Appointed in January of this year, Prof. Montefort brings a distinguished academic background to his diplomatic post, having served as Deputy Dean and Head of the Department of Medicine at the University of Malta for the past 12 years. His visit underscores the strong cultural and educational ties between Malta and the UK. 

The event coincides with EC’s 20th year of successful operations in the UK capital since EC London opened its doors in 2005. It was the third international school opened by the group, following EC’s initial expansion beyond Malta in 2002 with EC Brighton. An additional school exclusively for adults and professionals aged over 30, EC London 30+, was launched in 2013. Since then, the school has taught a total of 75,000 students of over 150 nationalities in London. “EC London is a proud milestone in EC English’s journey of international growth,” said Mangion, who spearheaded the expansion of EC English into a global brand. 

During the visit, Prof. Montefort met with key members of EC’s London team, including Isabel Ribeiro, Head of EC Operations in the UK & Ireland, and Centre Director Thomas Weedon. The High Commissioner was given a tour of EC London’s newest location at Angel Corner House, 1 Islington High Street, a historic Grade II-listed building with deep roots in the capital’s history. 

The event commemorated the school’s journey through the years, from its original premises in Covent Garden in 2005, to Euston in 2015, and now to its current location as of October 2022. Known to many as ‘The Angel’, the building dates back to the 17th century, once serving as a coaching inn and later as a famous Lyons’ Café. Immortalised on the pages of Oliver Twist and the British Monopoly board as ‘The Angel Islington’, it remains a prominent London landmark.  

“We are proud to call such a most historic and beloved building our home,” said Isabel Ribeiro, Head of EC Operations in the UK & Ireland. “The Angel continues its legacy as a place of connection, learning, and inspiration for our students.” 

With over three decades of experience in the EFL sector since 1991 and a presence in top global destinations, EC English continues to shape the future of language learning while celebrating the heritage that grounds its success. “It’s exciting to see how far we’ve come over the past couple of decades, ” said Mangion. “We look forward to growing our global community and will continue putting innovation at the forefront as industry leaders.” 

Interested in learning more about EC London and the rest of our UK English schools? Get in touch with us here!

The post High Commissioner visits EC London as school marks 20 years appeared first on EC English ( EN ).

1. The English language is now spoken by approximately 1.35 billion people worldwide. That’s 17% of the world’s population.
2. People in the United Arab Emirates are the most keen to learn English, with a higher proportion of searches being conducted here for terms such as ‘Learn English’ and ‘Translate to English’ than any other country worldwide.
3. Out of all US states, California has the highest proportion of people who speak a language other than English at home.
4. 62% of UK adults think that English is the most important language for non-native children to learn at school around the world.
5. English is an official language in 75 different countries worldwide, meaning that 39% of countries have English as one of their official languages.
6. The average age at which children around the world start learning English at school is 7 and a half.
7. Of 1,453 million speakers of English, 373 million are native speakers (those who speak English as their first language) and 1,080 million are non-native speakers (those who speak English as their second language).[3]
8. Nearly 58 percent of the content on the internet is in English.[3]
9. If we listen to every conversation happening in the world, only 4 percent of the conversations involve native speakers. Rest involves at least one non-native speaker.
10. More than 50 percent of the world’s technical and scientific periodicals are in English.

Which Countries Want to Learn English Most?[1]

11. People in the United Arab Emirates want to learn English the most, as a higher proportion of searches are conducted here than in any other country. Over the last year in the UAE, an average of 34,800 searches were conducted for the term ‘learn English’, and a staggering 1.1 million searches were conducted for the term ‘translate to English’. 
12. Those in Malaysia also appear to have a strong desire to learn English, with 23 searches being conducted for the term ‘learn English’ per 10,000 of the population, and a further 801 searches per 10,000 being carried out for the term ‘translate to English’ over the last year.
13. Other countries that search for terms related to learning English the most include the Philippines, Sweden

Number of students learning English as a foreign language in 2022, by country[2]

