English Varieties: Jamaican English 🇯🇲

4. David Crystal 🤓

1. Which factors do you think that make a language to be 'global'? 🌍

According to what we have seen in David Crystal’s video, and as we see it, the are several factors that make a language to be “global”. One of the most important factors is that a global language must be worldwide spoken both as an L1 and as an L2.  Moreover, a language must be used in international organizations to be global. That is, a global language has to be applied in order to enable people from different backgrounds and societies communicate among them. All in all, a global language is usually developed in business and diplomatic relations since it is spoken by powerful people in powerful countries.💰 

2. What could be a definition of Global Language? 🗣

A Global Language is a language which is learned by a great majority of people as second language so it is spoken worldwide. Thus, its main use is to make communication between individuals and organisations from any country in the world possible. English 🇬🇧 is a global language, that is why it is used in many international organizations such as UNESCO, EU, NATO, etc.

3. How does David Crystal define Global language? 💬

“A Language achieves a genuinely global status when it develops a special role that is recognized in every country. This role will be most obvious in countries where large numbers of the people speak it as a first language. […] To achieve such a status, a language has to be taken up by other countries around the globe. They must decide to give it a special place within their communities, even though they may have few (or no) mother-tongue speakers” (David Crystal).

Listen to David Crystal and answer the following questions:

4. Do we need to the teach English as a ‘global’ language to learners? How can we do it?

According to David Crystal, we must teach English as a global language if we want to prepare students properly in order to face the “English-speaking world.” If we want to achieve this, we should pay special attention to the teaching of comprehension, that is, the practice of learning and reading skills through materials which reflect the varieties of English. 

5. Should we focus on the receptive skills? Why/why not? 👂🏻

Yes, we should focus on the receptive skills but not in the common way which is carried out among most teachers. That means, students cannot learnt the oral receptive skill by listening to their book’s audios in which the speakers have a British standard accent since this is simply not real. If they go abroad, they will encounter a hundred different accents which will differ a lot from the one they are used to listen in the classroom. 


▶ David Crystal - Should English be taught as a 'global' language?

2. Outside the box 📦

How can we improve the Spanish Educational paradigm?

Although in Spain Education does not enjoy an important role for society💩, as many laws have shown, we strongly believe that it is one of the most important pillars of society. It contributes to the promotion of critical thinking 🤔 as well as many other skills which will help students to become efficient citizens of the world. 🌍Many aspects of today’s educational system in Spain should be changed. Among them are, for instance, the teacher-centered model followed in the classroom throughout the last decades;  the traditional way in which state exams for teachers are carried out towards a much more practical rather than theoretical approach; a better teacher training📚, taking into account catering for diversity👫, problem solving💡, the use of ICTs💻, etc; encouraging collaborative projects among students as well as using methodologies in order to foster creativity🎨.

▶ Ken Robinson - Do schools kill creativity?