Crystal Activity Pack - summary

1. Crystal Activity Pack
Esmée van der Steen,Clara Heimlich
Chapter 1 – 3:
1. Designyour own Slideshare for Chapter 1 – 3: Clara / Esmée
Chapter 1:
In the first chapter, Crystal defines the question “why a global language?”. To answer
that question, he explains what a global language is, what makes a global language,
why do we need a global language, what the dangers of a global language are, and
what could stop a global language. Further Crystal defines the terms linguistic power,
linguistic complacency, and linguistic death.
Chapter 2:
In the second chapter, Crystal answers the question “why English?”. To answer that
question he gets into the geographical-historical context. He explains how the
movement of English “travelled” around the world. He looks at the origins of global
English, and the countries English “travelled” too. The history of global English is
told about America, Canada, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand, South Africa,
South Asia, former colonial Africa, South-east Asia and the South Pacific. Further
Crystal talks about a world view of the status of English nowadays and gives us two
tables. In table 1 is given the speakers of English in territories where the language has
had special relevance. In table 2 is given the annual growth rate in population in
selected countries, 1996 – 2001.
Chapter 3:
In the third chapter, Chrystal answers the question “why English?”. To answer that
question he gets into the socio-cultural context. The cultural foundation. In the first
part of this chapter he is still talking about the geographical-historical context, but he
is also giving a few examples about the socio-cultural context. Then he is telling us
something about the political developments, since that is a really important part
(communication) for the question “why English?”. He also looks at the access to
knowledge, so a bit about the geographical-historical context as well mixed with the
socio-cultural context. And to end this chapter he is talking about how English was
taking for granted in the beginning, and how people didn’t know which English they
should use (American, British) and when they had to use it.

2. 2. Summarise his seemingly contradictory points about World English on in the
preface on pg xiii: Esmée
1. Believe in fundamental value of multilingualism. Different perspectives and
insights. More profound understanding of the nature of the human mind and
spirit. Ideal world everyone at least bi-lingual. As much as possible our
linguistic heritage has to be preserved.
2. Believe in fundamental value of common language. Unprecedented
possibilities for mutual understanding. International cooperation. Fluent
command of world language. Legacy of an unfavoured linguistic heritage
should not lead inevitably to disadvantage.

3. 3. P.12 Designa brief factfile for: the UN, UNESCO, UNICEF and the World
Health Organisation: Clara
 UN
 What is UN?
The United Nations (UN) is an International Organisation started to control
international peace and to support human rights. It was founded in 1945
after the Second World War. The UN started with 51 countries and now
the number is up to 193 countries. That points out that the UN reaches
virtually every corner oft he World. Best known ist he UN for
peacekeeping, peacebuilding, conflict prevention and humanitarian
assistance.
 What is the aim?
1. Keep peace throughout the world
2. Develop friendly relations
3. Assist nations in encouraging human rights, helping the poor, and
improving hunger, desease and literacy
4. Operate as a center (a community) to achieve these goals
 UN work:
- Provides food to 90 million people over 75 countries
- Help 34 million refugees
- Work with 140 nations to arrest the climate change
- Vaccinates 58 percent oft he world’s children
- 120.000 peace keepers work daily to keep peace in four continents
- Assist about 50 countries per year in elections
- Protect human rights through 80 different treaties and declarations
- Fight poverty by helping 370 millian poor individuals achieve
better living circumstances
- Mobilizes 12.5 million dollar in humanitarian aid
- Assist about 30 million women a year by their maternal health
efforts
http://borgenproject.org/20-facts-united-nations/
 UNESCO
 What is UNESCO?
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) is an agency oft he United Nations based in Paris. Founded
in 1945 signed by 37 countries. The UNESCO grow to 195 member
states.
 What is the aim?
Contribute peace and security by promoting the exchange of
international collaborations through education, science, information,
ideas and culture in order to increase universal respect for justice, the
rule of law and human rights
 UNESCO work:
- Agency for education
- Agency for human rights education
- Agency for press freedom
- Agency for scientific cooperation
- Is a valued partner of US federal agencies

