Role-play

35. Let's imagine you have a teaching practicum at a school. Now you have been invited to attend the school parents' committee session, which manages a certain fund and decides on money allocations. Currently, the committee is considering the possibility to invest into an annex to the school building to ease the problem of space. Now the pupils' English ability in this school leaves much to be desired and the situation is very similar to the Japanese crisis, as it is described in the text "Should English be Made Official Language?". You feel this is the time to move that some funds be directed towards improving this situation. Again, the committee does not seem to realise the practicality of these steps, being mostly preoccupied with building materials, furniture and work schedules. Working in pairs or small groups, where the two sides will be represented, negotiate this issue and try to convince the opponents in the relevance and urgency of your demands. Draw on the text vocabulary.

36. Let's say you are seeking employment as an EFL teacher in Japan. Imagine that you have been short-listed and invited for a job interview. Now you have the interviewer across the table and the conversation is about to start. However, you feel slightly insecure, as you can't know what kind of English the would-be employer expects from applicants. Again, you have your own opinion. Both interlocutors, don't announce your fundamental approaches straightaway, but try to find common ground. Act out the interview, reducing it essentially to the problem of English purity. Then, report to the class if you have met each other's requirements.

Additional Language Exercises

37. Explain the meanings and give examples of usage of the following words from the text above. Use the chart below.

#

Word

Meaning(s)

Example of usage other than in the text

move, motion, hallmark, congenial, exuberance

38. The names below have become common nouns in English. Label the names with their implicit meanings.

Mr Clean ( ), a Philistine ( ), a Jonah ( ), a Jeremiah ( ), a Don Juan ( ), Darby and Joan ( ), Joe Bloggs ( ), a nosy Parker ( ), a Romeo ( ), a doubting Thomas ( ), a peeping Tom ( ), every Tom, Dick and Harry ( ); a Scrooge ( ), a Walter Mitty ( ), Mr Right ( ), a Judas ( ), a Don Quixote ( ), a Jekyll and Hyde ( ), a Florence Nightingale ( ), Mr Big ( )

a person who has old-fashioned ideas about honour or unpractical plans to perform noble deeds, help other people, etc.;

(often humorous) a typical old married couple, esp. when very happily married;

a man who is well known for his love affairs with many women, esp. when he deceives them

a person who looks after someone who is ill; a nurse;

a person who shows two opposing or completely different natures or tendencies in his character or actions;

a person who says that future will bring misfortune, destruction and evil

(humorous, coll.) the ordinary or average person;

a person who brings bad luck to the person he is with;

a person who is disloyal to another person by revealing him or his secrets to an enemy;

the leader of or the most important person in a group, often the person who is in control but remains unknown;

a person who is highly trusted or regarded, esp. in comparison with others who have been shown to be dishonest;

the imagined man who will fulfil all a woman's desires and needs as a husband;

a person who habitually attempts to find out about other people's private life;

a person whose interests are limited to material or very ordinary matters, and who lacks the ability to enjoy or understand fully music, literature and similar arts;

a young man who is very attractive to women and is noted for his expressions of love;

a person who spend as little money as possible and who does not take part in activities that other people enjoy;

a person who needs to see actual proof of something before he will believe it; a person who does not easily trust anything;

everyone and anyone, esp. ordinary people without any special advantages or powers;

a man who gets sexual enjoyment from secretly watching women undressing;

a person who, in the course of his very ordinary daily life, has dreams of exciting adventures in which he performs courageous deeds.

39. Insert appropriate names from the previous exercise into the gaps below.

1. The problem for a writer is getting ___________ to buy his books. 2. The police had caught many of the unimportant criminals, but they were still looking for ___________. 3. The most unrealistic thing about romantic fiction is that the heroine always marries ___________. 4. As soon as the policeman had left our house that old ___________ from across the street came round to ask what he wanted. 5. Several of the country's most respected doctors have stated that smoking cigarettes harms one's health, but there are still many ___________ who are not yet persuaded. 6. As for qualified guides here, there is no legislation for giving them a license, so that any ___________ can work as a guide. 7. At school she lived in a ___________ world of adventure.