Page 3 - ELG1601 Jan Issue 432

ELlanguage news
January 2016 Page 3

Turkish BC included in UK

unis face sex investigation

challenge

MELANIE BUTLER worked for the British Council in 2,000 teachers in 91 teaching
LAST AUGUST the Gazette writes Cairo from as early as 1972. How- centres in 57 countries. Apart
commented that ‘Turkey’s stu- ever, the Council confirmed to the from Napier, just two employ-
dents leave school with a dire THE BRITISH Council, the For- Gazette that they employed him ees were dismissed following
level of English, but apparently eign Office and the armed forces from July 1990 until May 1994. child abuse allegation between
this can be fixed.’ That may be so, will be investigated as part of a ‘We suspended him when we were 1994 and 2012 – one in Egypt
but according The State of English wide-ranging inquiry into historical informed by UK police of the alle- and one in Bangladesh – accord-
in Higher Education in Turkey, a Courtesy EFS Television Production Ltd child sex abuse in British institu- gations against him, which related ing to a ministerial response to
recently launched baseline study tions to be conducted by Justice to a period before his employment a question by British Member
produced by the British Council Lowell Goddard. The announce- by the British Council, and dis- of Parliament Tom Watson. A
and Turkish thinktank TEPAV, ment that the British Council is to missed him shortly afterwards,’ a further two allegations were
there is much to do if or when be included in the inquiry, which is British Council spokesperson said. investigated but found to be
these students reach tertiary level, expected to last at least five years, In 1995 Napier served a short unsubstantiated. ‘The British
reports Wayne Trotman from the follows the recent conviction for prison sentence for child abuse Council treats child protection
report’s launch in Ankara. That’s all for That’s English sexual abuse of Charles Napier, a based on evidence found in a police as an absolute priority,’ a spokes-
Involving 38 universities in fif- former British Council teacher. raid on the house of his friend Peter person told the Gazette.
teen cities across Turkey, it is the The last recording of That’s English, the world’s In December 2014 Napier, a Righton. Righton and Napier were In June 2015 a 67-year-old
largest study of its kind ever car- longest-running English language teaching TV well connected member of the founder members of the Paedo- man, believed to be Napier, was
ried out here. Based on over 400 series, has taken place in London 22 years after British elite, was sentenced to phile Information Exchange (PIE), interviewed in jail over allegations
teacher interviews, 4,300 student the very first programme was shot. thirteen years in prison for thirty an organisation which lobbied of abusing a boy in Suffolk in the
surveys, 65 observed lessons and The series, which has been broadcast counts of sexual assault on children in the 1980s for the legal age of early 1980s. According to the
much more, the report reveals continuously on Spain’s TVE channel since 1994, between 1967 and 1983. Originally consent for sexual relations to be local press, the abuse is alleged
how, in contrast to other G20 combines travelogue, soap opera and comic employed as a teacher at a boys’ reduced to four years old. Papers to have occurred while Napier
countries, Turkey has focused on sketches linked by a studio presenter, and is private school, Napier was banned found at Righton’s house alleg- was staying with Righton and his
the quantity of its unis – to the designed for students who are at levels A1 to C1 from teaching in England in 1972 edly included a letter from Napier long-term partner Richard Alston.
detriment of quality within them. on the CEFR. following a conviction for indecent which boasted of his life as a Brit- Alston, who worked as a teacher,
Recommending the introduc- The final show was presented by Kieran Suchet assault. He subsequently worked in ish Council teacher and the ease of stood trial and was convicted with
tion of more Turkish-medium and Samantha Mesagno, pictured above with at a junior school in Sweden and is access to young boys in Egypt. Napier. Righton, who died nine
instruction (TMI) courses is of Peter Walton of Highwood, which has produced also reported to have run an EFL Rates of reported child abuse years ago, was found guilty of
noteworthy interest, although the series since the beginning. The co-producer is school in Turkey. at the British Council are low importing child pornography in
suggesting ‘preparatory classes Becky Mitchell. Internet rumours suggest that he considering it employs some 1992 but never sent to prison. n
should be voluntary’ might be met That’s English forms part of the distance
with a degree of disbelief. Rec- learning programme of the Escuela Oficial de
ommendations that all teachers Idiomas, Spain’s state language school chain,
should undergo training (possibly which enrols over 30,000 English language
provided by ELT publishers) in students every year in That’s English courses
developing students’ oral English leading to an official certificate.
skills, and that TMI academics The first series, shot between 1993 and 1995, ran
should undergo language training on Spanish television until 2011, and some
are points almost everyone would episodes can still be found on YouTube. The
wholeheartedly approve of. The second series, known as That’s English Nuevo,
Gazette will analyse the report in started production in 2010 and runs daily on
detail in a forthcoming issue. n Spain’s RTVE.

Colombia missing EL targets

DESPITE THE best efforts of the levels of English in the coun- education minister Gina Parody
Colombian government, it seems try. According to the ministry of announced a new project: Eng-
that English proficiency among education, less than 3 per cent of lish immersions camps. ‘There
young Colombians is not improv- high school students have an ade- will be English immersion camps
ing, writes Andrea Perez. Only quate knowledge of the language in Colombia and summer camps
one in ten Colombians speaks and nearly 50 per cent of English in the United States,’ said Santos.
English well, according to EduMe teachers in public schools did not Some 3,000 9th-grade students
website. The country is immersed have a B1 level of proficiency. will benefit from this programme,
in the Bilingual Colombia Pro- The Central Bank of Colombia but only 100 students will be able
gramme, an English language released a report in 2013 which to study in the US, according to
initiative that President Manuel showed that only 6 per cent of Colombian reports. Among other
Santos launched in 2004 with the university students in the country projects, the government has
goal of all high school graduates have a good level of English. hired native speakers to teach in
reaching an intermediate level of To tackle this problem, a public schools and sent Colom-
English by 2025. new phase of the bilingual pro- bian teachers to take part in
Figures provided by public gramme has been launched. In English immersion programmes
institutions show the limited November President Santos and in India and the US. n

Doctors hit by language crackdown

AN ITALIAN and a Polish doc- ‘insufficient to support safe and placed under strict work supervi-
tor are facing disciplinary action effective medical practice in this sion at the end of October 2015
over their English language country’. after failing a language test three
skills after a change in UK law The MPTS report mentioned times in a row. The MPTS also
in 2014, writes Lea Corbin. that Dr Teppa needed the assis- ruled that he must commit to at
The UK’s Medical Practition- tance of an interpreter ‘in all least 250 hours of English lan-
ers Tribunal Services (MPTS) clinical situations’. The urolo- guage training, and pass a new
suspended urologist Dr Ales- gist, however, denied such English language assessment
sandro Teppa for at least nine allegations in an interview with within the next twelve months
months after he achieved an the Italian press. Dr Teppa is at the required level. In the
overall score of 5.5 in the Ielts now reportedly enrolled in an past, only doctors from outside
test. According to the BBC, the English language course in Italy. Europe had their language skills
tribunal panel considered the In a similar case, cardiolo- tested by the General Medical
standard of his English to be gist Dr Tomasz Fryzlewicz was Council. n