Page 5 - ELG2009 Sep Issue 472

WELCOME . EDITORS’ LETTER

The student on

Upskill with

Education Group your doorstep theteam .
targeted ELT MELANIE

training. For free. The chaos of Covid-19 is not unprecedented. Ron BUTLER,
editor-in-chief,
started teaching

1975. She worked
Ragsdale and Melanie Butler examine the options EFL in Iran in
for the BBC
Introducing Bridge Micro-credentials – free World Service,
professional development courses for English On 5 Oct 1918, faced with the Spanish flu pandemic, the mayor of Portland, in Ron’s home state of Pearson/Longman
and MET magazine before taking
language teachers. Explore topics like error correction, Oregon, closed “schools, churches, lodges … and places of amusement.” Meanwhile, Melanie’s over at the Gazette in 1987 and also
launching Study Travel magazine.
materials creation, IELTS exam prep, and more. grandmother was wearing a mask as she travelled to her job in the West End, passing the London School Educated in ten schools in seven
of English. countries, she speaks fluent French
As we go to press, the London School of English, founded in 1912, is opening its doors. Covid-19 has and Spanish and rather rusty Italian.
been tough on schools, all types of schools: state schools, private schools, the new international school RON RAGSDALE,
down the road and the old local language school round the corner. managing editor,
A few language schools have closed: at least 15 in the US (see page 6) one in Malta (page 7) and 15 in gained his MA-
EARN DIGITAL BADGES Share on TESOL at
the UK, including the London School of English branch in Canterbury (page 13).
Some 25 British independent schools have closed, including, as we report on page 12, King’s College St Portland State
University in
Michael’s, part of the Inspired Education chain of international schools. Oregon 25 years
Why are we talking about international schools? Local language schools from Barcelona to Bahrain ago, and has
Learn more at Bridge.edu/tefl know why. The top end of the young learners’ market is now less about learning English and more about worked in ELT
learning in English. The super-rich publishing ever since, with teaching
stints in Istanbul and Cairo. In
U.S. Department of COURSES Association for Quality send their kids abroad to school, addition to managing teams at
ACCREDITED BY Education Recognized RECOMMENDED College Credit RECOGNIZED Education and Training It is not as if English-speaking the affluent go to the local
Agency FOR CREDIT BY Recommendation Service BY Online Pearson and Cambridge ELT,
including as Publishing Director, Ron
countries are not full of non-native international school. has worked with Ministries and local
Bridge Education Group | 225 East 16th Avenue, Denver, CO 80203, USA | 1-303-785-8864 | Bridge.edu Bad news not just for the local partners in over 30 countries.
speakers wanting and needing to language school but also for the
improve their English. anglo-sphere summer schools MATT
SALUSBURY,
whose English lessons and jolly
activities no longer suffice. news editor and
journalist, has
International schools, argues Robert Phillipson, the author of Linguistic Imperialism, on page 36, are the worked for EL
new educational colonisers. Gazette since
Hamish Chalmers, the language researcher and former international school teacher we interview on 2007. He is also
page 38, worries less about the politics and more about student outcomes. Hamish specialises in joint Chair of the
London Freelance
evidence-based education research and his work suggests that although good evidence is hard to find, Branch of the National Union of
where non-native students share an L1, using it in class can lead to better outcomes. Journalists and co-edits its
International schools moved to recruit locals following the 2008 financial crash, as we report on page newsletter, the Freelance. He taught
14. As expatriate families went home, schools turned to their domestic market to fill the gaps. English language for 15 years in the
Netherlands, in Turkey, in a North
Language schools in English-speaking countries would do well to follow their lead. London further education college
“But we don’t have a domestic market,” the cry goes up from Boston, Brighton and Brisbane. “We rely and now as an English for Academic
on internationals students.” Purposes tutor, most recently at the
Time to spread your risk. London School of Economics. He is
a native English speaker and is also
Many schools have switched to online and some, like IH London’s young learners summer school, have fluent in Dutch.
made a success of it (see page 23). IH schools in the UK have never relied entirely on language travel—
teacher training and foreign languages for locals helps spread the risk. GILL RAGSDALE,
Besides, it is not as if English-speaking countries are not full of non-native speakers wanting and research news
reporter, has a
needing to improve their English. PhD in
FREE 20 per cent of all children in UK schools have English as a second language, and many have EFL tutors Evolutionary
Take the UK. It has 90,000 foreign au pairs, here to learn English – but not in language schools. Nearly
Anthropology
from Cambridge,
from the £2 billion tutorial industry – but not from language schools.
And this year, 300,000 UK residents will go to a Secure English Language Test Centre like the ones run and teaches
Psychology with
by Trinity College (see page 46). Language schools run courses for these exams. Most don’t, or won’t, the Open University, but also holds
an RSA-Cert TEFL. Gill has taught
enrol local students.
Digital Subscription English may be the global language, but you know what they say in marketing: “think global, act local.” EFL in the UK, Turkey, Egypt and to
refugees in the Calais ‘Jungle’ in
English to refugees in the UK.
MELANIE BUTLER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF RON RAGSDALE, MANAGING EDITOR France. She currently teaches
Go to www.elgaze琀e.com/subscribe
and register for your free online subscrip琀on

4 September 2020 editorial@elgazette.com 5 5