Page 34 - ELG2011 Nov Issue 473

COMMENT . OUT FEATURES & COMMENT

Point OF THE

of View FOTOGESTOEBER / SHUTTERSTOCK BOX

Paula
Rebolledo Can students still

Guruism can be travel to study?

detrimental to your Despite Covid restrictions, Abby Penston, CEO
of Focus Travel Partnership, outlines how

professional health You have the ability to be your own foreign students are able to return to the UK
guru, and use your own ideas

Dare to question Sharing ideas with someone who works in a Despite restrictions on travel, our companies to get the best value airline
partners have been busy arranging – and
flight deals and the fastest, state-of-the-
After the initial feeling of awe over an inspiring Well-known speakers and writers can similar context is always a good starting admittedly rearranging – many travel art technology, saving clients time and
money. We also know all the right
plans since the global pandemic took
point.
certainly inspire us and influence our
idea, Paula Rebolledo says we need to think teaching practices a great deal. They can Become your own guru! hold. It has taken us by surprise how people.

So, through our network, a partner
many different industry sectors have
help us refresh our teaching with a new idea,
how it can be adapted rather than adopted encourage us to look at a situation from a Sometimes we are so comfortable following been travelling across borders over the found a contact at Singapore Airlines.
different perspective or even assure us we are other people’s theories and ideas that we past nine months, albeit in smaller As a result, they secured great deals for
on the right track. forget we may have our own. Throughout our numbers. One such sector has been hundreds of Chinese students to the
e buy their books, read their dependent on external expertise instead However, after the initial feeling of awe years of teaching, we develop our own way of international students. UK, and dealt with each individual
articles, attend their talks, of nurturing our own; over a new or inspiring idea, we need to doing things, sometimes unknowingly. Most universities requirement;
follow them in social networks, c) neglect local knowledge by disregarding think about whether it actually serves us and By keeping a diary, writing down what we in the UK depend ensured that they
Wand if our admiration turns theories emerging in classrooms from our students. Here is where adapt rather than do or any idea we may come up with, we can on the income of …they secured all knew the Covid
dangerously into idolisation, we kindly ask colleagues and ourselves, particularly in adopt comes to play. become aware of the richness and diversity of their international requirements;
them for a picture when we bump into them less-represented contexts; In order to do this, we can ask ourselves: our own teaching repertoire. Gurus did not students, so as the great deals for arranged a private
in a conference. Whether we refer to them as d) trigger feelings of anxiety and frustration, Are the learners for which this new make themselves only by listening to what pandemic and its group check-in at
ELT gurus, big names or celebrities, their as some ideas proposed by our gurus may method/strategy/perspective has been others had to say. They got busy observing, issues dragged into hundreds of Chinese Shanghai; and
common denominator is their high-profile, involve a long list of unreachable goals; proposed similar to mine? Are the materials trying, documenting, proposing new ideas the summer students to the arranged for
influence and status in our field. e) maintain hierarchical structures by suggested accessible to me and my learners? and sharing them. We can all do the same. months, the coaches to meet
Who are they? Well, the list varies keeping us outside of influential positions Does my syllabus allow for adaptations that To sum up, an uncritical dependency on pressure was on for UK, and dealt with them at the airports
depending on our areas of interest and and decision-making processes. make this possible? Basically, are the ideas ELT experts, gurus, big names or celebrities the start of the to ensure minimal
contexts, but it usually includes well-known proposed possible in my context at all? could have harmful effects for our academic year. each individual contact with
speakers, writers, researchers or bloggers who Even more importantly, do the ideas development and that of our field, unless we However, our requirement… others.
for one reason or another have become Guruism may… proposed contravene my views of teaching examine, acknowledge and act on them. An partners are Another partner
highly influential in ELT. neglect local and learning? If the answer is a resounding initial but important step in this direction experienced. They reported that they
