English and Inclusion in Ecuadorian Education

 

English and inclusion are two totally different but very necessary terms in terms of an effective development of society. English according to the Royal Spanish Academy is a "West Germanic language spoken as a mother tongue in the United Kingdom, Ireland, North America and also in many parts". On the other hand, the term inclusion according to the Royal Spanish Academy is the "action and effect of including". So, what is the importance of English and inclusion in Ecuadorian education?

The answer is simple, because nowadays English is considered a requirement for work and economic growth, without taking into account that this language is considered the world language of telecommunications. On the other hand, inclusion in general terms is important, but in a specific field such as education it has a great importance. This importance is due to the fact that education is the root of human development and inclusion would create a peaceful connection between everyone regardless of race, economics and different abilities. 

So, how is English and Inclusion in Ecuadorian Education? Based on our experience in past years as EBG and BGU students and now as interns at the Abelardo Tamariz Crespo School we can say that education remains on the road to improvement. Despite curricular reforms, increased hours of English language instruction and despite the fact that Ecuador is considered an inclusive education since 2010, we seem to be stagnating in the idea of improvement. There are teachers who teach English without being professionals in the field, while those who really are English teachers in their minds do not prevail innovation because they are rooted to traditional teaching. In addition to all this, teachers in general are not fully trained to provide inclusive education.

In short, if there are no teachers fully committed to the idea of wanting to make this change, unfortunately we will remain stagnant in time. By remaining stagnant in time, other students will attest with their own experience what we say in these words "nothing has changed, the teacher comes to the classroom asking to open the module on x page" and there is born a student who is not interested in the subject and another student with educational needs stagnates.  In conclusion, if we know that English and inclusion is extremely important for the effective development of society, what would you do to make that change?