“If you think of your business like a journey, your mission is the car, and your vision is the destination.”
Ola Kowalska
On 9 September 2023, we hosted our first ELTA-Rhine event with the vivacious Ola Kowalska on Building a Personal Teaching Branding. Clearly, the topic found high resonance amongst our members, who for the largest part, are freelance trainers having to market themselves to sustain a regular client base. After only a few weeks of advertising the event, Laura Edwards, our events co-ordinator had to close the registration, due to its high interest.
Branding is a term not many English trainers have associated themselves with. Ola’s bold, refreshing and encouraging approach for trainers to step out of their stale comfort zone can be seen as a challenging essential to moving onto a higher income scale. This is what she says about branding yourself:
“Your personal teaching brand should be the foundation of everything you say, do, create and post in your business. It encapsulates your skills, personality, beliefs, mission and vision. It influences how you show up and want the world to see you.”
“It’s also how you can attract attention from your ideal students and get them interested in buying from you. A big part of building a personal brand as a teacher is deciding how you want to show up. Do you want to be your fabulous, authentic self? Or would you prefer to show up in a different way?”
According to Ola, a very strong prerequisite for successful branding, is to be clear on your personal value system, and to visibly communicate this outwards to attract the right client match and impact your subsequent sales. This is what she emphasised:
“A recent study showed that 82% of customers prefer to buy from businesses they feel aligned with, and 39% said they would stop buying from a brand altogether if their values don’t match.” “Crazy, right!? I suggest coming up with 3-4 core values that represent what you stand for as a teacher and a business owner. Then think about how these already (or can) show up in your classes, your messaging and your actions. Your values should underpin your tone of voice because they are what your brand stands for, and there’s no better way to show that than through what you say and how you say it.”
We received very positive and enthusiastic feedback from the event, and participants appreciated Ola’s authentic and unabashed approach to marketing your skills and talents, a topic most trainers shy away from.
For more on Ola, and her many delightful useful insights, click on the links below, to be directed to her website: Here is her podcast episode and blog post
By Johanna Furgoll
]]>A heartfelt season’s greetings to you all!
So it’s been another rollercoaster year coming to an end. Amongst the turmoil there has also been
the “new” beckoning us on, encouraging us to move to new pastures and to create new
opportunities in a transitioning world.
The festive season is here again to let us catch up on our thoughts, to contemplate and to embrace
the carousel of constant change. Nonetheless it is also the time to indulge, to play and to let go.
May the merry-go-round transform into a Merry Christmas for you and your loved ones.
May the New Year be a clean slate to start afresh and open new opportunities for professional
growth, health, wealth and happiness.
We wish you all the best during this time and a joyful glide into 2023!
]]>Over the last couple of years all of us have had to face and overcome many challenges. Covid altered
many things, and the way we now go about doing our work has evolved and moved on. Incipient trends like
working from home, remote learning and e-meetings have all become commonplace; part of the everyday
reality of being an English language teacher. Within ELTA-Rhine we were forced to move away from
traditional face to face professional development events in favour of more accessible webinars, and now
we are out of lock down, there’s no returning to how things used to be. The aim is to make what we offer
more relevant to the complex demands of modern day language teaching. That’s not to say that physical
meet-ups will no longer be taking place, that’s far from the truth – but going forward there’ll be more hybrid
offerings, and with travel no longer being a limitation, we will continue to offer more events where online
training is held jointly with other ELTA’s in Germany. All this is only possible with active assistance from a
core team of volunteers, all of whom work willingly and tirelessly for the benefit of the entire ELTA-Rhine
membership. That said, whether we succeed or fail in our aims is ultimately dependent on ordinary
members responding to what’s being offered, and taking the time to immerse themselves in it.
One of the perks of being the Chair of an organisation such as ELTA-Rhine is that you often get to take
credit for the efforts of others. Therefore it’s only fair that when one of our hard working helpers move on
(for entirely understandable reasons), I send out a big thank you to them. Khanh-duc has been our Events
Coordinator since 2020, during which time she has been at the forefront of reshaping the way we deliver
continuing professional development. It’s been a pleasure working with such a talented and imaginative
individual and I wish her all the very best for the fresh challenges that lie ahead.
Finally, before concluding this message, I would like to invite anyone interested in assisting the Committee,
in any way, to come forward. You can do as much or as little as your individual circumstances dictate, but
there’s always a need within ELTA-Rhine for more helpers, and opportunities exist at all levels to become
involved in some worthwhile and satisfying work.
