5th March 2012 Beirut, Lebanon
English in Lebanon: A Fire Worth Lighting
A love of English language teaching is in my DNA. My first job was as an English teacher, to Palestinian schoolchildren. My Grandfather spent fifty years in Nigeria, promoting access to English education. And my father has devoted his life to making it easier and more fun for people to learn English. He lives the Mark Twain line that education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.
The UK and Lebanon are outward looking countries – pioneers, adventurers, poets, dreamers, traders. We are always at our best when we are open to the world and when we engage the world.
And that world is of course changing at a dazzling pace. The generation now at primary school will interact in ways we cannot imagine. But one thing remains constant. For anyone who wants to survive and succeed in the 21st century, the English language is their most important tool. Or to put it in their language (and Niall Fergusson’s), English is the killer app. The language of information. Of education. Of opportunity. The language of the internet, and of globalisation.
So the English skills we are able to give the next generation of Lebanese kids will allow them not just to understand the world. Not just to engage the world, but to shape the world. That’s the Lebanese spirit. That’s the British spirit as well.
By 2015, 2 billion people will be speaking English. And I want that to include an entire generation of Lebanese kids. There are already more conversations in English between people whose second language is English than there are between native speakers of English. I want those conversations to include an entire generation of Lebanese kids.
In eight years, the number of schools here in Lebanon teaching English as a first foreign language is up by 20 per cent; and the number of students enrolled in English up 25 per cent. The Lebanese have always been fleet footed, able to react to changing circumstances. These statistics say that they have seen that English is the future. And the Lebanese should know of course – as our saw in the National Museum and Byblos last week, the Phoenicians helped give us our alphabet in the first place.
The days when London sought to impose our language on the world are over – now the world is demanding our language. The days when countries fought for linguistic space in order to project their power are over – English is now the world’s chosen language, from Silicon Valley to the Shanghai stock exchange to the dynamos of Delhi. Churchill’s great line on nations divided by a common language has been overtaken – we are now nations united by a common language.
And it remains vital that the UK harnesses this energy. We must maintain our support to the English language profession. We must ensure that our immigration procedures, rightly tough, do not push students to study elsewhere. And we must continue to back institutions such as the BBC World Service, which turned eighty last week.
So I am excited to be putting English language promotion at the heart of what the embassy does in Lebanon. I hope that we can chart a course for every Lebanese child to have the opportunity and means to learn English. It’s a realistic ambition. It’s a fire worth lighting.
I have a neighbor that want to learn english they are Lebanese and I would tike to SPEAK Lebanese what do you suggest?Do not have time to go to school, have to learn at home.
Thank You
WILLIAM
William,
Do have a look at the British Council’s website. Lots of learning resources. Good luck.
Tom
Dear Sir,
I am really interested to take private english lessons but i need your help to find the right teacher (British Native).
I am good in english but what am i looking for is to be a profesional and speak the english language fluently.
British council is a good school but i am far from beirut, to join the center is little bit difficult for me.
Thanks in advance for your support.
It is very interesting to read the ambassador’s blog of today. As a Lebanese woman who is interested in inclusion and disability I found the following commitment of the ambassador and the British embassy to be amazing, very positive and hopefully will create the necessary grounds for teaching English in an inclusive manner.
‘I hope that we can chart a course for every Lebanese child to have the opportunity and means to learn English.’
I believe that targeting every Lebanese child regardless of their ability or disability, socio-economic background, gender, religion, age, ethnicity may involve, among other things creating an environment that welcomes everyone irrespective of the differences, to prepare teachers to deliver their sessions for diverse learners and to make English material available, accessible and affordable for those who need it. And on top of that to work on the mindsets, especially of the new generation, so they understand and value our diversity.
The UK is one of the leading countries that practises inclusion. This would not have happened without the great efforts of those who are involved. So, let us also in Lebanon regard inclusion as very important and fundamental to our work.
I am sure with the support of the British Embassy together with that of the British Council and the many Lebanese people we will be able to include disabled people and other marginalized groups into the realm of learning English and of course this would help in getting this group to take part in shaping the world.