[ELTWeekly Volume 7, Issue 13 | June 15, 2015 | ISSN 0975-3036] Date: June 23 Time: 15:00 This webinar will focus on extending lexis through and beyond texts as the key…
[ELTWeekly Volume 7, Issue 13 | June 15, 2015 | ISSN 0975-3036]
Being a teacher of English, I deal with piles of course books on a daily basis. Course books are really engaging these days, and I inevitably draw a lot of inspiration from them. Sometimes, a single sentence can start a long train of thought. In this post, I’m exploring one such instance, which led to a surprising realization! Lesson 9A in English File Intermediate (Third Edition) centers around the topic of luck. In this lesson the students read a text called ‘A question of luck?’ which explains why certain people become extraordinarily successful, and what factors contribute to their success.
Have a look at the final paragraph of the text:
I don’t know about the specific number – 10,000 hours seems a little excessive! – but the theory behind it makes a lot of sense for language learning. (more…)
[ELTWeekly Volume 7, Issue 13 | June 15, 2015 | ISSN 0975-3036]
The methodical investigation into the ‘ideology’ of globalization would suggest that the early concept of ‘globalization’ was constituted around the scholarly consensus of English language being a global means of communication, representation, reception and comprehension. It has, therefore, been referred to and accepted as ‘world language’ – or as David Graddol (1997) puts it, ‘lingua franca of the modern era’. However, globalization of English has also raised certain questions of ‘legitimacy’ and ‘standardization’ of the language. Looking at this fundamental issue from an Indian perspective, it might rightly be questioned whether the multiple varieties of English in India, geopolitically consisting of 29 states, with 23 official languages and more than 1600 regional dialects,hasthe required ‘legitimacy’ or ‘standardization’ to identify itself collectively as Indian English.
In the Times of India article, “Indiaspeak : English is Our 2nd Language” (March 14, 2010), it was claimed that there are more Indians who speak English than any other language in India, with the sole exception of Hindi. English speakers in India outnumber those in all of Western Europe, not counting the United Kingdom. And interestingly, Indian English‐speakers are more than twice the UK’s population, with the users exceeding the number of 255 millions in the region. (more…)