UNIT 1.

LANGUAGE AND ITS EFFECTIVE USE

Don’t Insist on English!

by Patricia Ryan
https://www.ted.com/talks/patricia_ryan_ideas_in_all_languages_
not_just_english

PRE-VIEWING

1. You are going to watch a TED Talk by

Patricia Ryan called Don’t insist on English!
Work in pairs and discuss the questions.
• What is a world language? What is the
most widely spoken and fastest spreading world language
today? How many users does it have worldwide?
• What are the official languages of the United Nations?

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ANTICIPATING

2. Look at the title of the TED Talk. Then study the words
below and try to predict what the subject of the talk will be.
to morph from sth to sth — to gradually change
bandwagon /ˈbændˌwæɡən/  — sth that has become
successful or fashionable — повальное увлечение
self-fulfilling prophecy /ˈprɔfəsɪ/ — sth that you cause to
happen by saying and expecting that it will happen (e.g. Fear
of failure can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.)
to equate sth with sth — to consider one thing to be the
same as another thing
dyslexia /dɪsˈleksɪə/  — a general term for disorders that
involve difficulty in learning to read or interpret words
forelimb /ˈfɔ:lɪm/ — either of the front limbs of an animal
(e.g. a wing, a foreleg, etc.) — передняя конечность
hindlimb /ˈhaɪndlɪm/ — either of the two back limbs of an
animal — задняя конечность

VIEWING

3. Look at the questions (1-2). Then watch the TED Talk

and make notes. In what context were the vocabulary items
used by the speaker? After watching, discuss your notes with
a partner and answer the questions.
1. What issue does Patricia Ryan treat in her talk?
2. What is the most important idea the speaker wants to
get across to the audience?

4. Look at the questions (3-7). Work in pairs. Watch the

talk again. Answer the questions.
3. What is meant by language loss?
4. Why is everybody eager to have an English education
today?

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 5. Why can’t linguistic ability only be taken into
consideration while assessing a student? What other criteria
matter?
6. Why does Patricia Ryan compare English teachers with
gatekeepers?
7. How can language diversity benefit language users? Why
does Patricia suggest we should celebrate it?

POST-VIEWING
5. Work in teams. Discuss the issues below. After
discussing, report your team’s arguments to the whole group.
• Do you think language and cultural diversity should be
preserved worldwide? Substantiate your point.
• What is linguistic tolerance? Are linguistic tolerance and
language diversity closely intertwined? In what way?

FOLLOW-UP
6. Write a short speech outline and summarize the speech
verbally.* Remember to use the appropriate connectives.

7. Decide whether the speaker succeeded in

communicating her message to the audience. Did she
follow Grice’s cooperative principle? Are all Gricean maxims
observed by the presenter? Use the following scale to fill in
the chart. Then elaborate on your choice.
3 — the speaker followed the maxim
2  — on several occasions the speaker didn’t follow the
maxim
1 — the speaker didn’t follow the maxim
Quantity Quality Relevance Manner

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 8. Make a 3-minute statement on language diversity
in multicultural Europe. Then ask your fellow students to
evaluate it.
__________________
* NB

Making a Compelling Summary

After watching a video and discussing its contents, you will
be asked to prepare its oral (or written) summary.
Note that this type of work is first of all meant for an
audience other than yourself. The purpose of the summary is
to convey to others an understanding of a text you have read or
listened to, without their having to read or watch and listen to
it themselves. Thus for your readers, your summary functions
as a substitute for the source that you are summarizing. If
you don’t want to misrepresent your source or mislead your
audience, then certainly an important feature of your summary
is its fidelity to the source; you must represent your source
accurately and comprehensively, with as little of your own
interpretation as possible. (Anytime you read and repeat a
source, of course, you are interpreting it; but you are supposed
to minimize your interpretation as much as possible. Never add
your own examples or explanations, for instance.)
A summary should be organized so that others can
understand the source or evaluate your comprehension of it.
The following format works well:

a. The introduction (one paragraph)

1. Introduces the text to be summarized:
(i) Gives the title of the source;
(ii) Provides the name of the author of the source;
(iii) Sometimes also provides pertinent background
information about the author of the source or about the text
or talk to be summarized.

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 The introduction should not offer your own opinions or
evaluation of the text you are summarizing.
2. States the topic, or subject matter of the original text
and contains a one-sentence thesis statement that sums up
the main point of the source. This thesis statement is not your
main point; it is the main point of your source. Usually, though,
you have to formulate this statement rather than quote it from
the source text. It is a one-sentence summary of the entire oral
or written text that you are to summarize.

b. The body of a summary (one or more paragraphs)

This paraphrases and condenses the original piece. In your
summary, be sure that you
1) include important data but omit minor points;
2) include only those examples or illustrations of the
author’s that are absolutely indispensable to understanding the
points made by the author;
3) do not include your own ideas, illustrations, metaphors,
or interpretations. Look upon yourself as a summarizing
machine; you are simply repeating what the source text says,
in fewer words and in your own words. But the fact that you
are using your own words does not mean that you are including
your own ideas.
4) make sure you use relevant linking words and phrases to
enhance the logic of your summary.

c. There is customarily no conclusion to a summary.

When you have summarized the source text, your summary
is finished. Do not add your own concluding paragraph unless
your teacher specifically tells you to.

Checking Your Own Summary Version

or That of Your Peers
Basically, this is to be done in accordance with the Gricean
cooperative principle of successful communication that you got
acquainted with in the introductory section of this booklet.
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Specifically, read or listen to the summary carefully and answer
the following questions:

• What do you like best about your peer’s summary? (Why?

How might he or she do more of it?)
• Is it clear what is being summarized? (i.e.: Did your peer
list the source, and cite it correctly?)
• Is the thesis of the original essay clear in the summary?
(Write out what you think that thesis is.)
• If you have read the original source, did you identify the
same thesis? (If not, how does it differ?)
• Did your peer miss any key points from his or her summary?
(If so, what are they?)
• Did your peer include any of his own opinions in his or her
summary? (If so, what are they?)
• Did your peer include any unimportant details in his or
her summary? (If so, what are they?)
• Were there any points in the summary where you were
lost because a transition was missing? (If so, where and how
might it be fixed?)
• Were there any points where you were lost because
some information seems to have been omitted? (If so, where,
and what seems to be missing? Why do you think it might be
important?)

Five Practical Steps to Making a Summary

First read or listen for understanding of the text. Once you
feel you understand what the author or speaker is saying, then
you should follow the steps to preparing a summary.
1. Identify the Topic and Thesis.
2. Identify the Main Points.
3. Identify Key Support.
4. Leave Out All Redundant Words and Details.
5. Restate the Essentials in Your Own Words.

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 Useful Phrases for Making a Summary
• The article (speech, excerpt) entitled … is about / deals
with / describes / discusses … (subject matter)
• In his / her speech given to … the speaker posits that …
(thesis statement)
• The speaker points out that / agrees / disagrees with the
view / criticizes / comments on / elaborates on / underlines /
stresses / highlights / enumerates / emphasizes the thesis by
saying that / tries to convince the readers that ...
• In terms of / speaking of / analysing / addressing the issue
of / evaluating / accessing…, the speaker finds it important to
...
• Given this, ...
• To accomplish this, ...

The World’s English Mania

by Jay Walker
https://www.ted.com/talks/jay_walker_on_the_world_s_english_
mania

PRE-VIEWING

• What is a mania? Does this word have

only pejorative connotations, or are there
any exceptions to the rule?

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