4. http://unesco.us/home/unesco-facts/
http://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/political-
science-and-government/united-nations/unesco
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNESCO
 UNICEF
 What is UNICEF?
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is an international aid
organization established by the UN, founded 1946 in New York, USA.
UNICEF concentrates on supplying food, clothes and medicine to
children.
 What is the aim?
Focus on the needs and rights of the child, UNICEF devotes as much as
80 percent of its funds to programs that can be classified under the
broad umbrella of public health.
 UNICEF work:
- Procures Vaccines for 40 percent oft he world’s children (nearby 3
billion doses annually)
- Largest buyer of mosquito nets (25 million nets in 2006)
- Over 12 million children went back to school in 2006 with the
support of UNICEF educational supplies
- Deliver supplies against HIV/AIDS to 49 countries
- Procured over 10 million of new treatments (ACT) to fight malaria
- Supplied over 892 million auto disable syringes, along with safety
boxes fort he disposal of syrings
- Nearby half of UNICEF’s global procurement is done in
developing countries
- 97 countries used UNICEFS’s procurement services (PS) to obtain
wider access to supplies for children and their families
- UNICEF is able to provide supplies to cover needs of 320.000
people in emergencies
https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1965/unicef-
facts.html
http://www.unicef.org/10facts/10.htm
http://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/political-
science-and-government/united-nations/unicef
 WHO
 What is WHO?
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency oft he
United Nations that is concerned with international public health. It
was founded 1948 signed by 61 countries. By now WHO represents
150 nationalities working in 147 countries.
 What is the aim?
Provide global leadership in public health
 WHO work:
WHO works on different health topics (AIDS, BSE, Child abuse,
Disabilities, etc. ) and tries to reduce these deseases
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Health_Organization
http://www.who.int/topics/en/

5. 4. Collate a glossary grid for the following terms Crystal uses: global language;
linguistic power; linguistic complacency; socio-cultural: Clara
Global Language A language becomes a global language
because of the power of the people who
speak it.
It has nothing to do with the structure of
the language. It is nothing about (english)
grammar or vocabulary or pronunciation
or spelling that makes english an
appealing language on a global level.
It has all to do with power. But power
means different things at different times.
English first became international
because of political power, military
power (power of the british empire). But
it is not just political what takes a
language around the world.
A century later there was the power of
science, of technology, the industrial
evolution. English as the language of
science.
In the 90th century the economic power.
The spoken language was english
because the USA and Britain had the
money markets of the world.
And than in the 20th century there is
cultural power, with english being the
language of device majority of the
inventions that make modern society
what it is.
English turned up at the right place on
the right time during these last centuries
that has produced the enormous global
status that english has.
Linguistic Power The Linguistic Power characterizes that
peaople having a disadvantage if they do
not speak English as their mother tongue.
One example to proof that would be a
foreign manager in a big international
company. The manager (german) needs a
lot more time to understand E-Mails or
Documents than his L1 speaker
colleague. Because of that he has less
time to finish his actual work. The
manager has a disadvantage compared to
his colleagues.
One approach for solving that problem
would be „the earlier the better“. If
children learn as soon as possible a
foreign language (in kindergarden) they

6. will become a perfect bilingualism child
and will not have a problem at all to
speak and understand their second
language further in their life/carreer.
Linguistic Complacency Linguistic Complacency means that
English-native speaker get really
comfortable with their mother tongue.
Neither they are not willing to learn a
second language nore they do not have to
learn a second language. It does not
matter where they are going to work,
they understand at least a little bit
because almost every work area uses
english at one point.
Crystal suggests that English-native
speaker have to be more open minded to
other languages in the world. English is
the world language but not the only
language in the world. Business
companies or other working areas have to
put effort in other languages so the
company staff gets the opportunity to
learn other languages in their working
field.
Socio-Cultural Socio-Cultural explains that English is
the global language because people from
all over the world have become depended
on english for their social and economic
well-being.
English spread deeply into different areas
such as education, political life,
international communication, traveling,
business and media.

