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

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?