Page 37 - Learn English

CHALLENGE YOURSELF!!! (DO A PRESENTATION)
1. Choose the correct option to complete quiz about endangered languages.
1. Approximately how many languages are spoken on Earth? a. 1 700 b. 7 000 c. 17 000
2. What percentage of these languages is used by less than 100 000 people? a. 19% b. 69% c. 90%
3. How many of these languages have only one single speaker? a. 46 b. 106 c. 400
4. At what rate do languages become extinct? a. One language dies every two days.
b. One language dies every two weeks.
c. One language dies every two months.
5. How many languages are currently considered to be at risk of extinction according to UNESCO?
a. 25 b. 250 c. 2 500
2. Work in pairs. Discuss the questions.
• Did any of the statistics above surprise you? Why?
• What do you think causes languages to die out?
• Why do you think it is important to protect the world’s vulnerable languages?
3. Work in a group of four. Imagine that you are a ‘Language Protection Committee.’ Your language is under threat and it is your responsibility to protect it. Prepare a presentation on why your language should be saved. Think about:
• the history of your language and its connections with your country
• literature, traditional stories and legends
• pronunciation, the way it sounds, songs and music
• the rich vocabulary. Are there words that can’t really be translated?
4. Design a leaflet listing your main arguments.
5. Practise your presentation. Does anything need improving?
6. Perform your presentation for the rest of the class. Answer questions from
the rest of the class at the end of the presentation.
7. Vote on which group delivered the most persuasive presentation. Did you
learn anything new about your own language/ another language? What did you learn?