The World of TEFL has gone Crazy
Wonderful news; the South Korean government is considering loosening academic requirements for native-English speaking teachers as a means to meet growing demand in rural areas that are shunned by foreign teachers, the Korea Times reports.
Currently, the jobs are only open to those with bachelor degrees at four-year universities. As education authorities in rural areas have had difficulty hiring native-English speaking teachers, they are now calling on the central government to ease the qualifications for English-teaching or E-2 visas to those who have completed 2-year courses at universities or colleges. That’s just the solution… bring in more under-qualified hacks and drag our profession in further into the dirt. Nice one.
In India, Dreams Unfold in English
India has something of a reputation as a nation of fluent English speakers, but according to many estimates this is a right load of garbage: only 5 percent of the population merits that description suggests the Washington Post. Now, a five-year-long economic boom has triggered a rush to bring the reality into line with the lore. Once the preserve of big-city elites, English is spreading to the hinterlands.
Pankaj Srivastava exemplifies the situation. Pankaj, a successful business manager, finds that the faster he rises, the more anxious he gets. “I am in the big league now, but everybody at this level speaks English, and I don’t,” he bemoans, in a mix of Hindi and broken English. “I stay in hotels where even the waiters speak English. At the conferences, I stay quiet because I don’t want them to laugh at my English.” Sounds like an opportunity for a private lesson if ever I heard one.
Do a little dance, make a little love…
Vietnamese Kids Left Tongue-Tied by English
Vietnam Net website notes that the demand for English speaking graduates in the workplace is higher than ever in Vietnam, but the current education system is, shock horror, outdated and need of a major overhaul.
According to Nguyen Loc, the vice head of the National Institute for Education Strategy and Curriculum Development under the Ministry of Education and Training, Vietnamese pupils and students would find it difficult to master English studying at schools, typically, just three times a week for 45 minute periods. At universities English courses are taught on the side as students focus on their majors. This means students get the basics but fail to speak English “confidently or fluently” according to Loc. Strange, you’d think that three times a week at 45 minutes a time would be more than enough to master a language so drastically different from Vietnamese. No, hang on, wait a minute…
California: Encinitas parents seek to expand innovative language program
Parent Jill Levan says that when she volunteers in her daughter’s bilingual, third-grade classroom at Paul Ecke Central Elementary School, she learns as much as the children do. “This has been the most amazing experience not only for our daughter, but for our whole family,” said Levan, who is gradually becoming fluent in Spanish as she helps her daughter and other children learn math and reading skills. There’s a tear forming in the corner of my eye. No, really.
Science: The New ELL Testing Frontier
Testing ‘experts’ in the U.S are creating a pool of test items they hope that some states will eventually use to assess English-language learners in science to comply with the No Child Allowed to Progress (AKA No Child Left Behind) Act. I’m starting to hate the acronym ELL, I really am.
The United States: Make English The National Language
Senator Lamar Alexander has cosponsored the National Language Act of 2008 that would establish English as the national language of the United States. I’m not making this up. “One of America’s greatest accomplishments is the manner in which we unite our magnificent diversity, and one way we have done that is by speaking a common language, English,” said Alexander, who in March led a successful effort to pass legislation in the Senate aimed at increasing funding to a grant program that supports English language teaching. Now, am I missing something or is it a bit bloody stupid to be trying to establish English as national language? What language do these buggers speak? OK, I suppose it could have helped the president to improve his English, but come on…
Keeping immigrant kids in school: Canada Style
Canada: like the U.S but good.
Never mind special programs for struggling students of different cultures, declares The Star, Canadian schools can do more to help troubled immigrant children by how they teach in regular classrooms, by providing almost twice as much help in English and by requiring all teachers be trained in how to work with these complex learners, say two leading researchers. Yeah, it’s THAT easy, folks. How much did they get paid for that research, I wonder?
Ridiculous Indian ‘Caring about Students’ Fantasy TV Show Shocker
In an exclusive tete a tete with Vidhya Krishnan, Shernaz Patel talks about her journey from ‘Buniyaad’ to ‘Black’. She is one of the best-known faces of Indo-English theatre and has been a part of the English theatre movement in India for the past 20 years. Shernaz plays a teacher in her new show, who is – wait for it - a warm and understanding mentor (!). She not only motivates (!) her students with the correct use of the language but also explains situations to them (!) from their point of view, so that they can truly absorb the lesson (!). Don’t you just hate it when there’s not even the slightest attempt at realism?
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