OK I am new here, but I have been reading thaivisa for a long time. I don't write much but hey... hi y'all!!!

 

I am writing this 'gripeful' (haha... not a word) post to express my utter disappointment toward a seminar I attended this weekend in Pattaya. It seemed impressive at first, in title only, but as soon as it began I wanted to throw up. This 28 year old "Duffman" look and sound alike was in charge and it was clear from the start that he was not there for his competence, but rather for his 'handsome' falang demeanour. I am not a Thai that believes that just because you talk the talk you walk the walk. OK!!! So what is augmented reality in a nutshell... Well the presenter used pokemon go as an example of what augmented reality is... then came the sales pitch...(which I predicted to my friend). It's frreeeeeeeeee!!!! Yabbbered Duffman. Augmented reality activities include: Spelling letters on the back of a person in order to form a word! Yup! The oldest sex game in the world! Then he moved on to the classic telephone game.... but in light of this genius of a presenter it is a new form of education... augmented jackassness... Finalllllyyyy.... the final activity was writing a lesson plan that was to be presented in front of all ... get this 600 attendees... based on old methods of teaching English and Chomsky's communicative approach... Reallllyyyyy I frickin' have to write a lesson plan cos you don't have anything better to teach us???????? 

 

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr sorry to vent my frustrations here, but I really had better things to do last Saturday... The Thai MOE requires teachers to attend, I believe, 20 hrs of professional development in order to maintain our teaching licence.... Shi@@@te I am sad to see that this is the kind of munnnyyyy grubbing kinda seminars we have to attend in order to maintain our status.

 

If this seminar was backed by Cambridge then hell they really have a serious issue getting quality stuff organised here... seems the only thing that matters is ... "handsome man"... Duffman actually!

 

It sounds like a lot of 'seminars' that I have been required to attend over the years.   I've gone to a few that were good, but most weren't....and I am a positive person and try to find something worthwhile.