M3 Unit 2 Language

Welcome to the unit

Step 1

Some useful words and phrases

1.broad adj. / broaden vt. (1) a broad street/avenue/river(2) broad shoulders(3) He is tall, broad and strong.(4) There is broad support for the government’s policies.(5) In broad terms, the paper argues that each country should develop its own policy.(6) in one’s sense

2. transmit v. / transmission n.(1) signals transmitted from a satellite(2) The ceremony was transmitted live by satellite to over fifty countries.(3) the transmission of the disease/ virus

3. illustration/ illustrate4.various/variety/vary5. form6. emoticon a representation of a facial expression (as a smile or frown)/a special Internet language 7. beaming smile / beam8. in circles9. inform sb. of/about sth10. exchange11. Effective 12. share with

1. Music is not like most other art _____.

2. I ________ her mother __ her safe

arrival.

3. Where can I _________ my RMB for

dollars?

Fill in the blanks with the words and

phrases from the box below.

broad, transmit, exchange, form,

inform…of, in circle, stand for

forms

informed of

exchange

4. They have __________ the news by

radio.

5. The letters “x” and “y” often ________

unknown numbers in mathematics.

6. His back is _____.

7. Look, the children are dancing

________.

transmitted

stand for

broad

in circles

Language, in its broad sense, is a way ( inwhich) information is transmitted. It can be spoken or seen.Wherever there are people, there are languagesNowadays, nearly 6,000languages are used allOver the world.Without languages, people wouldn’t be able to communicate with each other, and the world wouldn’t be as it is today.

Step 2 the basic theme of language

1. What language do you speak? Can you speak any other language? If so, can you speak a little for us?

Step 3 Brainstorming

2. Do you know how many languages there are in the world?About 6,000 languages are used in the world

now.3.How many different forms of language are talked about in this section? What are they?written; oral (spoken): sign; animal language; emoticons; Braille

Step 4 Discussion

Look at the following illustrations and talk about the various forms of language.

writtenlanguage

Chinese Russian

English Spanish

Japanese Tibetan

French Arabic

Greek German

Emoticons make a special Internet language.

This stands for a beaming smile.

:-) smiley face:-( sad face

:'(

:-|

crying face

disappointed face

emoticon

:-O Wow!

8-| bookworm

=:O frightened

:}{: kisses

mp

ap

co

1. Can you think of other forms

of emoticons?

Group work

The word “ emoticon” is a mixture of “ emotion” and “icon”, meaning “emotional icon.” This Internet language is often used by people , especially young people, communicating via computers. The vivid icons are able to convey a wide range of emotions, and are a simple and efficient way for the growing number of computer users to express themselves. According to some reliable sources, hundreds of emoticons are already in daily use.

Sign ( Body) language is used all over the world.

This sign means “Good luck”in Britain.

What does this mean?

Be quiet ! victory

whistle

Who needs to use

sign language in

daily life?

The deaf or those who are unableto hear.

Braille, invented by a Frenchman, is alanguage for blind people.

Louis Braille

was born in 1809 in

France. When he

was young, he had

an accident. Then he

became blind. It was

he who invented

Braille.Who is he?

Braille

Braille is the system of six raised dots created in 1821 by Louis Braille.It’s the only way through which the blind can learn to read and write.

Bees fly in circles to informtheir partners about foodor danger. All creatures,including animals and insects, can “talk”!

1. Why do bees fly in circles?2. Do you believe animals can “talk”?

Step 5 Discussion

Look at the following three questions and discuss with your partner to exchange your opinions.

1. Can you think of other ways that inform-

ation can be exchanged? Besides the language forms above, we still have some other ways to exchange ideas orinformation. For example, in ancient times,Chinese people relayed fire signals at nightand smoke signals in the day from oneGreat Wall watchtower to another so thatwar messages could be rapidly sent over Great distances.

Nowadays, people use the language of flowersto communicate meaning.rose=lovetulip=formal announcement of loveforget-me-not=keeping me in your memory

2. Do you think English is important? Why

or why not? Although Chinese is the most spoken language,English is the most widely used around theworld. It’s useful to learn English if you wantto travel, do business or study abroad. What’sMore, in 2008, the 29th Olympic Games willbe held in Beijing. We are learning English towelcome people from other parts of the world.

Now it’s reported that students in some primary schools are required to learn Englisheven in Grade 1, which I don’t think is necessary. Primary school is a key stage for young children to acquire their mothertongue. Starting to learn another languagetoo early may hinder the first languageacquisition. In my opinion, children shouldlearn the mother tongue well first. If we cannot speak our own language well, how can wekeep our own culture alive.

3. Do you have any effective methods for studying the English language to

share with your classmates? When I began to learn English in primary school, my English teacher introduced many English songs and simple poems, which made learning English interestingand helped me develop a good sense of thelanguage.

2. Do you think English is very

important? And how much do you

know about English?