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978-1-107-69701-0 – In Focus Level 2Charles Browne Brent Culligan and Joseph Phillips
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A WORLD OF

1H
ENGLISUnit

1 Critical cartoons
A Building knowledge
Work with a partner or in small groups. Discuss the questions below.

1 How many countries can you name where English is spoken as a first language?
2 What countries do you know where English is not a first language but is a main or
official language?
3 What is the message of the cartoon?
4 Think about the use of English among your grandparents’ generation, your parents’generation, and your own. How has it changed?

Media link
The Story of English is an award-winning television series and companion
book about the development of the English language.
For additional media links, go to www.cambridgeinfocus.org

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978-1-107-69701-0 – In Focus Level 2Charles Browne Brent Culligan and Joseph Phillips
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UNIT 1

2 Core vocabulary
A Scanning and skimming
1 Find and underline the keywords in the passage. Try to guess their meanings.
Keywords
acquireequivalentestimate
exposuremultipleper
regional
researcher
retainstruggle

The

Wonder of Language
We all speak one. Every day, people communicate with one another using
language. From the thousands of words we know, we easily find the words weneed and arrange them into sentences to give our opinions or make requests.
Some researchers who study language acquisition, like the well-known writer on
5 language Steven Pinker, estimate that people know about 50,000 to 60,000
words by the age of 20. That is roughly equivalent to learning eight or ninewords per day from birth.
This amazing process begins at birth. Children who have not yet learned to
speak listen to their mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters talk to them. This
10 early exposure introduces the child to the sounds of their language. This iswhen they begin to acquire their regional accent. We are all amazed at how
little American babies sound American, while little English babies speak with a
British accent.
By the time children become three, they
have usually acquired many thousands ofwords. Some words children have heard
multiple times, so it is not surprisingthat they know them. Other words
children may hear only once, but they
20 retain the meaning. Some words are
difficult, and the child has to struggle tosay the word but still has no problem
remembering its meaning.
15

25

Learning a foreign language may bedifficult, but it is important to rememberthat people are born to communicate
through speech. It is a gift we all have.

2 Read the statements below. Which best describes what this text is about?
ut?
Circle A, B, or C.

A How we learn foreign languages
B How children acquire their accentsC How we learn our own language2© in this web service Cambridge University Press

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UNIT 1B Words in context: collocations
1 Look at the text on page 2. Find the keywords
that form collocations with the words below.

Collocations

1 researchers
2 roughly3
day4
accentCollocations are common word
combinations. For example, the verb
express is often found with the noun
opinion, as in express your opinion.

2 Match the four keywords with the words below to make new collocations.
12
3
4
5 average
6 cash7
8

costs
amountgovernment
month
directoryear

C Word parts: equa or equi

Example: equivalent

Words with equa/equi
adequateequinoxequationequivalentequatorequidistantinequality

1 Use the words in the box to complete the sentences below.
1
2
3
4
5

A kilogram is roughly
to two pounds.
When something is, it is enough for a situation.
A mathematical statement in which both sides are the same is an.
We can see
in a society when groups of people are treated differently.
When a place is the same distance from two other places, we can say they are.
6 The invisible line that divides the earth into northern and southern halves is called the.
7 The time when the sun is directly over the equator and night and day are the samelength is called an.

2 Work with a partner. What do you think equa/equi means? Write your guess below.
Then check your answer with another partner.

I think equa /equi means.

D Discussion dictation
1 Listen and write down the questions. Then discuss them in small groups.
1 How
2 How
3 What?
.
?

2 Form new groups and compare your answers.
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978-1-107-69701-0 – In Focus Level 2Charles Browne Brent Culligan and Joseph Phillips
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UNIT 1

3 Reading skills
A Pre-reading questions
1 How many people around the world do you think are learning English?
h?
2 Why do you think English has become an international language?

B ReadingRead the text and check your answers to the pre-reading questions above. Thenhighlight an interesting idea in each paragraph.

English is widely spoken in many countries aroundthe world and is an official language in more than
50. Many of these countries are former colonies ofBritain and retained English after independence.
5 But even former colonies of France and Belgium,
such as Madagascar and Rwanda, have adopted
English as an official language.
English has truly become an international
language. Researchers at the British Council
10 estimate that it is spoken as a first language by
375 million people and as a second language
by another 375 million. Meanwhile, over 750
million people speak it as a foreign language, andthis number is rapidly growing. In China alone,
15 120 million grade school students are learning
English. According to the British Council, twobillion people around the world are attempting toacquire English, and one in four can speaksome English.
When the captain of a Mexican passenger planeflies into an airport in France or Germany, he or
she communicates with the air traffic controller
in English. It is easy to understand why: thepilot may not speak French or German, the air
25 traffic controller may not speak Spanish, and itis necessary to confirm details about the flight.
However, in the equivalent situation, when thesame plane lands in Argentina or Colombia, thepilot again communicates with the ground in
30 English, even though he and the ground controller
both have Spanish as their mother tongue. Thisis just one example of how English is used as
the standard international language around theworld. Today, three-quarters of the world’s mail,35 most books, and half of the world’s newspapers
and magazines are written in English. English
20

