Unit 2 English around the world

Step1. Revision

Ask some students to tell the words that are different in American English & British English

Listening

Step2 .Ex. 5 on Page 12.

Listen to these dialogues.

1.Mark the sentence stress and intonation.

2.Find the British and American words which are different but have the same meaning.

Dialogue 1: candy----sweets

Dialogue 2: truck----lorry

Dialogue 3: fall----autumn

Step3.Listening 1

Listening on Page 14.

Tell the class: you are going to listen to a boy named Buford. He speaks a Southern dialect of AmE with an East, Texas accent. Remember: pronunciation is determined by accent. On the other hand, Buford’s teacher, Jane, speaks standard BrE. (i.e. what is heard on the BBC.)

1. Listen to the tape for the first time and try your best to get the main idea of what is talking.

2. Encourage the students to give the standard equivalents for the dialectic words from Buford’s story, using the context.

Dialectic words

from Buford’s story Standard English

equivalents

hey

y’all

ain’t

yer

ya

pup

swimmin’

jumpin’

feelin’

‘bout

‘nough

shoulda seen

got outta hello

everyone

aren’t

your

you

child

swimming

jumping

feeling

about

enough

should have seen

got out of

2. Listen to the tape for the second time, pay attention to the exercise of page 14. Try your best to find out the answers to these questions.

Answer keys for the exercises on page 14

1. He believes it’s almost a different country from the US. The listening text tells us it is so.

2. The boys thought that the catfish was almost the size of a house..

3. He thought the catfish would eat him.

4. They laughed because Lester believed the catfish would hurt him.

5. Jane is the second speaker, Buford’s teacher. She is from Britain.

6. She says “Hello”.

LISTENING TEXT

Hello, everyone, I am Buford’s teacher, Jane, from Britain. Perhaps you didn’t quite understand everything Buford said. He said that he lives in Houston, a city in Texas. He wants everyone to know that he doesn’t believe Texas is a state in the USA but a different country. Buford says that he would like to tell you a story about him when was a small child . One hot summer’s day he was swimming with Big Billy Bob and Lester. They were jumping into the water, which felt good. Then he says that they saw a catfish almost the size of a house but, he adds, that the catfish was really smaller. Buford says that Lester thought he was going to be eaten by the catfish. He says, goodness, you should have seen Lester! He says that Lester got out of the water faster than lighting and climbed up a tree. Buford and Big Billy Bob just laughed a lot. To this day, he says, Lester won’t visit that place.

Step3.Listening 2

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LISTENING TEXT 1

AMERICAN AMY: Oh, no! It's rainy!

BRITISH BETTY: Not exactly a lovely day, is it?

CANADIAN CARL: Nope, not very nice．

BRITISH BETTY: Let's go to the pictures!

AMERICAN AMY: OK．Which art museum?

CANADIAN CARL: No．She is saying that we should go to see a movie．

AMERICAN AMY: Oh, I get it．Hey, I know a good film that's been playing all fall．It's called Rush Hour 3．

BRITISH BETTY: Playing where?

CANADIAN CARL: She means that the movie is playing this autumn now．

BRITISH BETTY: Oh, I see．Well, we'd better hurry．It starts soon．Let's take my lorry．

AMERICAN AMY: Who's Lori?

CANADIAN CARL: Oh, no, Betty asked us to take her truck．

AMERICAN AMY: Why not go by subway? It's just as fast．

BRITISH BETTY: What? It'll take too long to walk．

CANADIAN CARL: Er, she asked us whether we should take the underground to the theatre．

BRITISH BETTY: Oh, right．Yes, let's get going．

CANADIAN CARL: Hey, I hope the theatre has some good sweets!

AMERICAN AMY: YOU MEAN CANDY, DON'T YOU?

BRITISH BETTY:

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LISTENING TEXT 2

WILLIE: What are you watching, Zhao Li?

ZHAO LI: CCTV 9's World Wide Watch．

WILLIE: Why are you watching the news? That's boring!

ZHAO LI: I'm listening to the English so that I can improve it．

WILLIE: Who's talking now?

ZHAO LI: That's Cao Ri．I think he is a good speaker．

WILLIE: What kind of English is he using, American or British?

ZHAO LI: He uses more American English, I think．

WILLIE: Who else do you really like?

