Nicola Davies Poem: The day war came (and the plight of refugees)

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Nicola Davies is an English zoologist and writer. She was one of the original presenters of the BBC children’s wildlife programme The Really Wild Show and in the last few years, she has made her name as a children’s author.

‘The Day War Came’ is her poetic response to the impact of the British government’s refugee policies. It was first published in 2016 on The Guardian’s website and it had such an impact that it was soon turned into a picture book, with coloured pencil and watercolour illustrations by Rebecca Cobb.

The poem is the story of a girl, who is sitting in her classroom oblivious to the helicopters in the distance. Then, war comes with shocking suddenness “At first, just like a spattering of hail, a voice of thunder… than all smoke and fire and noise I didn’t understand.” She returns only to find a blackened hole. Alone, she follows a stream of refugees escaping over fields, roads, mountains. “War took everything. War took everyone,” Davies writes. Fleeing with others to physical safety, the child, tainted by her refugee status, is rejected repeatedly. She comes across a school and goes inside but the teacher sends her away “There is no room for you, you see. There is no chair for you to sit on. You have to go away.” In a hut, she hides under her blanket, exhausted and desolate. Woken by a knock on the door she finds a boy holding a chair. “It was a chair. A chair for me to sit on and learn… And drive the war out of my heart.” It isn’t the only chair. All the school children bing a chair for each refugee child.

Davies’s powerful words are sensitively represented by Cobb in simple child-centered illustrations, making this an accessible book for those young readers ready to engage with this difficult topic. Talking about human rights and refugees can seem complex and not relevant for discussion by primary school children. However, children face the basic issues of fairness, prejudice, conflict-resolution and human choice and action every day through relationships with their peers. Children know there is war in the world whether they have directly experienced it or not. This book and discussion may cause children to express anxiety about war or violence. Consider working as a team within your school or program community to address any big feelings that may arise. The active role children in the book play in welcoming the main character after her ordeal should help demonstrate the power of empathy and kindness to assuage anxiety and fear.

A major theme in this story, especially regarding the end, is kindness. Ask studnets to think how is kindness demonstrated in this poem. Why is kindness important in everyday life? The boy bringing the girl a chair is a small act of kindness that will have a huge impact on the girl’s life. Ask the class to give some examples of other small acts of kindness that could affect others and you could start a kindness campaign.

The poem is so emotive in its nature, with such a potent message about the power of kindness and hope, that it sparks a burning desire to help refugees in crisis. Mirroring this sentiment, a real-life campaign was launched shortly after the poem was published. People posted images of empty chairs as symbols of solidarity with those who children who had lost everything. Artists, illustrators, authors and the general public responded to The Guardian’s publication of Nicola Davies’s poem by painting, drawing and sketching an empty chair and sharing it on social media with the accompanying hashtag #3000chairs.

Writer Mathangi Subramanian said that “Poetry is a powerful tool for empathy, seeing things from different perspectives, for me poetry has been a way to step into someone else’s shoes.” It is also a beautiful way of dealing with some ugly themes.

Annie, Nicola Davies and Nayr Ibrahim at the APPI Conference in Lisbon, May 2023

If you would like to find out how to use this poem in class, click here and watch the video in my You Tube channel. And don’t forget to subscribe and keep updated on all videos and resources.

Screen shot with some mentors and mentees

My experience as an EVE-LAC mentor

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Screen shot with some mentors and mentees

When I was invited to join the EVE (equal Voices in ELT) team of mentors to work with LAC (Latin America and the Caribbean TESOL), I was really happy. As a Latin American myself, I welcome the opportunity to help fellow teachers in my region and I was so lucky as to be paired with Larissa, a young and enthusiastic teacher from Paraguay. It has been an exciting journey where I learnt about my teaching styles and developed my own skills as a mentor.

What is a mentor?

In my experience, it’s someone who is approachable, knowledgeable and has the resources to help their mentee reach their potential. It’s all about keeping your mentees best interests in mind and delivering support in a way that makes sense to them.

Mentoring is also a two-way street, a partnership between someone with experience and someone who wants to learn but always putting your mentee at the centre of the process.

While a mentor needs to have specific knowledge that the other doesn’t, every mentoring experience I’ve been through has been thoroughly enlightening and I’m quite sure I have learned as much from my mentees as I hope they have through my mentoring.

