Unit 2 Language--A Vehiclein Communication

Unit 2 Language--A Vehiclein Communication

Part IWarming up

A.Key words:
languagesdialectsofficial language
Vocabulary:discSomalia
You're going to hearsome statements aboutlanguage facts.
Supply the missinginformation.
1.There are more than 2,700 languages in the world.
In addition,there aremore than 7,000dialects.
A dialect is aregional variety ofa language
that has a differentpronunciation,vocabulary,or meaning.
2.The language in which a government conducts business
is the officiallanguage of thatcountry.
3.One billion people speak English.That's 20 percent of the world's population.
4.Four hundred million people speak English as their first language.
For the other 600million it's eithera second language ora foreign language.
5.There are more than 500,000 words in the Oxford dictionary.
Eighty percent of allEnglish vocabularycomes from otherlanguages.
6.Eighty percent of all information in the world's computers is in English.
7.Somalia is the only African country
in which the entirepopulation speaks thesame language,Somali.
8.More than 1,000 different languages are spoken on the continent of Africa.
9.When the Americanspaceship Voyage beganits journey in 1977,itcarried a gold disc.
On the disc,there weremessages in 55languages.
Before all of them,there was a message
from the SecretaryGeneral of theUnited Nations inEnglish.
B.Key words: learning style senses hearing learners
visual learners tactile learners
Vocabulary:visual/tactile
You are going to heara short talk aboutlearning styles.
Complete the followingexplanations.
Different people havedifferent ways oflearning.
We call this your"learning style,"andit's based on yoursenses.
To learn,you need touse your differentsenses--hearing,seeing,touching,etc.,
to bring informationto your brain.
Now,most people useone of their sensesmore than the others.
Some people learn bestby listening.They are calledhearing learners.
And others learn bestby reading or lookingat pictures.
They are called visuallearners.
And some learn bestby touching and doingthings.
They are calledtactile learners.
Now,scientists don'tknow why people useone sense more thanthe others.
Maybe the sense theyuse most just worksbest for them.
C.Key words: language learning styles communicative
analyticalauthority-orientedconcrete
Vocabulary:identify/analytical/oriented/concrete
Now listen to anothertalk about languagelearning styles.
Focus on the fourbasic learner"types".
Match Column A,thelearner types,withColumn B,ways oflearning languages.
All right,class.
Today we're going tobe looking atdifferent languagelearning styles.
You may be surprisedto find that
there are differentways of going aboutlearning languages,
none of which isnecessarily betterthan the others.
Researchers haveidentified four basiclearner:"types"--thecommunicative learner,
the analytical learnerthe authority-orientedlearner andthe concrete learner.
Communicative learnerslike to learn bywatchi

ng and listeningto native speakers.
At home,they like tolearn by watching TVand videos,
They like to learn newwords by hearing them.
In class,they like tolearn by havingconversations.
Now,concrete learnerslike to learn byplaying games,
by looking at picturesand videos in class,by talking in pairs,
and by listening tocassettes at homeand school.
Now,authority-orientedlearners,on the otherhand,like the teacherto explain everything.
They like to writeeverything down intheir note-book,
and they like to havea textbook.They liketo learn new wordsby seeing them.
And finally,we haveanalytical learners.
These learners like tolearn by studyinggrammar.
At home,they like tolearn by studyingEnglish books,
and they like to studyby themselves.They like to findtheir own mistakes.
Now,of course,
it's unusual for aperson to beexclusively one "type"rather than another.
Most of us aremixtures of styles.What type of learnerdo you think you are?


Part II What makes a good orbad student?

Key words:experimentplay with the language
testing passiveunwillingness to makemistakesrely on read
Vocabulary:peep/invariably/stick one's neck out/off one's own bat
A.Before you listen to the conversation,
please list some ofthe things
that a good studentor a bad student willdo in the classroom.
B.Now listen to the conversation
in which a teacherdescribed the sort ofthings
a good student or abad students doesor does not do in theclassroom.
In the followingchart,some facts havebeen given to you.
The symbol "●" standsfor major points whilethe symbol "◇"standfor supporting details
Complete the chart.
A:Well what I wanted to ask really was... you're a teacher,
been teaching for someyears now,erm,whatwould you say,
how would you describea good student or abad student,
you know,sort ofthings they do ordon't do in theclassroom?
B:Erm,well,
a good student isusually one who's notafraid to makemistakes,I'd say.
A:Uh huh.
B:And he's,er,eager to experiment with every new thing that he learns,
whether it be astructure or afunction or a newword,
erm,he immediatelystarts trying to useit.
A:Yeah,all right.
B:And he's interested in the mistakes he makes,he's not afraid to make them.
A:So,he's not simply interested in having it corrected and moving on?
B:No,no,no.He,he plays with the language.
A bad student,on theother hand,willperhaps say
"OK I've done thischapter I know this,"
without trying toexperiment at all,without really testinghimself..
A:Ahha,ahha.B:He's usually passive he won't speak up much in the classroom
He'll very rarely askyou why this and whynot something else...
A:Just sort of accepts what you give him and doesn't do anything more with it.
B:That's right
and in a test he's theone person who'slikely to suddenlyrealize that,
er yes,he wasn't too sure about that after all.A:Yeah.
B:And peep over at the er ... at his neighbor's paper.
A:Oh yes,and alternative learning strategy.
B:Right,and he invariably deci