4© in this web service Cambridge University Presswebsites are being created at a rate of 500 per
minute, and more than half of the world’s websites
are in English. Eighty percent of internationalorganizations use English as an official language, 40
including the United Nations, the European Union,
and the International Olympic Committee. English
is the most important language in science: half theworld’s scientific papers are written in it. Finally,in the world of entertainment, it is impossible to45
avoid exposure to English. Hollywood movies sell
the most tickets in cinemas, and popular songs incountries from Sweden to Japan are sungin English.
English is an international language becauseof two main regional influences. The first is therule of the British Empire, which at its peak in
1922 governed a fourth of the world’s area anda fifth of its population. The second is the powerof American companies that spread around theworld after World War ll.
English is not just an international language
because it is spoken all over the world. English
now belongs to the world. People all over theworld do not just struggle to learn it in order toget better jobs. They add words and expressionsof their own, and they are changing the language
in multiple ways, thus helping to make English atrue world language. English as a world language
allows all countries to be part of the worldcommunity, and this benefits us all.

50

55

60

65

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UNIT 1C Checking details
Read the questions below and circle the correct answers according to the text.

1 Which of the following statements is true?
A There are more speakers of English as a first language than speakers of English as asecond language.
B The majority of English speakers speak it as a first language.
C Approximately 25 percent of people in the world can speak some English.
D Nearly 50 percent of international organizations use English as an official language.
2 Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A Many former British colonies kept English as an official language after independence.
B Some former French colonies also have English as an official language.
C Mexican pilots speak Spanish when communicating with air traffic controllers in
Colombia.
D Most of the world’s books are written in English.

D Making inferences
Read the questions below and circle the correct answers according to the text. (Theremay be more than one correct answer.)

1 People around the world want to acquire English because . . .
A they want to understand Hollywood movies.
B air traffic controllers need English.
C they want better jobs.
D they want to learn about American companies.
2 Which of these changes are likely to take place in the future?
A English vocabulary will grow.
B English will not be spoken at meetings of the Olympic Games Committee.
C Pilots will choose which language to speak when they are in the air.
D English will become a world language.

E Identifying opinions
Work with a partner and answer the question below. Check (✔) the boxes.
In this article, how can the author’s point of view best be described?
positiveneutralnegative
Paragraphs 1–4
Paragraph 5
positiveneutralnegative

Going beyond the text
Work with a partner or in small groups. Ask and answer the questions below.
1 Look back at the ideas you highlighted in the text. Are they the same?
2 Give at least two examples of the spread of English in your country.
3 Are there any languages that could one day compete with English?
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UNIT 1

4 Researching a topic
A Information gathering
1 Work in small groups. Use the pictures below to identify words English hasborrowed from other languages. Can you guess which language they came from?

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

2 Think of six words from your language that came from English. Then look up themeaning of the words in English in a dictionary or online. Complete the chart below.
Borrowed word

Meaning inyour language

Meaning in
English

1
2
3
4
5
6

B Interpreting and reporting results
Form new groups and compare your findings. Discuss the questions below.

1 Which meanings are the same in both English and your language? Can you think ofany that are different?
2 Why do you think the meaning of some borrowed words is different in your language?
3 Do you think borrowed words help you acquire English more easily? Why or why not?

We found that they don’t
always help because . . .

It looked to us
as if . . .

Perhaps the first users of
the word didn’t . . .

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UNIT 15 Critical thinking
A Fact or opinion?
There are many different points of view on the topic of English. Work with a partnerand decide if the following statements are fact (F) or opinion (O).

1
2
3
4
5

Spanish sounds more beautiful than English.
Chinese is the most difficult language to learn.
English has more words than most other languages.
English has borrowed words from many other languages.
British English is easier to understand than American English.

B Categorizing
1 Decide if the statements below sound positive, neutral, or negative. Put checks (✔)
in the boxes. Underline any words in the sentences that support your choice.
Positive

Neutral

Negative

1 English is spoken widely throughout the world.
2 The spread of English is destroying many
languages and cultures.
3 English as an international language will lead toworld peace.
4 Pilots flying Mexican planes in France or Germany
always use English.
5 It is impossible to escape English in the world ofentertainment.

2 Compare your answers with a partner and explain your reasons.

C WritingLook back at the statements in B above. Write a short paragraph about the positive
and negative results of English becoming the world language. Use the model below.

There are many different opinions about English becoming the world language.
On the positive side . . .
However, there are also a number of negative results. For example, . . .

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UNIT 1

D Discussion
1 In C, you wrote about the positive and negative results of English being the world
language. Now read the statements below about language from young people
around the world. Discuss them in small groups. Do you agree or disagree? Besure to share your opinions and ask follow-up questions.

“English helps speed globalization and economic development. That is a good thing.”“English as a global language gives English speakers an unfair advantage.”“If English spreads everywhere, then so does Western culture. That makes the world aworse place.”
Agreeing

Disagreeing

I agree with you.

Well maybe, but the way
I see it . . .

That’s what I think too.

I see your point, but . . .

Absolutely.
I understand what
you’re saying, but . . .

2 Now agree on a group opinion for each point. Share your results with the class.
Each group should present one idea.

We don’t think that . . .
We felt that . . . because . . .
Overall, we believe that . . .

Quotable Quotes

Final thoughts . . .

Learn a new language and get a new soul.
Czech proverb

1 How is this quote connected to the topic of the unit?
2 Do you feel or act differently when you speak English?
In what way?
3 In what ways is the growth of English in your country
changing your culture?
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