TEFL Ufa

english is the recognized primary foreign language in egypt however despite this; there are many problems which learners face when wanting to study the language. Looking at state run schools in egyptian cities, the vast majority have included teaching english as part of their curriculum, or offer it as an ‘optional after school’ course, however most of the teachers teaching english in these schools will not have had formal efl teacher training which means that the students may not be receiving the best or correct english language skills. Most state schools do not have the financial budgets to train teachers in efl, to employ qualified efl teachers or native english speaking teachers, nor do they have adequate resources such as access to english magazines, books, newspapers etc. teachers are mostly reliant upon course books and any materials they can download from the internet. teachers are also faced with a lack of classroom equipment like projectors, video cameras, IWB’s, computers etc, due to either budget constraints or the inability to obtain the equipment from overseas. Due to tourism in egypt contributing to approximately 12% of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and employing/directly impacting around 15 million egyptians (according to figures from the State Information Service), the english language is a vital tool for those working in the tourism industry. Although tourists come from all over the world, not just english speaking countries, most tourists speak english while in egypt if they do not speak Arabic, which applies to the vast majority of tourists. A large proportion of tourism workers have never received any english language training whatsoever and have picked up the language through their contact with tourists. As beneficial as this is to the egyptian tourism worker, it does pose a problem if they wish to apply for a job where the employer expects a high standard of spoken english to be known by the applicant or if they wish to apply for a job in an english speaking country. The english being informally taught by tourists is not always accurate and they like to teach many colloquial phrases, sayings and slang, for instance the english phrase ‘lovely jubbly’. While this is fun for the egyptians, they often fail to learn more beneficial phrases and speech. Learning english in a language school is what most egyptians do if they can afford to. But again, many language schools do not have the financial means to fully train their teachers in efl. They often employ native english speakers who have no efl qualifications (or teaching experience) and while it can be beneficial for students to speak with a native speaker, it does not provide students with the full range of language skills which they would have received had they been taught by a qualified efl teacher. On the whole, egyptians have an outstanding ability to absorb and learn languages so to have qualified efl teachers in all schools and language centers would be of major benefit not only to tourism workers but to all egyptians who use english for business and social purposes.