Page 30 - ELG2109 Sep Issue 477

POINT OF VIEW

was only about 20 when I moved to Colombia
for a year to improve my Spanish and carry
out research for my Bachelor thesis. It was
I an exhilarating, scary and challenging time
in my life; I moved there without knowing
anyone. But did I mention I was 20? I braced
myself for the anticipated challenges and got
stuck into making connections with people
who eventually became friends.
It was also around this time that I started
teaching English. It wasn’t part of my plan,
but when a friend of a friend offered me the
gig, I eagerly took it. My lessons were OK for
someone with little to no experience. I relied
mostly on my ‘skills’ as a (British) native
English speaker and was able to correct my
students’ mistakes when they made them,
even if I was barely able to explain why it
was that their sentences were grammatically
wrong. I have a distinct memory of feeling
like I was learning with my students;
having my own “aha!” moments, when we
would read through a worksheet or a grammar
explanation together.
I began to love working as an English teacher,
but I still saw it mostly as the perfect means to
make a bit of extra cash. You can imagine how
strange it was then, when suddenly I started
getting approached by people in my friendship
circle who would enthusiastically say things
to me like, “Wow, how incredible that you’re
teaching English to Colombians. You’re really
opening so many doors for people!”
I found this odd and I struggled to convince
myself that I – a now 21-year-old whose
main life achievements at this point revolved
around being able to handle my aguardiente
had suddenly transformed overnight into Can we disentangle
(a Colombian anise-flavoured alcoholic
drink) and learning how to dance salsa –
some sort of altruistic humanitarian worker. I
started to ask myself what was going on here
and couldn’t shake the feeling that I was in TEFL from its
fact being praised simply for having by sheer
luck been born a native speaking, white,
British person. colonial past?

The very fact that
it’s only through
attaining adequate Yes, says Alice Rodgers, but first we
English language must be aware of it
skills that people are

able to achieve social
advancement is costs of private tutoring and international colonialist projects of the British (and later
extremely troubling schooling, is usually only accessible to a American) empires.
small privileged group – that people are able
Until the 19th century, Britain was a major
to achieve social advancement is extremely colonial power, having built a worldwide
It was then that I started to reflect on troubling. We find ourselves, as teachers, system of dependencies and stripping
the inequality inherent within the world of actually contributing to the global political, indigenous peoples of their lands and diverse
TEFL. Yes, those friends of friends were right social and economic inequalities that cultures. Aside from violence, the spread
that learning English could open many doors torment so many people in this globalised of disease and causing famine, another
for Colombians in terms of education and world today. technique the British used to assert control
job prospects. But the very fact that it’s only To understand what’s really going on here over populations was through education and
through attaining adequate English language it’s crucial to take a look at the history of the teaching of white European superiority,
skills – a privilege that, due to the high TEFL and its inextricable connection to the part of which included teaching English.
30 September 2021