THE ARTICLE

Is English the worlds Lingua Franca? A report from the British Council
announced yesterday estimated that by 2015 two billion people will start
learning English around the world, and three billion people half the planet
will be speaking it. However, report editor, David Graddoll, said that
English will not become the Esperanto and dominate global language
learning as Arabic, Chinese and Spanish are set to rise in importance. He
said the trend is towards linguistic globalization and multi-lingualism, not
bilingualism, and definitely not monolingualism. French, on the other hand,
once considered a lingua franca, will see its status as a world language
continue to slide.
Although English will escalate in popularity, English language teachers will
likely be out of a job by 2050, when so many people will be able to speak
English, that teaching it will become almost redundant. Demand for English
teaching will drop by a whopping 75%, from two billion to 500 million.
Instead English will be taught worldwide at elementary level, and many
universities across the world will choose to teach in English. This suggests a
wake-up call for traditionally lazy and monolingual Britons, who tend to
shun language learning because of their everyone speaks English
mentality. Brits will be left behind in a future poly-lingual world.
WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT: Talk in pairs or groups about English, lingua franca & world
language, Esperanto, being bilingual / multilingual, British people and
English / dying languages
To make things more fun, try telling your students they only have one
minute (or 2) on each chat topic before changing topics / partners. Change
topic / partner frequently to energize the class.
2. MY ENGLISH: Students recount their histories of learning English, from
what age, teachers, books, media, feelings etc.
3. ADJECTIVE BRAINSTORM: Ask students for adjectives describing their
opinion / feelings regarding the English language. In pairs students talk
about the adjectives.
4. 2-MINUTE DEBATES: Students face each other in pairs and engage in
the following (for-fun) 2-minute debates. Students A are assigned the first
argument, students B the second. Rotate pairs to ensure a lively pace and
noise level is kept:
(a) English is the lingua franca. vs. It depends on where you are in the

world.
(b) English will be the most important language in the world. vs Chinese
will be.
(c) Half of elementary school education should be in English. vs. The childs
native language is more important.
(d) English should be recognized as a national language in many countries.
vs. A national language needs strong and long cultural roots.
(e) English should be recognized as the official world language. vs. But in
the future other languages will overtake English.
(f) The world should learn either British or American English. vs. The world
should learn international English.
5. DISCUSSION: Students ask each other the following questions:
(a) Are you happy about English being a lingua franca?
(b) Are you happy with your level of English?
(c) Are you happy about the number of English words in your own
language?
(d) Shouldnt we all learn a neutral language, like Esperanto?
(e) Should English be made the official world language by the United
Nations?
(f) Should English replace French at the Olympics?
(g) Would you like to learn Arabic, Chinese or Spanish?
(h) If you were to become poly-lingual, which other languages would you
like to learn?
(i) Is the spread of English a positive or a dangerous thing?
(j) Should subjects be taught in English in elementary schools (in addition
to the native language)?
(k) What do you think of lazy British (and American, Australian) people
who dont bother learning other languages?
(l) All in all, at the end of the day, when all is said and done, in a nutshell,
what does English mean to you?