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    从新加坡回来已经一个多星期了，不过现在才有时间可以坐下来，把在新加坡的一些点滴和经历写下来。

    这次去新加坡，主要是参加在南洋理工学院内的教育学院主办的，一个名为东南亚英语的国际学术会议。一到新加坡，感觉有点潮湿和闷热，可能加之12月是它们的雨季的缘故，一到机场吃午饭的时候，外边突然下起了阵雨，还好十分钟后就结束了。

    出了机场，打的到住的地方，实在是有些失望。因为新加坡的住宿实在是贵得厉害，但是我们住的地方是一个私立学校内，还算比较安全。在新加坡的街道上走，感觉街道上总体还算是比较干净的，最主要的是人们的交通意识非常强，车让人，车让车，这样的交通非常有秩序，这点确实值得我们学习。

    这个学术会议感觉还是可以的，虽然我觉得在一些分讨论区可以学到的东西不是很多，但是学术性还是很强的。南洋理工大学的教育学院并不是很大，但是绿化和规划都很好，图书馆也很大；这和新加坡的街道与环境也是密切相连的，虽然新加坡的国土面积很小，但是当你走在街上，乘坐地铁，感觉新加坡也还算蛮大的，这可能和规划有联系吧。

  

    旅游方面，第二天下午抽空去看了鱼尾狮（Merlion），这是新加坡的象征，感觉还是很不错的；主要是看的人不会很多，所以可以很自由的在那里拍照。第三天晚上参加了大会组织的一个夜游，本想看一看新加坡的夜景，但是好像那边晚上也不见得灯火辉煌，加上下雨，实在看不到什么风景，就只记得在船里吃的那顿晚餐还有和Lawrence的闲聊了。第四天下午，也就是大会结束的那天下午，我们去了动物园，看了一下动物，可惜回来的时候下雨了，又只好打的去了中国城，感觉那里的环境就确实很一般了。

 
    总体来说这次新加坡之行还是有收获的，也了解到了那边的一些学校信息，虽然有点累但还是很开心。

Guest Wordmaster: David McAlary

By Rosanne Skirble and Avi Arditti

Broadcast: Thursday, March 18, 2004

English is fast becoming the language of science around the world, but what is its future among everyday speakers? One expert
points out that the percentage of native English speakers is declining globally while the languages of other rapidly growing regions are being spoken by increasing numbers of people. But, as VOA Science Correspondent David McAlary reports, English will
continue to remain widespread and important:

DM: Just 10 years ago, native English speakers were second only to Chinese in number. But British language scholar David
Graddol [GRAD-doll] says English will probably drop in dominance by the middle of this century to rank, after Chinese, about
equally with Arabic, Hindi, and Urdu, a south-Asian tongue closely related to Hindi. He points out that the decline will not be in
total numbers of English speakers, but in relative terms.

GRADDOL: "The number of people speaking English as a first language continues to rise, but it isn't rising nearly as fast as
the numbers of many other languages around the world simply because the main population group has been largely in the lesser
developed countries where languages other than English have been spoken."

In a recent article in the journal Science, Mr. Graddol noted that three languages not now near the top of the list of the most
widely spoken might be there soon. These are Bengali, Tamil, and Malay -- spoken in south and southeast Asia.

But another expert on the English language says Mr. Graddol underestimates the future of its dominance. David Crystal of the
University of Wales, the author of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, says about one-and-a-half-billion of the world's six-billion people speak it as a second tongue compared to the 400-million native speakers.

CRYSTAL: "Nobody quite knows what's going to happen because no language has been in this position before. But all the
evidence suggests that the English language snowball is rolling down a hill and is getting faster and faster and faster and accreting
new foreign language users unlike any language has ever done before. I don't myself see that process stopping in the immediate
future. David Graddol thinks even that momentum will die in the near future, but personally I think there is no sign of this."

DM: David Graddol does not dispute English's expansion as a second language, but his sense of proportion differs. While Mr.
Crystal says more than three times as many people speak it as a second language than as a first, Mr. Graddol says that only
recently have the second language speakers surpassed the number of native English speakers.

Whatever the total, he disagrees with the notion that English's growth as a second tongue means it will become the world
language to the exclusion of all others.

