Is English the world’s 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.

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 child’s 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.

English – Official Lingua Franca?

Is English the world’s Lingua Franca? A report from the British Council __________ yesterday estimated that by 2015 two billion people will start learning English around the world, and three billion people – __________  the planet – will be speaking it. However, report editor, David Graddoll, said that English will not become the Esperanto and __________  global language learning as Arabic, Chinese and Spanish are set to rise in importance. He said the __________  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 __________ . 

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Although English will escalate in __________ , English language teachers will likely be out of a __________  by 2050, when so many people will be able to speak English, that teaching it will become almost __________ . 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 __________ and monolingual Britons, who __________  to shun language learning because of their “everyone speaks English” mentality. Brits will be left behind in a future poly-lingual world.

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