7. 5. Designa detailed poster showing the influences of the spread of the English
language over time: Esmée
1. Expeditions
2. The expansion of British colonial power
3. The emergence of the United States as the leading economic power
4. Political developments
5. Access to knowledge
6. International relations
7. The media
8. International travel
9. International safety
10. Education
11. Communication

8. 6. P.61 Researchand paraphrase Krachru’s The Three Circles of English theorem
and cite another author: Clara
The Three Circles of English by Kachru (1985) show that English is used in three
different categories in the world. The theorem points out that English spread widely
because all over the world English is used in international communication, companies,
media, traveling and cultural aspects.
1. The Inner Circle:
The Inner Circle refers to the traditional bases of English (UK, USA, Australia,
New Zeeland, etc.). There are round about 380 million speakers in The Inner
Circle.
2. The Outer Circle:
The Outer Circle involves the non-native speakers and the country where English
became an international language status (India, Nigeria, Philippines, Bangladesh,
Pakistan, Malaysia, Tanzania, Kenya, etc.). The Outer Circle includes 150 to 300
million speakers.
3. The Expanding Circle:
The Expanding Circle refers to the nations that are aware that English plays a big
role as an international language but have not given it an administrative role
(China, Russia, Japan, most of Europe, Korea, Egypt, Indonesia, etc.). There are
up to one billion speakers in The Expanding Circle.
Kachru’s theorem is not the perfect way to show exactly how English is used in the
world. There could be an English-native speaker living in China, so he “moved” from
The Inner Circle to The Expanding Circle but he still is fluent in English. The Three
Circles cannot show every connection between the different speaking levels. Another
Author who used Kachru’s theorem is Sandra Lee McKay. She talks about it in her
book “English as an International Language” to explain how English as an
international language is learned and used all over the world.

9. 7. Define ‘culture’ in 50 words; 100 words; 250 words…: Esmée
Culture is all the habits and (behavioural)rules that belongs to a folk or tribe. Culture
encompasses the habits and customs that a folk has in the country where they live in, or
takes with them from the country they come from. With habits and customs you can think
about norms and values, the food, eating habits, clothes, religion, music and dance. But it
can also be about henna for example (Arabic, African and Indian cultures mostly). The
meaning of a colour can also vary from country to country (black for example is in Dutch
the colour of mourning but in China and Japan is this white). Also the body language can
be different, non-verbal communication for example. It also encompasses the way of
living, such as traditions, how buildings are built and where the folk lives from. Culture is
a wide concept of all these characteristics.

10. Chapter 4 – 5:
1. Finish your Slideshare for Chapter 4 & 5: Clara / Esmée
Chapter 4:
In the fourth chapter, Chrystal answers the question “why English?”. To answer that
question he gets into the socio-cultural context. About the cultural legacy. He first
continues about telling us what an influence the politics had. International relations is
a logical next step. He tells us how English became important with the international
relations, and that French was also an “official” language as well as English. Then he
is telling us how any consideration of politics leads to a consideration of the role of the
media. The English language has been an important medium for the press, but also for
advertising, broadcasting, the cinema and (popular) music. He also explains us how
travelling (internationally) had a huge influence of the English language because
people have to communicate together. International safety plays also a big role, it is
often forgotten. It was the international language of the sea and so it got bigger.
Earlier in this chapter Crystal pointed out that English is the medium of a great deal of
the world’s knowledge, especially in such areas as science and technology. And access
to knowledge is the business of education. Any of these subjects needs
communication, otherwise you can’t get any further. English was there at the right
place at the right time.
Chapter 5:
In the fifth chapter Crystal talks about the future of global English. He points out that
it will not be an “easy way” for the English language to be the global language in the
future. A lot of different objects play a big role during the transformation of English.
Culture is one of the biggest, but also grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and the
environment (media) plays an important aspect. Future English will change
immediately to a lot of different Englishes from different countries. If the English
language has no bounds for the future than it will be the global language in future.

