Page 17 - ELG1707 Jul Issue 449

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FEATURES & COMMENT

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in Hong
Kong?

A native-speaker EFL teacher of
Asian heritage has been advised
not to apply for a job in Hong
Kong because the tutorial centre
‘prefers Caucasian applicants’,
according to the Hong Kong Free
Press (HKFP).
It is unlawful for Hong Kong
employers to hire people based
on race, but regulations do not
prevent advertising for a native
speaker.
WhatsApp screenshots
published in the HKFP show the
exchange between the teacher
and an educational agency
that had placed an online ad
for a native-speaker teacher.
Warned that the employer might
prefer Caucasians, the teacher
commented, ‘That seems racist.
Asians can be native English
speakers.’ The agency agreed
that there were many good Asian
teachers but insisted, ‘The centre
likes to keep their image.’
Contacted by the HKFP, the
agency declined to disclose the
The changing details of its client or speak about
face of Tefl the importance of ethnicity in
selecting teachers. According to
the paper, a spokesperson asked
them, ‘Why [are] you interested? It
Spanish is barely taught in Ireland and graduates will average Ielts 8 if they follow is not a big news.’
while it has grown as a school subject in a test-preparation course first, but that is In 2015 the paper reported
the UK most British students have dropped still only borderline C2. Native speakers do that a local nursery school had
foreign languages entirely by age sixteen. better on the Cambridge Proficiency test, but placed an ad for a teacher with
Brexit may make it easier to bring in the bilingual countries dominate. a ‘loving and kind-hearted
Spanish-speaking US citizens, but until then In 2015 100 per cent of candidates from personality, teaching experience
it’s down to the locals. Singapore passed at C2. That drops to 72 and Caucasian’, though a
How easy it is to find functionally bilingual per cent for Americans and 70 per cent for spokesperson told the paper the
Spaniards depends on the level of English Brits, just above the 68 per cent of Spanish term had been ‘misused’ and
you demand and the test you use. The nationals. Greece, where bilingual teachers should have read ‘native speaker’.
school in Murcia asked for C2, yet only 2 per are the norm, has long demanded proficiency A British teacher who taught
cent of Spanish nationals reach that level on certificates from local teachers. In Spain, for many years confirmed to the
either Academic or General Ielts. Toefl stops though, such people are in short supply. Gazette that such discrimination
at C1. In any case, do private language schools is commonplace. When she was
Most native speakers don’t reach that really need C2? sent as a supply teacher to a
level either. Only 9 per cent of native To function effectively as a bilingual kindergarten, she was told she
English speakers reach the C2 equivalent teacher you need to be C1, according to wasn’t needed to teach but to
score of 8.5+ on Academic Ielts, exactly the research on the Madrid bilingual schools ‘reassure the parents’.
same percentage as German speakers. we published in December. C1 is also the
A total of 14 per cent of native speakers minimum language level needed to teach
get there on general Ielts, but that’s still in primary, the ELLiE longitudinal study of
fewer than the 16 per cent of Afrikaans primary language teaching in Europe found.
speakers from bilingual South Africa. The functionally bilingual teacher renders MELANIE BUTLER
Native speakers are held back by low the monolingual native-speaker teacher Editor at Large
language awareness and lack of practice in obsolete. But depending on the language
formal language tests. levels asked for, functional bilinguals may @MelanieButler_E
I am told that most native-speaker prove hard to find.
editorial@elgazette.com 17

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