7 English is developing and changing quickly, and it is so varied that every year around 1,000 new words and vocabulary enter the English language from every area of life. Just take, for example, the words ‘selfie’, ‘hater’, ‘follower’, ‘binge-watching’ (watching TV series for hours) or ‘mini-me’ (a person similar to a younger version, for example mother and daughter). Or even ‘yo’ as a way of greeting people. These are all recent additions to English dictionaries and many more new words are going to appear in the near future. Mary Thorne is an English teacher in London and this is what she said on the subject, ‘New English words are appearing everywhere. I think it’s so important to teach my students some of them that next term I’m going to start a special course called “New Words”. Students are going to study lots of new vocabulary in a fun way. The course starts on 10th October and there are already a lot of applications, it’s going to be a success.’ Are we going to see an explosion of new words and expressions as the Internet and social media take control? As the world is becoming more and more global, are we going to witness the birth of a new global language where translation is probably not going to be necessary? English is definitely evolving but one thing is sure: it is going to be important in the future and to retain its position as lingua franca.
widely spoken ampiamente parlato lacks è carente due to dovuto al retain mantenere
3
Read and listen to the text. What does the title of the article mean? Tick (✓). 2.02
● English is the language of the future ● the development of the English language ● learning to express the future in English
4 CERT Read the text again and answer the questions.
1 How many people speak English as a native language? 2 How many new ‘Englishes’ have appeared in recent years? 3 What did some British colonial countries do? 4 What is Mary Thorne going to do? 5 What does she think is important for her students? 6 What does she think about the course?
Watch out! We use the Present simple to talk about future scheduled events and timetables. The course starts on 10th October. Classes finish at 4 pm.
Grammar: be going to
VIDEO MAP
Students are going to study lots of new vocabulary. Translation is probably not going to be necessary. Are we going to see an explosion of new words? Grammar Bank pp. 318-319
5 Write sentences with the correct form of be going to.
1 she / study German / next term 2 I / not spend a year / abroad 3 your parents / live in the UK / ? 4 Lola / not pass / her French exam 5 what / he / study / at college / ? 6 what / you do / at the weekend / ? 7 I / visit / Edinburgh / at Easter
6 Read Pablo’s intentions for the summer and complete them with the correct form of be going to and the verbs from the box.
visit • not sleep • travel • work • not spend • improve
Next summer:
• I 1__________________ my English • I 2__________________ across Britain by bus with
my friend Freddy • We 3__________________ the Lake District • I 4__________________ all day • We 5__________________ all our money in hotels • We 6__________________ on a farm to pay our holiday
Speaking 7 Pairwork Ask and answer questions to talk
about your future intentions. Use the verbs from the box to help you. be • visit • learn • travel • work • study
A What are you going to do when you finish school? B I’m going to learn to ride a motorbike. A Cool! I’m going to travel the world.
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