Monday, 12 August 2013

using bbc learning english - vocab pt 1

Again, this is a very good resource.

But first:
What are the opposites of:
> light
> old
> single
> hot
> free

The 'opposite' of a light meal is a heavy meal; an old book, a new book; a single ticket to Brighton, a return ticket to Brighton; a single person, a married person; a hot curry, a mild curry; a free place, a reserved place; a free ticket, a ticket you have to pay for...

Do you know any more such 'opposites' or antonyms?

An excellent course book (Innovations - published by Heinle/Thompson) has this at the heart of its understanding of how we learn languages:
Innovations Upper-Intermediate: A Course in Natural English (SB, WB, TB, 2 Audio CDs) - Free eBooks Download

And the point it makes is that you don't know a word until you know what other words go with it.

For example, what's the missing word:
Oh dear, I've ______ a terrible mistake!
Have you ______ your homework yet?
Well, I think it's time we ______ a ______ break!
My dad's a really _______ smoker: he gets through at least 40 a day.

The answers are:
to make a mistake
to do your homework
to have a coffee/tea/short break
a heavy smoker

These are all examples of 'collocation':

collocation

noun

/ˌkɒl.əˈkeɪ.ʃən/

/ˌkɑː.lə-/ specialized

Definition

B2 [C] (also collocate) a word or phrase that is often used with another word or phrase, in a way that sounds correct to people who have spoken the language alltheir lives, but might not be expected from the meaning:

In the phrase 'a hard frost', 'hard' is a collocation of 'frost' and 'strong' would notsound natural.B2 [C] the combination of words formed when two or more words are often used together in a way that sounds correct:The phrase 'a hard frost' is a collocation.

collocation noun - definition in the British English Dictionary & Thesaurus - Cambridge Dictionaries Online

We can spend a lot of time looking things up in our dictionaries:
What verbs collocate with 'mortgage'?

mortgage

NOUN

ˈmɔːɡɪdʒ

; ˈmɔːrɡɪdʒ pronunciation American

(also informal home loan) a legal agreement by which a bank or similar organization lends you money to buy a house, etc, and you pay the money back over a particular number of years; the sum of money that you borrowto apply for/take out/pay off a mortgage
mortgage - Definition and pronunciation | Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com

Now let's take an example from BBC Learning English:

Obama's brain project

Summary

5 April 2013

US President Barack Obama has launched a $100m project to map the "enormous mystery" of the human brain. He hopes the BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) project will help us understand how the brain works and learn more about diseases such as Alzheimer's.

Reporter:

Paul Adams

How much do we know about the human brain?

Listen

Click to hear the report

Report

Learning English - Words in the News - Obama's brain project

This is full of collocations.

Firstly, there are several which are pointed out:
neural circuits
subatomic particles
etc

But can you find what collocates with:
audacious (= project)
address (a project hopes to address the various conditions)
etc

In fact, everything is collocation.
Just take a look at any text; just listen to anything and you'll realise how words are connected, how words are used.
It's all about how to use words.
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explaining how your country's education system works

What do you know about schools in Britain?
Again, there's a very good overview from Woodlands Junior school:
Education in England - Life and Culture

But what about this story from Winston Churchill about his first day at (a very expensive, exclusive) school?

‘This is a Latin grammar.’ [The teacher] opened [the textbook] at a well-thumbed page. ‘You must learn this,’ he said, pointing to a number of words in a frame of lines …

What on earth did it mean? Where was the sense of it? It seemed absolute rigmarole to me. However, there was one thing I could always do: I could learn it by heart …

‘Have you learnt it?’ he asked.

‘I think I can say it, sir,’ I replied; and I gabbled it off.

He seemed so satisfied with this that I was emboldened to ask a question …

‘But,’ I repeated, ‘what does it mean?’

‘Mensa means a table,’ he answered.

‘Then why does mensa also mean O table,’ I enquired, ‘and what does O table mean?’ …

“O table,—you would use that in addressing a table, in invoking a table.’

‘But I never do,’ I blurted out in honest amazement.

‘If you are impertinent, you will be punished, and punished, let me tell you, very severely,’ was his conclusive rejoinder.

Such was my introduction to the classics from which, I have been told, many of our cleverest men have derived so much solace and profit …

Winston Churchill’s School Days at newlearningonline
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And what does this film tell you about how some people in Britain saw their education system back in the 1960s?

