let's talk about
manias let's start with Beatlemania
hysterical teenagers crying screaming
pandemonium Sports mania deafening
crowds all for one idea get the ball in
the net
okay religious mania
there's rapture there's weeping there's
visions manias can be good manias can be
alarming or manias can be deadly the
world has a new mania a mania for
learning English listen as Chinese
students practice their English by
screaming it
I don't want to let my parents down
I don't ever want to make my country guy
mouthing constantly
I don't want to let myself down
how many people are trying to learn
English worldwide two billion of them in
Latin America in India in Southeast Asia
and most of all in China if you're a
Chinese student you start learning
English in the third grade by law that's
why this year China will become the
world's largest english-speaking country
why English in a single word opportunity
opportunity for a better life a job to
be able to pay for school or put better
food on the table imagine a student
taking a giant test for three full days
her score on this one test literally
determines her future she studies 12
hours a day for three years to prepare
25% of her grade is based on English
it's called the GAO cow an 80 million
high school Chinese students have
already taken this grueling test the
intensity to learn English is almost
unimaginable unless you witness it
English I want to change my life
so is English mania good or bad is
English a tsunami washing away other
languages not likely English is the
world's second language your native
language is your life but with English
you can become part of a wider
conversation a global conversation about
global problems like climate change or
poverty or hunger or disease the world
has other Universal languages
mathematics is the language of science
music is the language of emotions and
now English is becoming the language of
problem solving not because America is
pushing it but because the world is
pulling it so English mania is a turning
point
like the harnessing of electricity in
our cities or the fall of the Berlin
Wall
English represents hope for a better
future a future where the world has a
common language to solve its common
problems thank you very much