Also, a key part of being a mentor is listening. When mentors actively listen, they not only absorb the information being shared but also gain valuable insights and perspectives from every sentence spoken by their mentees. By showing genuine interest and attentiveness, mentors create a safe and supportive environment where mentees feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, concerns, and goals. This rapport strengthens the mentor-mentee relationship, fostering effective learning. By listening carefully to what mentees say, mentors can identify patterns, underlying issues, and areas requiring further exploration. This comprehension enables mentors to tailor their guidance and support accordingly.

Mentors are by definition taking a leadership role, and as in most leadership roles this is not about proclaiming about how you are more knowledgeable or more experienced than the person you are trying to support, but about helping them understand their strengths and make the most of them through the channels of your vision and experience.

It’s being Yoda, not Luke!

It is implicit that as a mentor, your role entails motivating your mentee to aim for excellence. Your mentee seeks your guidance due to your possession of knowledge, connections, or experiences that they lack. At one point, you were in their position, embarking on your career or acquiring a new skill. The unknown future can be intimidating and daunting. Provide reassurance to your mentee and assist them in developing confidence in their abilities, skills, and self. This is your ultimate job as a mentor, and you will likely find it to be as equally rewarding an experience for you as it is for her.

When we started working together, we followed a number of steps.

  1. Establishing expectations and ground rules

Upon introducing yourself to the mentee, it is important to create a comfortable environment by clarifying your role and addressing any queries they may have regarding the mentoring process. Clearly communicate your expectations from them, such as being prepared with problems to solve or questions to discuss, being punctual, and maintaining a professional and respectful relationship. Additionally, explain the support you are prepared to offer, such as coaching, teaching, and providing relevant opportunities.

  1. Conducting a needs assessment

Inquire about the mentee’s priorities during your meetings. Understand which aspects of their job or career they are most interested in learning about and the areas they wish to improve upon.

  1. Setting mutual goals

Determine the focus areas the mentee would like you to concentrate on as their mentor. Prioritize these goals together and establish the amount of time you will dedicate to addressing initial issues and the depth of exploration required.

  1. Establishing a contact schedule

Decide how frequently you and your mentee will meet in person. Clarify whether you will be available for phone or email/text consultations throughout the workday and evening or only during specific time slots on particular days. Clearly communicate your availability boundaries, ensuring that you provide sufficient support without overwhelming your mentee.

  1. Listening, inquiring, and advising

While you may possess a wealth of accumulated wisdom, it is essential to recognize that the mentee is not an empty vessel awaiting your knowledge. Prioritize listening to what the mentee has to say before offering your opinion. Engage them in conversations to understand their perspective and insights, which you may not have previously considered.

  1. Allowing them to make their own decisions

As a mentor, you often possess more knowledge and experience than the mentee. It may be tempting to simply provide them with directives. However, this approach would hinder their ability to think critically, develop solutions, and learn from trial and error. Furthermore, even with your wisdom, you may not have all the answers.

  1. Maintaining mutual accountability

If you make a commitment to address an issue or provide resources to the mentee, ensure that you follow through within the agreed-upon terms.

Mentoring is a process that leads to professional growth and improved educational outcomes for both the mentor and the mentee. Mentoring allows experienced educators to share their knowledge, guidance, and support with novice teachers, fostering a nurturing and collaborative environment. Through this process, mentors contribute to the development of confident and capable teachers, promoting continuous improvement in the education field and positively impacting student learning experiences.

Notebook, pen and poetry book

The Young Poets’ society – Using poems to develop language skills

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Poetry can be used to exploit various aspects of the English language in the foreign and second language classroom. It can be harder to write than prose, but some simple forms can be just as easy and fun to write. Besides it will give the students the opportunity to explore language, organise ideas, manipulate structure and vocabulary and give free rein to their imagination and feelings.

Watch the videos on my YouTube channel Empowering Teachers Worldwide https://www.youtube.com/c/AnnieAltamiranoTeacherTrainer  You will find tips and ideas to get your students writing poetry and developing vocabulary, language and speaking skills.

If you like those ideas, click on this link here https://tinyurl.com/3y79rkbj to access a worksheet with copies of those activities plus a few others that you can use in class. I hope you enjoy them!