Homemade Trailer for "If...." - YouTube
If... (1968) full movie - YouTube

Is Harry Potter's school in fact a parody?

▶ Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - the first look at Hogwarts (HD) - YouTube

What are the elements of the British private ("public"!) school system?
And do you have a similar system in your own country?
_________________________________________________________________________________

What about how we treat children in our countries?
How does does your country compare?
This study was carried out by UNESCO in 2007:

An overview of child well-being in rich countries
A comprehensive assessment of the lives and well-being of children and adolescents in the economically advanced nations

The true measure of a nation’s standing is
how well it attends to its children – their
health and safety, their material security,
their education and socialization, and
their sense of being loved, valued, and
included in the families and societies into
which they are born.

Click on this link
www.unicef.org/media/files/ChildPovertyReport.pdf
to see a table which compares these different criteria - and the UK and US come out significantly badly:

The United Kingdom and the United States find themselves in the bottom third of the rankings for five of the six dimensions reviewed

There are plenty of other statistics about how well we look after our children. For example, how many resources they have at school, with Scandinavian and German/Austrian/Swiss kids having more than enough - see page 36 of this more recent report:
www.oecd.org/els/family/43570328.pdf
.. where American school children clearly have much less.
But how important are 'school resources' for a good education?
_________________________________________________________________________________

What about education in the United States?
Looking back at the last entry to this blog:
Jay Doubleyou: explaining how your country works
American values make up the American Dream - and an important part of that is getting an education:

Education

Most Americans perceive a college education as the ticket to the American Dream.^[27] Some recent observers warn that soaring student loan debt crisis and shortages of good jobs may undermine this ticket.^[28] The point was illustrated in The Fallen American Dream,^[29] a documentary film that details the concept of the American Dream from its historical origins to its current perception.

American Dream - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

On the other hand, there's a very different system of educational tradition in the United States:
What do all these people have in common?

Home School - A True Story (Part 1) - YouTube

And here's another video, but from a 'home-schooler':
All About My Online Schooling Program (Homeschooling) - YouTube

Recently, homeschooling has increased in popularity in the United States, with the percentage of children 5-17 who are homeschooled increasing from 1.7% in 1999 to 2.9% in 2007.^[2]
Homeschooling - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the UK, school is not 'compulsory'.
But should home-education be 'registered' and 'inspected'?

▶ BBC Breakfast Interview with Ann & Josh Newstead 11th June 2009 - YouTube

Why do we have this system in the USA and UK?
Would it be 'allowed' in your country?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of such a system?
Would you like to have been educated at home yourself?
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explaining how your country works

What do you know about the British political system?
But first, what about the 'political geography' of the country?
Here's a good question from Woodlands Junior school in Kent:

What is the difference between UK, England, Great Britain (GB) and British Isles?

Woodlands Junior School is in the south-east corner of England

'When people say England, they sometimes mean Great Britain, sometimes the United Kingdom, sometimes the British Isles -
but never England.' How to be an Alien' by George Mikes

Why is England or the UK sometimes called Britain?

"England" is sometimes, wrongly, used in reference to the whole United Kingdom, the entire island of Great Britain (or simply Britain), or indeed the British Isles. This is not only incorrect but can cause offence to people from other parts of the UK. (See nationality of the British people).

England, Scotland, Wales, Great Britain refer to different 'parts of the UK. The British Isles includes many islands not even part of the UK.


England	Scotland	Wales

Great Britain	UK	British Isles

The diverse history of England, Scotland and Wales has led to very different cultural traditions; The Scots and Welsh have right to feel aggrieved whenever the term 'English' is used wrongly, to mean all three.

Countries within a Country - The United Kingdom

The name United Kingdom refers to the union of what were once four separate countries: England, Scotland, Wales andIreland (though most of Ireland is now independent, only Northern Ireland remains part of the UK).

The United Kingdom

The UK's full and official name is the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".

History of the making of the UK

1536 - Act of Union joins England and Wales
1707 - Act of Union unites Scotland and England, together with Wales to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1801 - The Irish Parliament voted to join the Union. The then Kingdom of Great Britain becomes the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1922 - Name changed to United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, when most of the Southern counties in Ireland choose independence.

