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Thomas Baker – Chile
Experienced EFL Teacher, Teacher Trainer, Writer, Editor, Conference Speaker, Consultant
Thomas Baker • Hi Patricia, Your solution #2 is fantastic. All ELT teachers would be well advised to use a teaching video as a marketing tool. For example, it could be uploaded to YouTube and then always present on-line for a prospective employer to refer to.
I also agree with you that the human voice is a tool of our profession. A pleasant voice is defintely an asset. However, Patricia, we have divergent opinions on the CELTA.
You would not advise NNEST teachers with degrees to obtain one. You cite two factors: 1. Cost, and 2: It will not give the CELTA holder an edge in the job market (as evidenced by, in this case, the fact that Karla Guedes was not hired).
In fact, the cost of the CELTA has a direct relationship to its potential economic returns. If the CELTA would not fulfill its economic promise (getting a job), then the market around a worthless qualification would erode, dry up, and eventually self-terminate.
I say this because you can fool people once or twice, but not three times. I hate to cite George Bush, but the man actually once said: “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.”
If the CELTA were worthless, the news would spread like wildfire, from email inbox to email inbox, from Facebook to Facebook page, from blog to blog, from YouTube to Vimeo, from Twitter to Twitter, from conference participant to conference participant.
Let me be clear: The CELTA is recognized as an educational qualification in England. It is backed by Cambridge ESOL, who ensures the quality of the CELTA, and promotes it worldwide.
Although there are many organizations that accept the CELTA internationally and in the UK, I will name only one, because it suffices: International House World Organization. Again, there are countless others.
In the current ELT industry, a CELTA holder guarantees an employer a certain level of quality, which has become practically standardized, implicitly. The thinking is, “With a CELTA holder, I know what I’m getting.” Here is the link to the Cambridge ESOL site, which sponsors the CELTA:
http://www.cambridgeesol.org/exams/teaching-awards/celta.html
Your second point was UK employment law. I concur with what you said about work permits issued to foreigners based on criteria set by the Labor Departments of the various National Governments.
Somehow, you overlooked the fact that Karla is a legal resident in the UK and has a work permit for the UK. If she is illegally looking for employment as an ESOL / ELT teacher, then she is wrong to even raise the issue.
It would be immoral, however, to give Karla the right to live in the UK, and then not allow her to work in her profession, provided she has a UK accredited job qualification. She does: the CELTA.
I reiterate that Karla Guedes has the legal right to work in the UK. Further, she has obtained a CELTA, a recognized qualification in the UK. And yet Karla has been unable to find a job.
Why? One word: Discrimination. She is a Non-Native English Speaking Teacher, a NNEST.
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Karla Guedes
For instance, if I took my Chilean students on a language study trip from Chile to Southhampton, UK, to tank up on some British culture and improve their English, the last thing the students and their parents would want to see is Karla, a NNEST, as their teacher. My students would walk out of the classroom and demand a Native English Speaking Teacher, or their money back.
Now, is that scenario avoidable? Yes. There are many ways to raise public awareness of the fact that you do NOT discriminate and do hire NNEST.
You could begin by educating the public of the positive characteristics of the NNEST. Recent NNEST favorable, scholarly work has been done in Israel. Informational brochures, teaching videos, Facebook pages, webpages, and other social media could highlight the positives of NNEST and NEST collaborating together.
In the end, profitably hiring an NNEST in the UK is not rocket science, it is respect for human dignity.
Thomas Baker
Native Speaker
Teacher of English as A Foreign Language
Santiago, Chile
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Non-Native English Speaking Teacher Interest Section (TESOL)
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