INGLÊS 6º ANO LEVEL 1 VER CAPÍTULO

CAP. 12
ENGLISH LANGUAGE AROUND THE WORLD: Escaneie com o
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MOTHER/OFFICIAL LANGUAGES IN DIFFERENT Code da busca de
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Hello, students! In this chapter we will talk about the concepts and differences among

official, mother and second language and also the importance of them.

What countries have English as first language and some characteristics of this language, we
will also study the global reach of this important language in the world.

Let's go?

Two hands holding a globe and a Canadian flag.

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 1.
Did you know that more than 50 countries in the world speak English as a mother
language?

2.
Discuss in pairs and give four examples of countries that speak English.

It's time to read: official and mother language

As you read in the previous page, we will see some definitions about language.

Let's start with official, mother and second language. Read the text below and get to know
more information about these specifications.

What's the difference between an official language and a mother language?

A control panel with illustrations of different countries.

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What is an official language?

An official language is a language that is used for official/formal purposes in a country. Government
documents, police reports, business contracts, for example.

What is a mother language?

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 A mother language, first language (L1), native language is a language that a person learned during
her(his) life. It can also be defined as a language that is symbolic of that country, usually for historical,
cultural, and ethnic reasons.

Mother and official language are different things.

A good example is Singapore. This country has four official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin, and
Tamil. The Singaporean population generally divides into Malays, Chinese, and Indians, with some
Western foreigners in the mix.

Having English as another official language also makes sense as it allows communication between
the three groups, as well as with the Westerners. Also, English is the lingua franca of the world, and
Singapore was a British colony, so that helps too.

Singapore only has one mother language: Malay.

Disponível em: <https://www.quora.com/Whats-the-difference-between-an-official-language-and-a-national-

language>. Acesso em: 29 out. 2018. (adaptado)

 Glossário
Foreigner: a person born in or coming from a country other than one's own.

Lingua franca: a language used for communication between groups of people who speak
different languages.

Purpose: something set up as an object or end to be attained: intention.

Western: living in or originating from the west, in particular Europe or the US.

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 Agora é com você

Questão 01

Answer the following questions.

1.a)

What is the difference between mother language and official language?

1.b)

How many official languages does Singapore have?

1.c)

Which are they?

1.d)

What is the mother tongue of Singapore?

After reading about mother and official language, watch the video below and see how

people from all over the world communicate even if they have different mother languages.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMDxUFbkE_M&ab;_channel=UNESCO

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 Agora é com você

Questão 01

Watch again the video about mother and official language and answer true or false.

Justify the false ones.

a. Everybody in the video has English as their mother language.

b. People in the video have the same mother language.

c. Their official language is English.

d. Only one person speaks English as mother language.

What is a second language?

A piece of paper with a question: should I learn a second language?

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Learning a second language can be very good for our future. Some common second

languages are Spanish and English.

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 Any language that a person uses other than a first or native language (L1). This language
you learn with your family, at your house, you grow up listening to it, go to school and are
exposed to this language.

Contemporary linguists and educators commonly use the term L1 to refer to a first or
native language, and the term L2 to refer to a second language or a foreign language that
we study in a course, at school etc.

Agora é com você

Questão 01

1.a)

What is your first language (L1)?

1.b)

What is your second language (L2)?

1.c)

What other languages do you want to learn?

It's time to read: English speaking countries

Do you know the quantity of people that speak English in your country?

Probably you would be impressed with the quantity of people who speak this language
around the world.

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 Assista: countries that speak English

Watch the video below and check some countries that speak English.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6guMDO3mNcg&ab;_channel=Neoxide

Countries where English is the primary language

Hands holding a group of letters that say English.

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 The English language is a global powerhouse. It is the third most common native language in the
world, behind only Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. It is the mostly widely spoken second language in
the world and an official language of the United Nations, the European Union, and many other
international organizations and businesses. English is spoken as the primary language in many
countries around the world, with the core of traditional English-speaking states often referred to as
the "Anglosphere".

The English language today is cultural and economical important to the world in general. Since the
English language has the most speakers across the world, it is seen as the leading international
language. It is considered a global lingua franca, know as a common or trade language that makes
communication between two foreign people possible since the English language is so widespread
globally. The English language also has a major cultural impact globally because of Americanization.
Americanization really started with the rise of Hollywood in the 1920s but really took off globally
post World War Two and then again in the internet age. This has led to American culture having an
impact globally, which in turn also spreads the influence of the English language.