GRADDOL: "We have grown up with the idea of dominance meaning that a language actually pushes out other languages and
takes over the world. That's not actually what seems to be happening. Precisely because people are learning English as a second
language, they are not actually giving up their first languages. They are becoming bilingual or multilingual. So the spread of English around the world is actually creating a greatly increased bilingualism and multilingualism."

Mr. Graddol says this will put people who speak only English at a competitive disadvantage. In the new linguistic world order, he says most people will switch between languages for routine tasks and monolingual English speakers will find it difficult to
participate fully in society.

GRADDOL: "In India, for example, someone might speak five, six, even seven languages and not think that is a particularly
unusual thing. But there will be some activities like going down to the market and buying vegetables that they might be able to do only in, say, Tamil. Then when they go home, they will talk to their family in another language, but when they go to college they
will use probably English."

DM: Mr. Graddol notes that employers in parts of Asia are already looking beyond English. In the next decade, he says the most important language to learn for job opportunities is likely to be Mandarin Chinese.

For Wordmaster, I'm David McAlary on VOA's Coast to Coast.

Teaching English as an International Language: Rethinking Goals and Approaches

Sandra Lee McKay. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2002.

        The English language has spread and developed dramatically, while many varieties of English have been formed. What is a
more appropriate point of view to regard different varieties of English? How can English be taught, since it is considered to be an
international language (EIL)?

Sandra Lee McKay, in her book, Teaching English as an International Language: Rethinking Goals and
Approaches, raises questions about how to teach English in the framework of EIL, considering the definition of bilingual users of English, the appropriateness for English speakers to use a native speaker model to communicate and/or to teach discourse
competence, and the role of culture in language teaching. As readers, we can explore the answers to these questions in McKay’s discussion.

The first chapter, English as an International Language, shows readers the current status of English and examines the
factors which led to the spread of English and may impede its continued growth (p. 24). McKay also discusses features of an
international language, and provides her notions concerning an international language (p. 12).

    Chapter 2, Bilingual Users of English (native speakers of English are excluded), first tells readers how to define a native
speaker, and then explores “the various ways in which bilingual users of English make use of the language for purposes of wider
communication” (p. 45). More significantly, McKay differentiates three kinds of bilingual users of English in Inner, Outer and
Expanding Circle countries, because the needs of those bilingual users of English are diversified. Following this, the author
suggests that using English for international purposes is “the use of English as the default language for purposes of wider
communication” (p. 3 . The last section shows McKay’s own understanding in terms of how to “redefine English as an
international language” (pp. 38-39) and argues the advantages of bilingual English-speaking professionals, because English is used mainly for the purpose of communication, and “intelligibility” will be the key aspect for English users to fulfill this goal
(pp. 39-45).

    “Standardization” of English is always a popular topic for linguists, and the discussion between Standard English and
non-standard English has caught the attention of English speakers and many scholars. Chapter 3, Standards for English as an
International Language, provides the big picture of language change and varieties of English, and gives a detailed explanation of the issue of Standard English in the framework of EIL. English varieties in Singapore, India and Nigeria have been used to
exemplify speakers’ attitudes toward varieties of English in Outer Circle countries, while distinctive linguistic features of varieties
of English are also discussed. From this chapter, if possible, readers can learn that the term “standard” is not a static concept
regarding to the usage of English worldwide, and different ideas of what “standard” is depend on different perceptions. More
importantly, readers can gain a better understanding from McKay’s arguments in terms of how standard and non-standard
English would be used in daily life and when acquiring English in a formal educational context, especially in Outer Circle countries (see p. 7 .

    The next two chapters focus more on teaching English as an international language. Culture can be a crucial point, not only
embedded in the language itself but also motivating in language learning (see p. 100). In Chapter 4, McKay states that the culture of Inner Circle countries is not the only norm in today’s English language teaching, and that students’ own culture should not be
neglected, but emphasis should be placed on cultural diversity. The use of a method of “Communicative Language Teaching”
(CLT) is also discussed in Chapter 5. In today’s English language teaching, CLT has been acknowledged as an effective way to
foster students’ English skills. McKay also points out some challenges to CLT from both teachers’ and students’ perspectives,
wherein students’ needs for English learning is mentioned as a key challenge.

    In the conclusion, McKay presents some approaches to teaching English. The term “interculturality” and the concept of
“thinking globally but acting locally” are both emphasized at the end.

    Teaching English as an International Language: Rethinking Goals and Approaches is a useful source for those who
work with the English language in the up-to-date framework of EIL. The newly-developed concerns and arguments in this book will serve as a future reference in the domain of World Englishes and English Language Teaching.

