Non-Blog #2: Australian-English: Joshua Zaborowski

For this World English project I want to focus on Australian English. The reason in which I chose to do my project on this type of English is for a few reasons. The main reason being is because it is one of the most chosen or requested places for college students to study abroad too. In addition to this I have a historical background in dealing with or staying with Australian foreign exchange students. The main guiding question I am going to be working with is "How do you teach students to value the variety of World Englishes." I am going to link my main focus to this question by taking the following approaches towards my future students: 
1.) Teach my students that by learning other World Englishes that they will be able to understand their own English dialect better, because they will see how these different dialects directly affect each other.
2.) In addition I will be showing them that by studying a different English dialect that they have interest in, that it will make them more inclined to learn more than what they thought existed in the English language.
More based for my teaching preferences the reason I want to do my project on this is because I would really love to teach in Australia someday and believe that by studying more into their English ways it will allow me to be a better teacher for them. I would like to focus on the grammatical differences between the two English dialects and in addition focus on the social implications. (The reason I want to focus onto both is because I have great information from this YouTube sensation that explains both of my focus') For the presentation portion of this I am going to be creating a PowerPoint that will contain YouTube clips, clips of my incredible skills and last of all valuable information with great pictures. 
The three sources I have found so far that will essential for my project are as followed:

YouTube Source: His username is TabloidJunk and I will be using a few of his videos throughout my presentation.
Australian Government Source: http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/austn-slang
The sources used for this story- 

• Baker, S 1983, A dictionary of Australian slang, 3rd Edition, Currey O'Neil, Melbourne
• Johansen, Lenie 'Midge' 1988, The Penguin book of Australian slang: a dinkum guide to Oz English, Penguin Books Australia, Melbourne
• Laugesen, Amanda 2002, Convict words: language in early colonial Australia, Oxford University Press, Melbourne
• Wilkes, G A 1996, A dictionary of Australian colloquialisms, 4th Edition, Oxford University Press, Melbourne
• Wilkes, G A 1993, Exploring Australian English: an expert humorous look at uniquely Australian idiom, ABC Books , Sydney

Article Title: 

The development of Australian English – Dan

by LUCA LAMPARIELLO

http://www.thepolyglotdream.com/development-australian-english/

The reason these sources are very good is because there is scholarly articles that go into depth on the development of the language as well the slang terms that are used in everyday life. In addition the YouTube source goes into comparison with the American English dialect which will help my presentation a lot to show comparisons in how English has developed across the world. 

Part 1: An English Speaking World: Joshua Zaborowski

I was assigned Part 1: An English Speaking World and it was giving information on the development of modern English. Throughout the film it was showing examples of how English is a neutral language and how it is the most used and being learned language in the world. For example, In India there was a huge debate on what was going to be the main language throughout the country and it ended with English being the best option against the language of Hindu. This was baffling to me because I really had no idea that countries such as this on the eastern hemisphere were making these types of decision on language. In addition to this, the film also talked about how business, politics and law throughout the world’s countries are being done in English. This too me was very interesting because it shows that any important business that needs to be taken care of is taken care of in the world’s neutral language. I liked in the film how they talked about Public School English. The fact that they could get students from different areas and have their English tongue switched to all match one form is quite impressive. It also stated that once the British English started to die off that the American English gave it a rebirth, but now it has become bigger than its original “parents.” Going off of this note, the film also talked about how American English allows for more “slang” to be included in the dialect than does British English. I liked how they gave interviews to teens and young adults in America and explaining “slang” and how they use it in everyday conversation. These slang words that were talked about are still being used in today’s society. (Shows the growth of the English language even in modern terms) One of the most intriguing parts to me however about this documentary was when it started going into detail about the Chinese. Chinese is the second most used language in the world and it has more people in China speaking Chinese than our whole American population. Yet, there is huge portion of their population learning English because it is considered the worldwide language and “key to success” language in terms of job opportunities and such. This made me link the fact that the Chinese economy and workers have such a high success rate because they are very educated in language; giving them the advantage over the competitor workers. Overall, this film made me realize how the English language has developed and not only affected a nation or two, but the whole world as a whole. My favorite term used was when the host Mr. McNeil stated “the varieties of English not dialects.” This statement was neat because it was showing that English is all basically the same, it just contains different specifics.