Georgia's government recruits brigade of native English speakers to spur a linguistic revolution
The goal is to make Georgia a country where English is as common as in Sweden — and in the process to supplant Russian as the dominant second language.
The government has already lured 1,000 English speakers to Georgia, and by September, hopes to have another 500 in place so that every school in the country has at least one. Under the program, which resembles both the Peace Corps and the Teach for America program, the teachers live rent-free with Georgian families and receive a stipend of about $275 a month.
The initiative to embed these foreigners across Georgia reflects the ambitions of its Western-leaning president, Mikheil Saakashvili, who speaks excellent English and studied law at Columbia University.