Editorial

The end of what has come to be known in history as the Great War brought dynastic empires to an end - the Ottoman and Habsburg empires, to name but two - and ushered in a number of republics. It was, at first and second sight, an unlikely platform from which to launch the English-Speaking Union. Yet, that was what Sir Evelyn French did in 1918 to promote closer ties between English-speaking peoples.

How successful it was, initially, is open to question. What is not is its growth since then into an organisation that operates in more than 50 countries and its contribution to the promotion of international understanding through the use of the English language.

This has become, increasingly, the working language of a world that has shrunk in size because of globalisation in trade and communications. National languages remain vital to national identities but the English language has crossed most frontiers, peacefully, and is today the first or second language of the greater part of the world's population.

The surprise that an ESU branch is being opened in Malta lies in the fact that it has taken so long for the island to become a member. For the fact that it now is, we have to be grateful to Malta's Evelyn French and the outgoing Maltese High Commissioner in England, Michael Refalo. Malta's membership, alongside a number of Eastern European and several African, Latin American and Asian countries, would seem to be natural in the order of things; unnatural only in the sense that Malta joined so late.

If she will forgive us coining a word, ESU director general Valerie Mitchell was impressed with our Englishspeakingness. She seems to have been impressed by what she saw and heard when she addressed an audience of school representatives and officers from the Education Ministry. The presence of the latter as, indeed, of Education Minister Dolores Cristina, who has agreed to be the branch's first patron, as well as the whole-hearted backing of education shadow minister Evarist Bartolo for the project, bodes well for the ESU's future in Malta.

The role of English in literature, in music and the arts as well as the art of public speaking, discussion and debate lie at the heart of the ESU. These and the exchange of ideas and experience through the medium of a common spoken language - essential elements of the ESU's mission statement - are potentially great contributions to a greater understanding between ourselves and other peoples.

Perhaps more to the point, the ESU will be providing pre-tertiary students, through their schools, with an opportunity to take part in competitions that have as their objectives the improvement of "aural presentation skills" and an ability to "stand up in public and (to) have that confidence they need to articulately deliver their... ideas... above all... to share their thoughts not only with their peers but also with the outside world..."

Membership of the ESU will provide students in Malta with a remarkable opportunity that goes beyond competitions; in effect, "to express themselves on an international level and to recognise their potential." Ms Mitchell emphasised, correctly, that none of this challenges the autonomy of the Maltese language for which the ESU has "absolute respect".

We have been given a remarkable tool. It is now the task of the steering committee, presided over by Dr Refalo and chaired by Martin Scicluna, to guide the largest number of schools to take advantage of it.