The non‐native speakers as teachers of English hold a key role in teaching a language which is the world's most taught, learned and used second or foreign language. With this current global context of English, Philippine ELT has to reflect on the ‘curricula of teacher training programs, in the methodology of teaching, in understanding the sociolinguistic profile of the language, and in cross‐cultural awareness’ the implications of the internationalization of English (Kachru, 1992, p. 355). This paper argues that while Professor Kachru sounded the call for the modification of ELT practices decades ago, ELT practitioners in the Philippines have yet to fully come to terms to a shift in the teaching paradigm of English that necessitates a change in the way non‐standard features of the language are perceived and how teaching methods should be modified to match the current reality of English as an international language.