Page 24 - ELG2304 Apr Issue 484

FEATURE .

The world’s smallest

major ELT destination is full COPYRIGHT PEXELS.COM
full

Melanie Butler investigates the smallest
and largest ELT destinations

his time last year when I called MEI, middle of a cost of living crisis, who can
the Irish association of regulated blame them?
language schools, to ask how the With accommodation in short supply in the
Tsummer season was going I was told major EFL cities of Dublin, Galway and Cork,
the country was full. At the end of March this the summer schools have expanded down
year MEI General Manager, Lorcan O’Connor the Eastern coast into towns like Waterford
Lloyd, gave me the same answer. “Some and Wexford or into the picturesque small Dublin, Ireland
schools may have a little availability at some towns in the heart of the country. Most of
points in the season,” he said doubtfully. the growth has come from long-established I doubt the Maltese, see above, would agree.)
Unlike last year staff shortages are not the providers seeking out new locations and new The high school year abroad market is growing
problem: “in 2022 we struggled for teachers,” host families. fast too, with numbers from some markets
says Lorcan, “and the numbers on teacher Residential summer centres have also increasing, according to Lorcan, even during
training courses were down too.” sprung up - but in a country with seven the pandemic.
Now, wages have ticked up, the number of universities, 14 Institutes of Technology and The limit to growth remains accommodation.
trainees has increased, and the schoolteachers less than 20 boarding schools - the supply is And the boom in adult year-round EFL
are back. Unlike the UK, Ireland has rarely not inexhaustible. students isn’t helping. Ireland is a country of
had to import EFL teachers for the summer, Outside the summer there is room for 5 million people with 100,000 over-18s, mostly
relying instead on schoolteachers who take a growth in the year-round young leaners from Latin America, all on a study work visa,
special two-week TEFL course. market which has boomed since Brexit. After all seeking somewhere to stay. On a per capita
Accommodation remains a problem. all the EU is the biggest player in the under-16s basis Ireland is now, year-round, the largest
Host families are trickling back, though the market and Ireland boasts it is now the only ELT destination in the world – and probably
rates they are asking have gone up. In the native English speaking EU country (though the fullest.

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24 April 2023