Random ideas 3- English at Home, English Away
This is my idea for a glocal textbook range that I’d be happy to use if anyone else writes it (as I know I’ll never manage anything longer than 3000 words), so am more than happy to just give away.
The book would be especially designed for the majority of students for whom English seems something far away and irrelevant. The first way of making it relevant and near would be to show them that English is in fact all around them in things like words shared with English, local things translated into English for tourists (e.g. audio guides in museums), English lyrics in local pop music, product names, etc. The second part would be to concentrate on the “English away” that they will really need, e.g. air travel English (immigration forms, safety announcements etc), other kinds of travel English, Google results in English, telephoning, emailing, and meeting foreign visitors. This can be supplemented with things that have other connections to them, such as things that people from other countries have written about their country or hometown.
I believe the concept could work in loads of countries, although the content would have to be changed. So, get yourselves to an international publisher that also publishes locally (most of them, they just try to keep it quiet in case it makes the local books look less professional) and sell my idea as your own!