 

Opening image of the Brighter Thinking pod

Brighter Thinking Pod – Episode 2

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Back in 2019, Cambridge University Press – Education started a series of podcasts: The Brighter thinking Pod, a place where international education professionals from all backgrounds, teachers, authors, key subject figures and more, get together to discuss the challenges faced by teachers in a modern classroom and discover new teaching ideas.I was invited to take part in the second podcast with Margaret Cooze, Linda Fisher and our host Andrew Campbell, whom I had met during the Cambridge global english tour in Indonesia. We discussed all things English as a Second Language. With classroom advice, lesson inspiration and tips for ESL teachers around the world, you won’t want to miss out. Click here to listen http://www.brighterthinkingpod.libsyn.com/

Searching for equality in ELT – EVE (EQUAL VOICES IN ELT)

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This is the blog post I wrote for EVE (EQUAL VOICES IN ELT) four years ago. There have been some changes partly due to the efforts of EVE and the support they have received from most teacher associations and a lot thanks to the fight individual teachers have put up to defend their rights; however, a lot still needs to be done https://evecalendar.wordpress.com/

There are two issues that have preoccupied me during my professional life.

The first is, does it really matter if the person giving a plenary or a keynote at an international ELT conference is a man or a woman?

Your reply will most likely be: No, it doesn’t matter, as long as the speaker is a professional. However, for many years, I wondered whether there were no female Big Names in ELT precisely because the vast majority of plenary and keynote speakers were, and in many events still are, men. Women are under-represented at the top of the tree even though ours is a profession where most practitioners are women.  I don’t mean to say that conference organisers actively discriminate against female speakers. Maybe they just don’t think about it, and I do see that as a problem, because there are many women on the organising boards of these conferences.
The second issue is a passport-related one.
I arrived in Spain 16 years ago, and soon afterwards I started offering my services as a teacher of English.  Although I had considerable experience teaching a range of levels and ages, was in possession of a post-graduate degree from a British university, had served as a Cambridge Oral Examiner in my home country, Argentina, and was already a published ELT author, I found I lacked the most important qualification: I wasn’t a Native Speaker. ‘You have a fantastic CV but you’re not ‘a native’  was the mantra I kept hearing. And I wasn’t the only one!
However, I have also discovered that native English teachers could also be discriminated against. Some employers demand specific accents: British as opposed to American or Scottish or Irish, not to mention African native speakers of English.
In due time, I joined TESOL-SPAIN and I must say I have been very lucky to find a group of like-minded fellow members and Board members, male and female, native and non-native, who actively work to eradicate discrimination in all its forms.
For many years, even when gender balance was not an issue in ELT, TESOL-SPAIN Annual Conference Coordinators tried hard to ensure equal representation in the line-up of their plenary speakers.
In recent years, we have extended our efforts to ensure that this balance is also present in our line-up of keynote and general speakers for our Annual conventions as well as in our regional events.
In 2018 and 2019, we received EVE: Equal Voices in ELT awards for our Madrid and Oviedo Annual convention line-ups, for which we are deeply grateful.
As for the NEST/NNEST issue, TESOL-SPAIN is particularly worried about the situation in Spain, where it is common for non-native English speaking teachers to be discriminated against, in favour of native English speaking teachers, regardless of  their respective qualifications, even for positions in official government  organisations.
Back in 2014, the Board issued the following  position statement against discrimination:
In compliance with Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, TESOL-SPAIN stands in opposition to discrimination against teachers on the basis of their national, ethnic or linguistic background, religion, gender, gender identity and sexual orientation, in terms of hiring, promotion, recruitment for jobs, or employment conditions.
With respect to the common, long-standing notion, unsupported by research, that a certain ethnicity, accent, or national background gives a person an advantage as a teacher of English, TESOL-SPAIN firmly believes that all teachers should be evaluated and valued solely on the basis of their teaching competence, teaching experience, formal education and linguistic expertise. Therefore, TESOL-SPAIN does not condone job announcements that list “native English,” “native command of English,” “native-like fluency,” “standard accented English,” or similar, as required or desirable qualities.
There’s still a lot to do to achieve equality in the workplace at all levels, but we feel that if teachers’ associations, researchers and teachers all work together , we can make the change and set an example to other sectors. We are educators, and we can fight against discrimination at all levels through education.
Annie Altamirano, MA ELT & Applied Linguistics
Teacher, teacher trainer and author,
former President of TESOL-SPAIN, current Vice-president of TESOL-SPAIN.
If you want to know more about TESOL-SPAIN, visit http://www.tesol-spain.org/en/
If you want to know more about EVE, visit https://evecalendar.wordpress.com/

How can we start differentiating in the classroom?

