SESSION 24: EXERCISES WORKING WITH THE TEXT

SESSION 24: 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. Sweden will be the second European country to become cashless.

b. Only 3% of purchases in Sweden are made by cash.

c. Most public buses in Sweden still accept cash only.
d. Churches in Sweden are asking people to donate digitally.
e. England was the first European country to use banknotes.
f. Bank robberies in Sweden have increased in recent years.
g. Corruption among politicians in Sweden has gone down.
h. Banks in Sweden do not charge for processing credit card payments.

1.2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:
1. destined ......................... a. scale
2. transactions ..................... b. footpath
3. extent ........................... c. start
4. purchased ....................... d. business deals
5. accepting ....................... e. specialist
6. introduce ....................... f. likely
7. expert ........................... g. manage
8. handle ........................... h. taking
9. trail .............................. i. ditching
10. getting rid of .................. j. bought

1.3 PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from this article (sometimes more than one option is possible):

1. Sweden is destined .................... a. growing number of…

2. the extent of Sweden’s move ....... b. by electronic transactions
3. public buses don’t  .................... c. currency
4. A small but ............................. d. of a cashless society
5. hard ..................................... e. to become the first country
6. just one group in favour .............. f. in circulation
7. Less cash ................................ g. bigger profits
8. the digital trail generated ............ h. accept cash
9. getting .................................. i. away from cash
10. another way for banks to make .... j. rid of cash

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

AWAY - REST - GROWING - HARD - DESTINED - EXTENT - CASHLESS - PREPAID

Sweden is (1) ____________ to become the first country in the world to switch from banknotes and coins to a (2) ____________ economy. Only three per cent of transactions in Sweden are made using cash; the (3) ____________ is credit cards or mobile phone payments. This compares with 7 per cent in the USA and 9 per cent in other Eurozone countries. Canada’s Chronicle Herald newspaper reported on the (4) ____________ of Sweden’s move (5) ____________ from cash. It wrote: “In most Swedish cities, public buses don’t accept cash; tickets are (6) ____________ or purchased with a cellphone text message. A small but (7) ____________ number of businesses only take cards." It also said churches are only accepting digital donations and not (8) ____________ currency.

RID - EXPERT - TRAIL - HANDLE - INTRODUCE - CHARGE - WAY - ROBBERIES

Sweden was the first European country to (9) ____________ banknotes in 1661. Today, the Swedish Bankers' Association is just one group in favour of a cashless society. Its security (10) ____________ Par Karlsson said: “Less cash in circulation makes things safer, both for the staff that (11) ____________ cash, but also of course for the public.” Bank (12) ____________ have gone down from 110 in 2008 to just 16 in 2011. Political corruption has also decreased because of the digital (13) ____________ generated by electronic transactions. Not everyone supports getting (14) ____________ of cash. Small business owners see it as another (15) ____________ for banks to make bigger profits. Banks (16) ____________ from 5 Swedish kronor ($0.80) for every payment made by credit card.