Transcript Uint 3 Welcome to the Unit

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/ illustrate
4.various/variety/vary
5. form
6. emoticon a representation of a facial
expression (as a smile or frown)/a special
Internet language
7. beaming smile / beam
8. in circles
9. inform sb. of/about sth
10. exchange
11. Effective
12. share with
Fill in the blanks with the words and
phrases from the box below.
broad, transmit, exchange, form,
inform…of, in circle, stand for
1. Music is not like most other art _____.
forms
2. I ________
informed her mother __
of her safe
arrival.
3. Where can I _________
exchange my RMB for
dollars?
4. They have transmitted
__________ the news by
radio.
5. The letters “x” and “y” often stand
________
for
unknown numbers in mathematics.
6. His back is broad
_____.
7. Look, the children are dancing
________.
in
circles
Step 2
the basic theme of language
Language, in its broad sense, is a way ( in
which) information is transmitted. It can be
spoken or seen.
Wherever there are people, there are languages
Nowadays, nearly 6,000languages are used all
Over 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 3
Brainstorming
1. What language do you speak?
Can you speak any other language? If so,
can you speak a little for us?
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.
written
language
Chinese
Russian
English
Spanish
Japanese
Tibetan
French
Arabic
Greek
German
Emoticons make a special
Internet language.
This stands for a beaming smile.
emoticon
smiley face
:-)
sad face
:-(
:'(
crying face
:-|
disappointed face
:-O
Wow!
8-|
bookworm
=:O
frightened
:}{:
kisses
mp
ap
co
Group work
1. Can you think of other forms
of emoticons?
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.
Be quiet !
What does this mean?
victory
whistle
Who needs to use
sign language in
daily life?
The deaf or
those who
are unable
to hear.
Braille, invented by a Frenchman, is a
language for blind people.
Who is he?
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.
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 inform
their partners about food
or 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 or
information. For example, in ancient times,
Chinese people relayed fire signals at night
and smoke signals in the day from one
Great Wall watchtower to another so that
war messages could be rapidly sent over
Great distances.
Nowadays, people use the language of flowers
to communicate meaning.
rose=love
tulip=formal announcement of love
forget-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 the
world. It’s useful to learn English if you want
to travel, do business or study abroad. What’s
More, in 2008, the 29th Olympic Games will
be held in Beijing. We are learning English to
welcome people from other parts of the world.
Now it’s reported that students in some
primary schools are required to learn English
even in Grade 1, which I don’t think is
necessary. Primary school is a key stage for
young children to acquire their mother
tongue. Starting to learn another language
too early may hinder the first language
acquisition. In my opinion, children should
learn the mother tongue well first. If we can
not speak our own language well, how can we
keep 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 interesting
and helped me develop a good sense of the
language.
2. Do you think English is very
important? And how much do you
know about English?