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In this 5-minute video, I give a few tips on how to differentiate learning in the language class. I hope you find it useful. If you like it, subscribe to my You tube channel and

click the🔔on my profile to be notified when I post.

https://youtu.be/gKU7GRy0m7I 

 

 

Assessment for learning: The Plenary

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When planning lessons, we are ALWAYS encouraged to have a hook at the start, an activity which grabs the attention of the students and allows us to assess what students know about the topic of the lesson. The plenary of a lesson is just as important as students need to understand what progress they have made and demonstrate what they have learnt.

Therefore, some form of assessment needs to take place. The end of the lesson may be an appropriate moment to do this and a performance task specifically related to the learning objectives may be the appropriate means to carry out this assessment.

Consequently, a plenary that will extend the learners’ knowledge of the content taught becomes an essential part of the lesson. However, in spite of their usefulness, plenaries are often not given enough time and as a result become the weakest and least active part of the lesson (Ofsted, The Key Stage 3 Strategy: Evaluation of the First Year of the Pilot. Ref: 349 (London: Ofsted, 2002).

What makes an effective plenary?

 In order to be really effective, a plenary needs to have the following features:

  1. It has to be planned into the lesson at the most appropriate time, quite often at the end of the lesson but not necessarily. Mini plenaries can be introduced at transition points during a lesson.
  2. It should allow teachers to assess all the class at once but also individual learners.
  3. It has to be differentiated and include some challenge to assess not only what learners know but also what they still don’t know.
  4. It should highlight misconceptions and these misconceptions should be addressed immediately or in the next lesson.
  5. It should give learners the opportunity to reflect on the content they have learned and how they have learned it, how successful they have been in achieving the aims of the lesson and what, if anything, they need to improve.

Here are some examples of useful plenary activities.

 

Imagine you are doing a unit about dinosaurs. Before we start with Lesson 1, we can do a K-W-L activity. Draw a K-W-L table on a large sheet of poster paper and ask learners to copy it onto paper or in their notebooks. Ask learners to write what they know (or think they know) about dinosaurs in the first (K) column. In the second column, they write what they would like to know about dinosaurs in the form of questions.

At the end of the lesson or at the end of the unit, review the questions in the W (What I want to learn) column and ask learners to add statements to the L column (what I have learned). Are there any questions that remain unanswered? Thinking back on the information they have learned, can they predict what the answers might be?

Exit tickets: they are linked to the objective of a lesson or activity and can pose one or more questions. Questions can be Wh- questions, e.g. What did you learn today? What are you still unsure of? What do you still need to review?, or multiple choice questions, e.g. The most interesting thing I learned today was + a choice of items to tick off. Learners can be asked to write X number of facts they know now that the lesson is over.

Tweet a Friend: Can your students sum up a point of the lesson in 280 characters? There’s no need to get any mobile phones out, just give them sticky notes of index cards and ask them to write a Tweet, e.g. i.e. write what they have learned and / or  what they still feel unsure of.

Give me 5: this is a well-known technique in which learners draw a hand on a sheet of paper and assign a label to each finger, e.g. Thumb: In this lesson I have learned …, index finger:  I have used + a skill, middle finger: Today, I found … hard, ring finger: Today I have improved on …, pinkie: For next time, I need to remember …

 

 

Quiz time! You can ask learners to work in pairs or small groups and write quiz questions. Then they challenge the rest of the class. Learners can come up with different kinds of questions, e.g. True / False, Wh- questions. You can also turn a quiz on its head and instead of asking questions, why not ask learners to write the answers and get their classmates to guess the question?

Two Stars and a Wish: If you want your students to reflect on the lesson and what they’ve achieved, this is a great plenary idea. They simply write down two things that went well, e.g. Did they get a good score on a quiz? Did they complete an activity before the deadline? Did they manage to get their spelling right? Then they need to write a wish about what they want to achieve in the next lesson, e.g. Did they get something wrong and want to try it again?

Definitions on cards: Hand the definitions out and students have to move around trying to find their partner word/definition; use them to play bingo. The cards have words and the teacher reads the definitions; place them on a table and see how quickly students can match them all.

