Job Discussion Forums

thelmadatter · Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2005 3:52 pm Post subject: map

I havent been having much luck, so I thought Id throw this question out there. Ive been searching for a global wall map that indicates where English is spoken (natively/officially...) in the world. It is not my intention to start a debate over what makes a country "English-speaking" (tho I know I have no control over that). I want to hang it in my office. The idea is to get my Mexican students to appreciate how widespread English is, and not to focus so much on "Gringolandia" (the USA for you folks who dont know Laughing

)

Ive looked at the sites of a number of map companies contacted like 5 or so of them on the web. So far, 3 have responded that they dont carry anything like that.

Anyone aware of something like this?

web fishing · Joined: 02 Jun 2005 Posts: 95

Try the people at National Geographic. If they don't have it , they may be able to assist you in the right direction.

Chris_Crossley

In the days of the old British Empire, those colonies around the world would be coloured red on world maps. If you have access to a British historical map of the world around, say, 1850-1900, printed in text-books or even on a website, the red areas would by themselves give an indication of where English is still spoken now. After all, as far as I know, no former British colony has abandoned English as a primary language of communication.

Have you tried looking at online atlases? If you cannot find a map specifically devoted to linguistic groupings, try my suggestion. I know that the French are mad keen on la francophonie, if only because French comes second to English in terms of linguistic spread around the world. Comparing the spread of at least two world languages rather than just the one would be an interesting exercise, I think. A third language could be Spanish, since Spain used to have its empire in Central and South America.

Ben Round de Bloc · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1946

If all else fails, you could buy a not too colorful world map and a Highlighter pen, and make your own . . . although if I were doing it, some of the countries listed would really test my knowledge of world geography. Sad

matttheboy · Joined: 01 Jul 2003 Posts: 854 Location: Valparaiso, Chile

EnglishBrian · Joined: 19 May 2005 Posts: 189

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

Even better than a map. see your house from space.
It takes a while to download, but worth it
http://kh.google.com/download/earth/index.html

Chris_Crossley · Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 4:19 pm Post subject: Our first home has a patio!

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

Download the previous link and you should be able to see the patio

Chris_Crossley · Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 5:18 pm Post subject: Not quite the patio, but.....

Not quite the patio, but I've had fun locating certain places in Wuhan on both sides of the Chang Jiang and placing landmark "pins" on them and putting names on them. It's certainly quite a perspective, seeing places that one is familiar with from satellite pictures! Thanks for the link, dmb!

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

pleasure.
I'm currently being tefltastic
preparng lessons for next week based around that site
A kind of satelite treasure hunt(I'm lucky enough to have a computer in the classroom)