So to conclude, it’s my pleasure to send Season’s Greetings to you all. I hope you have a lovely time with
friends and family, and let’s make 2023 something to cheer about.
Rosemary Bloy
Chair ELTA-Rhine
November 26th was a celebration day for the members of ELTA-Rhine gathering together for a long-awaited event: the ELTA-Rhine/ ELTAU workshop in collaboration with Express Publishing, the event sponsor. Organised in a hybrid form, at the Haus der Universität in Düsseldorf as well as on Zoom, the workshop welcomed 25 participants, 5 of them attending it online.
The event debuted with Kristy Kors’ short talk on “How to Enhance your ESP Learner’s Employability” and highlighted highly-relevant present-day aspects that allow one to get, do as well as keep a job: knowledge, a high level of communicative competence, emotional intelligence and social skills. These key elements are key in the preparation of Express Publishing materials for teaching English for Specific Purposes, drawing on realistic situations in which authentic language is produced, and leading to higher learning motivation, more creativity and an easy adaptation process for the trainers. Kristy Kors has a BA (Hons) from Leeds Metropolitan University and a CELTA, she has been an ELT consultant for Express Publishing for several years, and is their representative for Germany. She has a rich experience as a teacher of English as a foreign language, and is an active presence in seminars and workshops, sharing ideas on latest methodological advances.
The highlight of the day was László Németh’s workshop on “Making writing `lit` again”, which placed the focus on the importance of digital literacy in the design of materials and lesson plans for the English class in order to develop life competencies: social responsibilities, communication, critical thinking, collaboration, learning to learn and, last but not least, critical thinking.
POV: it was a `lit` opportunity to reveal 21st century English `on fleek` and Laszlo `slayed` it!
The participants in the room as well as those online were kept actively involved through pair and group activities showcasing methods in which the new and the old teaching practices can be successfully blended together and incorporated in the classroom. Any language learner’s interest would be captured by activities such as “Tell My Story” – a pair guessing game, in which participants have to fill in the gaps of a simple life-story text, a relevant GTKY starter! `Nonseum` took language use to new standards of digital literacy, with hashtags and tweets enabling the expression of ideas and creativity. Other activities revolved around the use of memes in the classroom in order to check understanding, allow for text comprehension, creativity as well as critical thinking and digital literacy. Another captivating activity was the `Shopping Troll-ey` aimed at opening learners’ perspective onto real and fake news and what trolling means. The day concluded with a group project that allowed participants to bring together all the ingredients of the day in a project on a social-media based classroom. Over three hours of work, yet not a second of boredom, as the participants were completely immersed in the learning about new perspectives and the creation of lesson ideas for everyone to take away.
An aspiring professional in the field of education and language teaching, László Németh was able to enthuse the audience with his inspiring, creative approaches in teaching English to the present-day `generation Alpha` learners and not only. He has been in the committee of IATEFL – Hungary since 2016 and President since January 2022. His main research interests lie in authentic classroom materials, educational technologies as well as teaching life competencies and transversal skills. He has gained a vast experience working with various age groups in both the private as well as the public sectors. Pursuing a PhD in Multilingualism at the University of Pannonia, he made his name as a university lecturer and freelance English teacher, materials writer and educational consultant.
Why join events organised by your local ELTA? This event, just like others, was a great learning experience, as well as an opportunity for networking. You get relevant hours of inspiration, enjoyable breaks for networking and catching up, a great dinner follow up to let all the new ideas sink in and, why not, this sense of belonging to the wonderful, lively and warm community of ELTA.
Dana Mezei started on the road of EFL in 2003, out of passion for English and working with students. She has been a constant presence in conferences and workshops, and obtained the educational degrees available in the public school system in her country of origin, Romania. She is an experienced ELT trainer and learning coach, building her professional path to meet the challenges of present times.
]]>Marketing follows this pattern. If teachers are mentioned, it is this very feature. However, often it is not even about the teacher, but rather about applying special “methods” (often named after the school), offering assessments and exams, having fantastic references, holding memberships, being certified and having a quality management system in place. Where is the teacher, who is the backbone of every lesson, class and school, in all of this? And how does it feel to get this reply when you apply without falling into the right category:
“I regret to inform you that ABC only hires native speakers to teach foreign languages. For you only XYZ would fulfill this requirement but we have no XYZ courses. I am sure that you speak excellent English but our customers expect teachers from GB, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia, and we have no problem to find these people.”