Great Britain

Great Britain comprises only England, Scotland and Wales.
Find out more about Britain

British Isles

The British Isles - made up of several islands. Great Britain is the largest one. Find out more about the British Isles

During the next few pages we will explain the differences between Britain, the UK and England

Click here to find out more about the UK

The difference between the United Kingdom (UK) England, Great Britain (GB) and the British Isles

When it comes to your country, can people from other countries understand its political geography?
Does your country 'make sense' to other people?!
Has your country always had the same borders as it does today?

The same website tells us a little more about the British political system.
Any ideas about how it works?

The British Government
Woodlands Junior School is in the south-east corner of England
The two Houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (the House of Lords and the House of Commons) are based at The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament, in London. The Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament) where the UK Government sits The palace lies on the north bank of the River Thames in the London borough of the City of Westminster, close to the government buildings of Whitehall. Parliament decides the laws and make decisions on running the UK. (Some issues in Scotland,Wales and Northern Ireland are now dealt with by their respective parliaments and assemblies.) There has been a parliament at Westminster since the 13th Century. The UK government is normally formed by the leader of the party that wins the most seats in the general election. All actions by the government - and particularly its proposals to amend or create laws - are scrutinised within parliament.

	Is Great Britain a Republic or a Monarchy?
	Who runs your country?
	What type of Government does England have?
	What is the British government and Parliament like?

British UK Government

______________________________________________________________________________

And what about the United States?
What do you know about the political system in the USA?


			BACK TO INTRO


Introduction The US is a federal republic of 50 states. The framers of the Constitution, drafted in 1787, wanted to block any individual or group from gaining too much control, so they established a government of separate institutions that share powers. Authority is divided into three tiers of national, state and local government, with the American people electing officials to serve in each tier. At the national level the government is split into three autonomous branches - legislative, executive and judicial. Each has its own distinct responsibilities, but they can also partially limit the authority of the others through a complex system of checks and balances.

BBC NEWS

And it seems very complicated, but the BBC again makes it clear:

US electoral system explained

The US mid-term elections could see a shift in political control. But how does the US system of government work? Here, BBC News Online explains the divisions of power, the elaborate electoral system and how it ties in with the US constitution. Click on the links to find out more.

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | US electoral system explained

What about your own country's political system?
Could you explain it to a visitor?
_________________________________________________________________________________

And what do you know about political attitudes and values in Britain?
Who has been the most influential politician for over 60 years?
And what were her political attitudes and values?
Here's an interview with her from 1977 where she makes her views known. What main points does she make and do you agree with them? Would you call her 'the most influential politician for over 60 years'?

.

Margaret Thatcher - Capitalism and a Free Society - YouTube

And there's another interesting interview from when she was Prime Minister [thanks to Headway]:
Lesson 12: Articles | Learning English

What are the general political attitudes in your country?
Have they changed over time?
Have the attitudes of Margaret Thatcher had an influence on your country too?
______________________________________________________________________________

Finally, what do you know about political 'values' in the United States?
It's a very controversial thing there:

Matt A: October 2012

American Values

Your voice to help protect Family, Faith, and Freedom.

American Values | Your voice to help protect Family, Faith, and Freedom.

What is America? What are the values it has most fought for and admired? A few of the first, and most important, come to mind:Freedom.
Equality.
Democracy.
Champion of the little guy.
Helper of the oppressed.
Defender against tyranny.
Some of the other values are ingrained in our history and our belief in our future:
Capitalism.
Independence.
Strength.
Rightness and righteousness.
Manifest destiny.
God.
Freedom of religion.
Family.
Wealth.
Faith.
Entertainment and happiness.

American Values

How do these compare to your country?
Does your country - and do you - share any of these values?
To what extent have these had any influence on your country?
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using bbc learning english

... words in the news.

What can you do with this?
Learning English - Words in the News - Thai police fight the fat

You can watch all the way through:
> What is the key vocab and how is it used in context?

Thailand's police force is in a battle to beat the bulge.

It might not be the most rigorous training but these officers are trying their hardest.

The fitness programme in Bangkok includes a daily workout and healthy eating.

They have an extra incentive: a prize worth $160 is up for grabs for the officer who loses the most weight.

You can then try the exercise at the end:
> How is the key vocab used in these different sentences?

