An Englishman in Verona

I was recently pointed in the direction of an article published in The Daily Telegraph last month about the TEFL industry. A few choice quotes should sum it up: "We [EFL teachers] are beggars, after all - the lowest of the low", "No one with a scrap of ambition can possibly consider it", "..language schools are miserable places, bucket shops whose owners shamelessly claim that the flotsam and jetsam they employ are highly-qualified, hand-picked professionals", and "[Life-long EFL teachers are] scruffy figures, utterly out of synch with the modern world, any style or sex-appeal they once possessed squeezed out of them by years of drudgery [and] exploitation".

This article subsequently appeared in The Guardian a week later with a rather more balanced view. As the author points out, some of the criticisms are valid and need addressing (although not in the way Sebastian Creswell-Turner, author of the original article, sees as appropriate). I don't have time right now but I will, shortly, post my own thoughts on the issues raised. Suffice to say, I think Seb C-T is a prick.