TED SUMMARY Patricia Ryan: Don’t insist on English

In this vidio Patricia Ryan speaks about the loss of language and globalization of English. She told about her friend who teaches English to adults in Abu Dhabi. And on a sunny day she decided to take them to the park and teach them some vocabulary about nature. But it was ultimately she who learned Arabic words about local plants and their uses - for medicine, cosmetics, cooking, herbs. Where did these students get that knowledge? Of course, from their grandparents and even from their ancestors.

Unfortunately, however, languages ​​are missing at a very fast pace. One language is lost every 14 days. At the same time, English becomes a global language. 

By the time the first spatricia arrived in the Gulf, Kuwait was still filled with difficulties, then she was recruited by the British Council along with about 25 other teachers. And they are the first non-Muslims to teach in public schools in Kuwait. They are brought to teach English because the government wants to modernize the country and empower its citizens through education. Britain benefits from petroleum wealth there.

Then the teaching of English has changed from something of mutual benefit into a big international business at the moment. However, Universities in the UK and the United States have the best education, according to the latest World University Rankings. So naturally everyone wants to get an English education and a unnative English country should take the exam to pass.

Unfortunately, a student is rejected simply because of his language skills. There may be a computer scientist who is a genius. she said that English teachers reject them all the time. We put down the stop sign, and we stop them on track. They can not pursue their dreams until they can speak English.

she said that we have a global language. We need it much now. But I am opposed to using it as a barrier. Do we want to have 600 languages ​​with the main language is English, or Mandarin? We need more than that. Where do we draw the dividing line? This system equates intelligence with a fairly arbitrary knowledge of English.

She reminds listeners that the giants where now on his shoulders stand today's intelligence do not have to master English, they do not need to pass the English exam. For example, Einstein. She, is a poor performer in school because she is, in fact, experiencing a learning disorder. But fortunately for this world, he does not need to pass the English exam. Since this was only started in 1964 with the TOEFL, an American version of the English test.

"Now I understand, I understand why people focus on English They want to give the best chance of life to their children, and to do so, Western education is necessary because it is definitely the best job to be obtained by people from Western University Which I pointed out earlier. So This is a cycle. " She said.

Then she told about two scientists, two British scientists. They conducted experiments related to genetics and the front and back of the animals. But they do not get the results they want. They do not know what to do, until a German scientist arrives and realizes that they use two different words for the front and back, whereas genetics does not distinguish them from German. So, the problem is over. You can not think of something, you will get stuck. But if other languages ​​can give that thought, then, by working together, we can get and learn more.

Then she told again about her daughter, coming to England from Kuwait. She has studied natural sciences and mathematics in Arabic. In Arabic-speaking high school. She must translate it in English in his grammar class. And she is the best student in that subject. That teaches us, when students come from abroad we may not give enough appreciation to what they know, in their own language. When a language is lost, we do not know what is missing along with that language.

Then he reminded the audience of a story on CNN. They awarded Heroes to a young shepherd boy from Kenya who could not learn at night just like the other children in his village, because of the  lamp that was smoky and damaging his eyes. And, kerosene is always not enough, because what can be bought with a dollar bill? Then he found solar powered lights at no cost. And now the children in the village have the same value as the children who have electricity at home. When he received this award, he said these beautiful words: "Children can lead Africa out of its current state, the dark continent becomes a bright continent." The idea is simple, but can have a very wide impact.

Closing from his conversation he said "Let us not let them and ourselves in the dark. Let's appreciate the difference. Pay attention to your language. Use it to spread great ideas "