The army, the police, local politicians and the insurgents are all believed to make significant money from the rampant smuggling of everything from drugs, to people, to diesel fuel, in this border region. There seems little _________ to risk bold initiatives that might end the fighting.

But most useful is the soundtrack:
> What are the stressed words and syllables?
> What's the music, the melody, the ups and downs of the voice?

Try it yourself: listen to a sentence or section > and repeat!

You could even try shadowing:
Jay Doubleyou: speaking fluently
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using the present perfect

... simple and continuous
... and the past perfect too.

See if you can spot them being used here:

Goldilocks and the Three Bears.mp4 - YouTube
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Wednesday, 31 July 2013

english as a tourist language

English is what most people learn to be able to enjoy their travels: you can exchange at least a few words with most people around the world using this as a 'lingua franca'.
And English is what is used by the tourist industry across the world to make sure their guests are happy and getting what they want!
For example:

Nina Breitenecker - Austria City Guide

Discover the most beautiful sites of the city !

Considering your personal interests I accompany and guide you through Vienna !

Wether you travel alone, with your partner, your family or in a group ?

Vienna has something to offer for everybody !

Are you interested in art and culture ? Viennese Cuisine ? The old or new Vienna ?
Or would you like to expirience the Viennese sociability and its way of life ?

Explore the best sites of the city !

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Saturday, 22 June 2013

what is a 'native speaker' of english?

It's a difficult thing to define: where to start?

Firstly, what is a 'native speaker' of any language?
In some countries such as Kenya, India, and various East Asian countries, "mother language" or "native language" is used to indicate the language of one'sethnic group, in both common and journalistic parlance (e.g. "I have no apologies for not learning my mother tongue"), rather than one's first language. Also in Singapore, "mother tongue" refers to the language of one's ethnic group regardless of actual proficiency, while the "first language" refers to the English language that was established on the island through British colonisation, which is the lingua franca for most post-independence Singaporeans due to its use as the language of instruction in government schools and as a working language.
One can have two or more native languages, thus being a native bilingual or indeed multilingual. The order in which these languages are learned is not necessarily the order of proficiency. Other examples are India, Malaysia and South Africa, where most people speak more than one language.
First language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here's an interesting on-line discussion:
How would you define "native speaker of english"?

And here's a more academic study:

Native speaker: A unitary fantasy of a diverse reality

Posted October 23rd, 2012 by webadmin

Issue: The Language Teacher - Issue 28.1; January 2004

Date: Thu, 2004-01-01

Writer(s): Mitsuo Kubota, Kansai Gaidai University

The use of the term "native speaker" has been critically discussed in the field of teaching English (e.g., Davies, 1991; Kachru & Nelson, 1996; Paikeday, 1985; Phillipson, 1992; Rampton, 1990). This article attempts to examine the term as it is used in an EFL context as well as raise awareness about the multiplicity of the term. Five major factors defining a native speaker are then put forward followed by a brief discussion of a study which investigated the construct of a native speaker of English (NES) among university students in Japan, as well as their model speaker for learning English.

What is a Native English Speaker?

In theoretical linguistics, the native speaker is a person who is qualified to judge the grammaticality of sentences (Chomsky, 1965). In the SLA (Second Language Acquisition) studies, the native speaker provides the target models for learning. However, the term has not been defined clearly in either of these fields, yet it has been used widely as if it is a self-explanatory term. In response to this situation, some researchers (e.g., Kachru and Nelson, 1996; Paikeday, 1985; Rampton, 1990) have asserted that the casual use of the term "native speaker" needs to be questioned and problematized. After reviewing the literature regarding the term, I have isolated five defining issues for a NES:

1. whether the person acquired English from birth (Davies, 1991; Liu, 1999; Paikeday, 1985; Phillipson, 1992)

2. whether the person is a competent speaker (Davies, 1991; Paikeday, 1985; Rampton, 1990)

3. whether the person acquired English formally through education or informally through daily use (Davies, 1991; Liu, 1990; Phillipson, 1992)

4. what variety of English the person uses (Davies, 1991; Kachru & Nelson, 1996; McConnell, 2000)

5. the race of the person (Amin, 1997; Kachru & Nelson, 1996; Liu, 1999; Lummis, 1975; Tsuda, 1990).

Keeping the above criteria in mind, I asked Japanese university students about their definition of a NES and their model for learning English. Based on the findings, I will discuss what needs to be considered in terms of the definition and the target for learning English in the Japanese context.

