1 Communicate/Planner
Tick (✓) when done
A Word
Warm-up
Discuss
Read and Enjoy: OIC
Speak
Looking at the text
Useful words – speech
Verbs to do with speaking
Idioms to do with speech
Act it out: Carry on talking!
Listening: Talking Cockney
Read and Enjoy: Cockneys
Warm-up
Listen and react
The Ambassador’s Dandruff
Warm-up
Looking at the text
Vocabulary: Words of similar meaning
‘When in Sweden, do as the Swedes do’
Use of English: Sentence-changing
Read and Enjoy: Japanese etiquette
I Remember …
Discuss
Vocabulary: Fill in the missing words
Similes
Writing
Vocabulary Expander: British and American English
I Never Knew That!
Why Do We Say That?
Reflect
Projects
Books to read and enjoy
Resource Section: How to Study p. 128–130, Learning a language see:
www.studentlitteratur.se/progressgold
Extra speaking activity: Group Challenge – What if…? p. 286
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Estimated time
1 Communicate
Objectives
At the end of unit 1 you should
• be able to talk about sociolects
• know more about communication
• know some vocabulary differences between American and British English
• be able to use irregular nouns
• know when to use the definite article
In this unit you are going to read and/or listen to A Word, Speak, The Ambassador’s
Dandruff, I Remember and listen to Talking Cockney.
A Word
This short poem was written by Emily Dickinson, one of the greatest poets of her time.
She was born in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1830. She never cared about money and
fame. At the age of 23 she withdrew from social contact and followed her own feelings
and wrote about things she cared about. Only seven of her some 1800 poems were
published in her life time. In 1886, on her death bed, she told her sister to burn all her
poems but after her death her sister had her poems published.
Activity 1
Read/listen to the poem A Word. Then turn to p. 156 in Progress Gold and do
exercise 005.
Merriam-Webster, America’s foremost publisher of language-related reference works,
asked people what their favourite words were. They received thousands of submissions.
These are the three words entered the most often:
defenestration
serendipity
onomatopoetica
a throwing of a person or thing out of a window
the phenomenon of finding valuable things not sought for
the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound
associated with it, e.g. buzz.
A most surprising result – don’t you agree?
Activity 2
Now turn to exercise 006 and discuss the questions with your partner(s).
Then read and enjoy the poem OIC (exercise 007) and write it out in words.
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Speak
Born into the same world, men and women still seem to communicate in different ways.
Numerous research articles have been written on this subject and there have been many
attempts to explain the gender differences in communication with heredity and
environment at the top of the list.
Activity 3
Read/listen to the text and work with the vocabulary on the CD-ROM. Don’t forget
the spelling exercise. Then turn to p. 156 in Progress Gold (exercise 008) and discuss
the questions with your partner(s).
What does it mean to be “fluent” in a language? There does not seem to be a universally
agreed-upon definition of fluency in the general public, but fluency certainly means that
one feels comfortable speaking the language, can communicate easily with native
speakers, read newspaper, listen to the radio, watch TV and understand native speakers
from different regions. Thinking in the language is an important sign of fluency. A
fluent speaker may have some gaps in vocabulary but is capable of figuring out these
terms in context.
Activity 4
First expand your vocabulary with some words on p. 157, 158 and 159 in Progress
Gold (exercises 009, 011 and 012) and then turn to exercise 010 on p. 157 and
discuss the questions with your partner(s).
& women’s minds (p. 13 line 22)
As you probably know there are a few nouns in English with irregular plural forms, e.g.
man – men, woman – women.
Activity 5
Do the grammar exercises on your CD-ROM, exercise number 2.
& find life more difficult (p. 16 line 19)
The noun ‘life’ in this phrase is an uncountable. When uncountables are used in a
general sense, they do not take the definite article ‘the’.
Activity 6
Now do the grammar exercises on your CD-ROM, exercise number 6.
Activity 7
Use your imagination to make up the end of the dialogues on p. 159 in
Progress Gold (exercise 013). Be creative, dramatic …!
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Talking Cockney (listening)
Whereas the term “dialect” refers to the language of a particular region, the term
“sociolect” reflects social background in terms of such things as occupation, education
and social class.
The term Cockney refers to both the sociolect and to those people who use it. It is
generally agreed that to be a true Cockney, a person has to be born within hearing
distance of the bells of St. Mary le Bow, Cheapside, in the City of London.
The origin of the word ‘Cockney’ has long been discussed and disputed. One
explanation is that ‘Cockney’ literally means cock’s egg, a malformed egg such as
sometimes laid by young hens. It was originally used when referring to a weak
townsman, opposed to a tougher countryman and by the 17th century the term came to
mean a Londoner. Today’s natives of London, especially in the East End use the term
with pride.
