2. Writing

Write a paragraph about your country. Write about the national flag, the national day and the national symbols. Is your country “united”, or are there some parts of it that have a separate identity?

OPTIONAL TASKS

THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

1. Reading

Task 1.

Before you read: can you name any places in Ireland, or any famous Irish people?

Task 2.

Read the text Wired Ireland and answer the questions.

1. What proportion of the Irish population are aged between 25-44?

2. What currency does Ireland have?

3. What proportion of Ireland’s exports are connected to computers and telecommunications?

4. What proportion of Europe’s software originates in Ireland?

WIRED IRELAND

The stereotypical view of Ireland is of a rural, agricultural country where the people are friendly but short of money* and not very in touch* with the modern world. Nothing could be further from the truth. Today, only about 8% of Irish people work in agriculture, and the population is young and well-educated. Nearly a third of Irish residents are aged between 25 and 44.

In the last decade, government initiatives have encouraged manufacturing and service industries in Ireland and have brought in much foreign investment, especially from Europe. Ireland is a member of the EU and, unlike the UK, adopted the euro as its currency in the beginning of 2002.

Electronics is the largest manufacturing industry in Ireland, and a third of the country’s exports these days consists of products from the telecommunications and computer industries. About 300 computer and software companies, including world leaders such as Apple, Dell, Microsoft and Intel, have operations in Ireland. Almost a third of personal computers and 60% of packaged software sold in Europe comes from Ireland.

Task 3.

Read the text A Bite of the Apple in Ireland and put these events in the correct order.

1. Apple opened a call centre in Cork.

b. Apple first opened a branch of their business in Cork.

3. Cork became Apple’s European headquarters.

4. Apple produced the iMac computer.

A BITE OF THE APPLE IN IRELAND

In 1980, the American computer manufacturer Apple opened a factory in Cork, Ireland’s second city, in order to produce and distribute Apple Mac computers for Europe. In 1999, the huge demand for Apple’s new product, the iMac computer, led them to add a call centre* to their operations in Cork in order to process customers’ orders and queries, and in 2002 the Apple Centre in cork became Apple’s headquarters* for Europe. Although there is less manufacturing done in Cork today, the Centre currently employs 1.200 people working in the areas of sales, financial management, planning, software development and testing, and customer service.

The call centre has now expanded to cover the whole of Europe.

This means that anyone in a European country phoning Apple with a query or technical problem with their Apple computer will speak directly to one of the multi-lingual operators in Cork. Call centres in general are a huge growth industry in Ireland, and have become one of the country’s top employers.

WORDBANK:

Call centre – office where the principal activity is answering customers’ telephone calls

Headquarters – principal office

In touch with – in contact with

Short of – not having enough

Task 4.

Are these sentences about the text true or false?

1. Cork is the most important city in Ireland.

2. Apple’s original business in Ireland was manufacturing.

3. The iMac computer was a very popular product.

4. Manufacturing is still Apple’s main business in Cork.

5. Over a thousand people work at the Apple Centre in Cork.

6. The call centre only takes phone calls from the UK and Ireland.

7. There are employees at the call centre who speak foreign languages.

8. Call centre employ a lot of people in Ireland these days.