Growing trend among elite schools to bring in native language speakers to spruce up their language departments

Updated on: Wednesday, April 10, 2013

The staff room of the Global English School in the city would sport a unique look come next academic year.

Foreign nationals, from as many as five countries, would be part of the school's faculty, reflecting a growing trend among elite schools to bring in native language speakers to spruce up their language departments.

Many international schools are recruiting foreign teachers in increasing numbers to solve the accent trouble that has plagued English and other foreign language learning in the state. Schools in the city have brought in faculty from countries like Britain, Canada and South Africa mainly to get the language teaching right.

"We currently have four foreign teachers including those from Canada and South Africa and are in the process of recruiting six more foreign teachers for the next academic year. Basically, we are bringing in foreign teachers to impart proper language education. Parents are also keen to have their children acquire proper language skills from native language speakers," Muneer Ansari P, director of Global Educational Solutions, which owns the school said. He said that clarity in communication has become the most important skill for a student to acquire in the increasingly globalized world of today. "Unfortunately, it is an area in which students from the state are lagging behind. Our endeavour is to address the problem by getting the students trained by qualified native language speakers," Muneer added.

The group which runs three schools in the UAE has brought in the teachers for the Kozhikode campus on deputation.

Sadhbhavana World School, another school in Kozhikode, has three foreign teachers teaching English and French is planning to recruit four more teachers for the next academic year for teaching languages. "As far are non-language subjects are concerned, Indian teachers have an upper hand. But when it comes to language teaching many are found lacking," Harish K E, CEO of the school said.

But not all academicians share the same opinion that native speakers have the edge in language teaching.

"The notion that languages including English is best taught by native speakers is not correct. English has become an international language with several regional and national varieties and we cannot say that one is better than the other. There are very good language teachers in the country and I think the schools are trying to create an aura of an elite school by bringing in teachers from abroad," M V Narayanan, professor, department of English, Calicut University said.

Growing trend among elite schools to bring in native language speakers to spruce up their language departments

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