in reply to Can a non-programmer teach Perl?

It occurs to me that while most of the advice given will possibly work, none of them strike me as being much fun-- for neither your unfortunate friend nor his potential students. Were I you, the advice I would give would be two part. Firstly, prepare for the class in as professional a manner as possible, which presumably would cover many of the suggestions thus far. Secondly, establish at the onset that the class would be a collabrative effort, i.e. EVERYONE is there to learn Perl. The notion that students teach not just themselves but even the teacher might be just the thing that pulls this trick off!

--hsm

"Never try to teach a pig to sing...it wastes your time and it annoys the pig."

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Re: Re: Can a non-programmer teach Perl?
by mjeaton (Hermit) on Aug 17, 2002 at 16:04 UTC
    EVERYONE is there to learn Perl. The notion that students teach not just themselves but even the teacher might be just the thing that pulls this trick off!

    I taught at a junior college for a year and a half. One of the things I told my students on day 1 is that I did NOT know everything there was to know about "language X". I told them I was there to learn as well as to teach.

    Also...while this person will be in front of the class as the "expert" on the subject, there are times when saying "I don't know" will earn more respect than trying to BS your way through an answer.

    There is nothing worse than being called out as a fraud in class. :-)

    I definitely agree with being prepared and not trying to wing it. He needs to work through every example he'll give in class...

    mike
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