Page 4 - ELG2005 May Issue 470

WELCOME . EDITORS’ LETTER

Is your journey

really necessary? theteam .

MELANIE BUTLER,
The coronavirus has closed education down everywhere, editor-in-chief,
but when the world opens up, it is educational travel which is started teaching EFL in
Iran in 1975. She worked
most at risk, say Melanie Butler and Ron Ragsdale for the BBC World
Service, Pearson/
Longman and MET
magazine before taking over at the
It is an unfortunate fact that when faced with any quandary, from Brexit to a football final, the Gazette in 1987 and also launching Study
standard British response is to start blethering on about the Blitz and how in our finest hour we stood Travel magazine. Educated in ten schools
alone. This is particularly irritating if you are an Indian, an Australian, a Canadian or indeed the in seven countries, she speaks fluent
French and Spanish and rather rusty
citizen of any country which fought shoulder to shoulder with the British throughout the Second Italian.
World War.
In this time of coronavirus, however, the standard, stock UK slogans from the Second World War RON RAGSDALE,
can still come in handy. “We’ll meet again,” says Queen Elizabeth to her locked down people. “This is managing editor,
gained his MA-TESOL at
not the beginning of the end,” says the Governor of New York, quoting Churchill, “but it may be the Portland State University
end of the beginning.” in Oregon 25 years ago,
“Is your journey really and has worked in ELT
necessary?” ask almost all publishing ever since,
with teaching stints in Istanbul and Cairo.
It’s a question parents and governments almost In addition to managing teams at
everywhere.
Pearson and Cambridge ELT, including as
As we report on page 7,
governments will still be Australia asked this just as it Publishing Director, Ron has worked with
Ministries and local partners in over 30
considering as the virus issued its strategy to become countries.

number one in language travel. MATT SALUSBURY, news
diminishes and students can It chose to keep its borders editor and journalist, has
closed. So, too, did Thailand, worked for EL Gazette
since 2007. He is also
once again consider travelling as the country put out a call for joint Chair of the London
more foreign teachers to come Freelance Branch of the
overseas to do a course. and work in its schools. National Union of
As we report in Global News, Journalists and co-edits its newsletter,
the Freelance. He taught English
the UK, one of the few language for 15 years in the Netherlands,
countries to keep is borders open, did not initially extend to its private language schools the tax relief in Turkey, in a North London further
promised to the travel industry. It left this to local governments. We should not be surprised, then, by education college and now as an English
the rumours that it is also refusing to bail out the UK university sector, which faces a £2 billion drop in for Academic Purposes tutor, most
recently at the London School of
income as international student numbers dry up. Economics. He is a native English
Instant. Accurate. Reliable. Is this journey really necessary? It's a question parents and governments will still be considering as speaker and is also fluent in Dutch.
the virus diminishes and students can once again consider travelling overseas to do a course.
For universities, colleges and language schools in the English-speaking world the answer may no GILL RAGSDALE,
research news reporter,
longer be simple. As Chris Etchells explains on page 38, in his campaign to make language teaching
Quick to set up, easy to run — and it gives instant results. more eco-friendly: “The coronavirus crisis has shown that online learning can be effective and has a PhD in Evolutionary
Anthropology from
Let the Dynamic Placement Test take the hard work out enjoyable… If you expect students to travel to your school, you need to be clear why this is better.” Cambridge, and teaches
of placing each of your students into their correct class. There is little doubt that online teaching has become ubiquitous. As we show on page 25, even Psychology with the
Open University, but also
All it takes is 30 minutes to find a learner’s CEFR level, Cambridge Assessment has capitulated to coronavirus and allowed Celta trainees to do their teaching holds an RSA-Cert TEFL. Gill has taught
fine-tuned with a numeric score. practice online. EFL in the UK, Turkey, Egypt and to
It is also true that we have known for years that adult blended learning courses, such as the one for refugees in the Calais ‘Jungle’ in France.
Kazakh journalists we highlight on page 12, have outcomes as good as, or better than, face-to-face She currently teaches English to refugees
in the UK.
courses; and, in some cases, teacher-led online learning is as good as a classroom. Except, American
It's instant. It's accurate. It's reliable.
studies suggest, for children under the age of 12.
It remains unlikely, though, that all study will move online. But local programmes, such
Tests learners from CEFR A1 to C2 as the EAP courses described by Dianne Schmidt of NCUK on page 14, may have an
advantage over ones which require students to get on a plane.
Local language schools, local English medium universities and local bilingual high
schools, all are likely to bounce back in each country as lockdowns are lifted. Learning
English, after all, remains essential.
But whether travelling to learn English, or travelling to learn in English, we will need to
Visit our website to answer the question, “why is this better than doing it at home on your computer or in your
own hometown?”
request a free test Management gurus agree that if you want a competitive advantage you must be two of
the following: cheaper, faster, better or greener. And then you have to prove it.

MELANIE BUTLER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF RON RAGSDALE, MANAGING EDITOR

www.ClarityEnglish.com/dpt editorial@elgazette.com 5 5