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Learning A Language - Preparation - Key

The document discusses learning foreign languages in British schools. It describes a class of 14-15 year olds in Wales learning French, noting they can choose from several languages. Students have 3-4 forty minute classes per week and an end of year exam. The document also describes an English language school in Oxford with mostly adult students from various countries who want to improve their job prospects. Teaching English as a foreign language involves both hard work and fun.

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873 views

Learning A Language - Preparation - Key

The document discusses learning foreign languages in British schools. It describes a class of 14-15 year olds in Wales learning French, noting they can choose from several languages. Students have 3-4 forty minute classes per week and an end of year exam. The document also describes an English language school in Oxford with mostly adult students from various countries who want to improve their job prospects. Teaching English as a foreign language involves both hard work and fun.

Uploaded by

Pan Perter
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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UNIT 2: LEARNING A LANGUAGE

B. LISTENING

1. Watch a video named “Learning a language” and fill in the gaps.

This is year 10 in Clantas school in Cardiff. The students in this class are between 14 and
15 years old. And there are about 30 in each class. They all speak Welsh and English, but
today the students are learning how to speak French. In most schools in England and
Wales, students have to learn a foreign language, but they don’t have to choose French.
In this school, for example, students can also learn German, Spanish, Italian, and even
Latin. Whatever language they choose, they will have 3 to 4 40-minute classes every
week. And they’ll have to do an exam at the end of the year. Today, these students are
learning how to describe their hometown. The teacher explains the language, and the
students have to take notes and answer questions on worksheets. Discipline in class is
quite strict. The teacher doesn’t allow chatting, and the students have to obey the rules.
Technology is becoming more popular in British classrooms. This teacher is using a
projector to practice and pronunciation. Most students enjoy learning a new language.
But not all of them. This is an English lesson at a private language school in Oxford. The
classes here are quite small. There are usually about 8 students in each class. Most of the
students here are adults, and they come from lots of different countries. They say that if
they learn English, they’ll have a better chance of getting a good job. Because these
students are adults, discipline isn’t a big problem. The teacher and the students try to
have fun, and lots of the activities involve working and speaking in pairs and groups. The
teacher must be active, enthusiastic, and hard-working. Caroline Reading, another
English teacher in Oxford, explains what teaching English as a foreign language is like:

- Why did you decide to become an English teacher?

- Well I left university and didn’t know what to do and I decided I wanted to travel. So it
was a good way to see the world.

- What do you like best about the job?

- I think the best thing for me is being with people and just helping them with their
learning, helping them get on in life with their English.

- What do you like least about the job?


- I think the worst thing is probably the marking, correcting their homework and essays.

- What problems did different nationalities have when learning English and why?

- The learners from the Far East from the Middle East have problems with writing and
reading in English. And this is because their languages have a different alphabet. And so
before they can start learning English, they have to learn our alphabet. And they also read
from right to left, which makes it very difficult for them. Italian, Spanish, and I think
French students also, have problems with pronunciation. That’s probably their biggest
problem. And then if you speak German, so if you come from Switzerland or Germany,
they also have pronunciation problems, but it’s more to do with the as they can sound a
little bit rude in English.

- What do you think is the most useful thing students can do outside class to improve
their language learning?

- I think that outside the classrooms students should first of all do their homework and go
back over what they’ve learnt in the classroom during the class. But I also think that they
need to do more than that. They need to go on the Internet, watch films in English, if they
can, read a book in English, and socialize with people, and also travel because when you
travel, you often end up speaking in English to people.

Teaching English in a language school is quite different to teaching French in a


secondary school. But both involve working hard and having fun.

2. Watch again and write down all the words with the /u:/, /℧/, /𐑋:/ and /𐑇/ sound.

/u:/ /℧/ /𐑋:/ /𐑇/

school, choose, rule, classroom, good, fourteen, before foreign, technology,


classroom, group, during, book popular, enjoy,
enthusiastic, rude, Oxford, job,
improve problem, probably,
watch

3. Answer the following questions

1. They can learn German, Spanish, Italian, French, and even Latin.
2. It is quite strict. The teacher doesn’t allow chatting, and the students have to obey the
rules.

3. Because its students are adults.

4. Because they believe they’ll have a better chance of getting a good job.

5. The best thing is being with people and helping with their learning, helping them get
on in life with their English, but the worst thing is the marking, correcting their
homework and essays.

6. They both involve working hard and having fun.

C. VOCABULARY

1. Match the words with their correct definitions.

1- f 2-b 3-c 4-g 5-a

6-i 7-h 8-e 9-j 10 - d

D. GRAMMAR

1. Choose the correct answer

1-C 2-A 3-D 4-B 5-A 6–D

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