14. In 2022, the United Kingdom had the most students learning English as a foreign language. There were approximately 262,400 students who were learning English as a second language that year, followed by Ireland with almost 116,000 foreign students. The third place ranking was completed by Canada, with around 105,000 students learning English as a foreign language.[2]
15. Number of students learning English as a foreign language in the UK is 262372. [2]
16. Number of students learning English as a foreign language in Ireland is 115869. [2]
17. Number of students learning English as a foreign language in Canada K is 104847. [2]
18. Number of students learning English as a foreign language in the USA is 100105. [2]
19. Number of students learning English as a foreign language in Australia is 94614. [2]
20. Number of students learning English as a foreign language in Malta is 56675. [2]
21. Number of students learning English as a foreign language in South Africa is 10039. [2]
22. Number of students learning English as a foreign language in New Zealand is 9056. [2]
23.  142 countries include English as a mandatory element of their national education policy. [5]
24. There are over 750 million worldwide who people speak English as a foreign language (EFL).
25. English as a second language accounts for roughly 375 million English language learners according to the British Council.

Attitudes Towards the English Language going into 2022[1]

To find out we polled 2,000 UK adults on 20/10/2021 using the market research company Censuswide asking: 

For children around the world whose first language is NOT English, which language do you think it is most important they are taught at school?’

The survey revealed that: 

26. 62% of UK adults think that English is the most important language to teach children in non-English dominant schools. 
27. 9% of people say Spanish is the most important language for non-English children to learn at school. 
28. And 6.5% believe that children who are not native English speakers should be taught French at school.
29. Other choices included Mandarin (3.4%), Arabic (1%) Hindi (0.9%), Russian (0.8%), Indonesian (0.6%), Bengali (0.55%), and Portuguese (0.55%).

How Many Countries Have English as an Official Language?[1]

30. Our research found that English is recognised as an official language by law (also known as de jure) in 55 countries worldwide. That’s 28.5% of the world’s countries.
31. If we include countries that have English as an official language by fact or de facto (not recognised by law), this increases the total to 75, therefore meaning that 39% of the world’s countries have English as one of their official languages.
32. On top of this, some territories within different countries recognise English as an official language. These include Hong Kong (China), Curaçao, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Saba and Sint Eustatius (The Netherlands), San Andrés and Providencia (Colombia), and the North and South Caribbean coast autonomous regions of Nicaragua.

Language Learning “Latest” Statistics[4]

33. In 121 nations, English is the most popular language to learn and is the second most popular in an additional 8 nations, accounting for 62% of all countries.[4]
34. In 2018, 27.9% of users said that their primary motivation for learning a language was academics, but in 2019, 22.6% of users joined for this reason between March and April.[4]
35. The top English-learning nations are Yemen, Vietnam, the Dominican Republic, Burkina Faso, and Guatemala, where between 70% and 80% of all students are enrolled in English.[4]
36. The rate of growth in language learning varied significantly by nation, with Iraq leading the list with a 640% increase in new students between March and April 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.[4]
37. The rate of growth in language learning varied significantly by nation, with Iraq leading the list with a 640% increase in new students between March and April 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.[4]
38. 88% of respondents said they would rather recruit bilingual individuals than monolingual ones.[4]
39. 97% of respondents in another study said that being able to speak another language made traveling simpler.[4]
40. According to Kaplan International, employees who can speak more than one language may anticipate a pay increase of up to 20%.[4]
41. English-speaking U.S. immigrants earn 15-19% more than those who solely speak their native tongue.[4]
42. In 2019 in the United States, English language learners (ELLs) made up 10.4% of the K-12 student population.[5]
43. According to the European Commission’s foreign language learning statistics, in 2019, 96 % of pupils in upper secondary general education in the EU were learning English as a foreign language.[5]
44. When it comes to learning English as a foreign language by country, Statista reports that in 2020 the UK recorded the highest amount of students with over 100,000 people learning English as a foreign language in the UK that year.[5]
45. There are thought to be 400 million English language learners in China.[5]
46. Pre-COVID, it was estimated that 250,000 native English speakers worked at more than 40,000 English language schools and institutes around the world to satisfy global demand for English language learning.[5]

How many English speakers are there worldwide?[5]

47. According to the English Effect, a report issued by the British Council, 1.75 billion people spoke English to a useful level worldwide in 2013.
48. Now in 2022, it is projected that there will be over 2 billion English speakers across the globe. This includes those who speak English as a second language (ESL). That’s over a quarter of the world’s population!
49. The overall total is made up of approximately 400 million native English speakers, with non-native speakers making up the rest. Combined, they make English the world’s most widely spoken language.
50. Statista puts the number at 1.5 billion people who speak English worldwide, either natively or as a second language.

