(1) Listen to the News by Tara
We'll start the Wednesday classes with the news by Tara.
(2) Mini debate: English Globalization
We'll follow the same format as with our mini debate series: Reading the passage, vocabulary, discussing relevant questions, and finally mini debates in groups of 4.
12 - W10b - Mini-debate English Globalization.pdf
Replies
No, I have only qualified myself as teacher during 2007 and 2008. The other countries I visited as a tourist mostly and in Russia I did some relief work in a rehab center (rehabilitation for ex-drug addicts, ex-alcoholics and ex-convicts) for three months. Well, about the Europe dream, I'm not sure, though I have a friend in Germany who'd been at school with me and he's invited me to visit. I'm thinking of doing that next year during the summer holiday if I can afford it. Maybe he can assist me in traveling a few more European countries. I don't know if that would be possible as I heard that they are very strict with tourists from outside the European Union regarding access and visa's. But time will tell. ;-)
Glad to read about your good intention to learn English well, Zhang Cong! If you were serious that you believe English to be important for us, then I think you are right. Not many Chinese believe that, but that doesn't make it wrong. It is right because it is true.
By the way, I have a question: More than 650 million Chinese people are atheist. That means they don't believe in God. You mentioned praying for those children ... My question: Who do you then pray to if you are one of the 650 million atheist Chinese? Or are you not one of them? I am curious as I see quite a number of students saying that. ;-)
English is not my mother tongue, Di Xin. English is my second language after my native language, Afrikaans. But I understand the importance of English as global language and that's why I will defend it. It is just so logic and it just makes so much sense that the world speaks English as the lingua franca. And by the way, you haven't been rude; you just spoke what was on your heart. That is your belief. But I think you should consider to adapt your thinking. There is much more than what you believe in. ;-)
Di Xin, don't look through the nationalistic glasses when you want to evaluate world affairs - like the issue about the global language here. That is one of the major fault lines in Chinese society - they want to bring nationalism into everything and then they mess it up and just make enemies. It is so simple to speak a global language so that the peoples of this world can communicate with one another. Had China not isolated themselves from the world for so long, it could have been Chinese. But now it is English as most countries already have a command of the English language. It is just more practical.
By speaking English as second language, it is not required from nobody to give up their mother tongue! Where did you hear that? You must have been having a bad dream, I think ..! And a person speaking another language is in no way betraying his country; as a matter of fact, he's helping his country to become more competitive in a very competitive world as he can then understand the language of the world. The Chinese people who can't see that are like ostriches who stick their heads into the ground and don't want to face reality around them. Come on! You are a university student and should have more vision than what I see here!
RZH, I don't think I am brave. I would rather believe that I have a calling on my life to help people of other countries to make up in life what they've lost through past events. I was heading for Russia just over 5 years ago, but ended up in China! There is a purpose with everything in one's life, I believe. I am just another common foreigner, but one with a heart (and too many shortcomings) ... ;-)
Yeah, I guess it's because I am so imperfect that I stopped over in China ..! ;-)
Not many; only 5 outside Africa, and 7 in Africa (apart from my own country). There are about 225 countries in the world! My dream is still to travel Europe before I get too old ..!
I saw your comment in Week 10a and I have even replied to that. So, what's the problem?! So, no need to remedy; it was there (and probably still is!). Happy to read about your intention with the language ..!
Well, if they don't speak Chinese in Tibet, Xiang Balazhen, neither do they speak English there, what language do they then speak in Tibet?! So, don't you think Tibet needs a common language if there are people who can't speak the local language? Then I wonder whether English wouldn't have been a good choice! Or would Chinese be the choice of a second language in your country?
Feng Yu, the establishing of English as global language has nothing to do with one country being more powerful than another! Where do some of you get that from?! If that is what you were taught at school, someone has taught you a lie. Read my comment to Rock (Yin Han) earlier. It appears you have been in the same school ..! English was established in many countries through the process of British colonization between the 1700's and 1900's. After independence from Britain it was the obvious thing to do to keep English as communication language. Yes, the fact that America became a superpower around WWII had a further influence, but not one about them being powerful and enforcing their will (English) on other countries. Probably only because the other countries wanted to learn from them and it would have been more advantageous for the other countries' economies to speak the same language. It is a simple as that!
Haha, not a chance that you would ever hear me speaking Chinese as my Chinese is probably a hundred times worse than your English! But even if I will ever learn to speak Chinese properly, I would have to refrain speaking it in an English class as the danger would be there that one would speak Chinese in stead of English (like the Chinese teachers) and the effectiveness of the English would be compromised. ;-)
It shouldn't matter which language is the global language as long as the world can communicate with one another. That is what communication is about. At this point in time, English is the global language as it is widely spoken throughout the world. The fact that 1.4 billion people speak Chinese shouldn't have a negative influence on this as there are more people in the world today speaking, or having a knowledge of English, than the number of Chinese people. However, it is no secret that that is exactly what the Chinese government is trying to achieve with the many Confusius language centers they are establishing all over the world in the major cities (already more than 100 of them). So, in all probability, the world would speak two global languages in about 30 years time, English and Chinese. But who cares? As long as the world can communicate with one another; that should be the aim.
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