Look at a colleague of ours with a BA in TEFL, MA in English Philology, 14 years of teaching experience (including language schools in the UK) and several textbook publications for Cambridge University Press: NOT ENOUGH. Or another one who has a CELTA and a DELTA, is a materials writer and teacher trainer who has taught English in four countries (including Britain): DECLINED. The obsession with native speakers is both profound and profane, yet real. Ostankowicz-Bazan (2017) collected statements on choosing teachers, and typical ones were:
What is the reasoning behind this? The idea that languages are best taught by native speakers is as old as language schools themselves. For them, it is part of their method, a unique selling point and quality feature. Many students also believe they can learn better from someone who knows ’real’ English and understands the ‘culture’. Common assumptions include that their English is more idiomatic, richer in vocabulary, and that it has a standard model of pronunciation. Native speakers are also seen as role models and mentors who are able to deliver high-level communication and writing practice.
While native speakerism has been sold by many international language school chains as a quality feature for decades, there has never been scientific evidence that a native speaker is a better teacher per se. You can view this from many angles: linguistic, cultural, personal. There are plenty of resources and voices discussing (and demystifying) that concept. See, among many others, Marek Kiczkowiak’s page (https://lnkd.in/gQepyqah), or Silvana Richardson’s 2016 IATEFL plenary (https://lnkd.in/gm45wFNE). There is also a legal side to it: between 2000 and 2004, the EU adopted several directives on equal treatment, providing definitions of various kinds of discrimination, and calling for sanctions if principles are breached. These directives are meant to change social realities, ban and eliminate discrimination. Every member state implemented national legislation based on those directives. In Germany, they have been incorporated into a single Equal Treatment Act, which provides for damages to be paid to an unsuccessful applicant suffering discrimination during the job application process. This may be using a discriminatory term in a job ad, during review or when declining a candidate, considering, for example, age, gender, religion, sexual orientation or ethnic origin.
Germany has recently seen the first ever case of an ELT professional challenging a school’s hiring practice and taking legal action. She applied for a job and was declined because the school would only hire native speakers. No review, no assessment, no interview. They even said that they were looking for teachers and her CV looked ‘really interesting’, but their policy would not leave them with a choice. Germany’s highest labour court decided in 2017 that the term native speaker constitutes discrimination as it relates to somebody’s ethnic origin, so things went pretty smoothly when her case against inlingua came before the local labour court in Karlsruhe. Long before this, IATEFL and German ELTAs had already banned this term, not allowing job ads containing the words-native speaker- to be placed with them. MELTA, for instance, drafted a standard reply they would direct at such recruiters:
“Thank you for your request to place a job advert. I note that in the advert you have stipulated that applicants should be native speakers. We made the decision to avoid accepting expressions such as “native speakers” in job ads in an effort to promote non-discriminatory language in ELT. We want to do this not only from an ethical perspective, but also because we discovered that this type of discrimination actually contravenes EU law. I’d therefore like to suggest we change the wording to “proficient English speakers” or similar. Please let me know if this is acceptable for you.”
And even longer before – as early as 2003 – the European Commission issued this statement:
“The Commission is of the opinion that the phrase native speaker is not acceptable, under any circumstances, under Community law. The Commission will continue to use its powers to fight against any discrimination caused by a requirement for native speaker knowledge in job advertisements. This also applies in its relations with its contractors.”
Let us finally arrive at a moment of truth: Can an accident of birth be a qualification? Are teachers made or born? How can you justify preferring a native speaker without any credentials over a bilingual teacher with a five-year degree in English and loads of experience? Take the idiomatic or pronunciation arguments, for instance: with English as the lingua franca, 95 % of language students’ communication is with non-native English speakers. Therefore, they will not only be exposed to a British or American accent, but to HUNDREDS of accents. And at the end of the day, there is so much more to language teaching than the language itself. You must be able to TEACH and bring skills to the table that draw a big picture, including lesson planning, methodology, personal and business skills, sensitivity, ability to facilitate, deal with different learners and group dynamics, media competence, etc, etc, etc. On top, there are things such as professional conduct, time management, presenting and marketing, liaising with the body you are working for, and so on. The truth is:
The native speaker concept in language teaching is not a quality feature. It is a marketing tool. After all, it is not about where you were born and raised. It is about what you can deliver.
Patrick Mustu is a lawyer, language trainer and translator based in Düsseldorf. He has been teaching for 20+ years in various settings, from colleges, universities and other institutions to executive coaching. An in-house trainer with international law and accounting firms in the first place, he also runs seminars for a number of professional associations, including the Lawyers’, Notaries’ and Tax Accountants’ Institutes, and the Interpreters’ & Translators’ Association.