The Study

The participants were 260 Japanese university sophomores majoring in English. Because the university has a large number of English teachers and international students, many of whom the participants consider to be NESs, it is reasonable to say that the participants in the present study have exposure to NESs.

Discussion

These Japanese university students define a NES as a person who acquired English from birth onward. The participants report neither the variety of English that the person speaks nor the race of the person as important defining criteria. The important issue is whether the person uses English continuously in at least one domain of their daily life. Their model for learning English is similar to their definition of a NES, however, criteria such as being a speaker of the Inner Circle and lack of a foreign accent seem to be important.

Native speaker: A unitary fantasy of a diverse reality | JALT Publications

The second-largest English-speaking country is India:
Is India or US the biggest English-speaking country? | Antimoon Forum
List of countries by English-speaking population - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The rapid growth of India's economy towards the end of the 20th century led to large-scale population migration between regions of the Indian subcontinent and the establishment of English as a common lingua franca between those speaking diverse mother tongues.
Indian English - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
And as such, Indians not only speak excellent English:
"An English-speaking Indian has native-like intuition in English, unlike a Chinese for whom English is assembled by a more academic thought process. For an Indian, English is more like an adjunct native language. We do some of our thinking in our Indian language and other things in English — that is, we have a native competence that spans two or more languages. No wonder we do so well in Toefl."
Indians beat English at their language - Times Of India
But it is replacing 'local' languages:

In Bangalore and elsewhere in Big City India, factors like great mobility, a demanding school system and mixed marriages are churning up a startling consequence: a generation of urban children is growing up largely monolingual — speaking, thinking and dreaming only in English.

“How do we define Ahana’s mother tongue?” asks Mr. Nagaraj. He speaks Kannada with his mother; his wife speaks Bengali with hers. Both grandmothers live nearby and attempt to converse with Ahana in their respective tongues. But she responds only in English.

It is an issue that at once cheers and distresses an entire band of middle-class Indians.

On the one hand, English has opened the doors to great job mobility in the past decade and much economic success. In a country of so many varied languages, English is the only linguistic commonality. Yet as the language increasingly becomes the de facto mother tongue in urban families, many are dismayed at the trend, contending that its rampant use will strip them of their sense of Indian-ness.

“English is unifying us with the rest of the world but alienating us from our familial and cultural roots,” says Mr. Nagaraj, who still turns to Kannada metaphors when he needs to drive home a point.

India's New 'English Only' Generation - NYTimes.com

English is an official language in most former British colonies:
List of countries where English is an official language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
But not in Malaysia:
The official language of Malaysia is Malaysian,^[2] a standardised form of the Malay language.^[182] Historically English was the de facto administrative language, with Malay becoming predominant after the 1969 race riots.^[183] English remains an active second language, and serves as the medium of instruction for maths and sciences in all public schools.^[184]^[185] Malaysian English, also known as Malaysian Standard English, is a form of English derived from British English.
Malaysia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
And it should not be confused with the 'Anglosphere' which some see as a rather romantic, backward-looking anti-European notion:
Anglosphere - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
English has been chosen often for political reasons:
Nigeria has one of the biggest collection of languages in the world (if not THE biggest), and they use English as the national language, because it's neutral to all the other ones (and it's used as a lingua franca to boot). Some people though have English as a native language in the country.
Can a Nigerian be classified as a Native English speaker? - Yahoo! Answers
Nigerian English - definition and examples of Nigerian English
But it's often a question of education and class:
The official language of Nigeria, English, the former colonial language, was chosen to facilitate the cultural and linguistic unity of the country. English, however, remains an exclusive preserve of the country's urban elite, and is not widely spoken in rural areas, which comprise three quarters of the countries population.
Languages of Nigeria - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This can often have racist overtones:
Native English speakers who are of Asian descent or candidates with Asian looks will NOT be consideredNative English speakers (Caucasians ONLY) from the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand and Canada need apply
Who is a native speaker of English?- eChinacities Answers | answers.echinacities.com

This paper argues that the English Language Teaching (ELT) industryoften does not treat all speakers of English as equal in its hiring practices.Rather, it gives preferential treatment to White native speakers of English.

Racism in the English language teaching industry | Ahmar Mahboob - Academia.edu