The Goal of Oral English

The goal of Oral English is communication. Communication means that people speaking to one another can understand each other. In the world of business you must communicate with others from many countries with different native languages. Much of this communication with people of different languages is done in English. When a German does business with a person from Italy it is in English. Some 98% of the world is learning English from an early age through college. So for a business major, English is a necessity.

Is English the best language in the world? Many people would say no. Other languages have better structures, are simpler, and are far more regular with fewer exceptions to the rules. The English language has "borrowed" words from many of the languages of the world. Immigrants coming into the United States have contributed many words to the language, words that have rules of pronunciation from the original country. "Coolie" and "kowtow" were taken from the Chinese language, "kamikaze" from the Japanese, "shampoo" from Indian, "blitz" from German, "amigo" and "Los Angeles" from Mexican and so on. Almost all Americans trace their roots from other counties and thus the language is rich in words from these countries.

English is a language that is constantly changing. British English was once the most popular but is gradually being replaced by American English. The two differ somewhat in spelling, vocabulary, and use of articles. Either is acceptable but you must not mix the two. You must use one or the other.

Many students have studied English for years, some as many as eight. But some have difficulty speaking so native speakers can understand the meaning. Some know many words but are unable to discern them when native speakers use them. In our Oral English classes we will concentrate on speaking and listening to native English speakers. For this reason, because we are trying to train your ears to hear English and your mouths to speak intelligible English, we will have a rule that ONLY ENGLISH will be spoken in our classes. Anyone speaking Chinese in class will be required to pay a fine in order to encourage the speaking and understanding of English. If the teachers enter into a classroom and discover that anyone is speaking Chinese, they will require everyone in the room to pay the fine. It is everyone's job to enforce the English Only rule. It is for your benefit. It is because we want to accustom your ears to hearing English. They have been speaking Chinese for about 18 years and need no practice to improve their Chinese. They need practice in speaking and hearing English.

Other subjects may be learned solely from books but the only way to learn a foreign language is to "SPEAK IT!" Students are often nervous about speaking in class at first but we hope to make the classes fun so you will forget your nervousness and learn to speak out. Enjoy your classes.