SESSION 10: EXERCISES WORKING WITH THE TEXT

SESSION 10: EXERCISES WORKING WITH THE TEXT

NOTE: IN ORDER TO WORK WITH THE TEXT, UNDERSTAND AND PREPARE IT BETTER I RECOMMEND THESE EXERCISES.

THERE WILL BE TWO TYPES OF EXERCISES:

1. EXERCISES WORKING WITH THE TEXT: THESE ARE EXERCISES FOCUSING ON THE READING COMPREHENSION, WORKING WITH VOCABULARY AND EXPRESSIONS.

2. EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION: EXERCISES FOCUSING ON THE PREPARATION FOR THE DISCUSSION.

1. EXERCISES WORKING WITH THE TEXT

1.1 TRUE/FALSE: Look at the article and guess whether these sentences are True (T) or False (F):

a. An award-winning actress has criticized British people’s use of slang.

b. The actress told a magazine that no one in the U.K spoke properly.

c. She said some phrases she often heard made her go crazy.

d. The actress told pupils at her old school to cut down on using slang.

e. She said people need to think more about the importance of grammar.

f. She said she was against people using slang.

g. Linguists said her words largely criticized language used by teenagers.

h. Most parents have no problems understanding their teenage children.

1.2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:
1. hit out at .................. a. correctly
2. compatriots ............... b. crazy
3. properly ................... c. criticized
4. insane ...................... d. expressiveness
5. stupid ...................... e. fellow citizens
6. articulacy .................. f. friends
7. necessity .................. g. idiotic
8. mates ...................... h. outburst
9. experts .................... i. requirement
10. rant ....................... j. specialists

1.3 PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from this article (sometimes more than one option is possible):
1. hit out at the slang used ............. a. attack on “teenspeak”
2. too many people in Britain .......... b. by her compatriots
3. “ain’t” drove .......................... c. didn’t speak properly
4. a whole variety ....................... d. grammar and language are
5. it makes you sound ................... e. have two languages
6. rethink how important correct ..... f. her insane
7. articulacy as a form of personal .... g. of tag questions
8. There is the necessity to ............ h. human freedom
9. Thompson’s rant was an ............. i. social networking sites
10. text messaging and ................. j. stupid

1.4 GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text:

RANGING - PHRASES - PROPERLY - SOUND - OUT - INSANE - COMMENTS - STREETS
British Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson has hit ____________ at the slang used by her compatriots. The star of Harry Potter and Nanny McPhee movies told the British magazine Radio Times that she thought too many people in Britain didn’t speak ____________. She said a lot of the language she heard on the ____________ made people sound stupid. In particular, the ____________ “innit” and “ain’t” drove her ____________. “Innit” started off as a variation of “isn’t it” but is now used to replace a whole variety of tag questions, ____________ from “wasn’t it” to “don’t we” and “won’t I”. She made her ____________ after visiting her old high school. She told the students not to use slang so much, “because it makes you ____________ stupid and you're not stupid”.

SITES - POWER - RETHINK - MATES - EXPERTS - REINVEST - NECESSITY - ATTACK
Ms Thompson told her interviewer she thought people needed to ____________ how important correct grammar and language are. She said: "We have to ____________, I think, in the idea of articulacy as a form of personal human freedom and ____________.” She didn’t say people should not use slang, but they should remember where and when to use it: "There is the ____________ to have two languages – one that you use with your ____________ and the other that you need in any official capacity. Or you're going to sound like [an idiot]," she said. Language ____________ say Thompson’s rant was an ____________ on “teenspeak,” which has developed through text messaging and social networking ____________. Many parents say they don’t understand their children.