Unit 11 Describing a table Task 1 Speaking A) Think of answers for the questions below. a) How easy is it to learn a language? b) Which languages are spoken most in the world? c) How many languages are endangered? d) What is the best way to learn a language? B) Match the answers 1-4 with the questions a-d from above. 1. It is claimed that 2 500 languages are in danger of disappearing. Some have less than 1 000 speakers. 2. This varies from person to person – no single way has been found. If you understand your learning style, you can identify the way that works best for you. 3. The most spoken languages are Mandarin Chinese and English. Spanish is the third most common language. 4. It is easy to learn a language that is similar to your own. Therefore, e.g. a Polish speaker will find Slavic languages easier to learn than others. Task 2 Are the tips for writing a description of a table true or false? 1. The introduction should restate the question in your own words. Začátek formuláře Konec formuláře ´ Konec formuláře 2. You should include everything from the table in the answer. Začátek formuláře Konec formuláře 3. You should think of reasons for the statistics and include them in your answer. Začátek formuláře Konec formuláře 4. You should use a variety of language for comparing. Začátek formuláře Konec formuláře 5. You must always include a conclusion. Začátek formuláře Konec formuláře Task 3 Speaking A) The table below gives information about some of the world's most studied languages. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant. Language Number of people learning the language Number of native speakers Number of countries where the language is spoken English 1.5 billion 527 million 101 French 82 million 118 million 51 Chinese 30 million 1.39 billion 33 Spanish 14.5 million 389 million 31 Italian 8 million 67 million 29 Japanese 3 million 123 million 25 B) Highlight useful phrases for descriptions in the sample answer below: The table illustrates some interesting facts about some of the world's most popular languages to learn. It allows comparisons between the number of people who study a language versus those who speak it as a mother tongue and shows how many countries have speakers of each of the languages. The prominence of English is striking. 1.5 billion people are learning English compared to only 82 million studying the second most popular language to learn, French. English is spoken in 101 countries, roughly twice as many as French and three times more than Chinese. English is the only language with more learners than native speakers. In terms of native speakers, Chinese is the most spoken language, more than double English with 1.39 billion. It is the third most popular language to learn with 30 million learners. Spanish has over five times more native speakers than Italian, but proportionally fewer learners at 14.5 million for Spanish and 8 million for Italian. As for Japanese, it is the least studied language of those given with 3 million learners. Overall, more people are learning English than the other languages combined and English is spoken in the highest number of countries. However, Chinese has by far the greatest number of native speakers. There seems to be little correlation between how many native speakers there are of a language and the number of learners, but there is a stronger link between the number of learners and how many countries have speakers. Please note: This page was designed for writing practice only. Information and statistics in the table may not be accurate. C) Match the words and phrases with the same meaning. 1. altogether 2. almost half 3. half as many 4. twice as many 5. a correlation 6. over a. 50 per cent fewer b. double the number of c. combined d. roughly half the number e. more than f. a relationship Task 4 Can you add any other phrases to the list? * making comparisons, e.g. slightly more than, by far the highest, as … as, ……………… * approximating, e.g. nearly, almost, ………………………………. * stating what you are referring to, e.g. in terms of … , as for … , ……………………… Phrases of Comparison and Contrast Comparison Contrast one similarity one difference another similarity another difference both conversely like in contrast likewise unlike similarly while in a similar fashion whereas (adapted from https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/skills/writing) Task 5 Study the information in the table and use it for writing a description of approx. 160 words. An estimate of global water distribution (Percents are rounded, so will not add to 100) Water source Water volume, in cubic miles Water volume, in cubic kilometers Percent of freshwater Percent of total water Oceans, Seas, & Bays 321,000,000 1,338,000,000 -- 96.54 Ice caps, Glaciers, & Permanent Snow 5,773,000 24,064,000 68.7 1.74 Groundwater 5,614,000 23,400,000 -- 1.69 Fresh 2,526,000 10,530,000 30.1 0.76 Saline 3,088,000 12,870,000 -- 0.93 Soil Moisture 3,959 16,500 0.05 0.001 Ground Ice & Permafrost 71,970 300,000 0.86 0.022 Lakes 42,320 176,400 -- 0.013 Fresh 21,830 91,000 0.26 0.007 Saline 20,490 85,400 -- 0.006 Atmosphere 3,095 12,900 0.04 0.001 Swamp Water 2,752 11,470 0.03 0.0008 Rivers 509 2,120 0.006 0.0002 Biological Water 269 1,120 0.003 0.0001 (Source: Igor Shiklomanov's chapter "World fresh water resources" in Peter H. Gleick (editor), 1993, Water in Crisis: A Guide to the World's Fresh Water Resources (Oxford University Press, New York).