11. 2. P120. ‘The right place at the right time’. Write a one page article on why Crystal
says this: Esmée
Crystal concludes that English has become the English how we use it now because it
was at “the right place at the right time”. He says this with a bit of humour, you don’t
have to take the phrase to seriously. But what he says is in fact true, maybe you can
put it another way but this is the basics. He sums up why English was at the right
place at the right time.
It started in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when English was the language
used by the leading colonial nation, Britain.
Then in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was also the English language that
was used by the leader of the industrial revolution, which again was Britain.
In the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century it was again the language of
English that was spoken by the leading economic power, the USA. Because of this,
when new technologies came on the market, the language that was spoken was
English. This affected all aspects of society such as the press, advertising,
broadcasting, motion pictures, sound recording, transport and communications.
At the same time when this was happening, the world was busy with collecting new
international networks and alliances. They needed a lingua franca.
By the 1960’s the pre-eminence of the language was established, but you could not
really say that is was a global language (or lingua franca). But then two things
happened at the same time.
The first is the movement towards political independence with English as a language
with “special status”. The role of English had become so important that no other
language could compete. The second is the electronic revolution. And as the same as
the other events (leading colonial nation, industrial revolution, economic power)
English was in the right place (USA, English spoken) at the right time (1970’s, lingua
franca needed).
The first computers were designed in the USA, and the mother language of the
programmers (English) had a great impact on how the computers were installed.
Crystal ends with “The biggest potential setback to English as a global language, it
has been said with more than a little irony, would have taken place a generation ago –
if Bill Gated had grown up speaking Chinese”.

12. 3. Watch the Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqqlSb9uGUQ

13. 4. Using Crystal’s youtube talk above AND chapter 5, design a prezi outlining the
possible future of English/es: Clara
David Crystal talks in his YouTube video “Full Circle: David Crystal on the Future of
Englishes” and in chapter five of his book “English as an global language” about the
future of English.
Crystal points out that it is called Englishes and not just English. He calls it Englishes
because he thinks that there is not just one English language that is used by all the two
billion English speakers, no, there are tons of different Englishes and in the future
there will be even more. This is because every culture has his “own” English language
and with that every culture that uses English has different words for different
meanings. For example: Britain uses “café” for a place where you can grab a coffee or
breakfast, USA uses for the same meaning the word “diner”. Africa uses “robot” for
traffic light, USA / UK / Australia / New Zealand use traffic light. Imagine you would
travel to Africa and hear the word “robot” you would not imagine (if you do not know
it yet) what exactly the meaning of it is. There are a lot more examples but it basically
always works like that. The culture variety is the most important point by talking
about the future of Englishes. Every culture which uses English will recover their own
type of English. So it is possible that an English native speaker will go to a different
country and will not understand the English which is spoken in that particular city.
Sometimes it has nothing to do with the word the society use, most of the time it has
to with the cultural background that is missing if you go abroad. There a lot of slogans
that you will not understand without the cultural background (Heineken slogan, “yeah
right” campaign, etc.) That is not the only difference, it goes even further. Almost
every country which uses English as an official language has its own dictionary with
round about 12.000 words in it. Words that have cultural background, words that are
assumed from the mother tongue of the country.
All that shows that the most important part of future Englishes is culture. But that is
not the only one. The political situation and the vocabulary they use is also very
important. Other than that we have to keep an eye how grammar and the pronunciation
(local accent / syllable timed) changes.
It does not matter where in the world you will go, you will see everywhere the
immediate adaption of Englishes. But even that is not a guarantee that English will
spread more widely or will be the global language for the future. English “got lucky”
because the language was at the right time at the right place but for the future we do
not know what happens. Maybe a different language is at the right time at the right
place and will replace English as the worlds language.

14. 5. Go onto youtube and find another talk by David Crystal about some aspect of
English. Write down 5 learning points for your PDP: Clara
I watched the video “David Crystal – The biggest challenges for teachers”
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItODnX5geCM)
Following five aspects I pointed out:
1. Keep pace with the language change:
It is changing so fast for two reasons, firstly because of the internet (facebook,
twitter, etc.) and secondly because of the globalization of English (a lot of different
pronunciations).
2. Be aware of different accents:
As a teacher you cannot just teach your students that there is only the English
pronunciation you use in your English language. All over the world there are more
variety accents of English than we could even expect. It is perfectly fine to teach
and test the students in one pronunciation but as a teacher you have to make sure
that they know that there are a lot more pronunciation in the world.
3. Improve their listening and reading comprehension from the very beginning:
Students should be able to choose what kind of pronunciation they would like to
speak. It is their own decision and if they use the right grammar and vocabulary
they are perfectly fine if they do not pronounce the word the same as you as a
teacher do.
4. Work with the different accents in class:
Point out and talk with the students what they notice by listening to different
accents. Let them be creative and be open minded for ideas of students. Make them
ready to encounter everything if they go abroad.
5. Find time to do research:
Take a look in the media or the newspaper and try to notice yourself if there are
new words or new styles of English.