Lingua franca exercícios

Prévia do material em texto

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Aluno: _________________________________________________ Nº:_______ 
1º ano EM. Turma:___________ Data: _____/______/______ 
DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH? 
Lubna Abdel-Aziz, Monday 7 Sep 2020 
1 If you are reading those lines, you obviously do. 
2 The whole world now speaks English or needs to. It has become the Lingua Franca, the 
international language of the world, since about the 19th century. It is the only language 
that absolutely everyone feels the need to study in order to cross-culturally communicate 
with one other. 
3 Although Chinese Mandarin and Spanish are the most popular languages, they are spoken 
natively. English, coming in third, has four times the number of non-native learners than it 
has natives. With only 360 million native English speakers, 1.5 billion people worldwide speak 
English. […] 
4 The growth of English is mainly political. 
5 After the language developed on the British Isles for centuries, it was taken around the 
world by sailors, soldiers, traders and missionaries. The rise of the British Empire expanded 
across almost one quarter of the world. […] 
6 After the British Empire was gone English stayed. 
7 Access to English meant access to education, advancement, and progress. This created an 
educational elite and everyone wants to be part of the elite. […] 
8 Yes, we all wish to be part of this “English” cultural legacy of the Internet, of Facebook, 
Google, of Science and Technology, all conceived in English. 
9 Millions of us speak English, but we do not all speak it in the same way. We have different 
accents, dialects, pronunciations, intonations and there is nothing wrong with that. […] 
10 An “accent”, according to linguists, is a way of pronouncing a language — which means 
everyone in the world has an accent. And everyone does. 
11 There are as many English accents as there are English speakers, even if English is your 
first, not your second, language. century: the period of a hundred years. 
legacy: heritage. 
accents: distinctive mode of pronunciation of a language. 
 
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1. Now read the first three paragraphs of the text and choose the graph that best represents 
the ratio between native and non-native speakers. 
 
 Native English speaking Non-native English Speaking 
 
 
a) b) c) 
 
2. Read the remaining paragraphs. According to the text, are accents a problem? Why? 
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3. When we read a text in another language, it is common not to understand all the words. 
The context, however, usually helps us grasp the meaning of unknown terms. With this 
in mind, match the expressions below to their definitions. If you have any difficulty, go 
back to the text for the context. 
 
a) whole 
b) cross-culturally 
c) although 
d) rise 
e) conceived 
 
4. The following sentences summarize the main ideas of the text. Can you number them 
according to the paragraphs they refer to? 
 
These paragraphs introduce the idea of English as a global language and show that the 
number of non-native speakers surpasses the number of native speakers. ____________ 
 
These paragraphs mention that there are different ways of speaking English around the 
world and conclude that there is nothing wrong with variety. _____________ 
 
These paragraphs highlight everyday elements that reinforce the role of English in 
contemporary society. _____________ 
 
These paragraphs explain how the growth of English is related to historical and political 
issues. ______________ 
 
 
5. How many varieties of the English language do you know? Make a list. 
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6. Compare your list with a classmate’s and answer: Why do these varieties exist? 
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( ) that relates to more than one culture 
( ) growth; expansion 
( ) created 
( ) all of; entire 
( ) in spite of the fact that; even if