[EngliPatrick]

Reading through all these posts, it's quite clear that people have different opinions and some of them are sparked or triggered by emotions.

In regards to a prior post about American English being more popular than British English because American sitcoms are more popular, that argument doesn't hold any weight. The popularity of TV programs doesn't equate to the popularity of a language. I don't think you will find a strong audience who would argue that America is NOT the home for the most popular TV series and movies. That's the result of billions of US dollars being pumped into its industry. Similarly, Chinese movies are known for their great action scenes, but this doesn't mean that because Chinese action sequences are good, the Chinese language is popular.

Moving right along, I don't think it is fair to hire an individual from one country, tell them to teach their native language but from the standpoint of another country's English. What this shows is the employer's insensibility to the person they hired and the ignorance of the employer. If you think an English speaker should know every English-speaking countries' grammar rules, spellings and word choices, that is absurd. English is spoken in 69 countries worldwide. This doesn't even include America, Britain, Australia and New Zealand where there is no official language.

I believe an English teacher teaching English in a foreign country should not be required or asked to teach an English other than their own. If a country wants to learn a specific country's English, they should ONLY employ people from that particular country. At the point that they hire from multiple countries, they should accept that country's English.

Maybe I'm a radicalist, but I think ESL teaching is still up-and-coming. Yeah, the term 'ESL' has been slung around for a long time but I don't think we have yet figured out how to teach English from a IESL perspective. I believe English-speaking countries need to first get together and come to a consensus as to how to teach English from an international perspective...get on the same page, so to speak.

However, I don't see this happening because currently there is too much quarreling amongst English speakers from different countries. We have Americans saying, "We invented Phonics and greatly added to the English lexicon so American English is better." You have British saying, "Well, Americans stole their language from us so you wouldn't even have a language if it wasn't for us." While other countries are screaming out, "What about our country's English? English is the only language I've spoken since birth. What makes your countries' English more precious than ours?" There's too much bickering going on in the English-speaking community. I think we need to solve the bickering before we can start looking towards solutions.

Another thing adding to the problem of teaching English from the international perspective is that language is living and constantly changing so you can't go about teaching it in a formulaic method. This problem compiled with every culture in the world being completely different, it is virtually impossible to employ the same English strategy for every culture.

I feel sorry for the British teachers teaching English in Japan because Japan predominantly uses American English and the Japanese learn English in a very mathematical forumlatic way, so when the English doesn't fit into their English cookie-cutter, they have a hard time adjusting. I'm saddened when I've talked to some of non-American-English friends and they tell me they mold their English to the textbooks. Unless you've lived outside your country in another English-speaking country or studied the linguistics of other Englishes, it's preposterous to assume that the person should know any other English other than their own country's English.

That being said, I think it's beneficial for English teachers working in a foreign country to know other countries' Englishes because it gives their students a broader perspective on the language but I don't think it's necessary, and the employer should know this when they hire you.

As our world is rapidly becoming a more closely bonded society, I think we all need to strive for a little bit more cultural and language sensitivity and understanding.

That's my 2 cents...