ROBIN: Do you follow football, and what do you think about the World Cup?

JIM REDMOND, ST LOUIS, MISSOURI: Well I_m not going to be following it as closely as some people but I am going to be taking a passing interest at least.

ROBIN: When you compare American football and what we call soccer, which one seems more important to you?

JIM REDMOND: I would have to say the European-style football, what we would call soccer..

ROBIN: And is the World Cup making a big impact in the US this year?.

JIM REDMOND: Actually it is. A lot of people are showing some signs of hope that we have a chance to go to a higher level this year, rather than in 1994, or even before that. There_s starting to be more interest especially as we have a major league now.

ROBIN: Do you think football does sometimes play too large a part in people_s lives? Do people take it too seriously?

JIM REDMOND: Yes I do. People do take a lot of things too seriously _ football is just one of the major ones.

ROBIN: And why do you think that is?

JIM REDMOND: Well, it_s an issue of national pride or civic pride or whatever kind of pride you_re dealing with. If your team wins then you can look at this and say, _I was part of a winner._

ROBIN: Our next caller Alexandro Pinz Gonzales is calling from Bogota in Colombia. People in Colombia are passionate about their football - does that include you?

ALEXANDRO PINZ GONZALES: Yes that_s right.

ROBIN: Tell me why?

ALEXANDRO PINZ GONZALES: Well, actually it_s the most important sport here in Colombia and, as several speaker have said, it_s a question of national pride.

ROBIN: And has the country gone completely World Cup mad by this point?

ALEXANDRO PINZ GONZALES: Well, unfortunately after the last World Cup, which was very tough for us, we have lost some of the passion for it, but it_s very important for us now.

ROBIN: To go back to Jim Redmond in Missouri - everybody seems to be talking about national pride, but is it really sport that is the determining factor now in whether people are proud of their country or not?

JIM REDMOND: Well, we_re in a period of relative peace-time and I_d rather it_s sport being an issue of national pride than military strength.

ROBIN: To go back to Alexandro in Colombia - can you explain why it is football which has created this passionate following in countries like Colombia, rather than other sports?

ALEXANDRO PINZ GONZALES: Because it is the sport in which we have the most figures known internationally - like Asprilla, like Valderama. It is the sport in which we have the best sportsmen in Colombia.

ROBIN: So if Colombians were good at cricket or at baseball rather than at football do you think that those sports would have the same place in the national psyche?

ALEXANDRO PINZ GONZALES: Yes, it happened last year with the Florida Marlins. We had a baseball player in the Florida Marlins, who were the world champions at the time, and baseball became a great sport in Colombia while they were playing the finals. Now with the World Cup coming everyone_s attention is on it.

ROBIN: Ali Mohseni is an Iranian calling from Connecticut in the US. Do you accept that sport and politics inevitably are mixed?

ALI MOHSENI: No, I do not. I think the world being in the state that it is, it needs much communication between the people. There has been communication between the governments but with the invention of the Internet I think right now there is a need for communication between people and football and other international sports are one form of communication between people and by governments taking football or other sports and using them as a vehicle for their own communication they are depriving people of one of the good channels of communication.

ROBIN: Alex Kristanovic is calling from Zurich in Switzerland. Alex, do you see football as this great unifying force?

ALEX KRISTANOVIC: Yes, definitely. I think football is one of the driving forces of the unification of peoples. Look at how many people will be gathering together maybe not physically, but they will be watching the same event and probably be feeling like being together.

ROBIN: But you could argue that as well as bringing people together it also accentuates the differences, with fans battling it out on the terraces. It doesn_t engender a lot of friendship, does it?

ALEX KRISTANOVIC: I would rather say that in general it does. Of course there are always some hooligans, but that happens in other sports, it_s not exclusive to football.

ROBIN: Angelo Fragakos (phon) is calling from Ontario in Canada. What do you make of all the World Cup fever?

ANGELO FRAGAKOLOS: Well I think it_s fantastic, I_m very exciting and I can_t wait until it gets started. It only happens every four years, the best teams from all over the world get together.

ROBIN: But what is it about football? There are lots of other sports that people play, cricket, rugby, baseball, they don_t seem to engender the same type of interest do they?

ANGELO FRAGAKOS: The one thing about soccer that_s very unique is that it_s played for ninety minutes without using your hands, it_s played with passion, speed and quality.

ROBIN: So who will you be supporting?

ANGELO FRAGAKOLOS: Well, one of my favourite teams is England, but statistically speaking I_d have to go with Argentina.

