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

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 ( 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 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.

written language

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

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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 unable to hear.

Braille, invented by a Frenchman, is a language 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 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?