Lesson 1

Vocabulary

1. Complete the sentences with the words in the box.

1. I play in a football team which includes six different nationalities. It is very multicultural.
2. If your mother speaks German and your father speaks Arabic, you are probably bilingual.
3. Our neighbour speaks three languages but Arabic is his dominant language.
4. Both languages are so deep seated in me that I couldn’t imagine speaking only one.
5. Adrian’s school has signs in three different languages. It is a multilingual school.
6. For people in some countries, learning a new language is a clear-cut decision to make.
7. If you learn a second language, it is said that you still think and count in your mother tongue.
8. When I have children, I would like to raise them to speak different languages.
9. My grandmother says our past has a big influence on our national identity.

2. Write sentences using the words given.

1. Most people / world / bilingual. Most people in the world are bilingual.
2. Our culture / influence / national identity. Our culture has an influence/influences on our national identity.
3. Your mother tongue / language / dominant. Your mother tongue is the language which is most dominant.
4. Large cities / usually / multicultural. Large cities are usually multicultural.

Reading

3. Read the text quickly and decide on the best summary of the text.

A. There are lots of advantages to being bilingual or multilingual.
B. You should only learn English as a second language.
C. Living on an island will help you to speak another language.

4. Read the text again and decide if the sentences are true (T) or false (F). Correct any false sentences in your notebooks.

1. Papua New Guinea has the largest number of languages in the world. T
2. The majority of people in the world only speak one language. F, The majority of people in the world speak more than one language.
3. About 40 - 43% of people on the planet speak more than two languages. F, About 40 – 43% of the people on the planet speak two languages.
4. Most people in the world speak English as their first language. F, Most people in the world speak Mandarin Chinese as their first language.