Page 5 - ELG1903 Mar-Apr Issue 464

WELCOME .
EDITORS’ LETTER

A rising tide of change.

From the classroom to the IATEFL conference hall theteam
the calls for fundamental change are growing

say Melanie Butler and Ron Ragsdale. MELANIE
BUTLER,
editor-in-chief,
started teaching
This April, Harry Kuchah Kuchah, takes over the chair of IATEFL at the Liverpool 2019 EFL in Iran in
conference. He is not only the first non-European to do so, he is also the first person of colour. 1975. She worked
In an issue where, on page 9, we see Zambian teachers of English in demand in neighbouring for the BBC
World Service,
African countries and Korean teachers questioning the value of hiring expensive native Pearson/Longman and MET
speakers while, on page 7, Trump’s America sets up fake universities to entrap international magazine before taking over at the
students, the headlines speak for themselves. Gazette in 1987 and also launching
The dominance of the white native speaker, judged by the colour of their skin and the Study Travel magazine. Educated in
colour of their passport not on the content of their teaching, is finally coming to an end. ten schools in seven countries, she
speaks fl uent French and Spanish
Though as Rakesh Bhanot rightly points out on page 35, the concept of a single standard for and rather rusty Italian.
English died the day the Pilgrim fathers landed on Plymouth rock in 1620. The third biggest
English-speaking country in the world is now the Philippines, destination for an increasing RON RAGSDALE,
number of Asian EFL students. managing editor,
gained his MA-
As far back as 1999, the late David Graddol, whose obituary we publish on page 17, TESOL at Portland
questioned the role of the native speaker as the setter of standards, the compiler of State University
dictionaries, and the teacher of English to the world. in Oregon 25
Something else Graddol, the futurologist of British EFL, put on the agenda was English as a years ago, and
basic skill. No longer just another academic subject on the world’s national curriculum, it was has worked in ELT publishing ever
at its core, as essential as reading or maths. since, with teaching stints in Istanbul
and Cairo. In addition to managing
The change can be seen in the habits of the young as they argue in English over the teams at Pearson and Cambridge
outcomes of an augmented reality game (page 16), learn English with TED Talks (page 36) or ELT, including as Publishing Director,
discover reading in English with the Pied Piper of Hamelin (see page 37). Ron has worked with Ministries and
And the change can be seen in the classrooms of Europe where content is increasingly local partners in over 30 countries.
taught and tested in English and the parents of Italy and
Spain demand that British summer schools teach their MATT
…..the change can children physics in English (page 13) while a chain of SALUSBURY,
news editor,
be seen in the classrooms international schools offers summer programmes in and journalist is
three countries and three languages (page 40).
active with the
of Europe where content The model for learning no longer comes from National Union
the EFL classroom but from the multilingual of Journalists and
is increasingly taught and mainstream. As we report on page 11, a Cambridge- co-edits Freelance, its newsletter.
He taught English for 15 years
tested in English… based research project is setting out to find what in Turkey and the Netherlands,
Dutch CLIL teachers can learn from the way the and ESOL in a North London FE
British teach EAL children in mainstream classes, College. He is now an EAP tutor
and what the British can learn from Holland. at Brunel University London. He
is a native English speaker, but
Has all this made it onto the agenda at IATEFL Liverpool? The subject of the plenaries is fl uent in Dutch and has good
certainly challenge the status quo: Queer Pedagogy, Teacher Empowerment, and the truth enough French to use entirely
behind the tales the tech companies tell us about teaching. French sources for articles.
But perhaps the person asking the most pressing question is a Polish teacher of English and GILL RAGSDALE,
Geography. In her plenary, Under One Roof, Aleksandra Zaparucha tackles not only the issues research news
within CLIL but the issues which the growth of CLIL presents for language teachers. reporter,
has a PhD in
What is there for me, an EFL/ESL teacher? Why and how can I bring the real school Evolutionary
curriculum to my classroom? Am I qualified to teach about gases, volcanoes or chemical Anthropology
bonds? from Cambridge,
It is not just the role of the white native speakers which is on the agenda here, but the role and teaches Psychology with
the Open University, but also
of every teacher of English as a foreign language. holds an RSA-Cert TEFL. Gill has
taught EFL in the UK, Turkey,
MELANIE BUTLER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF RON RAGSDALE, MANAGING EDITOR Egypt and to refugees in the
Calais ‘Jungle’ in France. She
currently teaches English to
refugees in the UK.

editorial@elgazette.com 5