Page 5 - ELG2104 Apr Issue 475

WELCOME .

EDITORS’ LETTER
Turn on, click in, drop in to online

As the world leans toward internet-based
learning, we uncover what’s out there for
English-language learners and teachers theteam

I’m very pleased to introduce myself as the new editor of EL Gazette. It’s a respected and trusted MELANIE BUTLER,
title in the English language learning world and I’m chuffed to have been asked to take it on. editor-in-chief,
My background is very much in the world of magazines, from humble beginnings as started teaching EFL in
Iran in 1975. She worked
associate editor of True Confessions (I promise it wasn’t as lurid as the title suggests!) to for the BBC World Service,
editing a wide variety of publications, including Young Performer, for kids interested in a Pearson/Longman and
life treading the boards; Step Forward, published on behalf of the Limbless Association; MET magazine before
Freelancing Matters, for the self-employed; Accounting Technician (no description necessary!), taking over at the Gazette in 1987 and
along with sub-editing on titles as diverse as Country Homes & Interiors and easyJet Traveller. also launching Study Travel magazine.
I’ve also written on food, travel, family life, entertainment and more. I love words – old ones, Educated in 10 schools in seven countries,
she speaks fluent French and Spanish, and
new ones and a clever portmanteau. rather rusty Italian.
With each publication I’ve learned something about the world they represent, which has melanie@elgazette.com
been a fascinating journey.
The past year has been a doozy LIZ GRANIRER,
in terms of how our world has editor, has edited
There are those who may changed. No one needs reminding parenting, travel and
how the Covid-19 pandemic has magazines for kids, writes
be sick to the back teeth of impacted on just about every for a number of print
and online publications,
aspect of our lives. In terms of and has worked on a
all this online stuff, but... lifestyle, it has made us all more range of well-known consumer and
acutely reliant on the internet contract magazines.
than we’ve ever been. More than editor@elgazette.com
once I’ve wondered what these months would have been like without it.
Can you imagine? No Zooms, no face-to-faces calls of any kind, no instant messaging, texts, GILL RAGSDALE,
WhatsApp, Facebook, TikTok… Sure, there are those who may be sick to the back teeth of research news reporter,
all this online stuff, but our sense of isolation would have been heightened to intolerable levels has a PhD in Evolutionary
Anthropology from
without the connection the internet has given us to friends, family and workmates around the Cambridge and teaches
globe. Someone sneezes in New York and you can say gesundheit in London. Psychology with the Open
One of the biggest leaps in communication via the web has been in online teaching and University. She also holds
exams. Schools around the world have worked hard to make classes which appear on a screen an RSA-Cert TEFL. Gill has taught EFL in
the UK, Turkey, Egypt and to refugees in
as effective as those in real life. Take the Hands Up Project (see page 24), a UK-registered the Calais ‘Jungle’ in France. She currently
charity working mostly in Palestine, which has taken its one-local-teacher-plus-one-remote- teaches English to refugees in the UK.
teacher concept to the next level by integrating both teachers in a combination of Zoom and
Facebook, so that students experience CHARLOTTE DYASON,
a similar dynamic as they did when senior sales, a graduate
they met face-to-face in classrooms. ...our sense of isolation of Canterbury and
Then there’s the incredible boom experienced education
in language-learning apps, with some would have been marketer, Charlotte has a
brands seeing as much as 67% growth wealth of expertise and
knowledge to assist with
since the pandemic began (see page heightened to intolerable promotional campaigns.
11 for Duolingo’s take on this), as info@elgazette.com, tel 020 3137 9119.
people find ways to improve skills, levels without the
learn new ones and make the most of IAN CARTER,
their time indoors. connection the internet publisher, has a
On top of this is the move to online Masters in Strategic
exam testing, which we look at in has given us to friends, Business Management
more depth on page 16, along with (Westminster) and
digital platforms providing everything family and workmates 30 years’ publishing
experience in the
from teacher training to English professional and academic sector.
language proficiency tests. Our list elgazette@media-shed.co.uk,
of online English-language learning around the globe tel 020 3475 6811.
platforms and what they provide starts
on page 13. If you’re wondering where
to go next with your career or which exam or course will bring the most benefits, take a look. Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in EL
Gazette editorially or by contributors do
In fact, this issue of EL Gazette is packed with as much online information as we could gather. not necessarily represent the official view of
While we all want to “go back to normal”, our hunch is that online living and learning has EL Gazette or Media Shed Ltd, nor is either
taken a firm foothold and isn’t likely to disappear any time soon. responsible for claims expressed or implied
We also take a look at what will replace the disappearing Erasmus (page 6), research from in advertising. EL Gazette is published
around the world (page 8) and teacher training news (page 7), along with updates from under licence by Media Shed Ltd and all
around the world. Happy reading! reproduction rights are strictly reserved.
Copyright 2021.

LIZ GRANIER, EDITOR
editorial@elgazette.com 5