Learn English Wanna Talk About Learning Languages Support Pack

8/8/2019 Learn English Wanna Talk About Learning Languages Support Pack

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I wanna talk about learning languages

Page 1 of 3 The United Kingdoms international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.

Introduction

This support pack accompanies the audio file 'I wanna talk about learning languages'. To listen to the

audio file, go to:http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/i-wanna-talk-about/learning-languages

This support pack contains the following materials:

a pre-listening vocabulary activity the transcript of the audio file a comprehension activity

Before you listen

Activity 01Match the words and phrases in the table to their definitions.

a. do something badly b. earlier c. encouraging

d. feel better after something

bade. go to regularly (formal) f. level

g. notice h. quite good, acceptable i. take part in

j. television stations k. very difficult task, an effort l. very much

1. attend2. beforehand3. by far4. channels5. compete6. decent7. degree8. get over9. make a right mess of10. pick up on11. struggle12. supporting

Transcript

And I think maybe here in Hong Kong, the family(families) are crowded into a very small housingspace, so maybe you would sometimes arguewith your family and I think try (trying) to resolvethe disagreement with people is very importantbecause then you can build strong relationshipsand keep commitments you have made. Forexample, sometimes maybe you are feelingalone and you want to make some comfort and I

think you can ask the people you trust for help isvery important because if you have a bunch offriends, they can listen to you, then you canrelease some stress through talking to them.

I wanna talk about learning languages. Ivelived in many different countries, both inWestern Europe, Middle East, and now here inHong Kong. And during all of that time, Ivelearned five or six different languages, to onedegree or another. I love learning languages,not only are they important when you move to acountry, I just find them fascinating.

Before I came to Hong Kong, I lived inBarcelona Spain for ten years. And when I firstarrived, the most important thing was being able


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to communicate with people locally. I dontattend classes. I dont think Im particularlygood in classes. I prefer to learn by just talking

to people, finding out what I need to say bylooking at dictionaries and listening carefully.

Other things that helped me when I first movedto Spain, were watching the typical kinds ofprograms we see everyday on channels aroundthe world. For example the weather. This isgreat, because they always say the samethings. So you can really quickly hear the samewords repeated again and again. And thepictures helped of course.

Other types of program that helped me learnedSpanish quickly were things like game shows,where the same thing happens. They have acatchphrase or a slogan that they repeatendlessly when contestants win or when theyare called to compete.

As well as that, I used to pick up the Spanishnewspapers. First of all, I just accepted thatthere was no way I was going to understandanything but one or two words. But gradually, Ifound that I learned lots of new things about this.I was interested because I wanted to know whatwas happening in the country I lived in. But, I

also knew that I could learn a lot of languagethis way. So I'd take a dictionary with mesometimes, or I'd notice a word and I'd ask other

people what it meant.

Anyway, by far the best practice I ever had was just talking to people in the street, or in shopswhere I'd rehearse in my head what I wanted tosay beforehand, before I went in. Usually, I'dmake a right mess of it first of all, but, after youget over the embarrassment, its quite funnyreally. And people are very sympathetic andsupporting in most cases.

It took me a long time to develop a good level ofSpanish. I lived there for ten years, and I thinkIm very fluent now. But I think for the first twoyears I was there, it was quite a struggle to holda decent conversation. There were always lotsof words or expressions that I didnt pick up on.In particular with the colloquial expressions,idioms, that kind of thing, that people use ineveryday talk, but you dont necessarily seewritten down. I didnt find those very easy tolearn at all. But it was a lot of fun. And peopleas I said are really supporting when they knowthat you are genuinely interested in learningtheir language.

After listening

Activity 02Choose the correct answer to each question.

1. Which continent has the speaker not lived in?

a. Asiab. Europec. South America

2. Which two things does the speaker do to learn a new language?

a. go to classes and speak to peopleb. speak to people and use a dictionaryc. watch TV and listen to the radio

3. Why does the speaker think watching game shows is useful?

a. because of the picturesb. because contestants are always winningc. because the language is repetitive


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4. What does the speaker say about using newspapers?

a. it was easy to learn a lot of new words quicklyb. a lot of things were happening in the countryc. other people could explain new words the writer found

5. What does the speaker say about talking to people in the street?

a. preparation was necessaryb. the embarrassment made it a failurec. people reacted negatively

6. Why were colloquial expressions a problem for the speaker?

a. they took ten years to learnb. they were never written downc. they were often unnoticed

Answers

Activity 011. e; 2. b; 3. l; 4. j; 5. i; 6. h; 7. f; 8. d; 9. a; 10. g; 11. k; 12. c

Activity 021. c; 2. b; 3. c; 4. c; 5. a; 6. c

Documents

Learn English Wanna Talk About Learning Languages Support Pack