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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

English Required - Other Languages Need Not Apply

Since I have a daughter who recently had to pass the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) in order to apply to North American universities, I found this TED talk particularly poignant.

Patricia Ryan is a Third Culture Adult who has lived and taught English in the Middle East for over 30 years. Her perspective on English requirements for entry into Anglosphere universities might surprise you.  This is someone who loves language - her own and others.  She is 100% correct that we should be paying as much attention to language loss as we do to language acquisition.    

She is also quite funny.  I always enjoy speakers who can gently get their point across with humour and goodwill.

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