ZHAO LI: Oh, I think Zhang Ling is also a fine speaker．

WILLIE: I agree, and so is Wang Lu, from the TV show Around China．But still, wouldn't it be better to listen to a native speaker?

ZHAO LI: Yes, sometimes you should try to listen to news and shows reported by native speakers．Yet any good speaker of English can help your listening skill．

WILLIE: Hmm．I think I'll listen a bit．What did he say just now?

ZHAO LI: He said Professor Yang is travelling around China to speak to college students．

WILLIE: I still think it may be a little difficult for me to understand them．

ZHAO LI: Well, sure, it might be hard at first．But if you listen to CCTV 9 often, you will begin to understand more and more．

WILLIE: Thanks．I think I will．My teacher won't believe it when I tell her I'm practising my listening on the weekend!

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Answer key for Exercise 1:

pictures / movie lorry / truck

underground / subway sweets / candy

autumn / fall

Answer key for Exercise 2:

1 CCTV 9's World Wide Watch．

2 Zhao Li thinks that listening to TV programmes will improve her English．

3 She thinks Cao Ri is a good speaker．He uses American English．

4 The more listening practice you have, the better your listening skill will get, especially if you hear a variety of speakers．

5 You should be patient and keep trying．Soon you will understand more and more．

Step4.Listening

Listening Task on Page 51.

1. Ask the students to tell the names of the countries where English is spoken.

2. Finish the listening task.

LISTENING TEXT

S1: I live in South Asia．My country is thousands of years old and now has more than a billion people．Unlike many other countries, our people speak a lot of languages．So we use English, which we got from British rulers hundreds of years ago, to understand our neighbours．Of course, we have our own way of using English．

S2: One of my grandmothers speaks French．Her grandmother came from some place in Canada．I like to listen to her talk, although I don't understand much of what she says．Her English is also hard to understand．She cooks delicious food, so I spend a lot of time in the kitchen with her whenever I visit her．I plan to see her again for a special holiday called Fat Tuesday．We will go to New Orleans, which is near the sea．People will dance in the streets all day and night．

S3: Well, I don't live very far from the last student who spoke to you．But I live on a beautiful island where the sun shines most of the year．It's not the biggest island in the sea but it's not the smallest island, either．We also got English from British rulers a long time ago, and use it in a different way．I think our English sounds a little like our music．Some people say I speak a dialect of English, but I don't agree．To us, it's more like another language．

S4: I live on a huge green island in western Europe．Hundreds of years ago my people spoke a very different language from English．Then the British rulers came．Now the old language is spoken in only a few villages in the western part of my country．Most of us speak a lovely kind of English that also sounds a little like our music．

S5: My country has more than 7, 000 islands．Some of them are very large but most of them are quite small．Hundreds of years ago the Spanish rulers changed the way we live．Much later the American rulers taught their own kind of English in our schools．Nowadays, we speak a kind of English that borrows words from American English but is mostly our own．

S6: My country is very small．In fact, it's really a city．It is in southeast Asia and is very rich．People come from all over Asia to do business here．But our English comes from workers on the street．Some people in my country don't like the sound of this English．They would rather speak British English．Today, you can hear our kind of English spoken everywhere in the city and on many ships that come here．

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Answer key:

Student 1 is from India．

Student 2 is from the USA．

Student 3 is from Jamaica．Student 4 is from Ireland．

Student 5 is from the Philippines．

Student 6 is from Singapore．

Step5.language focus

1. need: Your hair needs cutting (=to be cut)

You needn’t come to the meeting this afternoon.

2. Then along comes this catfish “Then this catfish comes along”

Down came the hammer and out flew the sparks.

3. to this day/ till today

There has been no cure for cancer till today..

Homework.

1.World Englishes i Canadian, British, Australian, American, and Indian English.

2.English is spoken all over the work as an i language.

3.Many people believe the English spoken on TV and the radio is s each other’s dialect.

4. Although many Americans move a lot , the still r each other’s dialect.

5. He got out of water fast as l and climbed up the tree.

6. He can’t go out (因為) the heavy rain.

7. China may have (眾多) English speakers.

8. While learning a language ,you should learn its (文化).

9. During that time English became the language for (政府)and education.

10.Now Australian English has its own (身份).