Who is qualified to teach English? by Amy Thompson
The answer, of course, is someone who is a competent user of English with specific training in the field of language pedagogy. Why, then, do we still see job advertisements requesting that the applicants be native speakers of English? Is this a lack of understanding on the part of the employer?
The Beauty and Horror of Explaining Mixed Conditionals (Among Other Grammar Points) by Madeline Castillo
One of the most misused grammar forms is the mixed conditionals, and this is not really much of a surprise. The use of one verb tense in a sentence is already difficult, so imagine having to put together two verb tenses in one sentence — it’s almost a nightmare! For most ESL teachers, myself included, […]
How to get colleagues to support the NNEST cause – by Nick Michelioudakis
Why not educate people? Three reasons: i) They know all this stuff already! Let us be clear: 98.7% of all the people who are active in the ELT world are nice, liberal people who are against all kinds of discrimination; ii) telling people the same thing again and again may well trigger reactance (Wiseman 2012 […]
Native and non-native speaker teachers in Spain by Ben Greensmith
The battle rages in Spain between natives and non-natives. The streets run with blood and Euros fly out of the hands of desperate parents looking for a good teacher for their precious little ones. Working and toiling together in Spain as a native and non-native pair has given us an interesting insight into how the two, completely random coincidences of where you are born, are seen and in turn respected/disrespected in Spain.
Equity in ELT – who do we need to convince? by Kenneth Arnold
I fully support TEFL Equity advocates and want to fight discrimination, so I clicked on the link here about what we could do. One of the suggestions is to make a blog post about it, so here is my attempt. Not discriminating against someone due to their place of birth seems such an obvious thing, […]
Brazilian English is beautiful by BrELT
The following video has been produced by BrELT (Brazil’s English Language Teachers), a Facebook community that fosters collaborative professional development among Brazil’s ELT professionals. The message is clear: “We are here. We are Brazilian. Deal with it.” “Who are you talking to, though?” you may wonder. Other Brazilians, believe it or not. Sadly, we needed […]
Making job specifications more specific by Alex Moore
The fact that you’ve visited this website and are reading this tells me you probably don’t need convincing that “native-speakerism” is a myth that discriminates against thousands of qualified teachers, for whom English happens not to be their native language. I’m also going to assume you’ve read Marek’s post about “native speaker only” job adverts, […]
What does a red phone box have to do with learning English in 2017? by Richard Willmsen
[From the editor: this post was originally published on Richard’s blog here and is republished here with his full consent] One of my roles in life involves testing the English language to make sure it’s working properly. It’s in this capacity that I get to fly down to Mérida for a few days, eat sopa de […]
Native Speakers aren't better – so don't believe it by Elly Setterfield
[Note from the editor: this post was originally published on Elly’s blog here and is republished here with the full consent of the author] When I started my blog The Best Ticher, I foolishly assumed that I was writing for an audience like my younger self: British (or perhaps American), relatively young (maybe one or two […]
Native-speakerism and the complexity of personal experience: A duoethnographic study
‘Native speakers’ are better at teaching speaking and should be given conversational and high level classes, right? They can’t tell a verb from a noun, though, so don’t ask them to teach any grammar. ‘Non-native speakers’ know the grammar better and since they know the students’ L1, they should teach lower levels, right? They’re never […]