Job Discussion Forums

[getDM]

I'd like to hear from teachers in other parts of the world with students who use English as a lingua franca for communicating with other nationalities.
If you are such a teacher then please drop me a line.
(Or if you know such a teacher then please forward this message to them.)

I hope to help our students understand English spoken with different accents.
Ideally, lessons will allow the students to discuss and present their ideas vocally - nothing lengthy, but spoken.
Covering various topics will keep this fresh so it would be great if you are free to set the content of your lessons.

I'm still formulating the idea, so your input will help shape the plan.
Please fire through any questions you have if you think you can collaborate, thanks.

[spiral78]

English is very commonly used this way on the European continent. Speakers of other language, with different accents and etc, use English on a daily basis for education, business, and travel with Europeans from other countries.

Despite the range of different L1s, they seem to muddle along pretty well in general

[Glenski]

Most of my university students SHOULD be using English, since their majors are all in the sciences. Truth is, most can't make one coherent sentence. There are exceptions, of course.

[spiral78]

Lingua Franca refers usually to a common language used by speakers of other languages as they communicate together, so I don't think it would apply to your students, Glenski. Aren't they all (or almost all) Japanese?

Lingua Franca use would probably occur most commonly (in a teaching sense) in ESL classrooms in Anglophone countries, where students are from diverse home countries and share English as their only common language, at whatever level.

[sparks]

I'm not sure what your idea is shaping up to be but you might consider focusing on business English first and possibly branching out from there. As Spiral writes, many, many people in Europe use English in their daily jobs.

[Shroob]

I teach at a Chinese university and the chance one of my students would manage to emigrate to an English speaking country is slim. More likely is that they would go into a business where they are communicating with Africans or Saudis.

I recently had a student friend spend a month in Guangzhou for a company doing just that - using English to speak to Saudis.

[spiral78]

Further, many, many immigrants and temporary residents to Anglophone countries are studying Business English. I think sparks' idea is a useful one.

[Sashadroogie]

Plenty of Russians use English for international business transactions. This is even becoming true within areas of the CIS. The Baltics Republics too generally are dispensing with Russian in favour of English.

Lingua Franca, for those who don't know, is the term given for a bridge language. As far as I know the term originated in the Near East, during the Crusades, as Ottomans and Arabs always called all Europeans Franks. Even today the Turks may use the word, though slightly dismissively.

[nomad soul]

[scot47]

Lingua Franca - "The Language of the Franks" .First used to describe languages in the Levant during the Crusades.

[Glenski]

English is the lingua franca of the science world, hence the reason that I feel my science students should be learning it. The administration agrees, especially since they put in the brochures that we generate "world class" scientists and researchers, and that they are sent to international conferences, write journal articles in English, etc.

Yes, my students are Japanese but nationality doesn't enter into the equation.

[spiral78]

No, I meant that as they share a common L1, they don't need a lingua franca.

[scot47]

This post appears everywhere

Have a look at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_franca

Is the OP writing a PhD ??????????????????????/

[Glenski]

spiral,
The OP asked about people who teach "students who use English as a lingua franca for communicating with other nationalities", not with each other. I am confused about what you meant.

My students (and other people's) have opportunities to communicate with other nationalities. We have graduate students from many countries, and by 3rd grade of uni, they may face conversations with them in labs. There are also weekly "seminars" where they have to discuss English journal articles (sadly, only in Japanese is what the teachers prefer, but not in all cases). Some teachers insist on everyone in the lab unit using as much English as possible, and anyone who goes overseas will definitely have to hear and use English at presentations or poster sessions. In fact, that is the main point my uni's admin wants us teachers to focus on. They want students to be able to make good presentations, be good audience participants, have enough skill to stand at a poster and discuss it, and chat up foreign researchers during hallway conversations and at the post-talk dinners.

[Sashadroogie]

In fairness to Spiral, your classroom environment would not automatically lead people to see the need for English as a lingua franca, though your clarification changes this. The term suggests that students have to use English, whether they like it or not, as there is no other option, i.e. no other common language. In my classroom, learners do speak to each other in English, though just out of established classroom practice, but they do not really need to. However, they certainly need it at work (international law firms, logistics, medical research etc.) They also occasionally use it to chat up foreigners too! How many marriages started with one of my lexical lessons I do not know... : )