Using language Unit 2 back

? ? How many dialects are there in China ?

dialects family in China 北方方言 吴语 闽南语 客家话 湘语 赣语 粤语 Chinese

English dialects in different countries Britain The U.S.A Canada Australia India New Zealand Warming up Do you think there are some dialects in English?

Fast reading Read the text on page 13 for 1 minute and answer the following question. Is there standard English? Skim the passage for main idea of each paragraph.

Paragraph 1.Believe it or not,there is no such thing as standard English. Paragraph 2.American English has many dialects. Paragraph 3.Geography also plays a part in making dialects.

Detailed Reading Read the text for 3 minutes and answer the following question. How many dialects of American English have been listed in the text? 1.How many dialects of American English have been listed in the text? 2.Why do people from both Northeastern and Southeastern of U.S. speak with almost the same dialect? And what kind of dialect is it? 3.Why are there so many dialect in American English?

1.How many dialects of American English have been listed in the text? midwestern, southern, African American, Spanish midwestern, southern, African American, Spanish

2.Why do people from both Northeastern and Southeastern of U.S. speak with almost the same dialect? Because when Americans moved from one place to anther, they took their dialects with them. Because when Americans moved from one place to anther, they took their dialects with them.

3.Why are there so many dialect in American English? That’s because people come from all over the world. And geography plays a part in making dialects.

Read the passage again and try to find out important or difficult sentences.

1.Believe it or not,there is no such thing as standard English. 2.Geography also plays a part in making dialects. 3.Although many Americans move a lot,they still recognize and understand each other’s dialects. back

Listening

Before you listen, look at the picture below and read the exercises. In doing so, you can get some idea about the listening and predict the content. Discuss your ideas with your partner. 1 1

Imagine that you are in Houston, Texas, a city in the American South. This is an example of the local dialect. Listen and read through the text and take note of the accent and intonation. Listen again and put these sentences in the right sequence. _______Lester climbed a tree. _______Buford, Billy Bob and Lester went swimming. _______Lester thought the catfish would eat him. _______Buford and Billy Bob laughed. _______Lester saw a catfish. _______Now Lester is too afraid to visit the place

Answer the following questions after listening. 1. What does Buford think of Texas? How do you know? 2. How large was the catfish? 3. How did Lester get out of the water so quickly? 4. Why did Buford and Big Billy Bob laugh? He believes it’s almost a different country from the USA. The listening text tells us. The boys thought that the catfish was almost the size of house. He thought the catfish would eat him. They laughed because Lester believed the catfish would hurt him. 4 4

Speaking and Writing

Reading and speaking Read the dialogue and circle the words that mean the same. AMY: Excuse me, ma’am. Could you please tell me where the nearest subway is? straight LADY: Er … the underground? Well, go round the corner on your left-hand side, straight on and cross two streets. It’ll be on your right-hand side. 1 1

AMY: Thanks so much. FRIENDS: What did she say, Amy? AMY: She told us to go around the corner on the left and keep going straight for two blocks. The subway will be on our right.

Amy (American) Lady (British) subway left keep going straight two blocks right underground left-hand side go straight on two streets right-hand side

Work in pairs. Choose one of the situations and make a dialogue. Use the following expressions to help you. Pay attention to the intonation you use while talking. 2 2 Pardon? I beg your pardon? I don’t understand. How do you spell that? Could you say that again please? Could you speak more slowly please? Sorry, I can’t follow you! Could you repeat that please?

1.You and your friend are American. You have arrived in a strange city in England to watch a football match. You need to find a cab/taxi to take you to the football ground. 2.You and your friend are British. You are visiting America. Your car needs some more petrol but you cannot find a petrol station. Ask directions to the nearest one.

Sample dialogue for situation 2: S1: Excuse me sir. Could you tell me where the nearest petrol station is? S2: You mean gas station/ Yes of course. It’s straight ahead till you reach the traffic lights. Then turn left and cross one street. Then you’ll see it on your left. S1: What’s that again? I don’t understand. How many blocks is that?

S2: Blocks? There are no blocks! You just go along this road till you reach the traffic lights. S1: I see – for one block? Can you speak more slowly please? I want to write this down. S2: See those traffic lights? Go straight ahead until you reach them and turn left.

S1: Yes, I see. That’s two blocks. Then do I take a left? S2: Yes and then cross one road and it’s on your left-hand side. S1: Thanks. I go one block and it’ll be on my left. Thanks so much.