Brazil will host the 2016 Summer Olympics and is targeting about 1 million people to receive Olympic language training, it was announced on Thursday. Aside from the Olympics, Brazil is also hosting the FIFA World Cup this year, and the number of tourists expected to descend in Brazil spurs the increased attendance in English language classes. The World Cup is almost here and this early, Brazil is preparing for the bigger audience.
Low ranking
It was gleaned from comparative international studies that Brazil is almost at the bottom of the rank, way behind several of its counterparts in English language proficiency. While English is taught in school, Portuguese is the dominant and official language in the country. The lack of English language proficiency has actually hurt Brazil, especially in the areas of information technology, hospitality, transportation and tourism. It is very difficult to find English speakers outside of Brazil’s major cities at the moment.
Turn-around
The coming international events in Brazil has boosted the growth of language schools in Brazil, and the country is actually preparing for it. The 2016 Summer Olympics will be the first Olympic Games to be held in South America. Olympic organizers have announced that EF Education First will be the official language training services to supply language training for the people that will be involved in the Olympics and Paralympic Games in 2016.
EF Education First
According to the announcement, the private education company, the largest international education provider in the world, will be delivering the language training to 110,000 regular staff in Rio for the Olympics as well as to the candidates for the volunteer program, which at the moment stands at 900,000. This number also includes Brazilian school children and contractors. With more that 1M people to receive language training, this is the current largest language training program in the world.
EF Education First is based in Switzerland. The education company, with focus on cultural exchange, programs for academic degrees, educational travel and language training has a long association with the Olympiad. Their first foray into the Olympic Games started with the Seoul Olympics in 1988. The most recent was the Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Based on the company’s English Proficiency Index, adults in Brazil showed an increase in language proficiency for the past six years and the Olympic preparation is expected to increase English language proficiency further.
Beyond the Olympics
For the President of the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee, Mr. Carlos Arthur Nuzman, the language training will leave a lasting impression in Brazil. The acquired skills of those who will receive the training will have a positive impact in their lives and careers in the future. The language training will not only be for English but for other languages as well.
The selection of Rio as the next host for the Summer Olympics prompted the Brazilian government to give priority to English classes in school. It has a long way to go, as Brazil still is ranked 38th in English language proficiency worldwide.
Photo credit: Taken by U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
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