How can I reconcile the identity of being professional with the realities of ELT in Colombia and my own context?

By that time I had already finished my Specialization in Learning Needs from the UPTC, and I tried to get a job there in Tunja, it was a really hard moment because I was not being out of the country and that was one of the most important requirements in the school in Tunja, anyway, I found a job in a really prestigious school.

My first impression of the school was that the resources to teach English were really good, there were visual aids and technological resources enough and the students had money enough to get their materials, in addition, the spaces in the school were fantastic, beautiful parks, and lands, so I thought that it was going to be a really good experience, and after 6 years of studying how to teach Foreign Languages, I got thousand of ideas about how to do excellent classes.

Then when the Principal and the Coordinators explained to me the rules, the policies of the school and some teaching recommendations, such as students cannot go out of the classroom, they cannot work in groups, they cannot watch videos, they cannot be in the park, they cannot speak aloud, they cannot play, so I wondered, What can they do? How are they going to learn being like machines?  I was completely surprised I did not how to teach in that, how to treat my students like machines, like mommies, like people who are allowed to do anything only sit properly and listen to me?, that was absurd, the lands, the parks, the spaces what for? If they could not use them, I felt frustrated, and my identity as professional was touched, I felt upset, because according to many theories of teaching English that I had read and heard at the university, for instance the Learning Strategies theory (Oxford, 1980), in which students have to do things, have to move, have to guess, they have to play, they have to plan their own strategies to learn English, and according to T. S. Roberts (2004) and E. F. Barkley, K. P. Cross, & C. H. Major (2005). The Collaborative Learning which is one of the best strategies to encourage and motivate students to work and participate in the foreign language and as its name indicates Collaborative means to work as a team.

Having into account all theories, and the situation, I felt that all the things I knew and I had studied were not necessary in that school, because I could not do all the activities I knew to motivate my students, instead of that I have to keep them controlled, quiet and sat. I realized I needed to do something to really be connected with my knowledge, my experience and my expectations and purposes with those children for teaching them English.

So I did it! I talked to the Principal, but what happened, when the school policies are untouchables? When they do not care what you know about teaching foreign languages? What can a teacher do? I felt powerless and discouraged, I tried to do my best and once I broke the rules I took the students out I made them play and sing, and they really enjoyed the class but I got punished. So What kind of motivation for the teacher is that? Why do we spend years and years studying and getting literated if the schools are not interested in receiving advise and help from you, in order to improve their quality in Foreign Language teaching and learning?

I lived this situation one year ago in that private school, and the saddest is that there is not only one school which follows these policies, actually most of the people I know and which have worked in many private schools faced the same limitations and problems, and for that reason, most of them gave up, because their identity, and their professionalism were being affected by those old-fashioned, and controlled rules, so what is going to be the future of the EFT in Colombia if the schools do not do anything to get updated with the strategies and methodologies of teaching English?  

On the other hand, now from my new experience in the Public side of the education, I can talk about how I reconciled my identity of being professional with the reality of ELT but at this time in a Public school in a little town called Ciénega.

After so many prohibitions and boundaries I got into a new education world a total different side of the situations I had lived before, that was a big change too. Because I was working with welty children, and then I started working with low resources children but I loved it, even knowing that in the Public field there are not so many materials and audiovisual resources,  there is something more important than material things and it is Autonomy, when I arrived I did not have the same things and the same facilities in order to teach  English, but I got a big green land a good space to go out and explore the nature, for that reason, I knew it was the time to apply all the theories and strategies I had studied and use all the objects and belongings I  got in my hands for doing the best things I could.

I felt completely identified with role as an English teacher, and the most important to me was that my students felt connected with my subject as well. They did not have good English bases but they had interest what was more significant. Last year the school got some money in an English context and now there are more materials for working I have books, computers, videos and many more things, and I feel free to teach my classes, sometime we work inside the classroom, sometimes we read, write, sing, play, listen, watch, walk, laugh, cry and all those things are which teaching and learning English are made of.

