Patricia Ryan’s has been an English teacher in the Gulf
for 30 years and she has seen a lot of changes. She talks about languages loss
and the globalization of English. The statistic that she showes us show that there
are 6000 languages in the world, but there are 600 languages in 90 years,
that’s quite shocking. Today, a language dies in every 14 days. Teaching
English has moved from being a mutually beneficial practice to becoming a
massive international business. It has become a bandwagon for every English-speaking
nation on Earth. The best education according to the latestWorld University
Rangkings is to be found in the universities of the U.K and the U.S. So,
everybody wants to have an English education, naturally. However, if someone is
not a native speaker, he/she has to pass a test. Patricia Ryan loves that we
have a global language. She says that we need more that 600 languages. She says
that this system equates intelligence with a knowledge of English which is
quite arbitrary. Einstein who has intelegence is stand did not have to have
English and did not have to pass an English test. Even, he was considered
remedial at school. But, fortunately he successed for the world. Nowadays
system, it would do not have the opportunity for the poor stuents because the
fee of the tests are expensive. Patricia Ryan also tell us that the intelegence
is the problem solve. If someone can’t think a thought, he/she is stuck. But if
another language can think that thought, then by cooperating, someone can
achieve and learn so much more. Finally, Patricia Ryan says that someone does
not only focus on English test, but also “Mind Your Language” and use it to
spread great ideas.
Christine Sun Kim was born deaf. She is an artist. In his talk, she shares about the history of ASL and a bit of her background. French sign language was brought to America during the early 1800s and as time went by mixed with local signs, it evolved into the language we know today as ASL. Sun Kim was taught to believe that sound wasn’t part of her life. In contrast, sound was very much a part of her life. As a deaf person, Kim understand sound through watching how people behave and respond to sound. The people are like her loudspeaker and amplify sound. At the same time, she have learned to create sound ‘sound atiquette’ and seen how people respond to her. In Deaf culture, movement is equivalent to sound. Kim also showed some sign languages and its meaning. Because of Sun Kim is an artist, she decided to reclaim ownership of sound and put it into her art practice. She says that sound is so powerful that it could either disempower her and her artwork or it could empower her. Sound
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