Page 8 - ELG1805 May Issue 457

GLOBAL NEWS . NEWS

DENMARK: extra-curricular English classes for have made it in life and have huge arranging for another person to sit better in English education.
Almost half of university students first and second graders in 2016. figures in their bank accounts’. the Test of English as a Foreign The state pays for costly
in Denmark have classes in gl bal There are currently 561 public Fellow actor Kwaku Manu Language (Toefl) exam in April. ‘foundation years’ for those
English, the Copenhagen Post elementary schools in Seoul, 351 of stressed that not speaking good Prosecutors said that, in March entering university whose English
reports. which have native-speaker English English has become an obstacle to 2016, the 21-year-old ‘arranged is not good enough to tackle degree
Forty-three percent of students teachers. the progress of talented people in to have a paid test taker sit in her courses straight away, The National
used English in the classroom, The education authorities in Ghana, claiming only 20 per cent place, after she failed to achieve the reports. The government is keen
according to figures from the Seoul will also give each school of Ghanaians can speak English minimum score needed to attend to phase the year out by improving
national statistics office Danmarks one million won ($950) to buy fluently. Penn State,’ Reuters reported. English lessons in schools, but
Statistik. perspective teaching materials aimed to The Toefl score attained by the the deadline has been repeatedly
Both at Copenhagen Business develop a curriculum that teaches accomplice was falsely awarded pushed back.
School and IT University of English interactively. to Huang, granting her admission ‘The country is spending
Copenhagen, English has replaced to Pennsylvania State University. millions on that,’ Ms Al Muhairi
Danish as the official language. GHANA: Huang was subsequently issued a said, referring to the foundation
Meanwhile, at the Technical The Gazette editorial team’s Ghanaian actress Clara Benson, student visa to enter and remain in year. School pupils who are not
University of Denmark, all selection of ELT news from known by her screen name Maame the United States for the duration up to scratch, but in the past have
graduates have been taught in Serwaa, was trolled on social media of her studies. Huang pleaded been allowed to pass exams, will
English for the past decade. around the world for speaking ‘terrible English’, the guilty and agreed to be deported. no longer be given such an easy
According to the rector of the GhanaWeb website reported. ride, she said.
Technical University, offering The online baiting followed UAE:
English is a way to ensure Danish number of Indians are writing Arizona spend two hours a day in their first year of English a press briefing which took The United Arab Emirates is
students are equipped with a novels in English. A surge in busy studying English rather than language development will now place when the actress signed wasting ‘millions’ of dirhams on
level of English that makes them professionals trying to get back four has been resurrected, after be put to the Senate for a vote. a record contract. Interviewed CHINA : English lessons because teenagers
competitive internationally. into the reading habit has also many thought it was dead in the about the incident on Delay TV, A Chinese student at Pennsylvania leave school without sufficient
This is especially true within helped these clubs grow, according water. the ‘Kumawood’ actress said: State University in the US is to be skills in the language, the Emirates’
engineering, where English is the to the Star2.com website. The popular bill which would ‘Ghanaians have a perception that deported, after she cheated in the parliamentary body has heard.
international language of choice. Bring Your Own Book (BYOB), reduce compulsory English Gage Skidmore if you can’t speak English (…) you college admission English-language Education minister Jameela Al
Among the graduate students Delhi Book Lovers and Gurgaon hours was previously stopped by can’t be successful but I can cite so exam, The Standard HK reported. Muhairi told the Federal National
in the country who chose English- Book Club are just a few of the Arizona Senate President Steve many people who, without school, The student, Huang Leyi, admitted Council that schools must do
language education, 57 percent popular book clubs in New Delhi Yarbrough, the Arizona Daily
were Danish nationals. and in other Indian cities. Star reports.
While most book clubs began as Yarbrough refused to hear the
informal gatherings among friends measure saying that he believed Steve Yarbrough
to discuss a book over coffee or tea the current model was working.
at one another’s homes, many are Others, including education
currently driven by social media bodies, disagreed. They argued SOUTH KOREA:
and have thousands of members. that segregating pupils for four All public elementary schools in
Most of the clubs focus on hours of English a day had Seoul are to employ native English
English-language books, whose resulted in some of the worst teachers from 2019, the Korea
market is flourishing due to the students outcomes. Joongang Daily reports.
rise of local English language Pupils, they argued, struggled The move is an attempt to
authors such as Chetan Bhagat to fit in regular classes, and were narrow the gap in English language
and Amish Tripathi. split from their English- speaking skills among students, caused by
INDIA: peers. some of them benefiting from
Book clubs have become popular US : An amended version of the private night schools and tutors.
in India as literacy rates rise to A bill which would make English bill, which would limit English It also follows complaints from
74 per cent and an increasing language learners (ELLs) in study four hours a day to pupils parents after ministers banned

years of tensions between make society more cohesive
LATVIA: the countries. Latvia and its and the state stronger’. The
The Latvian language will neighbouring Baltic countries Russian lower house disagreed, Krists Luhaers
be made compulsory in all became independent from calling the decision a violation
secondary schools in Latvia by Moscow during the Cold War. of internationally recognised
2021, according to the BBC. Around 300,000 Russian- rights.
However, a quarter of the speakers - 13 per cent of Latvia’s Primary school Russian
country’s 2.2m population is population - are so-called ‘non- children will still be able to
Russian and MPs in Russia citizens’, due to their lack of choose from bilingual and
have urged their government fluency in Latvian. Russian-only teaching in 94 out
to impose economic sanctions According to the Latvian of 800 state-funded Latvian
on Latvia, following its language President Raimonds Vejonis, schools, according to the Latvian President
reform. The move comes after the language reform ‘will government. Raimonds Vejonis

8 April 2018 editorial@elgazette.com 9