In fact, there have been some interesting ‘no’ then it is OK to reject the guru’s ideas. may involve stopping seeing gurus, experts, are travel management companies, who have helped those teaching English in
discussions questioning why someone knowledge by Yes, it is OK! (and it is OK to say so, too!). big names, celebrities, etc. as authoritative can navigate their way through complex China to get home at the end of their
becomes a guru, raising concerns regarding disregarding theories Also, quite rightly or not, an ELT figure but as informing voices instead, along with and varied levels of requirements, contracts before visas ran out, while
their gender, race, age and even merit. may propose a new set of ideas to promote a ours! bureaucracy, and border changes, so flights were being cancelled. They did
Although such discussion deserves attention emerging in book or a course. Many of them make this when a few of our partners were tasked this by securing a combination of flights
(Steve Brown’s blog post provides a transparent in their talks, but our job here is REFERENCE with getting Chinese, Indian and via Turkey.
stimulating debate on this), the impact they classrooms from to be cognisant of this and assess their Brown, S. (2015). He’s not the messiah, he’s Bangladeshi students back to the UK, Our partners offer a professional
can have has remained greatly unchallenged. colleagues and propositions accordingly. a very naughty boy!. The Steve Brown blog. they welcomed the challenge. service and good value deals while
We usually assume that the role of well- https://stevebrown70.wordpress.com/2015/0 But it has been the China-UK routes ensuring they keep on top of the latest
known figures that have advanced the ourselves, particularly Capitalize on your own and other 4/15/hes-not-the-messiah-hes-a-very- that are most complex. Few airlines had travel rules for each government around
profession and contributed so much to its colleagues’ expertise naughty-boy/ re-commenced flights. Air China flights the world. To find a Travel Management
development could only have a positive in less-represented Above, I suggest reasons why we may reject didn’t re-start until 26 October, and Company that can meet your
effect. I think that – although acknowledging contexts. ideas coming from a ‘big name’ if they seem British Airways’ Shanghai-London route requirements, see https://focustravel.uk.
their contribution – their influence can also inapplicable to our particular classroom Paula Rebolledo has taught at primary, didn’t have passenger traffic rights – just
be disadvantageous for our profession if situation. Still, we may benefit from them if secondary, undergraduate and postgraduate cargo rights. Virgin Atlantic could take Abby Penston is CEO of Focus Travel
unexamined and unacknowledged, thus I know this looks very negative, but not we apply them more critically through a levels and in INSETT programmes in various passengers, but economy fares one-way Partnership, an umbrella group of travel
having a potential disempowering and everything is doom and gloom. As I suggested process of evaluation (again, dare to countries. Her research interests include were over £2,500. Cathay Pacific via management companies that work for the
stagnating effect rather than a developmental above, the existence of gurus and their question!). teacher education, professional development Hong Kong was also not possible. independent sector. It has 60 members
one. influence may be prejudicial if unexamined, The idea here is to give the new ideas – or and teacher-research. She has led teacher- Chartering aircraft could also not with a turnover of £1 billion. The
Hence, I would argue ‘guruism’ may: unacknowledged and now I would add, a part of them – a try and assess their result. research initiatives such as the Champion guarantee traffic rights. partnership uses the members’ collective
a) inhibit our criticality by becoming unactionable. In doing so, we would be carrying out our Teachers programme and the APTIS Action As an umbrella group, Focus Travel size and buying power to negotiate the
complacent rather than inquisitive over Thus, and in order to avoid some of the own analysis and subsequent adaptations, Research Award Scheme. She is co-founder of Partnership helps its partners through best deals with suppliers in the air, rail
some of the propositions offered by some disempowering effects mentioned above, I thus tapping into our own knowledge and RICELT, the network of ELT research in not only economies of scale – we and tech sectors.
influential figures in the field; propose three key recommendations (as a experience. Additionally, you can also use Chile. negotiate on behalf of 60 travel
b) reduce our autonomy by making us starting point): your colleagues’ expertise as a resource.

34 November 2020 editorial@elgazette.com 35