domingo, 4 de setembro de 2011

The importance of learning English

     

      

English is the most prominent language in the world. No other language than English is spoken as an official language in more than 50 countries (see English Speaking Countries). It is spoken worldwide by more than 500 million native speakers. Still, the significance of English isn’t derived simply from the fact that it spoken in the most largely populated countries in the world, since India and China, for example, do not use English as their primary means of communication. The importance of English, therefore, originates from its importance as a second language, allowing people from different parts of the world, who do not share the same mother tongue, to communicate.

English is the most studied language in the world and its influence is so great that it has affected the vocabulary of other languages. It is used in music heard daily as well as in films and, it is absolutely necessary for the internet or some computer games. Did you know that 75% of the world´s mail is written and addressed in English? 

So, English, nowadays, is the leading language of science, technology and commerce. It is also the universal language of air transport, shipping and sport and obviously one of the six official languages of the United Nations, which includes 193 member states and has its headquarters in New York. Moreover, as a Lingua Franca, English is an immensely varied language, since it has absorbed material from many other idioms.


Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon

       

Last but not least, for all those reasons, fluency in English has become a top requirement to get a good job. 



In the last few years the internet has allowed the English language to spread around the world faster than music and movies had previously been able to. 


Some teachers in schools in Europe are very eager to use CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) in their classes where students learn some school subjects in English (this is quite different from contextualized language learning, of which the main aim has been to foment experience in the language. With CLIL the focus is on a specific subject that has to be taught in English).

English is here to stay. Even with China’s 10% annual GDP growth, for the last ten years, Mandarin is only spoken in China, Taiwan and some dispersed communities in South East Asia. Even in India and Pakistan, both with a tremendous population boom, English is still a crucial language used by many of the main political elites. 





King´s College, Cambridge

          
Finally, concerning education, which is the main objective of this blog, English, besides being generally an easy language to learn, is also the mother tongue of some of the best universities in the world, namely in the United States and in the United Kingdom, where students from all over the world, still strive to enter. Hence, by reinforcing an appropriate education of English, we are contributing to the future success of our students. 



Maria Teresa Relva,
School Year: 2011/2012





2 comentários:

  1. An extremely good argument and well conveyed! Particularly after my recent trip to Turkey, I can attest that even the Italians, Germans, French and Spanish had to communicate with Turks in English to get even a cup of tea or a bus ticket.

    It is a great sadness of mine, however, that this widespread use of English makes our nation a lazy one, ill equipped and often unwilling to learn other languages. Also, grammar and linguistics are lacking from our education system because it's taken as a given that we can all speak, and therefore we understand. This is wrong, and I worry that soon the only people who won't know English will be the English...

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  2. This article was indeed fascinating to read. Learning and teaching English can be a fun but scary journey for teachers and students. Knowing English can be essential in growing your career and having a great social life. It's why Work/Life English has designed a program that allows both teachers and students to have a pleasant experience with our English Learning books. Our books are designed to be fun and practical. Do check us out in your English learning journey.

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