Disponível em: <https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-where-english-is-the-primary- language.html>.

Acesso em: 29 out. 2018. (adaptado)

Agora é com você

Questão 01

1.a)

English is the third most common native language in the world. Which are the first and

the second ones?

1.b)

Which is the most widely spoken second language in the world?

1.c)

What is lingua franca?

1.d)

When did Americanization begin? What was its consequence?

1.e)

What does the future hold for the English language? Give your opinion about it.

English as first language

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English as first language

Flags of different countries: Canada, USA and UK.

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There are many countries that speak English as their first language. The most known ones
are the USA and the UK, but there are others that we should mention.

Check the countries below that have English speakers compared to the rest of the world.

• United States (64%)

• United Kingdom (16.6%)

• Canada (5.3%)

• Australia (4.7%)

• South Africa (1.3%)

• Ireland (1.3%)

• New Zealand (1.3%)

• Other (5.5%)

American versus British English

The United States and the United Kingdom's official language is English.

Even though they speak the same language, it's possible to find some differences between

them: spelling, words, pronunciation etc.

Check the infographic below for some examples of these differences.

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Assista: pronunciation and words

Watch and listen in this video some words that are written and pronounced differently

and more examples.

Pratique:
recognition of the main countries that use English as
their language
Questão 01

Can you name the countries and their official languages?

1.a)

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1.b)

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1.c)

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1.d)

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Questão 02

What is the importance of learning a second language? Discuss with a friend.

Questão 03

Research the official language of the United States, Australia and Canada, are all of them
English? Were you surprised? Why do you think a country would have more than one

official language?

Questão 04

Look at names below. Mark the country that does NOT have English as an official language.

If you are not sure of your answer, research about the country.

A South Africa.

B Jamaica.

C Ireland.

D Argentina.

Questão 05

After Independence

When India became independent, it was intended that English would stop being used as the language

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 of administration. At first, Hindi, the most spoken language, seemed the obvious choice, but after
protests in 1963 in the state of Tamil Nadu against the imposition of Hindi as a national language,
opinion has remained divided.

In a country with over 900 million people and more than a thousand languages, it is difficult to
choose a single national language, as mother tongue speakers of that language would automatically
enjoy greater social status and have easier access to positions of power and influence.

So, English remains as an "Associate Language" in India, while Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri,
Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit,
Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu are the official languages of India.

Article written by Jonnie Robinson. Published: 24 Apr 2019.

Disponível em: <http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/case-studies/minority-ethnic/asian>. Acesso em: 7
maio 2019. (adaptado)

Why is English still used in India?

A Because it is the mother language of most people in India.

B Because Hindi alone doesn't have enough words to be an official language.

C Because India was influenced by the USA, adopting their language as official.

D Because it is hard to choose one official language to take its place.

It's time to read: the global reach of English

Many people around the world use English to communicate in different contexts: political,
economical, entertainment etc.

That's why this language is considered a common language. Read the text below and see

how this language can be important.

The usage of English

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 Speech bubble with a question: do you speak English?
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There's a very good chance, if you're reading this, that English is not your first language. Non-native
speakers currently outnumber native speakers by an estimated four to one. At the same time,
1.75 billion people – a quarter of the world's population – speak English either fluently or to a useful
level of competency. There have been many lingua francas throughout history, and English is far
from alone in the century in having an international reach – Arabic is spoken across the Middle
East and North Africa, French is an official language in over 30 countries around the world
and Portuguese in 11, and Spanish is a powerful lenguaje global in its own right, more so by the day
– but none has ever had the dominance that English does.

Once the obscure West Germanic language of a damp little island kingdom, it is now an official
language in almost 60 countries, the international language of aviation and seafaring, the pre-
eminent language of scientific research, the most common language online and the major working
language of diplomacy and international relations. What does its phenomenal success mean for the
75% of the world's population that do not currently speak it, what does it mean for those
who only speak it?

For non-speakers it increasingly means being at an economic disadvantage in a globalised world. The
enormous demand for English is driven primarily, at an individual level, by the desire to improve
one's employment opportunities. On a national level it gives a country a competitive edge in the
international marketplace and helps drive growth and development. At the same time, however,
while native speakers have the distinct advantage of not needing to learn the major world language,
they run the risk of disadvantaging themselves if it's the only language they know; those who speak
English as well as their mother tongue have access both to their own culture and society and to the
global opportunities available through English, whereas monolingual English speakers are, as it were,
confined to the limits of their own tongue. It is always going to be better to speak two or more
languages rather than just one, even when that one is English.