Plenary Pyramid

Draw a pyramid on some paper with six boxes. In the bottom three boxes, ask learners to write three things they already knew before the lesson. In the middle two boxes, they add something new they have learned. In the top box, they write something they want to know or an aim for the next lesson. This way, students reflect on what they have learned and you can plan ahead and include everything in the top boxes in your future lesson plans.

 

Teaching English Today. Contexts and Objectives by Susan Holden and Vinicius Nobre

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Back in 2019, Teaching English Today. Contexts and Objectives landed in my mailbox, a lovely present from Susan Holden, who wrote it with Vinicius Nobre. Susan has a long experience as a teacher, teacher trainer, magazine editor (Modern English Teacher), author and publisher for both international and regional markets. She currently runs a publishing company, Swan Communication. Vinicius Norbre is based in Brazil and has worked as a teacher, teacher educator, academic coordinator, international examiner, education manager and content developer in a range of contexts. They have joined forces to produce this book aimed at, but not exclusively, teachers in training or teachers at the beginning of their career. A few days ago, after re-reading some chapters, I decided to re-post this review I wrote back then as I think this book should be on every teacher’s library.

Teaching English Today. Contexts and Objectives, was originally published in 2018 as an edition for Latin America. The European edition with slightly different references came out in 2019.

The book is divided into 4 parts: The context, The core content, Enriching the content and Organising and updating with 17 chapters, which touch on various aspects. In Part A the focus is on the teacher, the learners, what it means to learn a foreign language these days and the impact of technology. What I particularly liked about this first part was the section about native and non-native teachers and how the non-native teacher is valued as a ‘model for success’ and the opportunities for reflection, particularly regarding assessing teachers’ perceived strengths and weaknesses.

Part B deals with the development of reading, writing, listening, speaking skills for today´s world, integrating grammar and vocabulary as well as the relationship between testing and assessment and students’ self-assessment. In this section, I would have welcomed the inclusion of assessment for learning and formative assessment.

Part C of the book is made up of chapters that enrich the content, such as project work, using music, role-play and drama and literature, including poetry. Part D is on evaluation of materials – textbooks, supplementary material, online material, and on teacher´s professional development.

The book is very user-friendly. A walkthrough in section 1.5 explains how the book is organised and how to make the most of it. The What about you? questions displayed in the margins and the Thinking and Discussion sections provide opportunities for self-reflection and group discussion encouraging teachers to think critically about their teaching practice. The Focus points that open each chapter are excellent for brainstorming and provide the trainer with useful information as to the background and experiences of teachers. In the Discovering more, teachers will find suggestions for further reading, an excellent selection which may constitute the basis of a personal professional library.

Teaching English Today. Contexts and Objectives is the kind of book both teachers and trainers will find useful and one I would have loved to have when I started my teaching career.

Three warm-up activities

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Why should you start every Cambridge IGCSE™ English (as an Additional Language) lesson with a warm-up activity?

If you were asked what dream you have as a teacher, I’m sure your reply would be something like this: ‘to see my students actively involved in the tasks I have presented, focusing on what they need to learn and finding the learning experience stimulating and enjoyable’.

Sometimes the dream comes true, but other times our learners are disengaged and distracted. And there are a host of distractions that we have to compete against. Therefore, we need to create an engaging climate that attracts our students’ attention, and one way of doing this is by means of warm-up activities.

Warm-up activities are designed to attract students’ attention, to help them put aside distracting elements, and to get them ready to focus individually and as groups on whatever activities that follow (Allwright, 1984)1.

Useful tips  

  • Use a variety of activities to keep students’ interest. Even if an activity is fun, doing it too often may be boring!
  • Don’t let the activity drag on for too long. Students will lose interest.
  • Warm-up activities are not only games.
  • Allow students to choose or create their own warm-up activities.
  • Use a variety of resources, media, online tools and apps.

Three warm-up activities

Imagine you are about to start a unit on transport. In the first session, learners will practise talking about different types of transport and different ways to travel.

From here to there (5 – 10 minutes)

Bring a large map of the world to your lesson. If you are teaching online, choose a map that is large enough for the class to see and share it on your screen. Choose two places on the map and ask the class, e.g. If you had to go from London to Shanghai, how would you travel? Elicit the answer, e.g. By air. Provide different destination options so that learners have to reply by air, by sea, on foot, by car, etc.

