At this stage, for him and his aspiring classmates, their future success depends largely on English. One student, from Shan State, has set his heart on studying in neighbouring Thailand, and if he succeeds, he’d be the first person from his village to study for a master’s degree abroad. Many scholarship programs are available but all require high English proficiency. Indeed, many students I met at the school mentioned above said that they are planning to apply for a scholarship to study abroad. 12) explains, recent years have seen an unprecedented popularity of English in this former British colony where English proficiencies “lead to economic advantages, help in dealing with the outside world, and improve prospects of study abroad and employment.” Apart from careers in tourism, English is also seen as an important educational qualification. Apart from me, there were several European tourists taking photos of the Tourist Police cars.Įnglish proficiency is crucial for the young generation to gain employment in the emerging tourist market. In contrast to the much older-looking ‘normal’ police cars these seem to create some sense of safety for tourists. These include visas on arrival and the presence of stylish brand new Toyota Tourist Police cars. At the same time, the country is taking many measures to encourage tourism.
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In addition, touted as the ‘ last frontier in ASEAN’ by international investors, Myanmar has also seen a rapid increase in the number of business travellers from all over the world. Compared to my first visit to Myanmar two years ago, I saw more Western tourists out and about in the city with a local tour-guide this time. Seeing the recent developments in the country, teaching English for tourism is important indeed.Īs Myanmar moves towards further democratization, the country is rapidly emerging as an attractive travel destination. I have never been to Iceland, and I’m not sure how many of these students are ever going to visit the Nordic country, but looking around the class, I saw all students glued to their textbook. Facing the class of some 50 students from various ethnic backgrounds, she began her class by taking attendance, and then started instructing her students to work on the section on Iceland as a tourist destination in their textbook Travelling.
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The school is located some 40 minute taxi ride away from downtown Yangon, the former capital city of Myanmar. But I hope you’ll enjoy it.” Dressed in a blue traditional dress, a tall middle-aged Burmese teacher explained her teaching approach to me in the beginning of her class on English at a non-government tertiary school. “I take a bilingual approach, so you might not understand some parts of my class. English textbook used at the non-Government school