Министерство образования и науки Российской Федерации

Федеральное агентство по образованию

Ярославский государственный университет им. П. Г. Демидова

Кафедра иностранных языков

That Global English

Путешествуем с английским

Видеопрактикум

Рекомендовано

Научно-методическим советом университета

для студентов, обучающихся по всем специальностям

Ярославль 2010

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УДК 654.1.02:621.397

ББК З 973.2

П 90

Рекомендовано

Редакционно-издательским советом университета

в качестве учебного издания. План 2009/10 года

Рецензент

кафедра иностранных языков Ярославского государственного

университета им. П. Г. Демидова

Составители:

И. В. Мартьянова, А. Б. Полетаева, Т. Б. Потехина, Л. Л. Туркина

That Global English. Путешествуем с английским:

видеопрактикум / сост.: И. В. Мартьянова, А. Б. Полетаева,

Т. Б. Потехина, Л. Л. Туркина; Яросл. гос. ун-т

им. П. Г. Демидова. – Ярославль : ЯрГУ, 2010. – 56 с.

Практикум составлен на основе видеофильма «The Adventure

of English» (включает восемь фильмов по 50–60 минут каждый)

из интернет-ресурсов кафедры иностранных языков ЯрГУ

(Medialab. uniyar. ac. ru) и состоит из четырех частей.

В каждой части практикума содержатся проблемные и

информационные тексты по тематике фильмов, лексические

упражнения, задания для обсуждения (в разделе Discussion

Forum).

Предназначен для самостоятельной работы студентов со

средним и продвинутым уровнем знания английского языка,

обучающихся

по

всем

специальностям

(дисциплина

«Английский язык», блок ГСЭ), очной формы обучения.

Выражаем благодарность старшему преподавателю кафедры

иностранных языков ЯрГУ И. К. Бугровой за предоставленную

возможность работать с аутентичными видеоматериалами.

УДК 654.1.02:621.397

ББК З 973.2

 Ярославский государственный

университет им. П. Г. Демидова,

2010

2

П 90

Part I

International English

There has never been a language spoken by so

many people in so many places

(Professor David Crystal, The Cambridge

Encyclopedia of Language)

Needs analysis

1 Complete the following sentence. Use the words in the box if

you like. Then compare with other people in the class.

‘For me, learning English is_____________________________ .’

a pleasure

a hobby

an opportunity

an investment a necessity an effort a problem

a pain a nightmare

2. Why are you learning English? Complete the sentences below

and number them in order of importance for you. Compare with a

partner.

In general, I want to:

learn write

read

improve

feel make

a) __________________ more confident when I speak.

b) __________________ my listening skills.

c) __________________ lots of new vocabulary.

d) __________________ fewer grammar mistakes.

e) __________________ better, clearer English.

f) __________________ without using a dictionary so much.

In particular, I need English for:

taking traveling socializing

doing giving writing

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g) _____________ on business.

h) __________________ business on the phone.

i) __________________ e-mail, faxes, and letters.

j) __________________ with clients and colleagues.

k) __________________ part in meeting.

l) __________________ short presentations.

3. Are you learning English for any other reason? Add them to

the list above.

Global communication

Quiz

1. How much do you know about the world’s major languages?

Try the quiz below.

Test you knowledge…

1. Approximately how many languages are there in the world?

a) 650 b) 6.500 c) 65.000 d) 650.000.

2. Order the world’s top ten languages according to the number of

native speakers.

Portuguese

Chinese

Russian

English

Hindi

Arabic

Japanese

German

Spanish

Bengali

3. How many people speak English as a first, second or third

language?

a) 0.5 billion b) 1 billion c) 1.5 billion d) 2 billion.

4. In recent survey, how many Europeans said everyone should

speak English?

a) 49% b) 69% c) 89% d) 99%.

5. How much of the world’s mail is written in English?

a) 25% b) 50% c) 75% d) 90%

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6. How much of the world’s e-mail is written in English?

a) 50% b) 60% c) 70% d) 80%.

7. How many languages disappear every year?

a) 2 b) 5 c) 10 d) 20.

8. What is the world record for the most foreign languages spoken

by one person?

a) 14 b) 24 c) 44 d) 64.

Check your answers in the article below.

English Inc.

English is to international communication what VHS is to video,

Microsoft to software and Pentium to the microchip. It is, for better or

worse, the ‘industry standard’. And those who don’t speak at least a

little risk losing business to the increasing number who do. A quarter

of the planet currently speaks English. That’s one and a half billion

people, two-thirds of whom speak it as a foreign language.

In a recent survey, 69% of Europeans said they thought everyone

should speak English. More than half of them already do. For most,

it’s not a question of choice but of necessity, as English has rapidly

become the first language of business, science and popular culture.

Three-quarter of the world’s mail is in English. So are four out of five

e-mails and most of what you find on the Internet.

However, not everyone welcomes this linguistic monopoly. The

French Ministry of Finance, for instance, recently surprised the

international business community by banning English terms like e-

mail and Internet. In fact, seven teams of language experts have been

employed to come up with French alternatives. Le Web is not

acceptable, La toile is. And when the French President himself

referred to start-up companies as les start-upistes in televised speech,

he was strongly criticized for failing to defend France against the

advance of the English language.

The French have a point. Twenty languages disappear every year

because nobody speaks them anymore. At that rate, by the end of the

21st century almost a third of the world’s six and a half thousand

languages will be dead. Even in Germany, where Denglish is

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fashionable, and phrases like Jointventure, Powerpartner and Fitness-

Training are common, the leader of the Free Democrats has expressed

concern about the ‘flood of anglicisms descending on us from the

media, advertising, product descriptions and technology’. Some go so

far as to call it ‘a form of violence’.

Maybe it is, and bid business certainly accelerates the process. As

Professor David Crystal author of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of

Language, puts it, ‘wave dollar bills in front of someone, and they will

learn complicated spellings and grammar’.

But what about people who learn languages just for fun? A 37-

year-old American, Gregg Cox, has taken this simple pleasure to

extremes. He holds the world record for speaking the most foreign

languages – sixty-four at the last account! He would undoubtedly be

an asset to any company doing international business. But for those of

us who are less gifted linguistically, the power of the American dollar

means there may soon be only one foreign language we need to learn,

and that language will be English.

The number of native speakers of the world’s top ten languages:

1. Chinese (726m), English (427m), 3. Spanish (266m), 4. Hindi

(182m), 5. Arabic (181m), 6. Portuguese (165m). 7. Bengali (162m),

8. Russian (158m), 9. Japanese (124m), 10. German (121m).

Discussion