I want to tell you about my friend who was teaching English to adults in Abu Dhabi. (我想和你們談談我的朋友，她在阿布達比教成人英語。） And one fine day, she decided to take them into the garden to teach them some nature vocabulary. （在一個晴朗的日子裡，她決定帶她的學生到花園去教他們一些大自然的詞彙。） But it was she who ended up learning all the Arabic words for the local plants, as well as their uses, medicinal uses, cosmetics, cooking, herbal. （但最後卻變成是她在學習所有當地植物在阿拉伯語中是怎麼說的，還有這些植物是如何被使用作為藥材，化妝品，烹飪，香草。）How did those students get all that knowledge? （這些學生是怎麼得到這些知識的呢？） Of course, from their grandparents and even their great-grandparents. （當然是從他們的祖父母甚至曾祖父那裡學來的。）It's not necessary to tell you how important it is to be able to communicate across generation. （不需要我來告訴你們，能夠跨代溝通是多麼重要。）
But sadly, today, language are dying at an unprecedented rate. （但是很遺憾，今天很多語言正以前所未有的速度消失）A language dies every 14 days. （每14天就有一種語言消失。） Now, at the same time, English is the undisputed global language. （而與此同時，英語卻毋庸置疑地成為全球性的語言。） Could there be a connection?（這之間有聯繫嗎？）Well I don't know. （我不知道。）But I do know that I've seen a lot of changes. （但我知道的是我見證過許多 改變。）
When I first came out to the Gulf, I came to Kuwait in the days when it was still a hardship post. （當我第一次來到波斯灣，我是去科威特，當時教英文仍然是個困難的工作。） I was recruited by the British Council along with about 25 other teachers.（我被英國文化協會聘用，連同其他25位其他教師。）And we were the first non-Muslims to teach in the state schools there in Kuwait. （我們是第一批非穆斯林在科威特的國立學校任教的教師。）We were brought to teach English, because the government wanted to modernize the country and empower the citizens through education. （我們被派到那裡教英語，因為政府希望國家可以現代化，並且通過教育提升公民的水準。）And of course, the U.K. benefited from some of that lovely oil wealth. （當然，英國也能得到些好處，產油國可是很有錢的。）
This is the major change that I've seen how teaching English has morphed from being a mutually beneficial practice to becoming a massive international business that it is today.（我見過最大的改變，就是英語教學的蛻變，如何從一個互惠互利的方式變成今天這種大規模的國際事業。）No longer just a foreign language on the school curriculum. （英語不再是學校課程裡的外語學科。） And no longer the sole domain of mother England.（也不再是英國的專利。）It has become a bandwagon for every English-speaking nation on earth.（英語教學已經是所有英語系國家追逐的潮流。） And why not?（何樂而不為呢？） After all, the best education: according to the latest World University Rankings is to be found in the universities of the U.K. and the U.S.. So everybody wants to have an English education, naturally. （畢竟，最好的教育來自最好的大學，而根據最新的世界大學排名，那些名列前茅的都是英國和美國的大學，所以自然每個都想接受英語教育。）
