Page 15 - ELG1906 May-Jun Issue 465

EU special .
SPECIAL FEATURE
Is European ELT facing
NEWS FROM AROUND THE EU
British lettori, Dutch Universities
a continental shift?
4-7 and the latest on Erasmus+

SUMMER SCHOOLS
RESEARCH NEWS SHAKEUP Demography is the real danger, says Melanie Butler

European study fi nds dubbing 11-12 Forget fun, bring on
he mood in European EFL is generally specialist teachers – easy enough for boarding Teaching young learners is a whole different
8 TV is bad for your English the physics and fi rst-class football coaches glum. And it’s not just Brexit. schools, though the cost of such teachers ball game from the adult market, as Kevin
I’ve been getting e-mails from is putting an extra strain on private sector McNally of Torquay International School
TSpain predicting the death of the providers, as we explain on page 11. explains on page 16.
language school, and tweets from British Others are demanding proper sports Torquay is just one of the towns in Devon
MALTA MAKES ITS MARK HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAMMES teachers from Posnan to Padova, complaining courses with professional coaches (see which makes that region the young learners
they cannot live on their salaries. page 12). centre of the UK. As we explain on page 15,
Will work rights for students Ireland regulates guardianship as Pity the poor foreign lettori in Italy who, Agents also report a switch from summer schools have been enrolling under-16s here
as we report on page 4, have been fighting courses to year-round provision. The demand for many years, and the policies of the local
9 help island’s EFL expand 13 as EU kids fi ll local high schools for their rights for thirty years, and now the for academic, year-round immersion courses authorities help make it one of the safest
British lettori may risk losing everything. in state secondary schools is growing, places to send children.
Even the universities are especially in Ireland where, as we The irony, of course, in the growth of the
moaning. On page 7 we report on page 13, language young-learners’ language travel market, is
YOUNG LEARNERS reveal the Dutch have schools have led the that Europe is running out of children. Half
so many international The irony is, campaign to regulate the the population in the EU is over the age of
YEAR-ROUND degree students they of course… that guardianship sector. 46, only 15 per cent is under 15.
have to house them in Brexit or no Brexit, This demographic squeeze is about to hit
14-16 Stick with the specialist, shipping containers, Europe is running the move, it is clear, is not only the supply of young learners but the
while on page 4 we find out of children. for EFL to become part supply of teachers. For every 18-year-old in
drop in on Devon and Kevin McNally’s tips French universities have of education, rather than the UK there are two people aged 50. The
put their fees up in an just a variation on the situation in Ireland, which has the youngest
effort to attract more students. junior activity holiday with a population in the EU. may be better, but
Now for the good news. With UK Brexit bit of English grammar thrown in. don’t expect a flood of Irish graduates to
plans in chaos, the European parliament The under-16 market is also growing fill the post-Brexit shortfall. The graduate
has rushed to protect European students on outside the traditional summer season and unemployment rate in the Republic is just 5
Erasmus courses in the UK, as we report on the UK has responded to the surge in groups per cent.
page 5 of this supplement. of young learners coming for short courses Maybe it is not Brexit that poses the
Meanwhile, on the same page, we report in the low season by increasing the number biggest threat to the EFL market across the
how the Irish are rubbing their hands at the of schools which specialise in the sector. EU, but demographics.
prospect of cornering the EU
market. On page 9, we note
that Malta is rolling out
the work visas as their long- WIKIMEDIA
haul student market grows.
Best news of all, at least
for their governments, the
language levels of students
in Italy and Spain are
rising. The main reason
seems to be the rise and
rise of CLIL and bilingual
programmes in the state
sector. This may be bad
news for local language
schools in Milan and
Madrid, because parents
don’t feel the need to top
up their child’s English
with a twice-weekly
language lesson. But
it doesn’t seem to be
having much impact on
the market for summer
schools.
But the choice of summer
courses is changing.
Some are looking for
hard-CLIL courses with

EU2 May/June 2019 editorial@elgazette.com EU3