Topic > English as a global language: teachers' challenges

Teaching and learning English has emerged in recent history as a necessity in an increasingly globalized world. English surpassed the use of Latin as the language used for communication between people who did not share a common language. Colonial history, together with popular culture, travel, the information boom, economics and politics have ensured the spread of English as a major international language, therefore a global language. The growing study of the differences between British English and American English, in areas involving pronunciation, vocabulary, spelling, and so on, has emerged as a demand. This has also evolved into the differentiation between EFL (English as a Foreign Language), ESL (English as a Second Language), ESP (English for Specific Purposes), EAP (English for Academic Purposes) and many others. The future of English depends on the whim of history, but for now history rules, as it is spoken by at least a quarter of the world's population. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In a futuristic society, where everyone is racing against time, we have noticed an increasing use of shorter messages and acronyms, most of them imported from the English language, in emails, SMS, Whatsapp workgroups , Facebook and Tinder, in blogs and other apps for advertising companies, in searching for possible employees, in online banking, in online shopping, and so on. It is therefore mandatory for teachers to keep abreast of technology and teach students to distinguish and deal with different forms and meanings, coherence and cohesion, the purposes of a message emitted or received, to shape the message according to appropriateness and register , taking into account channels, participants, setting, topic, tone, genre and so on. In a modern world that challenges boundaries and definitions such as gender and family, it is more necessary than ever to teach students English as a second language to meet the challenges and adapt their speech to appropriate vocabulary, considering syntax and morphology. To be able to do this, they must master synonyms, polysemy, antonyms, collocations, metaphors, denotations, idioms. Learning English happens all the time, in all kinds of places and by all kinds of means. School is a single regulated place that teaches English, but more and more companies around the world are hiring English teachers to teach English to their employees for specific purposes, which becomes a necessity in a business environment and market of globalized work. For teenagers and younger students, the virtual environment is also prolific for learning English. Traditionally, a classroom required sharing a physical space. Nowadays, there are virtual classes, online courses, etc. to teach you everything you need, including language skills in any language you want, crossing different time zones, and real or virtual online tutors. Considering the class sizes, there are numerous possibilities for private lessons or pair work through various private courses which are very flexible and adapt to each student, since basically the students are the employers by contract. It is surprising today that young students acquire large amounts of vocabulary by playing video games, listening to music, and watching films without subtitles, all of which can be put to good use in an English lesson. In a normal English lesson, where teachers have to manage different skills, motivations, abilities and levels, he has to juggle different tasks, give students different roles,,.