English Australia ESL lesson breaks world record

The world’s biggest English lesson took place in Sydney, Australia this week, breaking the world record, with students from 62 different nations taking part.

Organised by English Australia, the event expected 3,000 English language students to convene on Bondi Beach for the biggest English lesson in the world.

“Australia is one of the top destinations for you, international students, globally”

The event was arranged in order to highlight the diversity of English language students in the country, English Australia said.

“Australia is one of the top destinations for you, international students, globally,” said Brett Blacker, CEO of English Australia, at the event.

“And New South Wales is the number one choice destination for English language students in Australia, and it’s easy to see why.”

The lesson covered topics including idioms, conditionals and how to sound more natural when speaking in the past tense.

Twenty-seven English Australia member colleges from New South Wales backed the lesson, with the teachers from these institutions working together to design the lesson plan.

Officially opening the English lesson, Senator Richard Colbeck, minister for tourism and international education, said: “I’d like to first congratulate English Australia and all the organisers for bringing 27 colleges together, to represent the half a million students here in Australia studying across all our institutions; 100,000 of those studying English language.”

He added that international education sector worth nearly $20bn to the Australian economy “a really important part of our engagement with the world”.

In 2014, Australia had 163,542 international students in English language programmes, with China, Japan and South Korea being the top three sending countries.

With over 120 member schools, English Australia’s membership represents 80% of the international students coming to study English in Australia.