As an English lecturer as well as a journalist I teach a lot of different people from quite young to more mature from skilled well educated individuals to beginners. One thing that I am always mindful of is that as long as they want to learn I am happy to help them on their journey.
Therefore it came as a surprise that last night I received a call from one of my fellow lecturers at the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok Russia (FEFU). She asked me if I could take on more students as their US and Canadian-based English lecturers have told them that they can not continue teaching them English because they are Russian. This is a despicable act to refuse education to someone based on Race. I thought that was illegal under western laws?
Furthermore, I am always amazed by Australia, as it seems so open-minded with bright entrepreneurial businesses operating both in Australia and overseas. To now learn that IDP (The owners of IELTS) the international testing standards for overseas persons wanting to study in an English-speaking country has decided to ban Russian students from this exam. Ironically The US standard TOEFL which was in decline in Russia has decided not to ban the tests in Russia. So IELTS, which was created in Australia and works with Cambridge press has given away its enormous market share to the US-based TOEFL. Wow, we in Australia love to give to the US. How stupid and small-minded.
