What are the major challenges facing EL teachers in your country?

I feel EL teachers in my country have the followings difficulties to deal with:

• Students’ persistent orientation towards examination and lack of motivation to develop their English. This is compounded by students’ unwillingness to take risks in learning a foreign language

• Many teachers lack skills of teaching based on current principles in ELT. There is shortage  of resources and opportunities for further professional development

• I think also that many teachers themselves lack professional commitment to develop their English language proficiency and ELT methodology.

Are teachers in your country generally members of teachers’ associations?

I am not aware of the existence ELT associations in Ethiopia, except a small group of ELT network in the capital, Addis Ababa, hosted by the British Council.

How well resourced are teachers in your country?

Ethiopian teachers are not well resourced. Firstly, they rely on just government or school provided textbooks. Although there are some books in the market, many teachers cannot afford to purchase them. Books published in the West are usually too expensive in Ethiopia. For some teachers BC Ethiopia has launched teacher development by radio. How many of the teachers are benefiting from this is yet to be established. Online resources can be accessed by very few who can afford to buy a lap top or a PC. Otherwise only recently have schools started to get computer. The government is trying hard, but the finance is stretched to address various needs

What technology do you use with your students?

For the regular oral or spoken English classes, I only use the language lab and video film (VHS) and printed materials. Otherwise, I frequently use power points and LCD projector for workplace communication training.

What have you found most useful on the teaching English website?

 There are lots of useful materials on this site. My favourite ones are:

a.    The guest teacher / guest writer page (Which brings experiences through the comments teachers in different parts of the world.  

b.    The activities section is good; offers you materials I can try out in the classroom

c.   The ‘Think’ page which raises theoretical issues helps me to update reflect on my practices

What classes do you teach? (age, level class size)

I teach adult university/college students or train professionals (teachers, and lecturers and public servants) in the work places.

What aspects of your teaching are you most interested in developing?

Lots of professional activities will be globalises using the internet. So I want to learn how to design English language and teacher training courses that can be offered and assessed online.

Why did you decide to become an English language teacher?

From the orientation we were given at young age, teaching was a low status job in our society, paying less compared to the other professions. So I was not really eager to become a teacher. I joined teaching because I was randomly placed in the language and literature department, after my first year university course. But I began liking the profession after I started teaching; than my postgraduate study in the UK deepened my understanding and my attitude changed as a result. [See my biographical profile at Guest Teacher: Teaching English]

What is the status of teachers in your country? Are they generally valued and well paid?

Compared to the other professions teaching has a very low status in Ethiopia, because it is associated with low pay and low prestige. Although the present government is trying to improve this image by investing in teacher development and increasing salary, we have a long way to go to revive the value of the teaching profession and attract the best that go to other professions.

What is the status of English in your country? Is it widely spoken to a good level?

In Ethiopia, English is usually categorised as a foreign language or a language of educated people - taught as a subject in schools. But for me it is the main language we have for international communication, education, research and commerce. This is because there is no indigenous Ethiopian language that can fit this role at the moment. Good English language proficiency has always been attached with a high prestige in Ethiopia. But because it has no immediate communication value, generally Ethiopians do not persistently make effort to attain a high level proficiency.

What have you learned from being a teacher?

For me teaching is a job that requires commitment beyond legal contract. That it is about helping others learn and develop. To maximize learning for my students I have to be courageous to critically look at my own practice and teaching behaviour, explore different and new ways. So there is no end for learning and development.

What advice would you give to someone thinking of becoming an English teacher?

My advice for someone who wants to become a teacher is this in short: I think this profession is not where we make a lot of money but we really help others to develop as human beings. From my experience, without knowing it  I think there are some of us who have the talent for teaching that can be developed with some training and experience. I say to people try to find your inclinations as early as possible and join teaching as a very noble job of helping other people realise there potential.   

Which writer /researcher has had the most influence over the way you understand learning and teaching?

Recently, I more interested in reading the literature on the social and socio-cultural theory (the influence of social context teaching and learning and motivation such as classroom culture or student culture. Many people have influenced my thinking. To mention but a few important ones L. Vygotsky, Michael Breen, Adrian Holliday, Bonny Norton, Tony Wright and Tony Betcher have influenced my teaching research and materials writing practices under and teacher training practise

What most interests you about ELT at the moment?

Teachers’ continuous learning (especially through informal mechanisms, such as associations, cells, networks, radio programs and through personal investment using action research or reflective practices

The effort such as creating a plat-form for parishioners and academics from different parts of the world to share their ideas is very valuable. I think exploring the implications of findings in education and anthropology for language learning an exciting area.

The current surge in the demand for workplace English and its possible integration with English for academic and professional purposes another exciting area for research and materials writing.  

How do you see the role of the EL teacher evolving over the next 5 - 10 years?

The role of EL teacher is definitely changing_ the specific nature of this change may vary from context to context, but overall:

• I think the demand for more professional EL teachers will increase

• I expect the EL teacher will be required to deal with varieties of world Englishes.

• Deal with changing behaviour of or demand from students (young learners and adults)

• Integrate multidisciplinary  contents (such as environment cultural pluralism into their) language lessons

• Deal with ethical issues … in a balanced way … ( religious and cultural fundamentalism could what we learn to deal with

• Teachers will be required to use IT for teaching EL, this might lead to conflict between local government standards and international standards.