зеленый

Maria Sharapova Born in ___ (date), in ___(country)

Age when she started tennis: ___ years old

Age nine: moved to ___

Off-court interests: 1_____2_____3_____

Championships: _____

7b Choose a famous person and write his/her biography (160-200 words). Include the following:

When / where he/ she was born

Why he/she became famous

Family, interests, hobbies

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Unit 8

Languages and Communication

In this module you will:

Read about fate of languages

Talk about your native language, ways of learning languages

Test your knowledge about world languages

Practise using modals (can, be able to) and their equivalents

Listen to an interview

Write a letter to a friend

Learn how to write SMS in English

Useful vocabulary:

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1. Lead-in

1a Do you know what languages the people in these countries speak? Choose from the table on the right.

1b How much do you know about the world’s major languages? Try the quiz below.

Test your knowledge

1.Approximately how many languages are there in the world? a 6,500 b 16,500 c 1,500

2.Order the world’s top 5 languages according to the number of native speakers.

2. Reading

Pre-reading activities

2a Look at the picture in the text below and guess who the person might be. Look at the key words below and guess the topic of the text.

lonely(adj) die (v) language (n) disappear (v) speaker (n) save (v) rare (adj)

While-reading activities

2b Read the article and match the topic a-f with paragraphs 1-6.

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1 Maluerindi (a name which means 'Running Water') is lonely because he has nobody to talk to, but his loneliness won't change - he is the last person in the world who can speak his Aboriginal language. 'It's sad,' he says, 'but there's nothing we can do about it now.'

2 Experts who study languages say that there are 51 other languages with just one speaker left - 28 of them in Australia. These languages are so close to dying that nobody can save them. The experts tell us that out of the world's 6,000 languages, 3,000 will disappear in the next 100 years.

3 There are many reasons why languages die. Sometimes natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods or hurricanes suddenly destroy small groups of people who live in far away places. Sometimes the weather changes and there isn't enough food, and sometimes strangers bring new diseases.

4 But disasters like these are not the biggest danger, and do not tell us why languages are disappearing faster than ever before. The real problem comes from the big world languages such as English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. Today, mainly because of America, English is the first world language, and it is very hard for smaller languages to survive.

5 There are things that small communities can do to save a language, but they need time and money. First, people need to record the language and write it down. Then they need to train teachers, and write grammar books, dictionaries and books for schools.

6 We should care about languages that are in danger just as we should care about rare plants and animals. When a language dies it is not like when a civilization such as the ancient Greeks or Egyptians die. They leave behind buildings like the pyramids in Egypt and Parthenon in Greece - there is always something to show that they were there. But a spoken language leaves nothing behind - when it dies, there is only silence.

Post-reading activities

2c Read the article again and answer these questions using your own words.

1What does Maluerindi think we can do about his loneliness?

2What is going to happen in the next 100 years?

3Why do languages die?

4What can people do to save a language?

5Why should we care when languages die?

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3. Language skills

3d Complete the following sentences. Use the words in the box.

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3e These pictures show different ways of learning a language. In pairs discuss what they show.

decide together which ways are the most helpful for learning a language

say which activities you do, or would like to do

ask about your partner’s experience

discuss your reasons for learning a language

3f Look at two columns below. In which column is it possible to use can or be able to after the words? Finish the sentences using your own ideas about learning languages.

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3g Complete these sentences using can, can’t where possible or (not) be able

just one language.

3h Write a list of five things that you can’t do at the moment but you will / might be able to do in the future. Use the ideas to help you. Find out what your partners think they will be able to do in the future.

Example

I can’t drive a car but I might be able to when I’m older.

read a novel in English / finish the coursebook

explain the difference between allow, let and permit / read EXTRA ACTIVITIES section

graduate from university / I am 20-22

visit the moon / technology becomes cheaper

4. Speaking

4a What questions would you ask about the English language?

Here are the most frequently asked ones. Match the questions with the answers from the webpage below:

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6

It's the top language for travel and tourism, and is used in business and science. At the moment, 80 per cent of the world's Internet sites are in English, but this will fall when more countries start using their own language.

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4b With your partner discuss the following points:

where the Russian language comes from

how many people speak/learn Russian

why people abroad learn Russian

what is the most frequently used letter in Russian

4c Work in groups. Write a sentence (as long as possible) without any words containing the letter ‘e’. Students whose sentence is the longest are the winners. Make a list of the words containing more than ten letters.

4.d. Tell the class about Russian or any other language you know about. You can use FAQs from the webpage as a plan.

5. Listening

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5d Tell about your opinion on the problem of dying languages.

6. Extra Activities: Texting.

Vocabulary: allow, permit, let

6a Compare the dictionary definitions and answer the questions below.

1Which is the most formal of the words? Which is the most informal?

2Which of the following sentences is/are incorrect?

a)The visa permits you to study for two months.

b)My father would never allow me to study English.

c)Let me to go. You’re hurting me.

6b Text messages use a large number of abbreviations to save time and space. Words are shortened, often by leaving out vowels. Letters and numbers are used instead of words (or parts of words) that sound the same. Guess what the following abbreviations mean.

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