English is considered a global Language as it is the second language (L2) of most people around the world, due to the increasing numbers of it speakers and also by English being universally distributed geographically around the world.
Personally I believe that from the student's point of view, there is the freedom in choosing to learn the variety of English of your choice, this is an inviolable right. I trust that it is first necessary to respect the conceptions and wishes of each person, but I recognize that this situation becomes more delicate when it comes to teaching English, especially in public schools. How to teach English, removing cultural influences from Countries like the United States and England? I do not assume that is an easy task, the North American culture, for example, is very strong in our country, since it has been disseminated for a long time through media such as cinema, music, and entertainment among others. I do not feel "removing cultural influences" is the solution, but rather educating students to be aware of and value their own culture.
I have an experience that illustrates this fact well, once I was teaching English for children aged 11 to 15 years old, as a PIBID teacher. The class was about Countries and nationalities, we prepared a presentation with photos of famous people (most of them were American), To teach "Where is he/she from?" Questions, I was amazed to see how the students knew all the celebrities and became excited during this activity. This is not necessarily a bad thing, it just exemplifies how the rich American culture is deeply rooted in our current society.
Mckay (2012) point out some key principles which are in accordance with the vision of David Crystal for promoting a socially sensitive English as International Language pedagogy (EIL). Among the main ones we have: “The EIL Should include examples of the diversities of English varieties used today, need exemplify L2/L2 interactions, should be taught in a way that respects the local culture of learning”. I agree with Mckay's remarks, and I realize that all of this combined with the serious attitude of governments to foster the appreciation of their own culture in schools would suffice to protect themselves against linguistic and cultural imperialism.
Many problems arise with the erroneous view that only the English of the Inner Circle countries should be adopted. As an example, there are cases of people who are experienced teachers and have a great knowledge of the English language, but who have suffered prejudice because they are not native speakers. They lose job opportunities and are exchanged for people who know nothing about the teacher's profession. Native speakers are not always good teachers, and according to Marek Kiczkowiak this misperception must be tackled.
To conclude, I reaffirm the importance of the value and the potential of social, cultural and educational transformation that the knowledge of the English language brings with it, and that the individual needs to be respected in his choices related to the many linguistic varieties. I think that everyone should help stop the myth of the native speaker being better at teaching the English language. And also that linguistic imperialism can be easily annulled when there are concrete actions by institutions such as Government and Family in order to value their own culture and identity of public school students.
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