TEFL blog - February, 2007

In December we posted about a job opportunity at the University of Kurdistan Hawler in Iraq. The vacancy met with mixed reactions about the security issues involved in teaching in Iraq, despite the university being in the relatively safe north.

Well, further teaching opportunities will soon become available as a new American University is planned in the Kurdish-controlled region, on the outskirts of the city of Suleimaniah. The university aims to specialise in IT and engineering, but, according to this article from the Kurdistan Regional Government website, will open with “a small intake for intensive foundation English courses.”

There is a shortage of teachers in the region, at both school and university level, despite the scholarships now being offered by the Education Ministry to teachers arriving from Baghdad. According to the Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, quoted in the article, 10 teachers arrive every day, seeking refuge from Baghdad. The problem is that they cannot use these teachers because they cannot teach in the Kurdish language.

Is it time to look beyond “specific designer” teaching methods to a more eclectic approach? The Language Works Online thinks so, arguing for language teaching to be an “adaptive process rather than the application of an ideal method or approach”.

The “post-communicative” approach calls for variety, in the extent to which students engage in their learning process, in the way lessons are delivered, and in the choice of teaching materials.

Have a look at the article (ed: link no longer working) and tell us what you think…

TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Inc.) is planning its 41st annual convention in Seattle, Washington, from March 21-24, 2007.

The theme of this year’s convention is “Spanning the Globe: Tides of Change”.

To register or for more information, visit the TESOL convention website.

Ten Americans have left Belarus after allegedly “singing religious songs and reading spiritual literature” in what was supposed to be an English conversation class. The volunteers had arrived in the country in early February to work for a humanitarian aid organisation. They were given $14 fines for teaching without a license and violating the country’s laws which forbid the promotion of religion by an NGO, according to eCanada Now…

The Brazzil Mag is reporting that the poor English skills of Brazilian air traffic controllers were to blame for the country’s worst ever air accident in September 2006, in which 154 people died.

According to the former head of the Brazilian Air Traffic Controllers Association, Ulisses Fontenele, quoted in the article, less than 10% of Brazilian controllers speak fluent English, and those that do learnt “on their own initiative”. He says that controllers have only a 6 month basic English course as part of their training, and only “typical and basic flight control phrases for when everything is normal in the air.”

Whether or not this helped cause the crash in this case, it does highlight the responsibilities that organisations have when their employees are charged with the safety of other people. Should there be stricter controls over English language requirements? Have a look at the article (the comments at the bottom make for interesting reading too) and tell us what you think…

If you have made a customer service call in the last few years from the UK or the US, your call may have been answered in one of the many call centres in Indian cities such as Bangalore and Mumbai, which handle customer service enquiries for a large number of UK and US companies.

Bangalore has gained a reputation as the “world’s back office”, an “information-technology outsourcing champion”, says the Toronto Star. But it is a reputation which could be in jeopardy if state government plans to close schools which continue to teach in English, rather than the local language Kannada, go ahead.

You only have to look at the changing names of Indian cities (Calcutta to Kolkata, Bombay to Mumbai) to see the success of movements to promote indigenous languages and shake off colonial-era legacies. But the move to change the language of education in Karnataka state (of which Bangalore is the capital) has sparked criticism from educators, parents and, of course business leaders who say that Bangalore could”lose its competitive edge if it shuns one of its greatest assets”.

What do you think? Is English indispensable for India to continue its economic rise? Or should the trend to promote indigenous languages over English continue? Post a comment below…

We posted a while ago about the £110 million that the British government spends on translation services for immigrants every year.

Well, it seems that the argument that this money could be better spent on English lessons is winning, as the government is proposing to cut benefits to claimants who do not take English lessons.

This is an important step by the government in recognising that English language skills are important both for work and for social integration. Brendan Barber, writing in the Guardian Online, however, highlights the other side of the coin, a catch-22 where many low-paid immigrants will suffer simply because ESOL classes are not available for them to take in the first place.

What do you think about this paradox? Have a look at the article and post a comment below…

Here’s a little lighthearted ESL relief courtesy of a Super Bowl commercial and YouTube…

If you’re new to job hunting in TEFL, it’s not always easy to know which job advertisements are worth pursuing, and which you should leave alone.

To help you with this, have a look at Katie’s Thoughts on a Job Post over at the TEFL Logue.

Katie has randomly chosen 6 job posts so far and dissected them for their real meaning, reading between the lines to show you what you could really expect if you took that job. A very valuable resource.

Has EFL been infiltrated by the evils of consumerism? Have a look at this entertaining article by Mike Guest in the Daily Yomiuri, in which he takes a light-hearted yet thought-provoking look at the idea that EFL textbooks do not just set out to teach our students English, but to indoctrinate in them consumer and corporate values!

He gives the example of a chapter about shopping. Advocates of the “enemy within” theory, he says, would suggest that such a chapter is designed not to provide useful phrases for students to use when buying their fruit and veg, but “rather to propagate the ‘Buy!’ consumerist agenda”.

Guest goes on to talk about whether language in general is “value-laden”. Does everything we say reflect a particular set of values that we hold, and is this therefore a justification to promote these values to our EFL students?! His view is that, for example, asking a group of students what kind of work they would do if they started work tomorrow, is not promoting any kind of social agenda or support for the value of the work ethic, it is simply addressing a topic.

Have a look at the article and tell us what you think. Has EFL been compromised by the enemy within?!…