How English is English?
English is indisputable the world language.
English is only second to Chinese in terms of the number of
speakers.
English is possibly the most porous language in borrowing
creatively from other languages.
Where do the following English words come from?
AVATAR
BOOZE
BUNGALOW
DOLLAR
KOWTOW
MAGAZINE
PARKA
SHAMPOO
TOMATO
VAMPIRE
ZOMBIE
Find out more from The English Effect exhibition at the British
Council headquarters. Admission free until 29th June 2013.
http://www.britishcouncil.org/english/english-effect-exhibition-london
English As Second/Additional Language
Friday 24 May 2013
Wednesday 31 October 2012
ESL/AL in the UK
The United Kingdom like other English speaking countries, USA,
Canada, Australia and New Zealand, has a section of population who are non
English speaking and limited English speaking(estimated 7% )This is due to
immigration, refugees seeking asylum, and EU citizens who are free to move
among EU countries. Therefore you have people from the Commonwealth (legacy of
the British Empire), wartorn countries and Various European Union member states.
Recently, the British government has been very keen in introducing an English
test for those immigrants who are qualified to immigrate or to seek citizenship.
This does not include EU citizens resident in the UK.
For the purpose of our present concern our focus is on the
student population, those who enter the educational system. The top priority is
to get the learner acquire English to level 4 of the National Curriculum
English so that they can cope with a curriculum taught in and through the
medium of English. As these children may enter the schools at anytime and any
year, time is of essence to get them up to the level of English to cope with
their studies and to participate in the wider society.
While I shall not go into the politics of government
policies, professional politics which is pretty rife in this field, the
fundamental issue is what kind of English and how can they acquire within the
shortest time span in order to learn in and through English. OF COURSE LEARNING
DOES NOT TAKE PLACE ONLY IN ENGLISH,IT TAKES PLACE IN THEIR FIRST LANGAUGE
CONTINUOUSLY WITHIN THE FAMILY AND THE COMMUNITY.
IN EFL (English as a foreign language) countries, ESP
(English for specific purpose)is growing rapidly where English is used for
instrumental purposes, the debate is whether the focus should be on ESP rather
than EGP (English for general purpose).ESP is a structured approach to learning
English for a specific purpose, its subject orientation is often considered as
highly motivating for the students. With due respect to the learners it should
be customized to their needs.
Is ESP a viable approach for the resident/domicile students
in the UK?
Whatever approach, it is crucial that the experience of
learning should not be off-putting. ESP
may be an efficacious approach it is essential to ensure that the language will
propel the student for extending and furthering their learning of English into
more culturally endowed reading experiences.
Learning any language takes time and dedication. It should
be borne in mind that English is relatively easy to learn initially but
extremely difficult to master. Knowing all the exceptions to the rules is a
higher requirement and this can only come about by extensive and intensive
reading.
However to be a fully operative citizen of the UK the
cultural perspective is vital. This may be a tall order. It is not a matter of
culture but also of history. A current phenomenon is the presence of white EU
citizens who may speak and write English but has no inkling of British history
and culture which is familiar to those from the Commonwealth.
Would this mean that aspects of history and culture should
be simultaneously taught as part of the wider context for learning English?
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