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 Posted on March 2, 2015 by Daniel Vincent.
Disponível em: <http://eltlearningjourneys.com/2015/03/02/the-global-reach-of-english/>. Acesso em: 29 out.
2018. (adaptado)

 Glossário
Competitive edge: a piece of information, a skill, a process, a product or a resource
that competitors, usually business ones, don't have and that gives you an advantage.

Damp: humid.

Dominance: power and influence over others.

Monolingual: a person who speaks only one language.

Outnumber: be more numerous than.

Agora é com você

Questão 01

1.a)

What does English success mean for the 75% of the world's population that do not
currently speak it?

1.b)

What does it mean for those who only speak English?

Getting to know English language

English is one of the most spoken languages in the world, and it is also very important
because of many reasons: economical, political, cultural etc. When we are studying it, it is
good to know some interesting aspects, so we can understand it better.

Read the dialogue between two students who are learning this language.

Dialogue

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 Two teenagers studying together.
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Arthur: I love studying English, it is very important for my future.

Anna: I agree, it is my favourite subject.

Arthur: I have only some doubts with some words that have similar sounds, I get confused
sometimes.

Anna: Really? Which ones? Let me see if I can help you.

Arthur: Do you know how to pronounce them?

Anna: Well, whenever I have doubts like this one, I check a dictionary or ask my teacher, but
this word is pronounced...

Explorando:
words with the same pronunciation
 PRÁTICA ATIVA

Questão 01

Practice the dialogue between Anna and Arthur in pairs, and after you finish it,

change roles.

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 Not only English, but other languages have words that may sound similar.
However, have different meanings.

How is it possible to know the correct word or how to pronounce correctly?

Observe some words and choose the one that has the same pronunciation.

1.a)

Weak.

A Week.

B Wheat.

C Witch.

1.b)

Meet.

A Met.

B Meat.

C Melt.

1.c)

Peace.

A Please.

B Piece.

C Place.

Homophones

Do you know what homophones are?

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Homophones are words that have different spelling and meaning but the way we
pronounce is the same.

This phenomenon happens in other languages too.

Example 1:

sem – without something (in Portuguese)

cem – one hundred (in Portuguese)

Example 2:

trás – preposition of place (in Portuguese)

traz – to bring (in Portuguese)

Assista: homophones in English

Watch in the video below some examples of words that have the same

pronunciation in English and, for this reason, they are called homophones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUa4FqVn2pA&ab;_channel=EnglishTonight

Express yourself!

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Express yourself!

After reading and watching about homophones, answer the questions below with a

classmate (orally). Use the internet or a dictionary if necessary.

Can you think of more examples of homophones in your mother language?

Can you think of more examples of homophones in English?

Pratique:
the global reach of English and homophones
Questão 01

Research what languages are spoken in the Gambia. Are they the same as their official
languages? Why do you think that happens?

Questão 02

Write three important reasons for people having a second language nowadays.

Questão 03

As we studied about the homophones, they are words that have the same sound but are
written differently.

Check the words from the list and complete with another word that has the same sound.

sun – eight – ant – bee

3.a)

I ate three hot dogs.

3.b)

My aunt's mother language is English.

3.c)

Be respectful! It's necessary to respect people's culture.

3.d)

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My son's mother language is English but his second language is Spanish.

Questão 04

What do you think that makes a language a "global language"? Do you think English is the
only language that is influential? Research and write your findings.

Questão 05

Based on what you studied about homophones, read the statements below and say if they
are true or false.

Justify the false ones.

a. Homophone words have the same spelling.

b. Homophone words have the same pronunciation.

c. Homophone words have different meanings.

d. We can find homophone words only in English.

Resumo

• The concept of mother language, official language and second language. We learn
our mother language in our family day-to-day and at school. The official language is
that one used for general communication, most of the times because it is accessible for
people of other nationalities to communicate; the second language is the second idiom
we can learn in a course, at school, using our mother language as a tool to help us.

• The main countries where English is the mother and/or official language, the global
reach of this language and the importance of knowing better some of the features that
compose it. Among these elements are the homophones, which are also found in
Portuguese. Homophones are words that have different spelling and meaning, but the
same pronunciation.

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