Tasks 3 Looking at language The language Josie uses is the type we use when we talk to our friends. This is typical of language used in online forums and social media. Go through her answers again, and see if you can spot at least four examples of informal language. (See page 357 for help on informal language.)
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1 Understanding the text Some of the statements below are not correct. Can you find out which ones are not true and correct them? a Christopher Columbus discovered America. b The Vikings were the first people to inhabit America. c
There are fifty stars in the American flag.
d Carrying a gun is not allowed according to the American Constitution. e America is still the land of the free. f
There are many different Christian communities in the USA.
g The American Dream is dead. h No illegal immigrants get jobs in the USA. I
Overweight and obesity cause a number of diseases.
j
The American President can make most decisions completely on his own.
2 Reflection a Go back to the mind map you made before reading this text. Is there anything about the map that you would like to change now? Can you add or remove anything? b Which of Josie’s answers do you think is the best one? Which is the least informative one?
Stereotypes Five things you should know about stereotypes • Stereotypes are oversimplified attitudes and assumptions that many people have towards people who are different from themselves. • These stereotypes are then used to characterize a whole group, for example to claim that all Scottish people are greedy or that left-handed people are less intelligent than others. • We may find grains of truth in stereotypes. For example, it is not true that all Norwegians are born with skis on their feet, but, in general, we may still say that the average Norwegian is a better skier than the average Kenyan. • However, more often stereotypes are based on negative, biased and unfair attitudes concerning for example gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, age, occupation or nationality. Some examples of such stereotypes are: all girls are vain, all Americans are loud, all gay men love the Eurovision Song Contest. • We all have some stereotypical images that pop into our head when we think of a particular type of person or group of people – such as the eccentric and nerdy professor – but this does not necessarily have to be a problem as long as they don’t affect our attitude and behavior towards individuals. Brian Cox, for example, is not only a professor of quantum physics, but also the former keyboardist in in the rock band Dare and a broadcaster for the BBC.
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