        过去走在街上，大家打招呼都用“吃饭了吗”？现在走在街上，似乎这种打招呼的方式渐渐地变了，且不说是西方文化对我们的影响，也许现在的人们根本没心思去理会这个问题，社会的竞争，生活的忙碌，现在年轻人打招呼，大家的口头禅便成了“怎么这么忙，都没时间休息”。

        以前当学生的时候，总觉得有做不完的功课，考不完的试，于是羡慕工作了的大人。而工作了的大人又羡慕学生，说学生没压力，成天就知道玩。现在回过头，这些观点都是片面的。看到社会和生活的压力，也看到了学生的苦，也许我们真的需要一些时间去更多的了解不一样的人吧。

        学生忙了十多年，寒窗求学，为了有朝一日可以考上好的大学有出头之日；工人忙一辈子，为了可以养家糊口；白领忙一辈子，为了可以得到高人一等的生活……更多的人忙一辈子，回过头来似乎什么也没有得到。那么，我们“忙”又为了什么？有更舒适的生活，还是？

        那么，什么又是舒适的生活呢？现代的人比较喜欢攀比，别人怎么样我们也要怎么样？别人住高楼，我也想住高楼；别人开奔驰，我也想开奔驰。更戏谑一点，别人跳楼，我也想跟着别人纵身下去，所以跳楼也差点成了“跳楼风”。

难怪有这样一个笑话，讲的是一个一场多边国际贸易洽谈会正在一艘游船上进行，忽然发生了意外事故，游船开始下沉。船长命令大副紧急安排各国谈判代表穿上救生衣离船，可是大副的劝说失败。船长只得亲自出马，他很快就让各国的商人弃船而去。大副惊诧不已。船长解释说：“劝说其实很简单。我告诉英国人说：跳水是有益健康的运动；告诉意大利人说，不那样做是被禁止的；告诉德国人说，那是命令；告诉法莫道不消魂国人说，那样做很时髦；告诉俄罗斯人说，那是革莫道不消魂命；告诉美国人说，我已经给他们上了保险；告诉中国人说，你看大家都跳水了。

这个笑话可能有些夸张，但是从这则笑话中不难看出，中国人是喜欢盲从的。所以，现在人的跟风心理，让许多人活得很累。但回过头来，累的结果往往却是两手空空。

今天世纪大讲坛讲了一个关于人生和美学的关系，而我也不得不佩服我们汉字的伟大。一个“忙”字，给我们的启示就是“心灵已亡”。忙到头来，累了自己，累了自己的心，吃亏的只是自己。所以，在今天的生活中，有越来越多的人也试着给自己减轻压力。从小学初中的“减负”，到白领上层的“减压”，也是让自己在忙碌的生活当中，让自己解脱一下，看看生活沿途的风景，让心灵“停”下来休息一下。而我国古代，亭子正是闲谈放松的去处，“停”这个字，也说明了“人在亭子里面”，可以得到休息。所以当你在路上累了的时候，何尝不找个亭子，休息一会呢？

人的一生是有限的，也许埋头骨干的价值观在今天会被人们重新审视一番。奥斯特洛夫斯基的名言“人生最宝贵的是生命，生命属于人只有一次。一个人的生命应当这样度过：当他回忆往事的时候，他不致因虚度年华而悔恨，也不致因碌碌无为而羞愧”可能也会被赋予现在生活的一些新元素。至少在我看来，人的一生当然不可以虚度年华，也不可以碌碌无为。但我们也不要因为在回忆往事的时候，为没有感受和领悟到生命的和平，生命的宁静而悔恨，而羞愧。

    我们需要在忙碌的生活中找到自我，需要感受到生活的美丽。我们要找到属于自己的生活，让自己的人生旅行没有遗憾。

（写于2008年8月23日）

    上个星期天，去了广外考了日语J-Test，虽然只是考一个EF级，但是自己又以学生的身份参加考试。这种感觉呢，还是觉得很熟悉，当学生的感觉轻松许多。也许以后还是会以学生的身份继续深造，但是每一个人难道不都是学生吗？真是觉得我们都要放松一些心态，不要为了学习而学习，还是要为了充实自我而努力。

事情到了一段落，准备正式放假，许多事情还是未知数。。。好好放松，准备写写论文了~~~