Access to International English (2017) (utdrag)

PREFACE Welcome to the second revision of Access to International English, a textbook designed to meet the goals specified for the five-hour English course in international English (Internasjonal engelsk – programfag i studiespesialiserende utdanningsprogram).

Access to International English is first and foremost a textbook for developing English language skills. However, language cannot be learned in a vacuum, and this book intends to provide a context for understanding some of the challenges and opportunities that the modern world presents us with.

We believe that this revision maintains the strengths that Access textbooks are well-known for: Focus texts written specially for our students to provide them with a thorough, up-todate overview of the themes that are dealt with, including in-depth case texts taken from many sources and representing many text genres. A wealth of varied tasks, both between these covers and online, will enable students to develop both their language skills and their understanding of the issues.

The textbook has five main chapters. Chapter 1 deals with the often controversial issue of the media and its role as both a mirror and a shaper of the modern world. Chapter 2 looks into multiculturalism across the English-speaking world and how the meeting of cultures continues to affect our lives. Chapter 3 focuses on some of the global challenges we face in the 21st century, while Chapter 4 looks at the opportunities for education and employment in a globalised English-speaking world.

Chapter 5 is devoted entirely to literature

and literary analysis, making use of examples focusing on particular aspects of the literary texts. The aim here is to provide students with models and inspiration for writing their own analyses. The chapter includes several new texts, both poems and short stories, and also a longer story (“The Fugitive”) to provide an opportunity for more extensive reading.

One of the challenges of the modern world is to see how different issues impact on each other, and to this end we have tried, through tasks and references, to make connections across the chapters concerning such issues as the environment, gender and migration.

The writing and text analysis courses introduced in the last edition have been kept and are now placed at the end of the book. The text analysis course has been revised to make it more conducive to the type of text analysis students are often required to do in examinations.

The book you are holding is, of course, only part of what Access to International English has to offer. In addition, there is an extensive and free website (access.cdu.no) that provides interactive tasks, updated articles, useful links for the in-depth assignments found in “Digging Deeper”, systematic work on selected films – and much more. The website also contains Teacher’s Resources, including a suggested year plan, keys to tasks, suggested chapter tests and PowerPoint presentations of core texts.

We hope you will find Access to International English both enjoyable and rewarding to use.

John Anthony Richard Burgess Robert Mikkelsen

CONTENTS Introduction: Worlds of English Varieties of English in the Outer Circle Varieties of English in the Inner Circle Reporting from the Frontline of the Great Dictionary Disaster (John Agard) CHAPTER 1: INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH AND THE MEDIA Introduction: Media in Motion Twitter Fiction (various authors) Focus: The Digital Revolution Die Spy (Kim Z. Dale) The 24/7 World Film Study: Steve Jobs Cutting the Cord: Television in Tumult Q&A (Vikas Swarup)

7

factual text

16

listening (interviews)

17

listening (interviews)

18 poem

22

factual text

26

short fiction

29

factual text

40

short fiction

43

factual text

56

introduction and tasks

59

factual text

64

listening (novel extract)

CHAPTER 2: INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH AND MULTICULTURALISM 68 factual text Introduction: The Challenge of Cultural Variety Like Mexicans (Gary Soto) 76 short story Focus: Multiculturalism in the English-Speaking World 82 factual text Salaam Brick Lane (Tarquin Hall) 105 excerpt Leicester City – More than Football 111 listening (article) Wherever I Hang / Island Man (Grace Nichols) 113 poems A Family Supper (Kazuo Ishiguro) 116 short story Paper Menagerie (Ken Liu) 129 listening (short story) Digging Deeper: Introduction + Chapters 1&2 133 CHAPTER 3: INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH AND GLOBAL CHALLENGES 136 factual text Introduction: Possibilities and Problems The Migrant (A.L. Hendriks) 139 poem Focus: The Challenge of Migration 141 factual text Shafiullah’s Journey (Ben Judah) 152 excerpt Global Village (Yusuf M. Adamu) 158 poem When Terrorism Goes Global 160 factual text The Pointless Death of a Brainwashed 168 column Teenage Bride (Barbara Ellen) Trafficking – Two Stories 170 listening (article)

Contents

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The Importance of Water Thirst (Max Andrew Dubinsky) Gender Equality Is Your Issue Too (Emma Watson) Chinasa (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)

171

factual text

180

short story

186 speech 191

short story

CHAPTER 4: INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH IN EDUCATION AND WORKING LIFE 198 factual text Introduction: Aiming for a Better Future English – Norway’s Second Language (Or Was It First?)

203 listening (interviews) Focus: Education and Work – International Perspectives 204 factual text The Volunteer (Lucinda Nelson Dhavan) 217 short story Gap-Year Experiences 225 listening (interviews) Global Challenges and Education 226 interview Getting It Right in Business 234 factual text Digging Deeper: Chapters 3&4 240

CHAPTER 5: A WORLD OF LITERATURE Introduction to Literature 1: Plot and Theme Robert and the Dog (Ken Saro-Wiwa) Analysing Plot and Theme in “Robert and the Dog” 2: Point of View and Irony The Fugitive (T. Coraghessan Boyle) Analysing Point of View and Irony in “The Fugitive” 3: Characterisation The Raft (Peter Orner) Analysing Character in “The Raft” 4: Setting Paradise (Matthew Kneale) Analysing Setting in “Paradise” X (Imtiaz Dharker) Last Snowman (Simon Armitage) Analysing the Poems The Housing Poem (Dian Million) Working with Films Novel and Film Study: Q&A / Slumdog Millionaire

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Contents

242

factual text

245

factual text

248

short story

252 analysis 256

factual text

260

short story

275 analysis 279

factual text

283

short story

287 analysis 291

factual text

294

short story

302 analysis 306 poem 307 poem 308 analysis 313 poem 315

factual text

320 introduction

COURSES Writing Course 1: What Is a Sentence?

Writing Course 2: Writing Good Sentences Writing Course 3: Writing Paragraphs Writing Course 4: Text Coherence Writing Course 5: Essays Writing Course 6: Evaluating and Using Sources Text Analysis Course 1: What Is Text Analysis?

Text Analysis Course 2: Informal and Formal Language Text Analysis Course 3: Language Features and Their Effect Text Analysis Course 4: Rhetorical Devices and Their Effect Text Analysis Course 5: Literary Devices and Their Effect Text Analysis Course 6: Analysing Genres A SHORT GLOSSARY OF GRAMMATICAL TERMS

322 327 331 335 338 342 348 352 355 360 365 370 377

access.cdu.no: – Interactive tasks: comprehension, vocabulary, language – Self-evaluation – Novel and film study – Listening material (except literary texts) – Materials for Quick Research and Digging Deeper + = challenging task

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TIMELINE: THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

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Worlds of English

OLD ENGLISH (410-1150)

410–600 AD

Southern Britain invaded and settled by Germanic tribes who speak languages from which English evolves

789

First Viking invasion of Britain. Settlements established.