Patrick was involved in the case mentioned and handled it for ELTAS member Rachel Tsateri. You can read more about it in her post (https://lnkd.in/gyZs7Uys) and in El Gazette’s February and April issues, as well as a March news release (https://www.elgazette.com/a-winning-argument/). Should you be into further reading, https://eddi.substack.com/p/the-native-english-speaking-teacher?s=r presents an interesting line of argument supported by figures. If you’re more into academia, check out https://www.poileasaidh.celtscot.ed.ac.uk/daviesseminar.html (“The Native Speaker in Applied Linguistics”), or https://www.researchgate.net/publication/358198924_Exploring_the_Ethnic_Gap_in_Teacher_Salaries_in_International_Schools (“Exploring the Ethnic Gap in Teacher Salaries in International Schools”).
]]>Now well into February we trust you all had a good start and got your ball rolling already, with new hope, ideas and aspirations for 2022. We would like to take this opportunity to introduce this year’s Elta-Rhine editorial team to you. Last year we started off with Rosy, Khanh-Duc and myself. This year, we are pleased to announce that Victoria Sheppard, an experienced business English trainer, has joined our editorial team. We are very excited to have her on board and the editorial team is looking forward to mining and sharing ELTA’s collective training expertise via our quarterly member newsletter and on Slack too. So…to keep that ball rolling…..let’s look at:-
What makes me do my job? What am I really good at? What else would I like to incorporate in my services? How does my life experience contribute to my value? How do and could I present myself?
* Who and what kind of client do you want to work with?
Successful communication is a two-way flow, so please feel free and inspired to throw creative arrows, darts or spears in our direction, to land beautifully in the centre of collaborative ideas and goals. Please share your thoughts here as shared knowledge amplifies collective growth.
Let yourself be whisked away to share your expertise on the ELTA-Rhine Slack platform. Select from:- jobs, events, webinars and info… and best of all please voice your opinion!
Have a wonderful inspirational and healthy 2022!
With best wishes
Your ELTA-Rhine editorial team
]]>A few words about Continuiing Professional Development – by Ron Morrain
]]>
I would like to provide some food for thought and raise questions relevant to us as teachers. The focus here is on something I call Teacher Refresh Rate (TRR). The idea is borrowed from technology. In technology, refresh rate is the number of times a display device displays a new image per second. The display, whether monitor or smartphone you’re reading this on, has a refresh rate between 50 and 120Hz, (most likely around 60Hz), meaning the image of this text is created around 60 times per second.
I look at teacher refresh rate this way: how often a teacher will do something new or refresh something existing and something that he/she already does. This can range from using new kinds of materials through learning new job-related skills all the way to getting new qualifications. TRR is about finding new approaches to our teaching, refreshing our methodology, rediscovering and reminding ourselves of all the joys of teaching.
Furthermore, it’s not only about what we learned in the last 2 years – by that, I mean using (new) technologies to teach, but about expanding how we do it. For example, learning how to use Zoom was good and fine, but we can definitely expand on using the most basic features. Technology evolves all the time, and we should try to keep up as much as we can.
Also, TRR is about revisiting what we did before with a fresh perspective and more experienced eyes. Making small shifts in our approach can make a big difference for us as well as our students. It’s about making the best from our experience – continuing to do good things well and taking the things which are just OK to a new, higher level.
It’s about sharing within our professional community because everything we share within the community comes back to us transformed and enriched somehow. So do share; it’s mutually beneficial.
The end of the year is an excellent period for reflection and preparations for a new year and a new start; now’s the moment to start deciding what to do next year in terms of working on ourselves.
Back in 2019, I decided to take my professional development into my hands. I decided that I’d like to get my TRR up to 2/year and keep it on that level. That year was a great professional leap in the right direction for me – I started doing language coaching courses. Still, I didn’t become a real language coach, nor do I call myself that today, but the experience gave me a fresh perspective of myself, how I work and the importance of asking great questions. Of course, 2020 is a story on its own. Although I was already working online for 5 years at the time, in 2020, I rediscovered so many possibilities and online tools, which I still use today; as the second thing, I taught myself how to use WordPress to build my own website. Then, in 2021, I became an active member of IATEFL BESIG; I started my CERT IBET course, which was very enriching, professionally; and began to volunteer for 2 professional organizations, which opened new horizons and enabled me to develop more skills. By doing so, I reached TRR 3/year. In all honesty, I believe having and keeping TRR at the level 2/year is more than enough to keep us all up-to-date and ready for any challenges in the market.
