English Language Day is a United Nations observance, that is celebrated each year on 23rd April. The day when William Shakespeare was born. Shakespeare has been the greatest writer and dramatist in English Language.
English Language Day was observed first time in 2010 United Nation’s Department of Public Relation to inform people about the history, cultural diversity and the achievements of the world language. People and organizations around the world celebrate this day by arranging book-reading events, English poetry and literature exchange and different other activities to learn more about English.
A language that was initially spoken by only three tribes around 1500 year ago is today a language spoken by nearly two billion people in the world. It is the most influential and important language of the world that has gained the status of global language. It exists in two major written forms, American and British and with the thousands of dialects and forms.
English is a West Germanic language, named after the Angeles. Angles was a West Germanic tribe that migrated to England. It roots back from Anglia Peninsula that juts off into the Baltic Sea. Due to being astonishingly flexible it has taken on tones, words and grammar from every language.
The vocabulary of English is so huge, Oxford English Dictionary has 615,000 words. word collectors claim of more than one million words If you ring in scientific and technical terms. More than 350 languages influenced English Language, mostly French and Latin.
“English is flexible: you can jam it into a Cuisinart for an hour, remove it, and meaning will still emerge.” ~Douglas Coupland
English parts of speech are so flexible. This is one of the significant reasons of its popularity. Roaming between active and passive sentences, is almost impossible in many languages.
English has now become the Lingua Franca of the world. It brings together everyone from every field for trading and communication purpose. English is used as second and official language by more than 60 countries.
“With hard work, learning English, and getting involved, there is no limit on what you can achieve.” ~Arnold Schwarzenegger
Things to do on English Language Day
- Read English plays of William Shakespeare. His famous plays are Romeo and Juliet. King Henry and hamlet.
- Use social media to spread awareness by using hashtags like #UNEnglishLanguageDay #EnglishDay.
- If you are a teacher, prepare your class for a drama or role play and dedicate that to create awareness in your students.
- Learning history of English online or by books.