Vikings bring 2000 words into English

1066

England is invaded by William of Normandy.

French becomes the language of administration and power

MIDDLE ENGLISH (1150-1500)

1150–1500

English develops – a Germanic language with much French vocabulary

1362

English becomes official language of the law courts (instead of French)

1413-22

Henry V the first monarch to use English at court

1474

Introduction of printing press by William Caxton

MODERN ENGLISH (1500-present)

1500–1920

Growth of British Empire

1500

English spoken by about five million people

1526

First full English translation of Bible (banned in England)

1532–58

The English Reformation: English becomes the language of the Church of England

1607

English first arrives on the North American continent (Jamestown colony in Virginia)

1616

The death of William Shakespeare, the most famous writer in English

1755

Samuel Johnson publishes his English dictionary

1776

The United States declares its independence from Great Britain

1788

English first arrives in Australia (penal colony in Botany Bay)

1828

Noah Webster publishes his American English dictionary

1860

Population of the US exceeds that of the UK

1920

The British Empire at its height, with 450 million subjects

1945

The USA emerges as a global superpower

1947

India becomes independent. English retained as an official language (alongside Hindi)

1969

Foundation of the internet laid in the US

1991

World Wide Web launched – in English

2000

1 billion learners of English worldwide

2010

English spoken in over 100 nations making up 49% of the world’s population

2015

English strengthens its position as the most used language on the internet

2016

“Post-truth” is the Oxford Dictionary’s “Word of the Year”

Make a list of the ways in which you have come into contact with English during the last week. Remember that this contact could involve any of the four skills: listening, speaking, reading or writing.

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Introduction: Worlds of English You don’t need telling that the most important language in the world today is English. For one thing, you have surely been told so by every English teacher you have ever had! For another, as a Norwegian, the proof is all around you – in the films and TV series you watch, in the music you listen to, in the websites you visit and the social media you use. If you have travelled outside Scandinavia, you will know that when you get into a scrape, it is English that will help you out. And maybe get you some friends too.

Of course, the importance of English extends far beyond this personal sphere. In fields like education, sport, business, international diplomacy and science and technology, English today holds an unrivalled position

Talented Norwegian singer AURORA on stage in 2016, the year she released her debut album to great acclaim in the UK and Europe.

Norwegian artists who have had international success performing in English include a-ha, Turbonegro, Röyksopp, Kygo, Ylvis and Nico & Vinz

Worlds of English

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FACTS: GLOBALISATION In the most general sense, globalisation describes the way the world is becoming increasingly interconnected through new forms of communication, transportation, technology and trade. This has been going on for centuries, of course, but recently the pace has picked up. Today’s globalisation is the product of the “consumer economy” first established in the United States and now gone worldwide. At the heart of globalisation is the increasing movement of products, ideas, money, jobs, culture and – not least – people across the world. This has been spurred on by the rise of powerful international corporations that no longer belong to one nation and are not controlled by any international authority.

(Top): Bhutanese national costume – Nike sports socks Young Muslim students in Malaysia reading an issue of Cosmopolitan magazine

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Worlds of English

Globalisation has had a massive impact. Inventions created and spread within this system – cable and satellite TV, the internet, GPS, personal computers, tablets, smartphones, social media – have tied the world ever closer together. Greater wealth than ever seen before has been created. This has spurred growth among many developing countries.

However, globalisation has also set off profoundly hostile reactions among many people. There are many who feel that their lives have become subject to forces beyond their control or even the control of the country in which they live. Millions in developed countries have lost their jobs to competition elsewhere. Millions of others have had to move to where jobs can be found, causing disruptions in both the countries they leave and the countries they arrive in. Meanwhile, environmentalists question whether the apparently unending and uncontrolled economic growth promised by globalisation is either desirable or sustainable. More disturbingly, around the world there are many who actively hate the consumer economy being pushed upon their cultures by globalisation. This includes any number of terrorist organisations aimed at eliminating what they view as its evil influence.

In sum, reactions to globalisation are mixed, as we shall see in the course of the book. One thing is certain, however: the impact of globalisation will continue to be a dominant factor in the development of world affairs in the 21st century.

(Top left:) McDonald’s food delivery on a motorcycle in Guangzhou, China. There are more than 2500 McDonald’s restaurants in China today (Top right): Shopping at IKEA in Izmir, Turkey. IKEA is a Swedish company with about 400 stores and 183,000 employees worldwide (Middle:) Coca-Cola ad on a river boat in Cambodia. Coca-Cola is sold in more than 200 countries.

Altogether 1.7 billion servings of Coke products are consumed every day and the logo is recognized by 94% of the world’s population (Bottom left): Disneyland Paris, France – the most visited theme park in Europe. It is owned by the Walt Disney Company, one of the world’s largest media corporations (Bottom right): Globalisation of the arts: Norwegian best-selling author Jo Nesbø, who has become one of the biggest names in crime fiction in the UK and the USA Worlds of English

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Lingua franca: A language or a mixture of languages used as a medium of communication by people whose native languages are different.

as a lingua franca. An international conference on quantum physics, a meeting between Japanese and German business people, a coffee break at a leading Norwegian engineering company, a furious argument between a player and the referee at an international football match: these are just some of the many situations in which English is likely to be called into service. Globalisation has speeded this up.

Top dog – or neighbourhood bully?

Interestingly, though, in the league table for the highest number of n ­ ative speakers, English is, at best, a bronze medallist. Both Mandarin Chinese and Spanish are ahead. (And if you count all the varieties of Hindi as one language, then English doesn’t even get on the podium.) The difference is, of course, that while Chinese is spoken almost entirely in China, English is a global language. Spanish too has a global reach because, like English, it was planted in many parts of the globe during the centuries of Europe’s empire building. But in terms of influence, for the time being at least, it still lags behind the language of the dominant powers of the last two centuries – first Britain, and then the US. Opinions differ about whether the dominance of English is positive or negative. There is no doubt that in a globalised world it is practical to have a lingua franca. Just think of how people of your generation have been able to connect with each other on social media across national boundaries through having a common language. On the other hand, it is estimated that by 2100 as many as 7000 languages will disappear, taking with them their culture and knowledge. A monolingual world is, Starbucks restaurant in Dubai – with 16,850 shops in 40 countries, Starbucks is clearly the world’s top coffee retailer. According to Business Insider, Starbucks is so eager to expand globally that within a few years you will see their restaurants as frequently in China as you do in New York City

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Worlds of English

many would argue, a poorer world. Norwegian, too, is under pressure.

