Demand for English as a Second Language in the Global Community

An ongoing trend in the education sector is the increase of global demand for English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction in non-native speaking countries. This tendency has been brought about primarily by the call for English to be the international language for economics and business. This means that nations that want to be players in worldwide trades and relations need to be fluent in English. Also, being a good English speaker gives you better job opportunities, even opening doors for you in foreign places.

Since the advent of learning ESL, the educational system has developed various methods to teach students who are going to learn English. One technique is through specialised classroom learning, where the instructor is a native speaker or someone who has an in-depth grasp of the language and its rules. Places like China, Korea, and Vietnam invite ESL teachers to work in their countries to give their pupils a chance to have “genuine” English instruction. Some classes are made for man-to-man lessons where there is only one student, while others are for group classes that ideally have five to twenty learners. Another way is for students to go to an English-speaking nation and live there for several weeks or a couple of months. They usually enrol in ESL academies and immerse themselves in the culture of the country. The third option, which is becoming more favourable among English pupils, is taking online classes. They normally sign up for a curriculum offered by an ESL school that runs via the Internet.

The demand for English has helped to give career opportunities for language teachers, and has opened doors for tourism in countries that have ESL academies.