des
that the other personis more likely to beright than himself.
I think that's theresult of,
er,this sort ofunwillingness tomake mistakes andstick his neck out.
A:Mm,right,yeah.Er, anything else?
B:Er ...A:That characterizes the good or bad learner?
B:Er,mm,the bad learner is,wait a minute er,the good learner is erm,
well,I think he'll domore off his own bat
as well,he won't rely entirely on the teacher.A:Mm hm.
B:He'll read,he'll read books.
A:Mm,so work outside the classroom as well as in it.B:Yes,yeah.
A:Yeah,yeah.B:Students who make most progress are first of all those


Part IIISome facts aboutEnglish.

Key words:widely useddifficult
hodgepodgeirregularitylargest vocabularyidiom varieties
Vocabulary:linguistics/spring upaviation/hodgepodge
stem from/baffleprestige/evolvepose/slang
A.Listen to an interview talking on some facts about English.
Focus on the thingsthat make Englishdifficult to learn.
Supply the missinginformation.
I:And now we have an interview with Professor J.T.Lingo,
Professor ofLinguistics at ChimoUniversity,who ishere to talk to us
about the growingbusiness of teachingEnglish.
Good morning,Professor Lingo.
P:Good morning.I:Professor,I understand that teaching English is
becoming "bigbusiness" all aroundthe world.
P:It seems that language schools are springing up everywhere.
I:Why is that?P:With the move toward a global economy,
English has becomethe most widely usedlanguage in the world.
It is the languageof business,aviation,science andinternational affairs
and people find thatthey must learnEnglish to competein those fields.
I:And do people find English an easy language to learn?
P:Well,every languagehas something about itthat other people finddifficult to learn.
English is such ahodgepodge ofdifferent languages--
it's essentiallyGermanic but a lotof its vocabularycomes from French,
and technical wordsstem from Latin andGreek.
This feature makesEnglish fairlyadaptable --
which is a good thingfor a world language-- but it causes
irregularity inspelling andpronunciation.
I:English spelling baffles me,too.P:Yes,well,anyway,
English also has thelargest vocabulary.Often there are wordsfor the same thing,
one that is Anglo-Saxon and one fromthe French --
like "buy" which isAnglo-Saxon and"purchase" which isfrom the French.
The French word oftenhas more prestige.I:Anglo-Saxon?
P:That's the word forOld English.The NormanConquest in 1066
brought the Frenchlanguage to Britain
and helped Englishevolve into thelanguage it is today.
I:I see.Is thereanything elseparticularly difficultabout English?
P:Well,the idioms in informal English pose a problem for some students.
I:Informal English?P:As with any language there are different varieties:slang,
colloquial,formal,written,as well asthe different dialects
-- British,Americanand Canadian English.
I:And how is Canadian English different from American and British?
P:Well,Canadian English is closer t

o American in pronunc- iation and idiom.
Some of our words andour spellings doreflect British usage,however.
We wouldn't use theBritish term "lorry"for truck,
but we have kept the"o-u-r" spellings inwords such as "honour"and "colour."
I:This has been veryinteresting,professor.I'm afraid we're outof time.
It has been a pleasuretalking to you.P:Thank you.
I:We have been talking to Professor Lingo of Chimo University.
B.Now listen again. Decide whether the statements are true or false.
Put "T" for true or"F" for false in thebrackets.
Then discuss thefollowing questions.
Questions fordiscussion:
1.Do you agree that English will eventually be the world language?
If not,which languagedo you think will be?
2.From your experience what is particularly difficult to learn about English?
Part IVLanguage study andlanguage appreciation
Listen to thefollowing statementsyou have learned inthe previous
and present units.Pay special attentionto the parts in boldtype.
Learn to appreciateand use the language.
1.to excel in ...The University excelsin sport and socialactivities,debating,
drama,music and muchmore.
2.to sit anexamination
After that,you canleave school atsixteen or you cango on
and sit yourUniversity EntranceExamination,
which then gives youentree into auniversity.
3.on the ground thatMany people whosepractical experienceand ability
would have beenenormously useful totheir employers havebeen rejected
on the ground thatthey areinsufficientlyqualified.
4.off one's own batThe good learnerwill do more off hisown bat.
He won't rely entirelyon the teacher.
5.to spring upIt seems that languageschools are springingup everywhere.
6.a hodgepodge of ...English is ahodgepodge ofdifferent languages.
7.to evolve into ...The Norman Conquestin 1066
brought the Frenchlanguage to Britainand helped
English evolve intothe language it istoday.