More than a third of master’s theses written in Norway are now written in English, and with the increasing amount of English-language teaching at Norwegian universities, some fear for the future of Norwegian as the language of academia.

The three circles So how many people in the world speak English? The answer depends on where you set the threshold for “speaking English”. Around 340 million people speak English as their native language. They are spread all across the globe and they constitute what is sometimes termed “the inner circle” of English speakers. Mostly they live in countries where English is the primary language – the US, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and some Caribbean nations – while in Canada and South Africa native speakers of English make up just a portion of the total population (approx. 60% in Canada and approx. 8% in South ­Africa).

Percentage of native ­English speakers in the world Canada 5.8 % Australia 4.5 % Other 5.5 %

UK 16.9 %

USA 67.2 %

B2-Dialects

The Expanding Circle China, Egypt, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Korea, Nepal, Norway, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Taiwan, Russia, Zimbabwe, etc.

The Outer Circle Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Zambia, etc.

The Inner Circle USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand

Each of the countries of “the inner circle” has developed its own accents, idioms and, in some cases, small differences in spelling and grammar. But considering how far-flung and long established these variants are, it is the homogeneity of native-speaker English that impresses rather than its diversity. The differences between bokmål and nynorsk, not to mention between many Norwegian dialects, are far greater than those between the national variants of English within “the inner circle”.

Worlds of English

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One of the joys of the social media that have appeared over the last decade is the creation of new forms of expression. Social media and email have influenced the way we express ourselves in private and public, often making us more informal and direct. Twitter has forced us to be brief and to the point. In this spirit, an ­English newspaper decided to challenge well-known authors to come up with a complete story within the 140 characters allowed by a “tweet”. The following is the result. Read them carefully. They are packed with meaning…;-)

Twitter Fiction Geoff Dyer I know I said that if I lived to 100 I’d not regret what happened last night. But I woke up this morning and a century had passed.

Sorry.

Jackie Collins She smiled, he smiled back, it was lust at first sight, but then she discovered he was married, too bad it couldn’t go anywhere.

Ian Rankin I opened the door to our flat and you were standing there, cleaver raised. Somehow you’d found out about the photos. My jaw hit the floor.

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The World at Your Doorstep

Jeffrey Archer

Hari Kunzru

“It’s a miracle he survived,” said the doctor. “It was God’s will,” said Mrs Schickelgruber.

“What will you call him?” “Adolf,” she replied.

I’m here w/ disk. Where ru? Mall too crowded to see. I don’t feel safe. What do you mean you didn’t send any text? Those aren’t your guys?

Anne Enright The internet ate my novel, but this is much more fun #careerchange #nolookingback oh but #worldsosilentnow Hey!

Helen Fielding OK. Should not have logged on to your email but suggest if going on marriedaffair.com don’t use our children’s names as password.

Patrick Neate ur profile pic: happy – smiling & smoking. ur last post: “home!” ur hrt gave out @35. ur profile undeleted 6 months on. ur epitaph: “home!”

Charlie Higson Jack was sad in the orphanage til he befriended a talking rat who showed him a hoard of gold under the floor. Then the rat bit him & he died.

Jilly Cooper Tom sent his wife’s valentine to his mistress and vice versa. Poor Tom’s a-cold and double dumped.

TASKS 1 DISCUSSION a Read through the stories and choose three favorites. Then make a group of three and explain your favorites to one another – what’s the story?

b Discuss any tweets that you don’t understand.

Can you make sense of them together?

2 WRITING Try to write your own Twitter story. Compare results with other students. (Maybe you could have a Twitter fiction contest in your class.)

3 QUICK RESEARCH a How many Twitter accounts are there? b About how many tweets are sent per day? c When and where was Twitter started? d+ Why was Twitter important in the 2016 American presidential election?

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Watch the trailer for the film Steve Jobs at access.cdu.no. What kind of impression does the trailer leave you with? If you saw this trailer at the cinema, would it encourage you to see the film? Give reasons for your opinion.

Film Study: Steve Jobs This film spans sixteen tension-packed years in the life of Apple founder Steve Jobs, one of the most important figures in the technological explosion in recent decades. Jobs helped define the way in which we use computers and the way technology is embedded in our daily lives.

For Steve Jobs it all started in 1977 when he and Steve Wozniak, computer nerds in the early days of computers, launched the Apple II. Wozniak was the technical brains of the two, while Jobs was the consummate salesman with the most innovative ideas.

When working with this film, you will benefit from studying the text “Working with Films” on p. 000.

Steve Jobs at the Apple World Wide Developers Conference in 2007

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The World at Your Doorstep

Jobs died of cancer in 2011, but his influence lives on. His innovations and products have changed the way we communicate and work, and he made Apple into the world’s most valuable public company.

TASKS 1 AFTER WATCHING a Discuss in pairs what kind of film you think this is.

(The first item in the checklist on p. 000 lists some of the typical film genres.) Remember to give reasons for your opinion. b Decide which one of the statements below you think best describes the film as you experienced it.

Give reasons for your choice: – The film is about the founder of one of the biggest computer companies in the world.

– The film is about the birth of the computer ­company Apple.

– The film is a story about how the digital ­revolution started.

– The film is a biography of Steve Jobs and his ­relations with the people around him.

– The film is about how many of the world’s most important computer products were designed.

– The film is about the computer business and launching computer products. c Compare your choice with that of other pairs. Have you all chosen the same statement or do people “read” the film differently?

2 CAST OF CHARACTERS Write down one sentence that summarizes what you know about each of the following characters in the film and compare your sentence with a partner. Which of you has the best grasp of the character and why?

Steve Jobs – Joanna Hoffman – Steve Wozniak – John Sculley – Andy Hertzfeld – Chrisann Brennan – Lisa Brennan

3 ANALYZING CHARACTERS Write brief texts to answer the following questions and then compare your answers with those of a partner or group. a It could be argued that the film has one main character, Steve Jobs. Write one or two paragraphs in which you describe the Steve Jobs that is presented to us in the film. b In a key moment in the film Steve Wozniak asks Jobs: “What do you do?” Write a brief text about what Steve Jobs does. Include an explanation of the metaphor he uses to describe his function.

c+ The other characters in the film are basically seen in relation to Steve Jobs. Choose two of these other characters (see list in task 2 above) and describe how they relate to him. Give examples of incidents to back up your opinions.