I know I am doing well because I am giving everything I got to contribute to the purpose of the ministry of education about the bilingual people, and I am completely identified with the task I am carrying out. However, sometimes I feel concerned as well because, I know I have autonomy nobody forbids me to teach the way I consider is the best, but I felt worried because there is a failure in the Public Education because in Primary Schools there is not a specialized English teacher to teach this language and that is why most of the students have low English level in sixth grade, for the lack of early English, what is a good point in the private education due to in private schools children learn English since preschool.

Nevertheless, in order to contribute with this lack in Primary School, I am already working with an English Program of Bilingualism which is supported by the Mayor of the town, this program is already working in all the Primary Schools in Tuta, Boyacá, the program basically has a specialized teacher in the Foreign Language who goes to the school and teach children some English hours, in order to motivate them to start learning English and to know basic things which can be helpful for them in the future. For next year this Programme is planned to get started in other towns such as Ramiriqui, and Ciénega.

So after presenting both sides of the education private and public fields, I can say that the reality of the English Foreign Language Teaching and Learning is really far away from what it would be, for the limitations, for the old policies, for the lack of resources and many other aspects, so what is what is really worthy in our lives as teachers, in our personal experience as learners, and in our real practice in which the feelings, ideas, thoughts and knowledge we have conformed our identity as professionals?  I consider it is our commitment with our area, with our own policies and way of thinking, we can change the things if we all work together to show to the private school that to learn English does not mean to repeat and answer like robots but actually it is to interact with real people to work in groups, to learn by playing, to learn by changing the activities every day, and the most important to show our students in public and private schools, that we care about them, that we are really interested in their learning process that they are essential for us, because as we know if there are not students there are not teachers, so let is keep on working to show to the world we can do the difference in the education.

REFERENCES

  Noticias de Educación. ¿Cómo va la educación en Colombia?. Guiaacademica.com. Colombia, Abril 19 2010. . [on line ]. [Reviewed on Abril 2013].  Available in http://www.guiaacademica.com/educacion/personas/cms/colombia/articulos_de_expertos/2010/ARTICULO-WEB-EEE_PAG-7626711.aspx

      Taken from Common European Framework of reference for Languages. Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. [on line ]. [Reviewed on Abril 2013].  Available in  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_Reference_for_Languages     

     BYRAM, Michael & PARMENTER, Lynne. The common European Framework of Reference. The Globalisation of Language Education policy. Languages fro intercultural communicaton. 2012. [on line ]. [Reviewed on Abril 2013].  Available in  http://books.google.com.co/books?hl=es&lr=&id=b-ixKSqytTgC&oi=fnd&pg=PA149&dq=THE+REALITIES+OF+ELT+IN+COLOMBIA&ots=2FJfTrm8xM&sig=zca_8t7BsHXxVtPj31GrTCKZ1w#v=onepage&q&f=false

      Colombia- United States Free trade Agreeement. Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. 2013. [on line ]. [Reviewed on Abril 2013].  Available in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States%E2%80%93Colombia_Free_Trade_Agreement

      STOERGER, Sharon, The international Review on Research in Open and Distance Learning. Book Review – Collaborative Learning: Two perspectives on theory and practice. School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University.2008.

      GONZÁLEZ MONCADA, Adriana. Professional Development Of EFL Teachers In Colombia: Between Colonial And Local Practices. Íkala, revista de lenguaje y cultura Vol. 12, N.º 18 (ene.-dic., 2007) [on line ]. [Reviewed on Abril 2013].  Available in   http://aprendeenlinea.udea.edu.co/revistas/index.php/ikala/article/view/2722/2175

      Total Physical Response. Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. [on line ]. [Reviewed on Abril 2013].  Available in   http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Physical_Response

[1]Noticias de Educación. ¿Cómo va la educación en Colombia?. Guiaacademica.com. Colombia, Abril 19 2010

[2] Taken from Common European Framework of reference for Languages. Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia.

[3] BYRAM, Michael & PARMENTER, Lynne. The common European Framework of Reference. The Globalisation of Language Education policy. Languages fro intercultural communicaton.

[4] Colombia- United States Free trade Agreeement. Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. 2013.