Old People Playing Young (OPPY):
Breaking new ground in learner-centered adult education
By Jon Fernquest |
The world moves quickly nowadays.
So quickly that new technology appears fast and frightening to people taking a first look after years of neglect.
Digital cameras, Skype, feisty online political debates and blogging, all have a learning curve.
Taking high quality memorable photos requires more than just reading the digital camera manual.
Naively jump into a heated online political debate and you're likely to be eaten alive by venomous snakes.
Old People Playing Young (OPPY) is an organisation that softens the impact of the fast moving world and makes learning about new technology fun and less threatening. (Visit the OPPY website to learn more, read the full Bangkok Post article to learn what people have to say about OPPY)
There are several reasons to keep up with new developments in the world of technology as one ages.
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Call your busy businessman son several times during meetings on a business day and you might end up on hold.
Second, as people have fewer and fewer children and people live longer, the population becomes skewed towards older people. Yep, this means you have to stay competitive for longer.
In the near future, age may no longer be an excuse for not knowing what's going on with new technology.
Third, finding new friends your own age with common interests isn't always easy as you grow older. The courses at OPPY make meeting people a lot easier.
Some of the courses include computer basics, digital photography, Photoshop, Powerpoint, digital photography, handicrafts, and self-massage.
OPPY's innovative new form of adult education may actually be pathbreaking. Thailand already has an extensive adult education network in the provinces. I am always trying to convince my mother-in-law to take Thai reading classes but she is afraid of the classroom environment.
A less threatening and friendly classroom environment for older people may eventually trickle down to the rest of Thailand's adult education system that is already in place in the provinces and motivate more people to avail themselves of this wonderful resource. (Source: Bangkok Post, Outlook, 02-12-07, temp-link)
Vocabulary:
breaking new ground - opening up a whole new area of activity, in business or science, for instance (same as "path-breaking" below)
learner-centered - teaching driven by student needs
adult education - a special area of education, with special needs
neglect - failure to give careful attention needed
Skype - an international telephone service you can use on the internet (See Wikipedia)
feisty - full of energy and determination
blogging - online news analysis and commentary done with software that makes it easy (See Wikipedia)
a learning curve - the process of learning by making mistakes and then making improvements, takes time
naively - acting without life experience and believing things too easily
heated - people are angry and excited
venomous - when people show great bitterness and anger, like a snake
softens the impact - lessen a negative effect
threatening - may be harmful
keep up with - when things are moving and changing, moving together with the change and not falling behind
developments - new improvements and changes
foremost - most important
grown children - your children who are now adults
an option - one possible choice when you have to make a decision
put on hold - waiting in line on the telephone
skewed towards - distribution shifts towards (distribution of ages in the population here)
an excuse for - a reason given for
common interests - things that everyone in a group of people are interested in (most people are interested in digital photography, for instance)
path-breaking - opening up a whole new area of activity, in business or science, for instance
extensive - reaching everywhere
network - many things spread out but act together and communicate together
convince - persuade, change a person's beliefs
mother-in-law - the mother of your wife or husband
classroom environment - the general situation in a classroom (whether teacher and students share or the teacher pours knowledge into the students head with severe discipline, for instance)
trickle down - when a benefit eventually reaches other people who were not orignally intended recipients (when the whole economy grows and poor people benefit too even though the rich were the first to benefit, for instance)
motivate - encourage and give energy to people helping them to do something
avail themselves of - use (fancy and formal language)
a resource - something that helps you achieve a goal