4 ANALYZING THE SETTING Step three in the checklist (p. 000) refers to setting. This film is set in three periods: 1984, 1988 and 1998.

Discuss in pairs: a How important do you feel setting is in this film?

Give reasons for your answer. b What features of the characters are used to set them in each time period? c+ The film was shot using three different film formats: 16mm for 1984, 35 mm for 1988 and digital for 1998. Why do you think the director has chosen to do this?

5 ANALYZING POINT OF VIEW Discuss in pairs: a What is the point of view of the film, and how does this affect the way you view Steve Jobs? b Discuss how you view the way Steve Jobs treats Lisa. What do you think his attitude to Lisa is at the end of the film? Discuss what the film would be like if it were told from Lisa’s point of view.

6 ANALYZING CONFLICT Discuss in pairs: a What is the basis of the conflict between Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak? b What is the basis of the conflict between Steve Jobs, the board and John Sculley? c What are the origins of Steve Jobs’s family conflicts? d+ Which do you think is the most important conflict in the film? Give reasons for your answer.

7+ ANALYZING NARRATIVE STRUCTURE Discuss in pairs: a The film is a biography of Steve Jobs, or at least tells the story of a major part of his life. Normally a bio­ graphy follows a chronological structure. That is not always the case with this film. Why do you think some details (e.g. Steve Jobs’s own family origins,

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his relationship to John Sculley) are not revealed in a straightforward chronological way but rather in flashbacks? b Early in the film we are presented with one of the major tensions in Steve Jobs’s life, his relationship to Lisa. This is returned to at the end of the film.

What is the effect of ending the film in this way?

Watch the last few shots in the film again. What effect is created?

8 FINAL DISCUSSION Discuss in class: a Does the film do a good job holding your attention? Does it deliver on what it promised in the trailer? b+ Discuss the effect of the film as a biography. Do you feel you know Steve Jobs well enough from this film to judge his character?

Scene from the movie Steve Jobs

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The World at Your Doorstep

9 WRITING Choose one task: a Read the extracts from film reviews of Steve Jobs at access.cdu.no. Choose the one that is closest to your own opinion about the film and use it as a starting point for your own review. (See p. 000 about reviews.) b Look up more information about Steve Jobs and write a feature article (see p. 000) about his life in which you examine whether he deserves to be called a genius.

10 QUICK RESEARCH Tim Berners-Lee once said: “The Web as I envisaged it, we have not seen it yet. The future is still so much bigger than the past.”

What new ideas for the net do you think we can expect to see in the future? Use your imagination and then search the net to see if any of your ideas are already in the works.

What is your favorite TV show? When do you watch it and on what – i.e. TV, laptop, tablet, etc.? Is it sent through a cable network, a broadcast network or the internet? Finally, in what language is it? Compare your answer with a classmate’s.

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Cutting the Cord: Television in Tumult Over the last decade control of television has shifted from those who make and send the programs to those who choose and buy them, that is, from the producers to the consumers. The United States has taken a lead in this development. For American broadcasters and operators – who used to decide whether programs lived or died – the coming of the internet has changed the TV business forever. In fact, the very idea of TV has been transformed by modern innovations. In bygone days, TV referred to a cabinet-like device with scheduled programming on a small number of channels. Today it includes hundreds of channels. And all these channels can be viewed through smartphones or tablets or laptops – not to mention all those TVs plastered on walls across the world.

Viewers can choose from an almost endless stream of programming and information. In addition to cable TV, internet streaming services such as Netflix, HBO and YouTube provide a wealth of entertainment.

Traditional broadcast TV is rapidly becoming dominated by sports, reruns and newscasts. Cable networks in the USA are straining to keep their customers under the threat of viewers who decide to “cut the

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Island Man

By Grace Nichols

Morning and island man wakes up to the sound of blue surf in his head the steady breaking and wombing wild sea birds and fishermen pushing out to sea the sun surfacing defiantly from the east of his small emerald island he always comes back groggily groggily Comes back to sands of a grey metallic soar to surge of wheels to dull north circular roar muffling muffling his crumpled pillow waves island man heaves himself Another London day

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A Meeting of Worlds

TASKS 1 DISCUSSION – “WHEREVER I HANG” Try to answer the questions on your own first, and then discuss them in pairs or groups. a What images does Nichols use to contrast life in the Caribbean with life in England in the first stanza?

(See p. 000 for “images”.) What is the biggest difference between the two places? b What do you think she means by her “calypso” ways in stanza two? How does she change these ways to try to fit into English life? c+ Who is Lord Nelson and why is he so “high”? What do you think she means when she says he is “too high to lie”? d+ Belonging to a nation is a matter of identity. What happens to her identity after she moves to ­England? What do you think she feels about this, judging from the last three lines of the poem?

d+ It could be argued that the person in this poem is suffering from culture shock. Read the definition of culture shock on p. 112 and see if you can identify any of the characteristics of culture shock in the poem.

4 VOCABULARY – “ISLAND MAN” Look up the following words from the poem: groggily, surge, dull, muffling, crumpled, heaves.

What do you associate with them; that is, what are their connotations (see p. 000) for you? Why do you suppose the poet chose these words for the last two stanzas of the poem?

5+ COMPARING THE POEMS

a This poem is full of English expressions that come from a local English dialect from the Caribbean area. See if you can put the sentences below into Standard English and then compare your attempts with two of your classmates’. What have you changed? Why? – Never visiting nobody – But still I miss back-home side – At first I feeling like I in dream – So I pick up me new-world-self and come, to this place call England – And is so I sending home photos of myself – For reasons, I not too sure I forsake de sun b+ Go on to discuss what would be lost if the whole poem were written in Standard English.

Discuss in groups: a Both these poems tell the story of an immigrant to London. What do they have in common? How are they different? Make use of the following terms in your discussion:

– theme – point of view

– imagery b Which of the two poems did you like the best?

Why? c Judging from the portrait we are given of the two people in these poems, which of the two do you think is happier in London? Why? d Do you think these poems give an optimistic or pessimistic view of the experience of immigration?

3 DISCUSSION – “ISLAND MAN”

6 QUICK ­RESEARCH

a Have you ever woken up from a deep sleep with part of a dream still clinging on? How does Nichols make use of this experience in this poem? At what point in the poem does the man “wake up”? b Contrast the use of images (see p. 000) in the first two stanzas with the last two. How are they different? What do they have in common? c+ The title of this poem is “Island Man.” Why is that ironic?

How many people of Caribbean heritage are there in the United Kingdom today? Where do most of them live?

