Of all the languages in the world, why has English become the world’s lingua franca? Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase ‘global village’ in the 1960s to refer to the way people were reaching out to connect with one another – but he could not have known at the time that the unifying language of this village would be English. To really get into our study of Time and Space, we will find out how English became the language of the global village by looking at the convergence of three groups of factors: historical factors, economic factors, and popular culture:
- English All Over the World
- Spread of English
- The Spread of English Across the Globe
- English as a World Language
Class Activity
Watch The Adventure of English (Episode 7 above) either in class or for homework. Test your powers of observation and recall by running a class quiz. Split into three or four teams and nominate one quizmaster who runs the quiz and is allowed to see the answers:
Learner Portfolio
Create a diagram showing how English spread to become a global language. Annotate your diagram with written information about the factors that influenced this spread.
Categories:Time and Space
