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Dreams and business plans unfold in English
English emerges as a lingua franca
“[English] is the powerful language of resistance—it is the dialect of common sense.”
English has rapidly become the international language for business, as a lingua franca. “That is to say, it is used as a medium of communication by people who do not speak the same first language,” explains Andy Kirkpatrick in his controversial book World Englishes: Implications for International Communication and English Language Teaching (2007).
In fact, some linguists claim that an estimated 700-800 million individuals speak English as a second, third, or fourth language. That is almost twice the estimated number of native English speakers, usually estimated at 400 million! Isn’t that amazing!
The power of English to transform lives in the developing world, including nations where English is an official language, deserves more recognition. The Washington Post published this an excellent article on April 6 called In India, Dreams Unfold in English: Boom is Driving Languge Classes . Read it!
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Word Lovers and World lovers Can Visit FreeRice.Com
Free Rice rewards learning through food donation
“The satiated man and the hungry man do not see the same thing when they look upon a loaf of bread.”
As the price of rice, corn, and other basic food staples increased daily and food riots return to the headlines, we might want to reflect on ways to help the world’s poorest poor. One way that English teachers, dedicated students, and idealists can make a small contribution is by visiting www.FreeRice.com .
This outstanding educational site asks a wide range of vocabulary questions that often appear on standardized exams. Are you studying for the TOEFL, TOEIC, SAT, LSAT, or GRE? Are you trying to expand your English language vocabulary? Are you an English student, an ESL teacher, a language school administrator, or a global citizen? FreeRice provides practical assistance to adult education students, ESL teachers, immigrants, test takers, and refugees. FreeRice is a powerful vocabulary resource with 50 levels of vocabulary questions, and its addictive too!
Whether you are a word lover or a world lover, this site should appeal to you. For each correct answer, the site sponsors donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations Food Program. Check Free Rice out, test your vocabulary skills, and make a small – yet significant – contribution today. Thanks!
Have you visited FreeRice this month?
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What are the 1000 most common words in English?
Importance of authentic vocabulary reflecting interests
“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.”
What are the 1000 most common words in English?
Wiktionary, an offshoot of the wonderful Wikipedia, offers this answer. Looks, sounds, and feels right. No big surprises.
Do I recommend memorizing this list? No. Language should be used, discovered, and enjoyed. Memorizing long lists of vocabulary words in English, while sometimes effective for standardized tests, seldom helps create compelling conversations. Vocabulary lists, however, can provide a sense of satisfaction and order.
Sometimes lists like this can also help us review and trigger new connections. Yet exploring a personal interest in English will help you generate a more personal, authentic, and meaningful vocabulary in English.
So what interests you today? What do you want to learn more about? Where can you find two quality articles on that topic? Why not create your own vocabulary list to match you and your interests? Shouldn’t your vocabulary journal reflect you?
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What should every (college) ESL student know?
What should every ESL student know?
Beats me. One size fits all philosophies often seem a bit strange to me. Can anybody really answer this question for every international student and ESL (English as a Second Language) college student? Really? Don’t circumstances, needs, and desires differ?
On the other hand, college and university administrators, ESL teachers, future college students, and current international ESL students constantly face this common question. What should every ESL student know?
Fortunately, braver and more confident souls feel comfortable answering this reasonable question. That’s why a small green and purple book, What Every ESL Student Should Know: A Guide to College and University Academic Success, caught my eyes at a recent English teachers’ conference in California. Kathy Ochoa Flores, the author, has both more confidence and deeper insight into this essential, yet puzzling, question. In 119 pages, she displays considerable wit while dispensing practical advice to international students and immigrants preparing for college.
“My students always want to know what they should do to learn English,” notes Flores in chapter 2. “I tell them to marry an American – one who is a native speaker and rich. That way, they can have someone to practice with every day, and they won’t have to worry about working and studying at the same time. Unfortunately, this advice does not work for most of my students.”
So Flores goes on to advocate, since many students are already married or too young to get married, to at least make some American friends. In bold print, she argues: “Native English speakers are everywhere. Use them. They are like free tutors.” How? Take the bus, sit down next to some nice looking American, and start talking. Seek out the elderly since they tend to have both more free time and might be lonely. Talk to children, meet a school counselor, and ask many questions. “Talk to the telemarketers who call you during dinner time, and ask them lots of questions about their products.” I completely agree.
This affordable book provides dozens of these imperative statements followed by detailed advice. Written in a clear manner, the concise format and friendly style make this book a wonderful book for newcomers to both the United States and American university classrooms. Easier to read, smaller in scope, and less than controversial than the popular book What’s Up, America?, this book serves a slightly different purpose. Both titles help international students adjust to American college campuses, but What Every ESL Student Should Know focuses more on survival skills. International counselors, university orientation coordinators, and even private intensive English language schools (IEPSs) could provide a real service to their international students by including this thin book in their orientation sessions and pre-college materials. The minimum cost will pay for itself by reducing ESL student stress.
Meanwhile, future international students should find it and buy it. This “one size fits all” work offers enough tips to satisfy almost all ESL students – and even a sceptical ESL university teacher!
Teaching Immigrants English makes daily life better, safer for citizens!
A good society helps its citizens flourish and visitors feel welcome.
A good society also invests in education, including teaching immigrants enough English that they can use their considerable intelligence, creativity, and skills in the workplace.
Unfortunately, low standards in public education have eroded support for government sponsored education programs. Worse, the few underfunded English as a Second Language programs usually provide only the most basic English skills. Students learn to listen and read at about 4th grade level, and speak like a child with a very limited vocabulary.
From my perspective as an English instructor and former adult ESL teacher, the current adult ESL standards too often only teach immigrants passive skills like listening and some minimum reading. English language programs, whether designed for vocational skills or general language, must include speaking and writing. If people can’t hold a conversation in English, their job prospects remain rather limited!
A frontpage article in today’s Los Angeles Times points out the obvious problem. America, or at least Los Angeles and California, have become dangerously dependent on foreign trained labor for many professions from nursing to engineering. Lack of Skilled Workers Will Lead to a Fiscal Crisis noted the headline that spoke for itself. The acute shortage has lead, as so often, to a lower of standards and more workplace problems.
When will the employers and voters decide to invest in real, serious, quality English languages for immigrants? And why are immigrants trained in English programs abroad so much stronger, better, and more effective than the adult ESL programs here? After all, immigrants have many more opportunities to speak English and learn outside of the classroom than students in Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, Argentina, or France.
Again, the case for dramatically expanding and raising the standards of our English as a Second Language programs seems clear.
Unfortunately, reason and government policy do not always co-exist in the United States! What about in your country?
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