How can I teach English as a second/foreign language in New York City - Part One

By Christopher Denzer, The Examiner

Before you start your foray into the exciting world of ESL/EFL instruction, let's get a couple of terms straight. First of all, the whole EFL/ESL itself.

ESL, or English as a Second Language, is primarily the discipline of teaching English to speakers of another language who have emigrated and now live in a country that has English as its primary language. This population may be resident aliens, illegal immigrants or citizens who either recently moved to the country (often children or adolescents) or have lived there for an extended period of time but who, because of cultural insularity, have not mastered English.

The kinds of programs that teach ESL often draw their funding from community and other local government financing streams and may be taught in public school, religious centers and community organizations. The kind of English taught in these programs is often geared towards helping the ESL learner master everyday vocabulary, improve their career prospects or enable them to pass the United States Citizenship Test.

Full story...

Tracing the roots of Internet slang

The Examiner

A lot of effort has been spent denouncing Internet culture for murdering the English language. Still, every once in a while, the vast Internet collective manages to improve the descriptive ability of our young language while simultaneously saving time and energy.

FAIL is among the very best of these improvements.

When used properly, FAIL conveys a complex combination of schadenfreude, high comedy, insult and important life lesson, all in one short, simple word that would net only seven points in Scrabble.

On Sunday, New York Times guest columnist Ben Zimmer illuminated the history of FAIL in the weekly On Language feature: How Fail Went From Verb To Interjection.

Time was, fail was simply a verb that denoted being unsuccessful or falling short of expectations. It made occasional forays into nounhood, in fixed expressions like without fail and no-fail. That all started to change in certain online subcultures about six years ago…

Full story...

Working abroad

By Leslie Whitaker, Philly.com

Q: I need a full time job but the U.S. job markets seem closed. I hear that working internationally is the way to go but the change is so huge that I don't know what to think of first. Pointers?

A: Many of us have spent years carving out niches or boosting our résumés. However, we've managed to overlook the fact that we already have one basic skill that's in demand on an international level: command of the English language. But before you sell your house to move to Los Cabos, Mexico, consider the following:

Language: While knowledge of the local language could be an asset, it should not be your focus when targeting a new workplace. Many foreign employers offer local language courses while allowing you to use your English in the office. Employers prefer people with a desire to learn.

Location: Picking the correct location could be the difference between being gainfully employed and living in a box…

Full story...

Texting is making English a foreign language

By Michael Deacon, The Telegraph UK
 
Baroness Greenfield, the neuroscientist, is worried that sending text messages may cause young people to have shorter attention spans. If she's right, of course, none of those young people will be aware of this, because she expressed her views in a newspaper article of several hundred words, some of them long, all of them spelt correctly, and none of them using digits as substitutes for whole syllables. All terribly old-fashioned and out-of-d8. So they won't have read it.

In all probability, then, she's preaching only to the converted. None the less, I'm right behind her. Admittedly, I'm not in the least qualified to comment on whether text messaging can cause mental disorders, or whether predictive text—the ability of your phone to guess what you're going to say—will stunt your powers of self-expression, and make you less thoughtful and more error-prone. But I do know one thing. Reading text speak, or txt spk, makes my eyes water as if hit by a jet of lemon juice…

Full story...

Speak English...or else

By Ahmad Saeid, staff writer, Kuwaiti Times

The effects of globalization are everywhere, in the way people dress, eat, think, raise their kids, and definitely in the way they speak. Globalization is dramatically affecting countries around the globe and Kuwait is no exception.
Due to the fact that expats make up the majority of Kuwaiti residents, the English language is becoming increasingly important in Kuwait.

In numerous situations, the English language is almost the only way to go, especially when it comes to finding a decent job; since the job market is full of non-Arab nationalities, the official language for business in Kuwait is English, which leaves hundreds, if not thousands, of people who can't speak English unemployed, or underemployed in best cases, not to mention the other difficulties they face in their daily life.

Full story...