2 VOCABULARY – “WHEREVER I HANG”

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TASKS Glossary for the listening text: access.cdu.no

1 AFTER READING – SECTION 1 a What do you find surprising about this story so far? b+ What do you think this story is going to be about?

2 AFTER LISTENING – SECTION 2 a What kinds of paper animals did his mother make for Jack? b How did the animals get into trouble? c Why was the shark made of foil? d What did the women who came to visit think of Jack? e How does the author mix magic with reality when describing the animals? f+ What evidence of ethnocentrism and intolerance can be found in this section? g+ The section you just listened to is made up of two parts. How are they different?

3 AFTER LISTENING – SECTION 3 a What does Mark think of Jack’s toys? b What happens to Laohu? c Why does Jack want his mother to speak English? d Why does Jack want “real toys”? e+ There are strong elements of prejudice in section 3.

Can you identify them? f What do you think happened to Jack at school in the weeks after his fight with Mark? g+ How do you think Jack’s relationship to his mother is going to develop?

4 AFTER LISTENING – SECTION 4 a What does Jack do with the animals his mother has made for him? b Why does he refuse to answer her if she speaks ­Chinese? c What does Jack’s mother die of? d What did she ask him to do each year? e+ Jack says about his mother, “We had nothing in common.” Why does he want to believe that, do you think? f What do you think of Jack’s eagerness to leave his mother and return to California?

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A Meeting of Worlds

5 AFTER LISTENING – SECTION 5 a What makes Jack think of his mother? b Where did his mother learn to make paper animals and give them life? c Why did she leave her village? d How was she treated in Hong Kong? e How does the author use magic to reconnect Jack with his mother after her death? f+ When Jack hears Chinese again he “felt the words sinking into me, through my skin, through my bones, until they squeezed tight around my heart.”

Words can’t “sink” or “squeeze.” This is a metaphor.

What does it stand for, do you think? g+ What do you think Jack’s mother will tell him in the rest of the letter?

6 AFTER LISTENING – SECTION 6 a How did Jack’s mother get away from the Chins’ house in Hong Kong? b Why was she lonely in Connecticut? c Why was she happy when Jack was born? d Why couldn’t Jack bear to look in the face of the woman who read the letter to him? e+ Do you think this story has a happy ending? Why/ Why not? f+ At the very end of the story Laohu and Jack are re­united and Laohu is purring. What symbolic meaning might their reunion have in light of Jack’s relationship to his Chinese American background?

7 SUMMING UP Work in pairs: a Of the events in this short story, which do you remember most clearly? Why is that, do you suppose? b Although there is much magic in this story, it is also quite realistic. Give some examples of the realistic aspects of the story. c+ The author wishes us to accept magic as a matterof-fact aspect of Jack’s life. How does he do that?

Does he succeed? d How would you characterize this story to someone who has not heard it? Would you recommend that they listen to it? Why? e+ At what point in the story does Jack begin to return to his Chinese American heritage?

DIGGING DEEPER: INTRODUCTION AND CHAPTERS 1&2 Students of this course are to present an in-depth project dealing with a topic connected to International English. All in-depth projects have certain stages of work.

– First comes choosing a topic you find interesting.

– Then comes finding information about the topic – that is, doing research. Doing research is like hunting for buried treasure. You can never be quite certain of what you will find.

– Finally, the results of the work are presented. This may be done in a variety of ways. It could be a written report or an essay of some kind, it could be an oral presentation, or perhaps a website. Exactly how it is done will differ from project to project.

Below you will find a set of topics for such in-depth work. You will find resources for all of them at access. cdu.no. These topics are not meant to be definitive. It may be that they simply set you off in a certain direction. It is your treasure hunt.

TOPICS TO INVESTIGATE 1) Choose one of the varieties of English from “the inner circle” (see p. 11) other than British or American English, and find out what its main characteristics are and how it differs from British or American English. You will need to look at the following aspects of language:

a) pronunciation b) grammar c) spelling d) words and expressions

2) Choose one of the “new Englishes” (there are more than those mentioned in the text on p. 13) and find out how and when it emerged, when it is used and by how many people. What status does it have in the country where it is spoken? Find examples of the language being used.

3) During the decade 2005–2015 English strengthened its position as the most used language on the internet in contrast to its closest rival, Chinese. This was somewhat surprising (see “Continuing strength,” p. 24). Look into what reasons might be behind this trend. Has it continued?

4) The internet in general and social media in particular played a very important and controversial role in the 2016 US presidential election. Find out how. (You may find “How Social Media has changed politics” on p. 133 useful.) The following refer to issues related to the election: Wikileaks and email accounts, social media and news sources, Russian hacking and election results, Twitter and fact checking.

5) Look more closely at one of the major international film and entertainment corporations that make up the modern Hollywood brand. For example, where are its headquarters? How many films did it make last year around the world? Which were most popular? How large were its profits? Is it owned by a larger corporation? Does it own other subsidiaries (smaller businesses)? Examples: Universal, Warner Brothers, Walt Disney, DreamWorks, MGM, 20th ­Century Fox, United Artists, Paramount, etc.

6) How have social media providers dealt with the issue of “fake news reports?” (see “News and Social Media,” p. 50). What efforts have Facebook, Twitter and other major providers made to verify the truth of the materials they post on their platforms? What are the prospects of eliminating such misleading information?

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CASE SALVATION IN A SMARTPHONE For many refugees, the smartphone is the most precious possession they own. It can provide a link to an old life or help make sense of a new one. But some have criticised the widespread use of smartphones among refugees, ignoring the very practical uses the devices have.

“See why this phone is so dear?” Hala, a refugee from Aleppo, Syria, told a Channel 4 film crew for the documentary Children on the Frontline.

“It has everything. All my family, all my world is here.”

Hala left her home after her husband was kidnapped by Isis. With her daughters, she travelled through Turkey to Europe. She is now settled in Germany, though she lives in fear of never being able to see her home again. Now, the only way she can see her husband is through the screen of her phone.

“That’s why I’m always holding it. I’m holding on to it like I’m holding on to an address of my own, my family. This metal device has become my whole world.”

Smartphones can provide solace to migrants who have lost loved ones and been forced from their homes. However, they also serve numerous practical purposes, leading them to be one of the most important objects in the possession of a displaced person. Such is their significance in refugee camps across the Middle East that NGOs now give out chargers for people to use as normal practice.

“Our phones and power banks are more important for our journey than anything, even more important than food,” a refugee from Syria, Wael, told AFP news agency.

