ENGLISH AROUND

THE WORLD

Answer this questionnaire and compare

and compare our answers with your tablemate.

Questionnaire
Spanish Italian English Others

At home, I speak
TheBurchfield, former Chief Editor of the
songs I listen to are in
Oxford English Dictionary, has remarked
I read magazines/newspapers/books in the
that ‘any literate, educated person on
Theface
TV channels I watch are in
of the globe is deprived if he does
I write
not messages
know English’. in
I chat with my friends in
On my social networks I can see posts
in

It is an ideal British product, ‘needing no I Ihave tried out

remember thatmany ways
I had to
workers and no work, no assembly lines and ofstruggle
learning toEnglish,
learn but the
English
no assembly, no spare parts and very little most effective
because so far even
I couldn't has
servicing, it is used for the most intimate and proved to
write a short be learning
paragraph to
the most public services everywhere. We call through reading.
introduce myself the first
it the English language ...‘ Dr Robert day of my English class.

Just as people and products move

around the world, languages spread.
The influence of English on other
languages is huge. Some people fear
this damages their own languages

Now, what about you? Why are you learning English?

Talk about your own experience in studying English.

Use :

 I think …
 To my mind…..
 I do believe
Personally, I …
 I would say that….

PAIRWORK
Use the map and identify the
countries where English is
spoken as a mother tongue.
What other countries use English
as an official language? Do
you know any differences
between the Englishes spoken
 in various parts of the world?

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Proportion of people who say they speak English.

I Speak
 NETHERLANDS 80%: English starts in first grade and is prominent on TV and radio. Movies are never dubbed.
English. I am
 GERMANY 55%: Depending on the state, English begins between ages 5 and 10. In the past decade, eastern
Germany, formerly focused on Russian, has put on a big English kick. ...............................
 FRANCE 40%: Children start at 10, but the format is often criticized as too bookish. ...............
 ITALY 39%: High school students average only one to three hours of English a week. Result: Some

Reading
 SPAIN 36%: 
Roman tour guides give English speeches without understanding what the words mean.
Three hours a week starting at age 8. The government wants to lower it to kindergarten
…………...…….…
but lacks teachers.
Read the text on page 29 as quickly as possible to check your reading speed.

These paragraphs are supposed to be the Who

Do you think the speaks
following English?
statements
are TRUE or FALSE ?
continuation of the text. Now with the help
of your tablemate try to rearrange them (1- Complete the following paragraph with the
4) in the correct order to get a coherent correct word. The first letter(s) is given.
1. English was already an important world
ending to the text.
language three
People hundred
w……… speakyears ago.fall( …………)
English into one of
three groups: th…………who have learned it as
First of all, where do you live? If you are 2. In
Butmany
no countries,
matter whereEnglish is the native
you study
their or
language n………………
the officiallanguage;
language.those who have
( …………)
from South America, for example, you will English or whether it's British,
learned it as a s………………… language in a society
probably have more exposure to North 3. American, Australian,
Today many peopleor whatever,
study Chinese as a second
that is m……………ly bilingual and those who are
American English. If you live in Europe, most it's good to know a little about
language. ( …………)
likely you will be more exposed to British fo………….
English in to use it for a practical purpose,
other countries.
4. English is widespread
ad……………tive , because it is or
professional theeducational.
language
of business and technology. ( ………)
One person in seven of the world’s ent…………
So which English is the best English The second thing to think about is why you
population belongs to one of th……… three
to learn? Well, there is no best are learning English. Is it for business?
English. They are all equally good groups.
Travel ? To watch movies? Think about the
and correct. But two things may kind of English you plan to use and focus
help you decide which one is best on understanding people from that area.
for you to study.
 Is global English a good thing? What are the advantages and disadvantages of
global English?
Cairan (Ireland)
Make a list. I’m 18 and I live in a small village in the west of Ireland. I speak
Irish Gaelic, but many people of my age only speak English. It’s
Read the texts. Are any of your points a pity because Irish Gaelic is part of our heritage, and if we
mentioned? lose our language, then we’ll lose part of our culture. I think
there are only about 250,000 people who speak Irish Gaelic!
Jake (USA)
Global English is definitely a good thing.
Ravi (India)
Communication is much easier when everyone
One of the consequences of global English is that some
speaks the same language. Nowadays you find
languages are disappearing. In my country, there are
almost everything on computers is in English. It’s
415 different languages, but many of these are
used in business, travel, and in medicine.
endangered. If you want a good job, you usually have
to learn English.
Comprehension Check Maria (Mexico)
LanguagesSelma have been disappearing for thousands of
(USA)
 What do these numbers in the texts refer years; it’s
Although I live in thing.
just a natural For and
the USA example, people at
I use English in
to? ancient school,
Egypt used hieroglyphs,
my mother tonguebut nobody My
is Spanish. usesparents
these
a. 415: now. I’ve heard there are almost 6,000 languages
were immigrants from Mexico, and so at home in the
...............................................................................
world and
we speak Spanish. For me, language is part of the
that about half of these will disappear in my
... next 20 years!
culturalWell, you can’t stop progress, can you?
identity.
b. 18:
......
...... Moira (England)
...... My grandparents came here from Russia in 1945, and when they arrived, they spoke no English. To get jobs,
......
......
they had to learn English, and I think this is part of integrating into a new country. I think it’s silly when
...... people insist on keeping their own language when they move to a new country.
......
........................................
c. 250.000: ..................................................................................
d. 6000: ..................................................................................
e. 20: ..................................................................................
  Now complete each sentence with the correct name.

