might've helped had you given it some sort of title, for example, 'Workshop on sofas', as the audience's testiness could've been simply due to them expecting chairs. You have my sympathies - furnishings are a tough subject, as all the stuff about wardrobes above shows!

Yes yes yes Spiral, CELTAs don't have any stuff like (hashed) grammar, CCQs (which are never chosen at apparent random, at least not in trainer input), or trainers forcing trainees into strained artificial display behaviours simply to tick all-important boxes. And nobody ever posts or moans even a little about such stuff online. Remind us again, which CELTAs have you actually participated in, and in what function precisely? Tea and biscuits with "colleagues" at conferences or wherever obviously doesn't count.

As for just the cert I did being sub-par, I would say actually that is was fairly typical, as are those half-dozen examples of questionable teaching, the majority of them far more recent, that you keep running away from. Feel free though to keep spinning your fantasy of "all modern courses" enforced to and delivering some miracle standard, as you obviously need and can't live without the practice in creative writing.

[Hod]

To whet your appetite for the next installment, the topic was pronunciation if memory serves. However, could I take this opportunity to say thanks for "rubber gloves" as such insight saves me and others reading from having to pay £9000+ for our MAs.

[fluffyhamster]

Oh well if it's MAs you'll need more than just rubber gloves. Something more like the Ark is held in in Raiders, probably. Can I just say though that you'll only truly be able to say 'our MAs' once you've actually paid for and completed one (an). Yes, I know it chafes, but that's rubber for you (unless you really know what to do with it).

[Hod]

Oh right, so £9000 gets us into the elite.

It's either an MA or a fortnight for me and the family in the Maldives. Sorry, love, I really want to lecture to a bunch of uninterested nobodies several times a decade.

[fluffyhamster]

I would try to think of another halfway witty riposte Hod, but it's now time for Spiral to lecture you about the indeed pressing issue of lecturing in language teaching. (Everybody does it to some degree but few seem to realize how skewed and limited their "choice" and "range" of methodology and manner is in terms of the "dialogue" it "encourages").

[fluffyhamster]