ROBIN: Keith Dixon from Texas - Keith, are you getting excited about the World Cup?

KEITH DIXON: Yes we are. In the States of course we_ve got a decent team now and the interest is growing so fast here in the States at ground level.

ROBIN: Are there a lot of people playing European-style football in Texas?

KEITH DIXON: Yes, it_s growing tremendously from the school level upwards, in the last decade it_s just exploded.

ROBIN: Why is it becoming so popular - the US has a perfectly respectable form of football of its own, hasn_t it?

KEITH DIXON: Yes, the reason it_s growing is that it_s starts in the schools, the energy level - playing 45 minutes each half instead of stopping every few minutes, changing players. Basically it_s great exercise.

ROBIN: To Hobart in Tasmania, Bernard Marchant is calling from there. Bernard, is it getting people excited in Tasmania as well?

BERNARD MARCHANT: I think you_ll find it is _ those who are interested in it. Because we have another type of football over here - Aussie Rules. And in that game you have goals scored when the ball goes through the posts and there_s two more posts outside those posts and if you get one through there you get a point. Now this is what I was trying to tell my friends in England they should do in soccer. If they could introduce into soccer a different form of scoring, have your goals but when the ball hits the post it_s such a good shot that it_s worth a point so that if you had points for those that hit the post and those that go just past the post into another net and at the end of the game count up all the scores in points and add them on to your goals so you wouldn_t get nil nil scores.

END OF FOOTBALL SECTION

Robin: We now turn our attention to our other issue today which is language and education. In California voters have said they want to abandon the system which allows children from non English speaking families to start there schooling in their mother tongue. On the line now from California - San Deiago is Greg Warden.

Robin: Greg do you approve of this discussion to do away with bi-lingual Education or at least restrict it.

Greg: Well yes I voted against the BI-lingual education that we have in California it_s not an issue of BI-lingual education it_s an issue of actually teaching children their mother to the inclusion of the language of the country they reside in.

Robin: It was mainly design to help Spanish speaking children wasn_t it in your view what affect did it have on their education.

Greg: It tended to isolate them and perpetuate the isolation of the children they never learn are able to grasp the English language and then the transition to main stream education tracks.

Robin: You have no problem with the either of children should be brought up with speaking one language at home and a different language at school.

Greg: Absolutely none

Robin: You do not think that in it self disadvantage them in school.

Greg: I think it is the realty that if they parents speak only one language and they want to communicate with their parents they have to speak the language that is spoken in their household, so no I personally if I had the ability to speak multiy languages and I am sure I do have the ability but I never learn a second language I would love to have that capability but I do not BI-lingual education as it was practice in California was a self peretratuare isolation mechanism it did not promote children to speak English in society.

Robin: Okay I am going to move up to Toronto in Canada André Oliink he is calling from there André what do you think about what is happening in California.

André: I do not think the problem is not about kids being able to speak Spanish I have kids here in Toronto it is amazing how hard they try to learn the language of the majority, so I do not believe children that grow up in California wont be able to speak English on the level that they are not able to graduate from High school.

Robin: When you were at school we were you thought in your mother tongue or in a different language.

André: I grow up in Soviet Union so I was learning Ukrainian and Russian in school as basic languages and English as a foreign language so they were three languages and we had no problem with that.

Robin: And you thought that was a good system and one you would recommend to others.

André: Sure it is good to know has many languages as possible but I would say people in California that speak Spanish at home have the right to bring up their kids in Spanish schools they are citizen as every body else they pay same taxes why can they not choose the language for their kids.

Robin: Lets see whether Prof. Iouan Davis in Kyoto in Japan agrees, Iouan Davis do you think that is too mush for children at a young age to speak two different language.

Prof Iouan Davis: I do not see why it is a problem I was brought up in Belgium Congo at it was then we spoke English at home we spoke lingual in the playground we spoke French to the Belgium authority and I learn Swahili in school I do not think that is a problem at all.

Robin: So for children that came from Spanish families in California what do you recommend for them to be thought in their early years of their schooling.

Prof. Iouan Davis: I think the most important thing for them to learn is conversational English and also to learn the Spanish culture they come with I emphasise the conversational because in Japan at the moment most of the school teach people how to read English and therefore most people can not converse in.

Robin: They seems to be more people now a days that English is becoming the most global language.

Prof. Iouan Davis: No none at all .

Robin: We need to move on the Penelope Ramberg calling from Paris