Activity 8
Now turn to p. 160 (exercise 014) and read more about Cockneys. Then discuss the
questions in exercise 015 with your partner(s).
Activity 9
Listen to Talking Cockney and work with the vocabulary on your CD-ROM. Don’t
forget the spelling exercise. Then correct the mistakes in exercise 016.
you have access to the Internet, use a search engine to find more information about
: IfCockney.
The Ambassador’s Dandruff
The world today is characterized by an ever growing number of contacts resulting in
communication between people with different cultural backgrounds. We communicate
in a variety of ways, through talk, silence and animation. Different cultures place
different emphasis on these traits and, therefore, have different expectations as to how
each will be used. Some linguists think that language and culture are so intertwined that
the term languaculture should be used rather than the two terms separately.
This brings us to a very important question. How can communication be made as
constructive as possible, so that all misunderstandings can be avoided?
Dictionaries and grammar books are certainly useful when we are learning a new
language, but they don’t usually help us if we for example want to know how to say
“no” to an offer of more food or how to behave if a delay or interruption occurs. The
key to effective cross-cultural communication is of course knowledge of how
communication and different cultures are related.
Even though we possess highly developed language skills, we are still capable of
communicating significant messages without the use of a single spoken word, a fact that
is clearly demonstrated in this text.
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Activity 10
Turn to p. 161 in Progress Gold (exercise 017) and discuss the questions with your
partner(s).
Activity 11
Read/listen to the text and work with the vocabulary on the CD-ROM and on p. 162
(exercise 019). Don’t forget the spelling exercise on your CD-ROM. Then turn to
exercise 018 in Progress Gold and discuss the questions with your partner(s).
Correct manners are very important among the Japanese. A visitor to Japan should
therefore be familiar with at least the most basic rules. On p. 163 in Progress Gold there
is some interesting information (exercise 021).
There are of course also some basic Swedish rules that a foreigner should be familiar
with.
Activity 12
Turn to p. 162 (exercise 020) in Progress Gold and discuss the questions with your
partner(s).
Activity 13
Now it’s time to practise some grammar. Turn to p. 314 in Progress Gold and do
exercise 1 (Sentence changing 1).
I Remember
This text was written by Margaret Atwood, who was born in 1939 in Ottawa.
Throughout her thirty years of writing, Margaret Atwood has received numerous
awards. She is the author of more than twenty-five volumes of poetry, fiction and nonfiction, e.g. The Edible Woman, Cat’s Eye and The Handmaid’s Tale. Her work has been
published in more than thirty languages.
This text is also about male-female differences in ways of communicating.
Activity 14
Read/listen to the text and work with the vocabulary on the CD-ROM and on p. 164
(exercise 023). Don’t forget the spelling exercise on your CD-ROM. Then turn to
exercise 022 in Progress Gold and discuss the questions with your partner(s).
Activity 15
When we compare two things that are similar, we may use a simile, e.g. “as dead as
a doornail” – a colourful expression, a “word picture”. Turn to p. 165 and do
exercise 024.
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corn (p. 16 line 5)
& husking
Each area of the English-speaking world has developed its own special characteristics.
British and American English have both changed a good deal in the last three hundred
years or so, and naturally they have not developed in exactly the same way.
The major difference between British and American/Canadian English probably lies in
the choice of vocabulary. In British English ‘corn’ usually means any of various grain
plants, chiefly barley, wheat, oats and rye, while the American word ‘corn’ means
‘maize’.
Activity 16
Turn to p. 294 in Progress Gold and do the exercise British and American English.
What to do now?
There are a few more activities for you to carry out before you have finished Unit 1.
Where does the word salary come from? And why do we say checkmate? Have you
ever thought about that? If you don’t know the answer, see exercises 027 and 028 on
p. 167 in Progress Gold.
If there is time left, do the exercise on p. 286 (Group Challenge – What if) with your
partners.
Activity 17
It will soon be time to complete TMA 1 on page 23 in this Study Guide. You will be
asked to write an essay in English, so turn now to p. 142 in Progress Gold, where
you will find some help with how to write an essay.
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! TMA 1 (Tutor Marked Assignment)
Please always leave space in the margin for your tutor’s comments.
Writing
A
Your first task is exercise 025 in Progress Gold (p. 166). Choose one of the alternatives.
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Writing
B
Which text gave you the most interesting information on communication? Give reasons.
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TMA 1
Self-Assessment
Before going on ask yourself:
How well did I succeed in achieving the objectives of Unit 1?
(See p. 18 in this Study Guide).
Write down your thoughts below or in your logbook. Remember – putting your thoughts
on paper will help you to learn better. Look at p. 168 (exercise 029 Reflect) and deal
with the sentences in italics.
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