All these are seeds from which I will reap benefits in the short and long term; the thing crucial for me was that I started purposefully going from step to step without losing my way and the direction I’d like my career to develop in.
Let me expand on this idea a bit more: it is about new things and finding new perspectives and ways of looking at something you already know and do, e.g., how we use some simple online services, such as Google. Did you know that there are more than 250 Google services? The 4 or 5 we use most often are just the very tip of the iceberg. Personally, I use Gmail and Google Drive daily and couldn’t get anything done without those. I am not saying we all need to use many Google services, but we can expand and refresh the range of things we do online with the ones we use; instead of doing or finishing everything on my computer and emailing things out to people, I will put it on Google Drive and only share the link or give access. It makes my life easier daily.
The relevance of this idea of the Teacher Refresh Rate is perhaps in the value it brings in the long run. Unfortunately, in some professions, there’s a clear expiration date, e.g., for professional athletes, but in our industry, we could say it’s quite the opposite – the more experienced we are, the better we work and the more value we can bring to our clients, i.e., our learners.
Each professional development step has value on its own, but also it equally adds value in the long term and career level because it keeps us relevant and up-to-date with each passing year.
Let’s consider the two opposite sides of the scale of keeping yourself up-to-date professionally. On one side of the scale is the independent freelancer who needs to be at the forefront of new trends in the market to stay desirable. On the other side of the scale is the university professor with tenure who has little to no external stimulus to do something new every semester. However, as we’ve experienced, the world is moving forward at an unrelenting stride, so everyone interested in keeping up with the industry should make sure they are coming along by trying to introduce at least one thing per year.
With so many possibilities for growth out there, the thing we need to decide is which to select and invest time in. Never before was so much available at any moment from anywhere.
The takeaway of the day: refresh what you know, continue to learn and grow; revisit, rediscover and reuse, but stay the same – only that refuse.
Slobodan
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
]]>To facilitate planning and gauge interest, the organisers would like to know if members would like to attend – either in person or online.
ELTA-Rhine has created a poll to determine interest: https://terminplaner4.dfn.de/sfHxWRZRxmzoIY8m
The poll closes on 15th January 2022.
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CANADA
“Eh, it’s a Chinook! Get rid of your tuque and mitts, grab some loonies and let’s head on over for a couple of Double Doubles and a box of Timbits”
or
“Let’s hang out with the Newfies, grab some toonies, buy a Mickey and give’r at the rally!”
Chinook: A strong, warm wind blowing down a mountain range in the middle of winter, and it is also an Inuit word for melting snow due to warm wind.
tuque: a knitted hat to keep you warm – like a beanie
mitts: mittens
Loonies: Canadian $1 coin with an image of a Loon (bird) on it.
Double Double: a coffee with double milk and double sugar ordered from Tim Horton Doughnuts.
Timbits: doughnuts from Tim Hortons
Newfie: anyone from Newfoundland
toonie: Canadian $2 coin
Mickey: a 375ml bottle of liquor
A give’r: a person doing a noble or difficult action – giving something a go
NZ:
“Come on rattle your dags, the ankle biters are hungry! Get the snarlers on the barbie and I’ll get the rest of the kai out of the chilly bin.”
rattle your dags: get a move on, hurry up
ankle biters: small children
snarlers: sausages
barbie: barbeque
kai: Maori word for food
chilly bin: portable, insulated box to keep picnic food or beverages cool
AUSTRALIA:
“I’ve got the eskie and some stubbies so grab your flip flops and get your budgie smugglers on. We’re going down to the beach where the rellies always have their Chrissie party.”
eskie: portable, insulated box to keep picnic food or beverages cool
stubbies: small bottles of beer 330-350ml
flip flops: Based on Japanese sandals, they are lightweight summer sandals with two straps going from between the big toe to either side of the foot. Also known as jandals, thongs or pluggers.
budgie smugglers: Speedo bathing costume
rellies: relatives / family
Chrissie: Christmas. Many words are shortened and given an –ie at the end e.g. breakfast = brekkie
KENYA:
“Put on your takkies and go play in the sun outside, while the adults enjoyed a bia baridi and some samosas, before we all tackled a copious curry and Christmas pudding. Krismasi njema!”
takkies: plimsolls = tennis shoes, forerunners of trainers / sneakers
baridi: cold, bia needs to be said aloud
Krismasi Njema: happy Christmas
Adjectives follow the nouns in Swahili!
In Australia or New Zealand Christmas is often spent at the beach, a river or simply outdoors. As a child at Christmas in Kenya in the 70s you might have heard that sentence. There won’t be too many Canadians out swimming at this time of year.