The devices have a variety of important uses for refugees, including on the perilous journey from Turkey to Greece. “We were sailing for 20 minutes when we could hear the engine was having problems,” said Firas, another Syrian refugee. “After around half an hour the engine completely died. We were exactly between Turkey and Greece. I know because I checked the GPS on my phone.” As the weather worsened, the boat began to sink, and Firas contacted the coastguard on his smartphone and also sent them his location through GPS. He swam for seven hours, using his GPS to guide him to Lesbos. Many refugees taking the

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Refugees on the roadside near the border crossing between Slovenia and Croatia, 2015

dangerous journey by boat through the Aegean will activate the GPS on their phones to update relatives and the authorities on the course and progress of their journey.

The map function on phones is vital on land too, being used for anything from making the long journey across Europe to simply finding a place to sleep. “Every time I go to a new country, I buy a SIM card and activate the internet and download the map to locate myself,” Syrian refugee Osama Aljasem told The New York Times. “I would never have been able to arrive at my destination without my smartphone.”

The social media and messaging enabled by smartphones also play critical roles in connecting and re-­ connecting people. This is vital to stay in touch with worried relatives and for fellow travellers to pass on advice, giving them greater autonomy over their journeys.

In some cases, using a smartphone decreases the reliance on traffickers. However, these criminal groups also take advantage of smartphones. Many advertise their services on Facebook, creating pages such as “Smuggling into the EU” to find customers and even promote special offers.

(Will Worley, The Independent, 12 May 2016)

TASKS a “This metal device has become my whole world,” says refugee Hala. What does she mean by this?

Could you say the same thing? b What functions of a smartphone are especially mentioned in this text? Are they functions that you use regularly? c What tricky situations have you, or others you know, been in, when a smartphone saved the day?

Politically, too, there is little excuse for the West washing its hands of recent migrations, since the conflicts forcing people to flee are at least in part the result of Western intervention. Whatever else they may have achieved (and here opinions differ widely), the two US-led interventions in Iraq in 1991 and 2003 brought the region neither peace nor stability. And if we take a longer view, many of the countries in question – such as Syria, Iraq and Libya – were Western “inventions” in the first place, set up in a colonial past when European powers carved up the region to suit their own interests.

The impact of migration Migration can be an emotive and divisive issue, and how to deal with it seems set to be one of the political “hot potatoes” of the 21st century.

The issue was central, for example, in the debate leading up to the UK’s decision in a referendum in 2016 to leave the European Union (see p. 88). In such debates, the question is often whether immigration is a “good thing”.

Of course, the answer to the question depends on a number of factors.

Good for whom? What sort of immigration? How much? Even when we take these factors into account, it is difficult to find straight answers, because there are so many different interests involved. Firstly there are

Refugees aboard shing boat reach the Greek Island of Lesbos aer crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey on October 11, 2015

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TASKS 1 AFTER READING In the pre-reading task you were asked to think of members of your family who at some time in their lives lived in a country other than the one they were born in.

Having read the text, do you think push factors or pull factors were most important for the choices they made? What sort of migrant terminology would you use to describe them?

important for whether immigration has a positive outcome? Are there other factors that should be mentioned? d+ As we have seen, different countries favour different policies regarding immigration, ranging from a fairly open door policy to a “fortress” policy. Where do you think Norway belongs in this spectrum?

4 VOCABULARY a For each of the following adjectives from the text, write a brief explanation in English: makeshift – precarious – foreseeable – involuntary – convenient – emotive – divisive – crucial – ­disastrous – vocational b Write a sentence using each of the adjectives, but leaving the adjective itself blank. c Exchange these sentences with a partner and then try and guess which adjective belongs in the blank.

5+ ANALYSIS a Compare the three texts “Salvation in a Smartphone” (p. 144), “Anders’s First Letter Home” (p. 146) and “Australia’s Offshore Cruelty” (p. 149). What is

2 MAIN CONTENT Find the topic sentence (see p. 000) of each paragraph in the text.

3 DISCUSSION a “The story of English is basically a story of human migration.” Discuss this statement. b As the text makes clear, migration in its many different forms has been a central element in human history. Find historical examples of this migration.

Which examples do you think have been most important in shaping the world we live in today? c+ “Immigration can lead to cultural variety and renewal, but also to conflict and tension.” There are many factors that come into play here: for example, the numbers of immigrants, their cultural variety (whether they are from one country or many), their settlement pattern (whether they spread evenly through the host country or settle in particular areas), the cultural attitudes of the host nation, and the cultural attitudes of the migrants themselves.

Which of these factors do you think are most

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This is one of several posters from an Australian ad campaign called #ICAMEBYBOAT. The organizers behind the campaign say that their aim is “to try and humanize these people again, and say ‘hey these are people just like us’.” On the left is Munjed Al Muderis (left), originally from Iraq, now a surgeon in Australia working with osteo-integration surgery (transforming amputees by attatching them to robotic limbs). In the middle is Najeeba

Wazefadost, who came to Australia from Afghanistan and is studying to become an international lawyer while at the same time working full time as a case manager. She says she “wants to contribute to Australia and make it proud of me”. On the right is Hoang Pham, who was born in Vietnam and came to Australia with his family when he was a baby. Now he travels the world as a classical concert pianist.

the purpose of each text, and how is this reflected in the language used? Use examples from each text to prove your points. (You will find the Text Analysis Course on p. 000 useful here.) b Compare the posters on page 150 and above. Having read “Australia’s Offshore Cruelty” (p. 149), what do you think is the message each tries to convey?

To what extent are they effective, in your opinion?

6 WRITING a How do you respond to the picture on p. 141? Write a personal commentary (see p. 000). b+ Choose one of the statements below and write a persuasive essay (see p. 000) in which you argue your point of view on the statement: – It is a human right to be able to move and live where you want.

– Countries in the industrialised world have a moral duty to welcome migrants.

– Immigration is a threat to the culture of the host country.

– A country without immigration is a boring country.

7 WORKING WITH STATISTICS Go to the Pew Research Center website (via access.cdu.no) and find out about migration to and from the following countries: Australia, the UK, South Africa, India. Focus on the following questions: – From where has each country received most of its immigration?

– Where does emigration from each country chiefly go?

– How have the numbers fluctuated since 1990? What trends are there?

Australian government poster warning potential asylum seekers that the country now has “the toughest border protection measures ever” and that they should “think again” before they waste their money on lying people smugglers: “No matter who you are or where you are from, you will not make Australia home”.

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?

Imagine that you are going to undertake a journey that may take several weeks, even months. You have paid an agent beforehand for your travel. You know that the journey will be dangerous, that you will be travelling at least partly by foot and that you will have to cross borders secretly. You have no credit card and only $200.

