Notes from the TEFL Graveyard

As a pioneer of digital nomadity, I was asked the other day by one of my followers what my view is of the ongoing AI revolution . I have to admit that I’m something of a layman when it comes to this particular subject, but thinking on my feet, I replied that the technology does seem to allow the creation of incredibly realistic videos of people from a simple photograph , so I imagine the early adopters will be  con-men and/or  perverts .  Indeed, my Brazilian friend Deberkleberson recently gave me a demonstration of AI-powered image generation. He typed into his computer that he wanted a picture of a badger bursting into flames on a street in Dubai with Brad Pitt’s face on it , and I must say the result was uncanny. To be fair, I’m not entirely convinced of the utility of such an image, unless it was designed for use in some kind of campaign to warn about the dangers of wildfires in the UAE ; although, I can’t imagine they have badgers there. All that fur would make it f...

  Available now: https://books2read.com/sittingonahorsefacingbackwards My humble gift to the world. No matter how disillusioned you may be with your life, you will read this and think, "It could be worse - I could be as hopeless as Wardy!" 😉🥂

It's not like I'm obsessed with him, but apparently, Sam Altman is now after a cool 7 trillion dollars to make more powerful computer chips, to enable his AI to run the world more effectively, presumably from an extinct volcano somewhere in the Pacific . Is it just me, or does anybody else think giving one person this much power is not guaranteed to have a favourable outcome for the majority? Especially when that person has made utterances such as, "AI will probably most likely lead to the end of the world, but in the meantime, there'll be great companies" * . Well, that's okay then.  Let's just put him in charge of the nuclear button as well , shall we? *  Top 10 Sam Altman Quotes - BrainyQuote

Not a day goes by without Dobber* stumbling past our gate on his daily mission to secure free beer and fags **. The later in the day he appears, the more unsteady his gait, as being a deceptively careful planner, he clearly has a few cans of lager readied the night before so that, when he awakes, he can start the day with a liquid breakfast to ensure his blood alcohol content remains stable . More often than not, his first port of call is the hairdressing salon two doors away, where he will inevitably regale my stylist Gerson with an incoherent monologue and/or rant. Depending on how thin his patience has worn, Gerson will frequently proffer a few notes and coins and ask Dobber to visit the supermarket down the road on the corner to buy him something, anything, on the unspoken understanding that the change will be used to purchase some more cheap alcohol . Cue Dobber stumbling past our gate again, this time heading in the opposite direction with a renewed sense of purpose . As the s...

If I had any kind of “ Internet following ”, or if I were a “ digital influencer ”, I would probably steer clear of the subject of this post for fear of a mass online lynching followed by the need to publish a flat-chested apology , but as I’m in my own little corner of the blogalaxy and I can mumble away to myself largely unnoticed - brace yourself, Sheila. It was a frosty winter’s morning and I had just arrived in the staff room. “ It’s a bit Pearl Harbour ”, I quipped, a comment met by quizzical looks from my colleagues. “ There’s a nip in the air! ” If it didn’t exactly gain me a standing ovation, my play on words drew a number of chuckles and the odd wry smile. But scarcely had the sound waves been emitted by my vocal chords than a tart Glaswegian (yes, those words are the right way round, though thinking about it, they could probably be reversed) snapped, “Well, that’s a bit racist! ” At the time, I had neither the time nor the energy to wade into her as maybe I would...

Of all the oddball comments I’d heard in TEFL over the years, the words that issued from the Principal’s mouth that lunchtime definitely made the top three. Sweeping into the staffroom with his hand clasped to his brow, he blurted to no one in particular, “That idiot’s just put one of the Thai girls in a headlock ”. Books were slowly closed, and eyes cast downwards, as we strived collectively to imagine circumstances in which putting a Thai girl in a headlock would be a) necessary, or b) warranted. The Thai girls at the school at the time were all demure, unfailingly polite and cheerful , and none of them appeared likely to require incapacitating physical restraint . The “idiot” in question, whose name slips my mind, was one of the many unhinged summer teachers who’d descended out of nowhere and tricked their way onto the staff due to a long career spent teaching English all over the world. In fact, a long career in TEFL should arguably be a very good reason not to employ s...