Page 7 - ELG1601 Jul Issue 438

July 2016 ELLatin America Page iii

Discovering the Rainbow Nation

Matt Salusbury asks Torrique Borges why South Africa is becoming

a popular language travel destination for Latin American students

irst of all, why choose was on the rise, the second-
South Africa as a desti- biggest Latin American ELT
Fnation? student provider after Brazil.
South Africa is a wonderful We also receive students from
country with a number of advan- Argentina. These are the pri-
tages for students from Latin mary Latin American markets
America. The cost of living is for South Africa.
much lower than in the devel- Volunteering is also increas-
oped world, while still retaining a ing in popularity among Latin
good quality of life – it is a good Americans who would like to
value-for-money destination. Courtesy South African Tourism volunteer their time to wildlife
A number of countries’ nation- in need or to the vast number of
als in Latin America can travel to social projects in South Africa.
South Africa visa-free, including For current university students
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecua- or recently graduates under 25,
dor, Paraguay, Uruguay and STUNNING The Hantam mountains near the town of Calvinia there is a special one-year work-
Venezuela. South Africa is very ing visa.
easily accessible for these nations The visa issue has still not guage schools as this requires an The South African ELT sector
and TAM airline will be offer- been resolved and it is still very institution to offer diploma-level is ambitious and hungry for new
ing a new route from São Paulo complex and sensitive. The courses, not something practical markets. There is definitely both
to Johannesburg towards the end national English language school for schools teaching English to for- capacity and expertise in South
of 2016, bringing the cost of air association, EduSA, has had eigners. Schools have had to adjust Africa to accept and train Cuban
travel down. Besides the climate, high-level engagement with both their business models to compen- students. South Africa hosts a mas-
South Africans have a warm and the Department of Home Affairs sate for lower student numbers. sive number of African students
embracing culture which Latin (immigration) and the Department Numbers from Brazil have studying at our tertiary institutes.
Americans can identify with. of Higher Education and Training declined over the past two South Most of these students first attend
As a destination, South Africa with regard to the visa issue. No African summers. A lot of this an English language school prior
is a unique location which allows solution has been forthcoming. has to do with the current state to starting their tertiary education
students to experience the country Colombia has been a victim of of the Brazilian economy. I am so our ELT sector is well-versed
while studying. Our rich and tainted the new visa regime but, luckily optimistic that numbers from in preparing international students
history allows for cultural enrich- for us, other parts of Latin America Brazil will continue to increase for university education. n
ment. The country has mountains, are visa-exempt and students may in the medium term. Besides hav-
savannahs, deserts, beaches and obtain their visa stamp on arrival in ing a lot of similarities, South Torrique Borges is vice-chair
oceans, with unique wildlife. South Africa. We are not so fortu- Africa has a good relationship and head of marketing for
I understand there were nate in other regions, particularly with Brazil, and South African EduSA and general manager of
some serious issues around Africa, Asia and the Middle East, Tourism invests heavily in the LAL Cape Town language school
visas for courses of study at where students tend to need longer country. From an English study
language schools after an immi- to study English and cannot obtain point of view, South Africa offers
gration shake-up in 2014, with the necessary visas. a desirable alternative to the more
no avenue available through The Technical and Vocation traditional EFL destinations.
which language schools could Education and Training process Before the visa debacle, the
accredit with the programme. has been discarded by most lan- number of Colombian students
Venezuela in crisis

Gerardo Corbo tells Andrea Pérez how the country’s
situation has affected English language learning

enezuela is becoming Venezuela. Texts include environ- Years ago the government con-
increasingly isolated polit- ments, customs and vocabulary sidered even eliminating English
Vically, and the economic that most students are not inter- from the formal educational system.
situation affects all fields. The ested in. This is something the Today, it’s not like that. We, the uni-
education sector is also suffer- current government considers versity, have to take advantage of
ing – low salaries, few resources very important to address. this to evaluate what we have, cre-
and drastic cuts. In May a presi- Teachers, researchers and the ate solutions and offer opportunities
dential decree reduced the school British Council in Venezuela for all teachers in general.
week to make ‘energy savings’. have worked together to prepare What are the minimum
University students and teachers textbooks that contain language qualifications to teach English
demonstrated against the financial in a real Venezuelan context. language in the state sector?
situation of the state university Some ideological aspects related Any graduate teacher can work
sector. I asked Gerardo Corbo to the current government are in the public school system. There
from the UPEL–IPB University visible in the textbooks that some used to be competitive entry for
about the latest developments. teachers and parents do not like. teachers. Some of the require-
What are the main issues What is the main gov- ments were experience in the
affecting English language ernment English language educational system, grades in their
learning in Venezuela? learning policy in Venezuela? training as teachers, etc. Nowa-
The lack of appropriate class- Nowadays, the government days the requirements are based
room resources, textbooks and priority is to include ELT in pri- around demand in specific areas.
audiovisual materials is the most mary school and to give teacher What are the main issues
significant issue in higher edu- trainees the opportunity to have affecting English language
cation. Then there is the number teaching practice from the very teachers in Venezuela?
of hours dedicated to English in beginning of their careers. If no preparation is needed to
high school. At the moment it is A diploma course has run in be part of the system besides a
three hours per week, but there is several cities in Venezuela to start title, teachers are not interested in
an offer from the government to preparation of integral educators taking a masters in professional
increase this to five hours. Then (primary teachers) as specialist development. Most teachers are
there is the number of students English teachers. Its aim is to have doing a second job to cover their
per class. Today it is a policy that more English teachers competent basic needs and some teachers
no more than 35 students should to work with young learners. It consider moving to another coun-
be in a class – it depends on the was considered easier to prepare try to develop their career. n
space available and the number integral teachers in the area of Eng-
of teachers. There are sometimes lish (A1–A2 level) than to prepare Gerardo Corbo is an ELT
forty students per class. more teachers competent to work teacher at the UPEL–IPB
Finally, there is the contextuali- with children. It was a complete University. He is also a researcher
sation of the textbooks frequently success for the first group in the working with the Núcleo de
used in high school. The mate- country. Now we have to evalu- Investigación de Enseñanza del
rial was prepared for ESL and ate this diploma and continue the Inglés como Lengua Extranjera at
not EFL, which is our context in preparation of Integral teachers. the university

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