Choosing to Learn English Opens More Doors

Many students have chosen to speak English because it opens more doors. Language schools and English teachers should help students realize their ambitions, support their dreams, and avoid judging their motives. Students want to learn a language; not receive a morality lecture.

For better or for worse, knowing English makes life easier and better. For instance, the ability to speak English allows individuals to communicate with millions of other people from around the world. Some globalization critics and ethnic nationalists, especially in smaller countries, have attacked English as subverting national and group identities.

This criticism is misguided and counter-productive. Speaking English fluently allows managers to supervise an international staff, waiters to collect bigger tips at better restaurants, and salespeople to talk with a larger group of clients. Individuals, pursuing their own life goals, deserve support as they embark on a difficult, challenging task.

Other critics fear that learning English increases the divisions between rich and poor, and express concerns about social justice. It’s true that English speakers tend to be the more educated, more affluent, and more successful individuals in several developing – and developed – countries. Bilingual speakers, of course, often earn even more because they can share their intelligence and display their creativity in two great languages.

The financial advantages that speaking both Spanish and English bring apparently offends many people. They criticize seeking worldly success, money, status, or an international spouse as elitist. They also worry that private language schools and elite tutoring systems allow a small minority unfair advantages.

Again, these critics are both correct and deeply misguided. Money does talk too loud in our society today, but people should be encouraged to pursue knowledge, including learning English.

Live and let live. Let people choose their own destiny, develop as they want to develop, and spend their own time and money as they please. Bilingual speakers holding unfair advantages, but the solution remains better public schools with higher educational standards for all students.

Unfortunately, the current public educational system fails too many students. Therefore, students often have to pay money to learn skills, including English, at private schools and with private tutors.

I’d prefer to believe that learning English allows individuals to choose from a wider menu of life options. English, one of the major international languages, can be seen on television and billboards, heard on the radio, and read, seen and heard on the internet!  The internet, I’d suggest, has provided users with an exceptional amount of freedom to grow, explore, and learn. Freedom still sounds like a good word – in any language, including English!

You will also find a rich literature on the use of English in advertisements in non-English speaking countries for the same reasons. Modern technological products and companies, such as LG, advertise in South America, Asia, and Europe in English their message that “Life is Good”. The clear implication is that buying their LG product makes “Life Good” and as does speaking English since only English speakers can understand their ads. Hence, English has also become a symbol of modernism and stylish consumerism across Europe, South America, and Asia. LG is a Korean company!

Attacking the prevalence of English remains popular, and questioning the “morality” of choosing to speak English even fashionable in some academic circles. This obsession seems misguided and ironic. As English teachers and tutors, we need to carefully assess the full range of aspirations and skills that our students as we choose and develop materials. But assessing does not mean judging them! A good English teacher should support the goals of their students.

If students need a certain score on a standardized exam (TOEFL, TOEIC, citizenship), English teachers need to choose appropriate materials to meet their immediate goals – including active skills like speaking and writing. The new TOEFL, by the way, is a huge improvement over the old, grammar-focused one used for decades. Speaking has finally been recognized as a vital life skill. Language schools and English teachers should tailor instruction to match student goals and challenges in English.

Yet language schools and teachers also need to help students develop authentic English language skills that transcend immediate test scores. Many administrators, for understandable reasons, attempt to force all instruction toward standardized tests. Many English instructors feel that standardized test scores have displaced traditional educational goals, including broader humanistic ambitions.  Students also need a chance to develop their conversation skills – in and out of the classroom. Listening and speaking remain essential skills so students can express themselves – even be themselves – in English.

English, an optional language for a majority of the globe, remains a smart choice for millions of business professionals, workers, students, and immigrants. They have chosen to be English language learners. Society should help Spanish speakers achieve their personal goals in English classrooms.

Speaking English opens many doors. Naturally, some doors seem more attractive or honorable than others. Yet other doors seem more attractive, necessary, or honorable to others. Live and let live.

Can you think of a door you would like to open in the English-speaking world?

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