Global Voices – Charlie Ellis

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Charlie, Scotland

ELT is not a separate realm, divorced from the real world. In February 2022, I had a Russian student in floods of tears, ashamed of what was being done in her country’s name. Since then I’ve taught several Ukrainian students, some of whom have come to Scotland to start a new life. This has an impact on classes. Typical ELT topics such as describing your hometown might not be suitable when it’s a bombed out, cratered shell.

The inherently international character of ELT means that you are never far away from what is happening in the ‘real world’. For instance, the ELT market in the UK is still suffering from the twin shocks of the pandemic and Brexit. In Edinburgh, several prominent schools closed down, while others are only now reviving. CELTA courses are seeing fewer numbers. Only recently has the school I work at, Alba English in Edinburgh, begun to have busy classes again. We have also seen quite a dramatic shift in the types of students we are teaching.

Prior to Brexit, our core students were generally from Mediterranean Europe who came to the UK to combine polishing their English with work in the hospitality sector. With free movement rules (which gave EU citizens the right to live and work in the UK without requiring permission) ending, these students are no longer around. This has forced Alba English to look to other markets.

We have seen a substantial influx of students from Saudi Arabia. In general, such students arrive with a relatively low level of English (A–A2) and they also need assistance with fundamental aspects such as general literacy skills, perhaps lacking in typical general English courses. For us as teachers, it has meant a change in focus. Rather than students (of B1–B2 level) who needed their language upgraded and polished, many of these students need the basic building blocks. They need more language input, which has perhaps reduced the communicative aspect in some lessons. We’ve had to develop more materials for the beginner level.

It has also provided us teachers with a moment of reflection about how truly open we are to students from very different cultures. Cultural ‘touchstones’ in music, film and TV series can no longer be relied upon (‘What is Friends?’) and we’ve been reminded of how Eurocentric many of the materials we use are.

The process of adaptation is never smooth but reconsidering what we do in class is never a bad thing. Above all, it emphasises that ELT is, because it is intimately connected to political and social change, always in the process of evolution. Just like the English language itself.

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