Sit in pairs or groups of three and discuss: a What items do you think would be useful for your journey, in addition to the clothes you are wearing? (Make a list!) b Where would you sleep? Why? In This is London (2016), British journalist Ben Judah turns his attention to the hidden world of London’s migrants – from Russian millionaires to Romanian street musicians. One of the migrants he meets is Shafiullah. He is from a small village in war-torn Afghanistan, the eldest brother in a family whose father was killed in a revenge attack. He saw no future for himself in his village – nothing but poverty – and the girl he was in love with was out of his league. Shafiullah decided to set out for the place of his dreams, a place he has heard about all through his childhood because of a boy from his village who emigrated there – Neasden in London.

Shafiullah travelled by bus to Peshawar in Pakistan where he paid an agency $10,000 – his family’s savings – for his passage. From there he and his friend Tariq began the overland journey to Europe, by motorbike, by bus and by foot. The most dangerous part of the journey was crossing the mountains from Iran into Turkey.

Shafiullah’s Journey

By Ben Judah

Ben Judah (1988–) was born in London and has travelled extensively in Russia and Asia. He has written for a wide range of publications. This is London, his second book, came out in 2016.

The Sunday Times called it “an eye-opening investigation into the hidden immigrant life of the city”. Judah was chosen as one of Forbes magazine’s “30 under 30” in European media.

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They shared these stories in that room in Istanbul. Shafiullah took turns with Tariq to move his hands to show how they had cowered and gripped until the border guards had moved on. They tried – but it seems you couldn’t – to give a sense of all those hours, that whole night, those half-seen fragments, where they lost their toenails and ruined their shoes, scrabbling on foot over the Kurdish mountains. They tried – but they couldn’t, even with their hands – to explain the rush, the cold-water relief, the hardening of the world, which they had felt seeing the glinting outline of the agents’ pickup truck over the Kurdish mountain at dawn.

They opened another packet, lit up, and talked. Others were not so lucky. Some had picked pockets to get across Iran. Some had been deported back. Others had to go north into Russia. Some had got into drugs. Others had simply disappeared. A few had fallen in love and stayed shacked up in Tehran for months. They smoked and talked it all

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over. But mostly they came back to the last border. They shot people there. There were people dying. There were people starving. And there – they threw you in jail.

They warned them. But the worst thing happened. There was a real army on this border. Their boots were clean and they kicked him three times in the chest and cursed him in their language that he did not understand. Their knuckles met his face when he tried to pounce and resist.

This was the border of Europe. The country of Greece. Those wanting to enter, they imprisoned them for it. And as the storytellers all say, the frontiers of any paradise are as gated and unreachable as his kingdom.

That month – or was it six weeks – crouching, sweating, hungry, was the month that he learnt that prison is about patience. There is a way, but it’s not that easy, where you can slow your heartbeat, and bring that glaze down over your eyes. There is a way, but it took quite some time, where you can stop thinking about food, about London, about Neasden, a way where you can stop thinking entirely, and only breathe, in and out, so softly, and feel over and over, alone the air sucking in over your teeth.

Majid and the old beards, the men, the runaways told the boys firmly, whenever they heard them fear-whispering – no, they don’t deport, this is a temporary detention. But they only believed him when the Turks came into the cell with a dozen more people from Bangladesh, or maybe India, and threw them out to make room. They stood there blinking in the sun before phoning the agent. The voice down the phone was flat and apathetic. They would send a car and bring them back to the safe room.

Calais, France: A migrant in the refugee camp, called the “Jungle” on October 26, 2016. Huge fires destroyed a mayor part of the refugee camp as the camp was evacuated

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TASKS 1 AFTER READING What is your response to the end of the story? Is the narrator rewarded for her good deed?

2 DISCUSSION a Do you see this as a story with a message? Explain your opinion. b Is this a feminist story, would you say? Explain why or why not. c What role does education play in the story? d Why didn’t Chinasa ever contact her “fairy godmother”, do you think?

a The story has a long time span in spite of being short. How does the author achieve this? b+ The story takes place against the backdrop of a civil

war, but we are given no details about the background for the war or its outcome. Why do you think the author leaves this out? c+ What sort of person is Chinasa, and how does the author communicate this? (See “Characterisation”, p. 000.)

4 VOCABULARY

imagine – imagining, gossip – gossiping, begin – beginning, forget – forgetting

What decides here whether the consonant is ­doubled or not?

3 ANALYSIS

a English has many suffixes that can change the meaning of a word and change which word class it belongs to. Examples of suffixes: -ness, -ity, -ty, -ful, -ion, -ment, -ish Change the word class of the following words by adding a suffix:

bright – normal – fear – child – move – thank – weak – alert – exhaust – uncertain

b+ Look at the way the spelling changes in the following words:

Street in Lagos, Nigeria

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5 QUICK RESEARCH a Who were fighting each other in the Nigerian civil war in the late 1960s, and what was the outcome? b What languages and ethnic groups are there in Nigeria? What is the position of English in this country?

CHAPTER 4:

A World of Opportunities International English in Education and Working Life

Competence aims in focus: The aims of the studies are to enable pupils to – locate, elaborate on and discuss international educational options and employment options – present technical material orally, in writing, or in the form of composite texts – use digital tools in an independent, critical and creative manner in the gathering of information, and in the communication and presentation of his or her own material – present a major in-depth project on a topic from International English or another subject from their own programme area and assess the process.

(Translation: udir.no)

In 2015, twenty well-known poets were invited by a British newspaper to write a poem each on the theme of climate change. “X” by Imtiaz Dharker and “Last Snowman” by Simon Armitage were two of the poems contributed. Sit in pairs or groups of three and read the poems through twice, once silently (and slowly) and once out loud to each other. Then discuss the questions that follow the poems.

Imtiaz Dharker (1954–) was born in Pakistan, raised in Glasgow, and now lives in London, Wales and Mumbai. She is the author of several poetry collections and received the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2014. She is also a documentary filmmaker who has written and directed over a hundred films.

Her poems are taught as part of the UK national curriculum, and she reads at events all over the country to more than 25,000 students a year.

X

By Imtiaz Dharker

Hand shaking on the stop-cock, she looks at the X, the warning cross, the water-tap unlocked, its padlock cracked.

Breath hacks in the throat, Check your back.

Turn it on and an anxious mutter swells to thunder in the plastic bucket. Don’t spill it.

Fill it to the top. Lift to the hip, stop, balance the weight for the dangerous walk home. Home.

Don’t lose a drop.

From the police chowki across the track a whistle, a shout. Run. Don’t stop. Don’t slip.

