Speaking and writing and cultural corner 必修5 1单元文化角.ppt

* 姜腾翔 Speaking Writing Cultural corner British English American English World English Speaking and writing Read the notes in part 1 and work in groups to decide which is the best variety of English to learn. The Great Debate----Which English? British English (add more information) The “original” variety of the language The language of Shakespeare and other great writers The BBC and many international newspapers use it American English Most native speakers of English use an American variety. The variety most used in international business Most English language films are American. World English neither American nor British English doesn’t belong to one group of people. Accent is not important if people understand each other. We need to communicate with non- native speakers as well as native speakers. Divide the class into 3 groups and debate. Group A: British English is the best variety to learn. Group B: American English is the best variety to learn. Group C: World English is the best variety to learn. The Origin of Chinese What is Chinese? Varieties of Chinese Read the paragraph in Part 3. Decide which is the best title? And Why? Chinese is one of the world’s major languages. It is spoken by more than a billion people – one fifth of the world’s population. Most of them live in the People’s Republic of China. The Chinese refer to their language as Han, as it became popular among the people during the Han Dynasty. One of the main varieties of the language is spoken in Beijing. In the west it is often called “Mandarin” Collect information about the 3 topics and write more paragraphs. 1. The Writing System About 50,000 characters/ most people know about 20,000/ elements of meaning and information about pronunciation/ 2. Varieties of Chinese 8 main varieties/ called dialects/ Wen yan and Baihua/ Putonghua-simplified Chinese 3. The Language Today Pinyin, a writing system since 1958/ help to use Putongh