One World Communication I Lesson 1 English as a Global Language

Lesson 1 English as a Global Language
Part 1

I have four English classes a week at school.  How many do you have?  I study English very hard, because I want to be an international actor in the future.
(韓国の Mi-ran さん)

We can study two foreign languages at school.  We can choose from many languages, such as English, German and French.  Many of us take English, because it's very useful in the European Union.
(イタリアの Lucia さん)

We have over 200 languages.  English is very important in our daily lives.  We cannot communicate with our classmates without English.  We study it as a subject.  We also study other subjects in English.
(ナイジェリアの Umaru さん)

Part 2

  About 1,400 years ago, English was a local language in Great Britain.  Only about 150,000 people spoke it.  In the 17th century, some British people moved to America and Canada, and later to Australia.  They started new lives in these countries.  Great Britain also made colonies in Asia an Africa.  As a result, English spread all over the world.

  Today over 1.5 billion people in the world use English.  About three-fourth of them are not native speakers.  English no longer belongs only to native speakers.

Part 3

  Now, English is a global language.  A lot of Japanese use English as a tool for communication in various fields of work overseas.  Movie stars, athletes and musicians speak English at interviews.  Business people speak English at meetings.

  You have many chances to use English even in Japan.  Every year, about 1,800 high school students come to study in Japan from overseas.  You can communicate with many of them in English.

  Don't worry if your English is not perfect.  Just try to express yourself with simple words, phrases and gestures.