A drag at the hip. Hot, hot underfoot. Water slops up and out in every direction, over the lip, over her legs, a shock of cool, a spark of light.

With her stolen piece of sky, she has taken flight.

Behind her, the shouters give up. She puts down the bucket. The water stills.

She looks into it, looks up to where the blue is scarred with aimless tracks.

Jet-trails cross each other off before they die out, a careless X.

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Last Snowman

By Simon Armitage

He drifted south down an Arctic seaway on a plinth of ice, jelly tots

Scotch eggs and Pink Ladies as he rounded the stern.

He sailed on between banks

weeping lime green tears around both eyes, a carrot for a nose

of camera lenses and rubberneckers, past islands vigorous

(some reported parsnip), below which a clay pipe drooped from a mouth

with sunflower and bog myrtle into a bloodshot west, singular and abominable.

Simon Armitage (1963–) has written novels and plays as well as scripts for film, radio and television, but he is best known as one of the most popular and respected British poets today. He calls himself “a self-schooled poet who views poetry from a hill above a Yorkshire village”.

that was pure stroke-victim.

A red woollen scarf trailed in the meltwater drool at his base, and he slumped to starboard, kinked, gone at the pelvis.

From the buffet deck of a passing cruise liner stag and hen parties shied

TASKS DISCUSSION a What is happening in each of the poems? b What perspective do we see the action of the poems from? c What examples of striking imagery (see p. 000) can you find? d Are there any references or images in the poems that are difficult to understand? Can you make any guesses about what they might mean?

e+ Are there any images that might be called symbols (see p. 000) in the poems? If so, what do you think they symbolise? f How are human beings depicted in the poems? g+ How do the poems differ in terms of tone (see p.

000), i.e. is one lighter/heavier than the other, more/ less ironic, moralising, witty …? h+ Look at rhyme, rhythm and sound effects in the poems. Do you notice anything striking? i+ What is the significance of the poems’ titles?

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TEXT ANALYSIS COURSE 1 TEXT ANALYSIS COURSE 1: WHAT IS TEXT ANALYSIS? The subject curriculum for International English has a strong focus on language and communication. This includes skills in analysing how writers use language features and rhetorical or literary devices to create effect in texts. In text analysis it is important to note that pointing out a feature or device without saying anything about its effect is only doing half the job.

Denotation and connotation To illustrate this, let us first look at the term connotation. Beyond what a word denotes – its standard meaning as you would find in a dictionary – it may also have connotations: thoughts and feelings it brings with it. A writer whose purpose is to convince or persuade readers about a topic often chooses words that carry a particular connotation, as we shall see below.

As a contrast, someone who writes an entry in an encyclopaedia chooses neutral words with fewer connotations, because such words are suited to the purpose of rendering facts as objectively as possible.

Examples:

Home: the place (such as a house or apartment) where a person lives (Merriam-Webster Dictionary – denotation)

Home is where the heart is (idiom – connotation)

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How to determine the effect of word choices In the following sentences, two writers have chosen different verbs to create effect in their texts, but only pointing out the verbs is not a full analysis. One of the speakers is a politician, while the other works for a humanitarian organisation. Which of the two sentences would you attribute to each of the speakers, and what clues are there in the writers’ choice of words to help you? Both speakers are referring to refugees coming into Europe.

1: Desperate people are scurrying across our borders demanding help.

2: Desperate people are crossing our borders pleading for help.

It is likely that sentence 1 belongs to the politician, while sentence 2 belongs to the aid worker.

The reason lies in each speaker’s verb choices.

The verb “scurry” in sentence 1 means to move in a hurry. This is its denotation. Most refugees have been on long, dangerous and arduous journeys, and therefore “scurry” could seem to ­belittle this process. Thus, the use of the word in its most normal usage has a negative effect. In addition to this, the verb has a negative connotation as it is often also used to describe the way rodents (for example rats) move. The verb “crossing” in sentence 2 is much more neutral with no such negative connotations.

Furthermore, the verb “demanding” denotes that the refugees are spoiled and insist on help from the host country. “Pleading”, on the other hand, denotes a cry for help. It implies that refugees are people in a hopeless situation reduced to begging for help. On balance, the purpose of sentence 1 seems to be to convince the reader that the refugees should be rejected, whereas the purpose of sentence 2 seems to be to convince the reader that the refugees should be helped.

Do not merely summarise content!

The most typical mistake made when undertaking this type of analysis is to focus more on the content of the text than the features/devices.

Look at the text below: Billionaire oilman Jim Browne likes to joke that Browne Industries is “the biggest company you’ve never heard of ”. But the nearly $50 million he and his brother Ty have ­quietly and covertly funnelled to climate-­ denial front groups that are working to delay the much-needed policies and regulations aimed at stopping global warming is no ­joking matter. It is like paying the ostrich to keep its head firmly in the sand.

One student analysed the text by saying that The text points out how much money the Browne brothers are paying climate deniers so they can delay policies.

This is a correct summary of what the text says, but it refers solely to the content of the text.

Of course, content is important, but if the assigned task is to analyse the effect of language features and literary devices, the analysis above is not doing the job. A better analysis might look like this:

The writer begins by describing Jim Browne as a “billionaire oilman”. The adjective “billionaire” describing the noun “oilman” (not for example the more neutral “businessman”) suggests to the reader that Browne might have an ulterior motive for wanting to deny ­climate change; he is very rich from oil.

The adverbs “quietly” and “covertly” suggest that the funding given to climate change deniers is something the Browne brothers want to keep quiet. “Covertly” is a word often used to describe spies and hidden agendas, so the writer effectively suggests by his choice of words that the brothers and their motives are not to be trusted.

The adjective “much-needed” suggests that these policies and regulations should be addressed immediately, so the verb “delay” juxtaposed with the adjective “much-needed” suggests that what the Browne brothers are financing is a direct threat to the environment.

The organisations the Browne brothers are supporting are referred to as “front groups”.

This term is directly negative, as it denotes an organisation that wants to hide its activities from public view. If the brothers are right about there being no threat of climate change, why do they have to act so “covertly” through a “front group”? The term also has a connotation to underworld organisations such as the Mafia or the CIA. The writer’s intention is to lead the reader to surmise that this organisation and its activities are illegal or that the brothers have selfish ulterior motives.

When it is stated in the text that “global warming is no joking matter”, the use of the idiom “no joking matter” reminds the reader of Jim Browne joking about his company in the first sentence. This contrast between the joking oilman and the writer’s serious conclusion suggests that climate change is too important an issue to be dismissed as easily as the Browne brothers would like to do.

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