Students should be required to demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language, such as English, before graduating for several reasons: 1) Learning English provides opportunities for greater global competitiveness through access to knowledge, understanding of other cultures, and professional development. 2) English is a lingua franca that facilitates international and professional communication, improving opportunities for employment both within and outside of Colombia. 3) Speaking multiple languages has mental health benefits like increased brain plasticity, concentration, and delayed onset of diseases like Alzheimer's.

1. OUTLINE:
I.
Students from other programs should demonstrate proficiency in a foreign
language as a requirement for their graduation on the grounds that learners acquire
global competitiveness, improve labor relations, and obtain mental benefits.
II.
Learning English provides academic learners with more opportunities for
being competitive.
A. Learning about another culture.
B. By being proficient, students can access to knowledge.
1. Example.
2. Being able understand what is needed to search in Internet.
C. Learning a L2 (Second Language) as English is a great chance for developing
the professional profile.
III.
English is
communication.
a
Lingua
Franca
in
International
and
professional
A. Opportunities for finding job.
1. Adecco Professional‟s report.
B. Professionals required for going to work in and out of Colombia.
1. „Ispeak‟ Program.
IV.
Learning languages provides health benefits.
A. Brain plasticity.
B. Improving concentration.
C. Delaying onset of diseases.
V. Learning English provides academic, professional, and personal benefits.
A. Summary of main points.
B. Question.

2. Let’s Speak in English
“Learning more than one language serves to break the cultural barrier originated
at the moment of traveling or meeting people from another place”, said My Oxford
English manager; thus, learning a foreign language provides students a borderless
world. Besides, English is spoken by a total of over 765 million people, and 335 million
of those as L1 (Native) and 430 million as L2 (Second language) speakers. Therefore, it
is useful that Students from other programs should demonstrate proficiency in a foreign
language as a requirement for their graduation on the grounds that learners acquire
global competitiveness, improve labor relations, and obtain mental benefits.
Learning English provides academic learners with more opportunities for being
competitive. First of all, due to learning about another culture in order to apply all the
acquired knowledge at job, students become open-mind people. Furthermore, by being
proficient in competences, future professional can access to knowledge reading books
or attending to conferences. In addition, students are able to understand what they are
searching in the Internet since almost the 30% of Internet‟s information is in English,
based on data from “Number of Internet Users by Language”, writing by Miniwatts
Marketing Group. To sum up, learning a L2 (Second Language) as English is a great
chance for developing the professional profile.
Moreover, English is a Lingua Franca, which is used for professional
communication between groups of people who speak different languages. Perhaps, the
main reason why it is so important to study English is because English is essential to
finding work. Being able to speak in English will give us a wealth of opportunities of a
better job. According to the latest report published by Adecco Professional on this
subject, language proficiency may increase by 28.8% the chances of finding a job; also,
English is still the most requested (86%). Regardless of the professional field, English
will always provide advantages in order to ascend or access another job, helping
employees to improve their current work situation. In addition, Ispeak, program created
by The Government in 2009, offered 5000 places for bilingual people in July of this year,
and will continue generating more opportunities in order to every year, explained the
current Minister of Commerce, Industry and tourism, Sergio Díaz-Granados. In
summary, English is the international language which lets people communicate among
themselves, making up easier labor relations in order to get a job.
Furthermore, learning English provides some health benefits related to the
mental. After examining 105 people which 80 were bilingual, scientists from University
College London (United Kingdom) detected that knowing a second language modifies
the structure of the brain, specifically the area that processes information. In particular,

3. it improves brain plasticity, enhancing learning and memory being these 2 factors,
essential for any student. Besides, according to a research published in “Psychological
Science magazine” the last year, people who learn more than one language are better
able to concentrate and focus their attention easily, ignoring interference that may
distract them. Another positive aspect is that it delays Alzheimer. This Advance was
demonstrated by Ellen Bialystok, professor of psychology at York University in Toronto
(Canada), who did a study with 450 Alzheimer‟s patient. Half of them had spoken 2
languages in most of their life, causing a delay of the onset of this disease (4-5 years
later). In light of everything discussed herein, it is a fact that learning a foreign language
improves mental health.
To conclude, it‟s important to remember the wide benefits and opportunities that
studying English provides not only to academic or professional field, but also to the
personal field related to the welfare. In addition, learning English is a reality that every
day becomes more common in Colombia, seeing that world needs to encourage
bilingualism, and consequently universities should require professionals with proficiency
in a foreign language. And people is still not interested in learning another language?
Mario Arenas Herrán