Ask learners to work in groups and brainstorm different means of transport. If you are teaching online, divide the class into breakout rooms. Give a time limit, e.g. 5 minutes.

Also, give learners a list of suitable websites and encourage them to look for unusual means of transport and types of transport from other countries, e.g. rickshaw, canoe, elephant, yak, etc. You can share the links in the chat box. If teaching face-to-face, give groups a card or sheet of paper with the links or books where they can find information and pictures.

When all groups have finished, ask them to share their findings with the class. Encourage them to classify them into a mind map. Write TRANSPORT in the middle and ask learners to think of categories, e.g. city / country, 2 wheels / 4 wheels, animal / engine powered, etc. You can easily do this online using an online whiteboard or, instead of a mind map, students can create a Padlet.

Next up, you will start a unit on the natural world. Students are going to learn about animals and their habitats.

K-W-L with a twist (Know, want, learn) (5 – 10 minutes)

What I know (or I think I know) What I want to know What I have learnt Was I right? Corrected and / or added information
 

 

        

At the beginning of the lesson, draw a six-column table on a large sheet of poster paper. If you are teaching online, you can create the table on the whiteboard or use Jamboard.

Ask learners to write what they know (or think they know) about animals that live in different habitats, e.g. in the desert, in the first column (K).

In the second column, (W), ask them to write what they want to know about these animals in the form of questions.

At the end of the lesson, or at the end of the unit, refer students back to the table again.

Ask them to reflect on the questions in the W (What I want to know) column and then ask them to add statements to the What have I learnt? (L) column about what they have learnt. Next, ask them to put ticks or crosses in the Was I right? column and write in the corrected and/or added information.

Question time!

Asking questions is a very effective way of engaging students, as well as generating interest and curiosity. Getting students to ask and answer questions makes them think actively and engage with the content. (Dörnyei & Mercer, 2020)2.

You can ask, and encourage learners to ask, each other questions that promote higher order thinking. You could start with what do you think about …? and build upon their answers, e.g.

  • Why do you think so?
  • What makes you say that?
  • Is this always true?
  • Can you think of an example?
  • What would be an alternative?
  • What would the consequences be?

Questioning makes up a large percentage of everyday teacher-student / student-student interactions. Using a variety of higher-order questions effectively can help students become more open-minded and may help you develop a set of very useful assessment practices.

References

1Allwright, R. (1984). The importance of interaction in classroom language learning. Applied Linguistics, 5(2), 156-171.

Dörnyei, Z & S. Mercer (2020). Engaging language learners in Contemporary classrooms. Cambridge Professional Learning. CUP

TESOL Spain position statement against discrimination

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Back in 2016, TESOL Spain issued a position statement against discrimination in ELT, opposing job ads that require the candidate to be a ‘native speaker’, have ‘native-like’ fluency, or speak with ‘standard’ English. I was then the current president of TESOL-SPAIN and I felt, and still feel, very strongly about the NEST – NNEST issue. During a Board meeting, we discussed the problem non-native speaking teachers were facing in Spain and the Board unanimoulsy voted in favour of issuing a position statement. I’m proud to say thet TESOL-SPAIN was the first teacher association, after IATEFL and TESOL, to take a public stand against discrimination in all its forms.

I must admit that I had never thought about what cam eto be called the NEST-NNEST controversy because it wan’t until I arrived in Spain that I became aware of the discrimination non-native spearer teachers suffered by both parents and employers. In my home country, Argentina, one had to have an official certification in order to teach English, no matter ‘how native’ you were, and you were hired because of your merits not your passport. I hope this hasn’t changed!

After TESOL-SPAIN issued its position statement, Dr Marek Kiczkowiak invited me to have a chat to find out a bit more about the statement and why it was issued. We also discussed how TESOL Spain was planning to put the statement into practice, promoting equality in Spanish ELT and supporting both their ‘native’ and ‘non-native speaker’ members. You can watch the interview here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRKmMN1r-JI

Seven years have gone by and numerous voices have spoken against this discrimination, notably Dr David Crystal. However, al lot still needs to be done so that teachers are recruited and valued based on their skills, rather than their first language.

Check out the statement on TESOL Spain website: http://www.tesol-spain.org/en/