1. Ravi comes from India.

2. .................................................... doesn’t think there’s any problem with English as a global language.
3. ...................................... speaks one language with his/ her family and another when he/she is at school.
4. .................................................... and think that language is an important part of who they are.
5. ........................................ , ............................................ , and .............................................. mention learning English
because of work.
6. ...............................................says that about 50% of the languages in the world now will soon disappear.
7. ....................................................... lives in a country where there are lots of languages.

SPEAKING
Work in groups and discuss the opinions in the texts. Who do you agree with and why?

WRITING
Write a short paragraph (10 lines) about the advantages or the disadvantages of English as a
global language. Try to include at least three points in your paragrap

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American English VS. British English

An important development of English outside Great Britain
occurred with the colonization of North America. The most
distinguishing differences between American English
Joke
and British
Vocabulary Spelling
GB English
US are in pronunciation,
GB USspelling and vocabulary.
A porter in a British hotel comes upon an
American tourist impatiently jabbing at the
flat apartment analyse analyze button for the lift.
solicitor lawyer centre center -"Sir, the lift will be here in a moment."
engaged (phone) busy defense defence -"Lift? Lift?" replies the American. "Oh, you
mad crazy Programme Program mean the elevator."
lift elevator colour color -"No sir, here we call it a lift."
rubbish garbage labour labor -"Well, as it was invented in the United States,
public toilet rest room jewellery jewelry
it’s called an elevator."
pavement sidewalk cheque check
-"Yes sir, but as the language was invented
underground subway
holiday vacation here, it’s called a lift."
railroad railway
film movie
British or American?

Read the conversations with a partner and decide which is American English and which is British
English?

A: where do you live? A: where do you live?

B: We’ve got a small flat. It’s on the B: We’ve got a small apartment. It’s on
ground floor of a block of flats in the the first floor of an apartment building
centre of town. downtown.
A: Have you got a garden? A: Do you have a yard?
B: No, we haven’t, just a car park at the B: No, we don’t, just a parking lot in the
back. back.
Now read these conversations in American English
and try to convert them into British English.

1. A: Do you have the time? 3. A: Did you have a good vacation?

B: Yeah, it’s five of four. B: Yeah, real good.
A: Did you say five after? A: How long were you away?
B: No, five of four. A: Five days in all. Monday thru Friday.

2. A: What are you gonna do on the 4. A: Do you need to stop for gas?
weekend? B: Yeah, why not? I need to use
B: the usual stuff. Play soccer with the restroom anyway.
the kids, and sweep the yard.