Blog post # 9, Global English

Chapter one of International English In its Sociolinguistic Context is about globalized of English. This chapter talks about how English is spread throughout the world. I believe that English is important and it becomes universal language. Many countries teach English like Korea, Japan, China, Philippines, and etc. The author discuss that many Asian countries teach English since they are young. However, people are wondering that if teaching English when the children are young can be effective when their home language isn’t fully developed. I learned English when I was in Korea. I learned English 3^rd grade through 6^th grade when I was in school. However, I didn’t learn any English because I didn’t see the importance of it. Many Korean parents want their children to learn English since they are 5 years old. Is learning English that important? Many people believe that learning English is equal to be successful in the future. I don’t believe that people need to learn English order to be successful. However, some of my friends in Korea desperately want to come to U.S.A. to learn English because it is hard to get a job in Korea if they cannot speak English very well. All of my friends are jealous of me because I can speak English. They don’t understand the conflicts that I go through because they think that I am lucky to have an opportunity to learn English in America.

Also, many American pop cultures influenced many countries. Many music industries influenced many countries. I remember that one of my friends in ESL class told me that she doesn’t understand why many countries want to be like American. They like American songs, and want to learn English. I think the reason is because United States influenced many countries. Therefore, many countries want to learn English. I interview my Filipino friend for the paper that I wrote. She told me that United States influenced Philippines because Philippines were a colonizer of France and United States took over. She told me that English is their native second language in Philippines that everyone knows how to speak English. They focus on teaching English so much. When my friend came to United States, her reading level was higher than any other students in her classroom.

Is learning English that important? Which one is more important, learning the students’ home language or learning English first? In my bilingual classes, I learned that order to learn the second language perfectly; students need to be fluent on their L1. However, many people believe that English is very important before the children learn their L1 first. It is interesting that many people in U.S. don’t need to learn the language other than English. But many other countries, it is necessary to learn English.