Job Discussion Forums

[TawtViet]

I understand that the CELTA course is British English based. Although I respect all varieties of English, there are some things in BE that make me cringe. CELTA seems portrayed as the best and most widely accepted certification possible. However, after completing such a course I would want to teach my variety of the target language. What is expected by the Vietnamese after one has completed a CELTA? On a visit to VN, all I saw were BE texts. What do some of you CELTA certified Americans in the classroom do after the training?

[Snaff]

[Gordon]

[hoodooguru]

This battle for supremacy between British and American English has been raging probably since the EFL industry began........and it's extremely tiresome.

For some reason most of the schools I worked at in Bangkok were overun with Brits who seemed to think that the whole universe revolved around the Cambridge and Oxford mafia.

Then I came to HCMC in 1995 to find that although the British Streamline series was the darling of coursebooks in most schools in Vietnam, most students wanted to study with North American speakers. I ended up in TOEFL hell for a few years.

Then the IELTS started taking a stranglehold on the exam prep market and my Australian nationality was finally acknowledged within an EFL context. I still find many US teachers griping about this sad state of affairs (in their eyes). It's the same thing that happened to the French when their beloved language took backseat to the rampaging dominance of English (at least that appears to be the case in post-colonial Vietnam)

The Russian influence can also be found in a generation of English speaking students who studied in the former USSR - they are instantly recognisable as they sound like the Count in Sesame Street.

Now the wonderful world of EFL has been forced to reconcile the different accents and dialects of the "international language" - it doesn't please the diehard pommys and yanks who still claim to have a dominant hold on the language.

Sadly, it's now a reality

[Gluestick]

I teach with my NA English unless the students specifically want the British stuff. If they don't care, I'll sometimes just tell them the different ways that things can be said.

[junkmail]

This argument is retarded.
The difference is negligible. There is no American English, or British English anymore, it's a language that gets learned and adapted much like any other language. The difference adds up to a few minor spelling changes.
It's this sort of argument that's making me leave the world of pedantic teachers for a real career.
I teach English to the staff of a merchant shipping company at the moment. Most of them use their English to talk to other non-native speakers, and it is them not us who will shape the international English of the future.
I'm British myself, but personally I like Australian accents. Funny, how the Australians see no need to call it 'Australian English'.
Tawviet, to answer your question, there are American instructors who teach Celta to Americans in America. It is not biased towards a particular accent, it's more about teaching methodology.
If anyone really cared about progressing the language they'd start by removing the redundant features like irregular verbs, and make it read phonetically like Spanish or Korean.

[hoodooguru]

Interesting comments Junkmail but are you serious?

You wrote:

[spycatcher]

FYI

There was a version of Headway made in Australian English. Think it was pre internediate level.

[Rice Paddy Daddy]

what are the wages - housing - etc?

[Mr Wind-up Bird]

As a Brit I agree it's a retarded argument.

Firstly, there are as many differences in dialect and vocbulary within the UK itself as there are between the UK, US & Australia - listen to a white inner-city London teenager speaking with a semi-Jamaican accent, then listen to a Geordie, and then a Scouser, & you're almost hearing three different languages.

Secondly, below upper intermediate level I don't think Vietnamese students can tell the difference between UK/US/Australian accents, and I don't believe they even care. My Vietnamese wife speaks English almost as well as me but can't always hear the difference.

Thirdly, the issue of an international business language is a moot point as, whatever one's country of origin, business English is fairly standardised. I might say "Hi", an American might say "Hey" and an Aussie "G'day", but in a business context we'd all say "hello".

Fourthly, any student who spends several years learning English is highly unlikely to have the same teacher, or a teacher from one country, throughout that period. They will inevitably be exposed to different accents and terminology during this period, if only by accident rather than design.

Finally, we invented the language so we're always right