[originaltext] The United States is primarily an English speaking country. T

The United States is primarily an English speaking country. The majority of the population speaks English as their native language. Business, education and most public aspects of life are conducted in English. Across the country, people pronounce English sounds in several different ways. Americans speak one common language. This language is sometimes called American English.
    For speakers of other languages, learning English is important, but traditionally teaching people to speak English as a second language was given little attention. Non-English speakers were expected to "pick up" the language through contact in public. Recently, this has changed.
    Today, most large public schools and community collages have ESL (English as a Second Language) programs. American English teachers feel that English students should learn the language the way they will be using it. Therefore, ESL programs teach different English lessons to different students. Some programs teach students to communicate in English in public. Other programs teach the kind of English people need on their jobs.
    American ESL instructional methods emphasize the importance of the communication to language learning. These methods do not feature grammatical explanations and translation. The instructional goal is to get the English learners to learn by using their target language.