Guest Blog Post – Tanina Baronello
In this post I’m delighted to welcome a guest blogger, Tanina Baronello. Tanina has taught English for several years and has considerable experience working as an online teacher in the private sector. She is currently in the middle of doing an MEd in TESOL at the University of the West of Scotland, and that’s how we got to know each other. The MEd programme includes a module called English as a Global Language, which explores the role and nature of English – and the learning and teaching of English – in global society. During this module, students were asked to give a short presentation exploring an aspect relating to the phenomenon of English as a Global Language, and Tanina decided to explore the neoliberal phenomena of commodification and McDonaldization in online ELT by focusing on one company as a case study. I found what she had to say really interesting, and when I tweeted one of her presentation slides a few people expressed an interest in seeing the whole presentation. Tanina very kindly offered to provide a version of her presentation to post on this blog – and here it is:
Once you’ve downloaded the presentation, just play it as a slideshow to watch.
Tanina’s social media details are on the first slide, but you are, of course, welcome to respond to her presentation in the comments section below. I’d be very interested to know how other ELT professionals react to her findings.
The Steve Brown Blog 
Hello! My name is Anna. I’m from Russia. I study English. Tanina is one of my teachers. She’s an intelligent, kind and friendly teacher. I like studying English with her. Her classes are so interesting.
Hi Anna. Thank you for the kind words. It’s always a pleasure to teach you. I’m looking forward to seeing you at class on Thursday.
Excellent presentation. Congrats to Tanina, and well done Steve for your help. I hope this gets the widest possible coverage.
Thank you very much. I really enjoyed working on it. Steve’s English as a Global Language module was very thought-provoking and informative. The issue of EdTech’s compatibility with SLA is something that has interested me for some time now.
I agree, Geoff – Tanina has picked up on several key aspects of this company that raise some very interesting questions about its motivation and integrity as an educational provider. On a wider level, it illustrates how profit-orientation can actually lead to the development of a “product” that is so focused on being standardised and predictable that it stifles opportunities for creativity and individualism, which in turn affect educational quality.
That’s my take, at least!
Steve
Tanina is a great and kind teacher.
I really like her and I want to say thank you so much for everything.