Where is English spoken?[5]

51. English is the official language in 59 countries and 27 non-sovereign entities around the world. It is spoken in 88 countries and is also the language of the United Nations and European Union.
52. The United States has more than 230 million native English speakers, with over 283 million English speakers living there in total.
53. The United Kingdom has approximately 60 million native English speakers. These are the two largest native English-speaking countries by population.
54. Canada comes in third place with 20 million native English speakers.
55. Australia takes the 4th spot with roughly 17 million English speakers. Notable mentions also go to the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, and New Zealand!
56. India: 125 million people speak English
57. Pakistan: 108 million people speak English
58. Nigeria: 79 million people speak English.
59. The Philippines: 64 million people speak English

ESL market statistics[5]

60. The global English language learning market is huge and forecast to be worth $69.62 billion by 2029 according to a report issued by Meticulous Market Research.
61. As of October 2022, 61% of the content language for websites was in English.
62. There are many online learning platforms and multiple English learning apps that help people to start learning English. Consequently, the digital English language learning market alone is expected to grow by $ 14.37 billion during 2022-2026.

Which US States Have the Highest Rate of People Who Don’t Speak English at Home?[1]

63. 1 in 5 people in the US can speak two languages, but the vast majority of US adults have English as a first language. 
64. In California, 44% of people speak a language other than English at home. 
65. The state with the second highest proportion of individuals who speak a language other than English at home is Texas, where 35.5% of people say they do this. 
66. New Mexico also has a high proportion of people who speak a language other than English at home, with 34% of individuals saying this applies to them.
67. The states with the lowest percentage of people who speak a language other than English at home are West Virginia, Mississippi, and Montana where figures stand at just 2.6%, 4%, and 4.2% respectively.
68. English is the third most common first language in the world, being spoken as a mother tongue by over 527 million people!
69. English is by far the most studied language by non-native speakers worldwide, with some experts predicting that the language will be spoken by 2 billion individuals by 2050! 
70. Studies have concluded that the English language is one of the happiest languages in existence, along with Spanish and Portuguese

[1][2][3][4]

The post 70 Statistics about the English language appeared first on EC English ( EN ).

Maltese-owned EC English Language Centres has today, on November 19, 2018, announced its intention to acquire Embassy English from Study Group, subject to certain conditions.

EC, which has been in operation for over 25 years, is one of the leading schools in the language travel industry and is consistently awarded and acknowledged for its innovation and its use of cutting-edge technology in teaching students the English language.

A successful acquisition would mean that all of Embassy English’s full immersion programmes in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand would come under the EC banner, thereby making EC one of the largest English language schools in the industry with its expansion into Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast, and Auckland.

The acquisition would also see EC take over Embassy’s Young Learners programmes, Embassy Summer and Embassy Academy. This move means that EC will expand its Young Learners’ locations in London, as well as Central and Southern England; gain locations in the US in New York State, Massachusetts, and California; and expand in Canada to offer Toronto.

As a result of the acquisition, EC will have an English language school in the most sought-after English-speaking destinations around the world.

In discussing the intended acquisition, EC’s Executive Chairman Andrew Mangion said:

“EC has always strived to be at the forefront of our industry and that position has allowed us to keep an eye on the various trends and changes taking place. I have been an advocate for consolidation in our industry at both the school and agency level for quite some time, and I believe that our intent to purchase Embassy English is the right strategic move at the right time. We believe that consolidation will strengthen our core business and allow us to further diversify geographically without creating more competition. We are, of course, very excited about our intent to acquire Embassy, as it has always been perceived as a strong and reputable brand, and we look forward to continued growth and success in our industry.”

Study Group CEO, Emma Lancaster, said:

“The proposed transaction is a strong development for the sector. Study Group will continue to focus on its core business which is unaffected by the potential sale, and EC will increase Embassy’s offer with its significant, global language teaching expertise. Through all of this, we remain steadfastly focused on ensuring we continue to deliver the best possible learning experience for our students.

Details of the acquisition are being finalised and the school anticipates closing the deal within the coming weeks.”

EC was recently awarded the 2018 ST Star Chain School Award, an accolade the school received in 2017, 2016 and 2011, and for which it has been nominated nearly every year since 2007.

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