Job Discussion Forums

[ChinaMovieMagic]

RE: Krashen's I+1...DVD movie segments are the core of my approach. The learners can:
*See and Remember the Visual Input
*Say what they can about what they see
*Hear me describe in various ways the scene
*Respond to my TPR of the scene
*Work w/partners, doing "Say+Do" and/or "Do+Say"
*Do Role Play/Imagination

More described at China Job-Related "Promoting Change..." thread

Chomsky promoted the LAD--Language Acquisition Device
Bruner promoted the LASS--Language Aquisition Support System
Sheldrake promotes the hypothesis of Language Acquisition via Morphic Resonance...that there is a non-material information field available for access to learners (www.sheldrake.org)
BELOW is the Video of his speech at Microsoft, available at his Website

LECTURE VIDEO ONLINE
The Extended Mind: Recent Experimental Evidence
In this live seminar at the Microsoft Research Center, Rupert Sheldrake presents evidence from his new book, The Sense of Being Stared At, in support of the idea that the mind extends beyond the brain.
Host: Tamara Pesik
at the Microsoft Research Center, Redmond, WA, USA 21 March 2003

Biologists have trouble w/Sheldrake's non-materialistic paradigm. Many Quantum Physicists don't have such paradigm paralysis, as in:
http://www.swcp.com/swc/Essays/Sheldrake.html

BELOW is from my recent interview w/Sheldrake, to be published in a book on learning/imagination.

<Dr.Sheldrake, you have stated:
The key concept of morphic resonance is that similar things influence similar things across both space and time. The amount of influence depends on the degree of similarity.

Here in East Asia, the highly cohesive cultures of China, Korea and Japan and have placed great emphasis and resources upon the development of English language skills, often using outmoded and boring methods/materials, based upon mechanistic concepts of behaviorism. In China, Korea and Japan, the results--in terms of conversation and listening skills--continue to be quite poor. Many students--and teachers--are traumatized by the process.

Q: Is it possible that the uncomfortable experiences of these hundreds of millions of English students are creating a dysfunctional morphic resonance and a fossilization of errors, which can negatively influence the conversation and listening skills of current and present generations, unless an alternative, more coherent, morphic resonance is developed?

A: It seems to me quite possible that the uncomfortable experiences of
large numbers of English students would be propagated by morphic
resonance, including the fossilisation of errors, with a negative
effect on the way people learn.

If an alternative method could be developed, this would obviously be
desirable from every point of view.>

My mini-goal in China is to develop a China-wide English-learning Morphic Resonance project, based upon a confluence of elements:
*China's weekly English Corners throughout the country
*a Website to serve the ECs, offering movie segments/reviews/scripts for role play/discussion, as well as on-line camera-Ecast competitions/discussions/role plays
*an I+1 MovieSegment-based English-learning TV program
*a Learning Community in idyllic YangShuo China, for learners/practicioners of English/Chinese/TaiChi/FolkDance/Massage/etc.

[biffinbridge]

Ok,got a few things to say about that lot.First the Qatar jibe.I was direct hire on a married status allowance.There were 5.2 qr to the pound when I was there .The basic was 12,000.The housing allowance was 5,500/month,the car allowance was 660qr/month,the annual bonus was 12,000qr,the furniture loan was 45,000qr and the car loan was 45,000qr.The furniture allowance didn't have to be paid back after a certain time.On top of that you got your kids' school fees paid and they gave you the money for your tickets everytime you flew,free medical/dental care etc etc.So that alone is about 90,000 u.s /year.Anyhow,I doubt many of you earn that.Next,when you teach language at any level you are usually constrained by the system that is already in place and the materials and resources that they use.Therefore, back to my original post.Is doing an MA worth it when experience can get you well paid jobs?I taught proficiency at Poznan University for several years and never once had to resort to quoting Krashen or whoever.My students also had very high pass rates,which vindicated my teaching.I now work for another oil company and I earn more than most on this forum.Some like theoretical studies and normative debates but personally,I had enough of that in getting a degree in theoretical economics.I worked as a futures trader and never used that knowledge once.Similarly in the world of elt I've read a lot over the years and been on loads of courses etc and have never had to go into debates about congnitivism vs behaviouralism etc...that to me is for the lecturer types ,who have no place in an elt classroom. Yes,I have a CELTA,yes,I've done loads of other in house courses over the years.Is the DIP a realistic exam?How much of that Applied Linguistics bollocks do you use when your boss tells you to teach Headway etc?

[31]

[.So that alone is about 90,000 u.s /year.I worked as a futures trader....

I expect you also work for the CIA and are ex-special forces.

[slaqdog]

Ha ha ha! The funny thing is Mr 31 that what biffenridge said about the money he was earning is true I don't know about the 'cia and special forces' jibe.
As for the other posters defending am MA;it may get you a cushy job in a University, that's the point isn't it? But supply and demand means there are many of these jokers allowed into classrooms and the results are like watching a car crash in slow motion: repulsive yet strangely fascinating.

[Stephen Jones]

Let's answer Biffin's claims about his salary. what he is describing is a fairly standard salary package in the Gulf. However he is making it seem much better than it really is.

Firstly the educational allowance for his kids may have cost his employer a small fortune, but in his home country his kids would have gone to the local state school for free.

If the housing allowance was five months salary as he claimed, that can only be because rents are exceptionally high in Qatar. You would spend the money on accommodation.

Now having reasonable accommodation for free might appear a fine perk, but that is only true in the short term. In the long term you are not going to be spending all your life in the Gulf, so you end up paying for a house elsewhere, often in your home country. You could rent that out, but then you would have to pay for somewhere during the holidays and somewhere to store stuff, so you end up with expenses there.

The car loan has to be paid back, and although the furniture loan doesn't you don't get much when you sell the stuff.

So it would be more reasonable to say that you can get a net salary in the Gulf of between $40,000 to $50,000 depending on where you go. That sounds great but you still need to factor in the financial cost when you do decide to move. So, living in the Gulf is passable and provides a useful fillip for the finances of those that wasted much of their life in more pleasant climes, but is not the secret paradise biffin might claim.

Now, you can get many of these jobs without an MA in Applied Linguistics or TESOL. In general what the MA does is give you an opportunity to get the more pleasant jobs (for example in the Emirates instead of Qatar, or at UGRU or Qatar University instead of HCT or QAC) and less waiting time betweeen jobs as you will be near the top of the list.

On the other hand of course, there is the strange paradox, that the Gulf, which is where they value the top qualifications highest, is also where you are most likely to end up teaching the worst syllabuses to the least appropriate students. It's basically a question that you do an MA to learn exactly what you could be doing but are never going to be able or allowed to do in most of the institutions you are likely to be working in.

[AsiaTraveller]

[biffinbridge]

Well,I could have gone on about hedging your options trades with futures and keeping delta neutral to tade volatility.I could have gone on about 'conversions' and 'reversals','butterflies' and 'strangles' but you'd never have understood as you have probably never worked on an open outcry derivatives market.It's probably all too vulgar and intellectually simple for you anyway.Some people have made conscious decisions to get out of another life for this efl rigmarole.Several people who regularly post on this forum-dmb,slaqdog,snoopy,boywonder... can all vouch for everything I have said.As an educated person I'd rather work for Mossad than the CIA as at least they get it right.