Page 5 - ELG1704 Apr Issue 446

WELCOME EDITOR’S LETTER

In anxious times,

focus on doing your best.

Irena Barker says teachers should put their worries behind

hen I started the job of editing the fantastic
new-look EL Gazette three weeks ago, it was
with a degree of anxiety. Any new editor
Whopes to move a magazine forward to even theteam
greater things without compromising its existing values and
the things it already does well. Could I do the job as well as IRENA
I wanted to? Could I improve reader engagement and win a BARKER
new audience without alienating our loyal existing readers? A studied French
few nights of sleep were lost in pondering these questions. and linguistics at
But these are anxious times, we are all experiencing deeply Durham, UK and
uneasy feelings. Only last week, my parents called me at work taught English
to check if I had not been caught up in the Westminster terror attack. From our Clerk- in France for
two years. Her
enwell offices, less than two miles away, it seemed like a strangely distant news event. subsequent 15-year career in UK
But days later, the Saudi Arabian embassy confirmed that the man who carried out news journalism includes reporting
the attack, Khalid Masood, had taught English in the Kingdom for a year from Novem- for local and regional newspapers, a
ber 2005 and for another year from April 2008 (see page 6). Bad news for those working news agency and a 10 year stint at
to improve the image of the EFL teacher. And bad news for any teachers in Saudi with the Times Educational Supplement
no extremist intentions who just want to get on with their jobs without being surround- magazine.
ed in a cloud of suspicion. With the world as it is, anxiety – over terrorism, job insecuri-
ty, the possibility of nuclear war – is the new normal. MELANIE
BUTLER
But perhaps there is a way for us to get through these times. On page 12/13, we look started teaching
EFL in Iran in
Pupils can have anxiety over language learning 1975, she worked
for the BBC World
Service, Pearson/
whatever their attitude towards their teacher Longman and
Modern English
teacher magazine before taking
over at the Gazette in 1987
at new research into foreign language classroom anxiety, which finds teachers are not to and also launching Study Travel
blame for their students’ anxious feelings in class. Pupils can have anxiety over language magazine. Educated in ten schools
in seven countries she speaks
learning whatever their attitude towards their teacher. fluent French and Spanish and
Instead, the research says, teachers should work on making lessons more enjoyable rather rusty Italian.
and this in itself could reduce anxiety.
Perhaps as we face terrorism on our doorstep, the unsettling circus of Donald Trump, CLAUDIA
CIVININI
the dubious shadow of Putin and the horrors in the Middle East, we should try to do won a scholarship
the same. By focusing on how we can lead enjoyable, fulfilling and purposeful lives, this to teach Italian in
energy-sapping anxiety could be reduced. Australia in 2009,
This latest edition of EL Gazette offers loads of inspiration for going about this in your where she qualified
as a state school
professional life: our previews of this month’s IATEFL conference, for example, stress teacher in 2010.
how vital it is for English teachers to be aware of their students’ learning differences and Bilingual in English and Italian,
special needs, however short a time they might spend with them (page 20). And English with intermediate German and
teacher Linda Ruas explains the importance of discussing potentially controversial French, she joined the Gazette
as head of research in 2014 and
global issues in the classroom (page 24). Our editor-at-large Melanie Butler delves into specialises in data journalism
the often side-stepped issue of diversity in ELT on page 28. And finally, hats off to the and research news.
Mexicans on page 14, who, rather than worrying about Trump’s immigration policies,
have started to train up deportees from the United States as English teachers.
The deportees, many of whom are ANDREA
PÉREZ EGIDO
native English speakers, will be used to has a BA in
address a massive shortfall of English Journalism from
teachers in the country. Complutense
So, anxiety may be the order of the day, University, Madrid
and a Masters
but we don’t need to let it take over. The in Corporate
researchers are right, it is better to light a Communications
fire than worry about being cold. from the Kingston University,
London. She previously worked on
the international desk at the Spanish
IRENA BARKER, newspaper La Razón. She joined
EDITOR the Gazette as online and social
media editor in 2015.

editorial@elgazette.com 5

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