How many languages
can you speak?
Aims
Learning goals:
Talking about different languages
Completing a survey about languages
Contents
Year 9
Lesson 25
Vocabulary
Keywords
advanced, beginner, communicate,
elementary , intermediate , joke ,
meaning, pronounce , pronunciation ,
question , second , sentence ,
shout, tell , translate
Language Analysis
Talking about different languages
Below you will find a list of countries and their official languages. This is by no means an exhaustive list
so please make sure you add a country / language of your students if it is not on the list.
Country
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Chile
China
Croatia
Cuba
Denmark
Finland
France
Egypt
Hungary
India
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Japan
Kazakhstan
Latvia
Libya
Nigeria
Poland
Portugal
Romania
New Zealand
Language
Spanish
English
German
Dutch, French
Spanish
Chinese / mandarin
Croatian
Spanish
Danish
Finish
French
Arabic
Hungarian
Hindi
Persian
Arabic
English
Japanese
Kazak
Latvian
Arabic
Nigerian
Polish
Spanish
Romanian
English
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27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
Morocco
Russia
Singapore
Slovakia
Somalia
Switzerland
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab
Emirates
United Kingdom
Unites States
Vietnam
Zimbabwe
Arabic
Russian
Mandarin
Slovak
Somali
German
Thai
Turkish
Ukrainian
Arabic
English, Welsh,Gaelic
English
Vietnamese
English
The first language we learn is often called our mother tongue or first language or L1. The second
language we learn e.g. at school is called a foreign language, also L2.
It is also possible that people may be bilingual i.e. they learn two languages from the moment they are
born e.g. mother and father speak two different languages.
The language that is given a special legal status in a country, used at schools and by the government is
called the official language. Please note there would be countries where there are two or more official
languages.
Completing a survey about languages
People usually distinguish the following levels of language:
Beginner
Elementary
Pre-intermediate / lower-intermediate
Intermediate
Upper-intermediate
Advanced
Proficient
The often make a distinction between how good we are at spoken and written language.
The following elements of a foreign languages are important:
4 Skills: speaking, writing, reading, listening
Areas to be studied: grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation.
communicate /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/
joke /dʒəʊk/
meaning /ˈmiːnɪŋ/
pronounce /prəˈnaʊns/
question /ˈkwestʃ(ə)n/
second /ˈsekənd/
sentence /ˈsentəns/
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shout /ʃaʊt/
tell /tel/
translate /trænsˈleɪt/
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Procedure
Lead-in
Key:
1
2
3
4
English, French Hindi
English, Japanese, Spanish
Chinese, English, French, Spanish
English
Ask students to choose the languages each
person can speak.
Extension:
Exploit the screen by asking: Can you speak a
second language?
The objective of this screen is to get students
interested in the idea of why people speak more
than one language which is focused on later.
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Do a brainstorming session and ask students to
make a list of languages.
Give out the Handout and ask students to put
names of language / languages next to each
country.
Ask: Is English popular? In which countries?
(England, Malaysia, Australia, US etc.) Point out
that it is also one of the reasons it is worth
learning English.
Key:
For key see Language Analysis.
Extension:
Ask students: What is the official language in your
country? Do you know a country with two official
languages? (e.g. Switzerland: German, French,
Italian, Belgium: Dutch and French)
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Main input
Audio:
Interviewer: Excuse me, would you mind
answering some questions about learning
languages? The survey won’t take long.
Mrs Jones: OK, fine.
Interviewer: Thanks. First, how many languages
do you speak?
Mrs Jones: Well, I speak English of course, and
Spanish.
Interviewer: And any others?
Mrs Jones: Well, I can speak a little French.
Interviewer: So how well and why do you speak
them?
Mrs Jones: Well, I speak French because we
had to learn it at school.
Interviewer: And how well do you speak French?
Mrs Jones: Urgh! Not well at all. I can read a bit
but I can’t really say anything. The pronunciation
is really tricky and I don’t have enough
vocabulary. You know, it was really taught badly
at school. We just used to repeat sentences and
lists of words again and again which I didn’t know
the meaning of. Yes, it was so boring, I’m
surprised I learnt anything at all.
Interviewer: So what about Spanish? How well
do you speak it?
Mrs Jones: Oh, yes, that’s a different story. I’m
quite fluent in Spanish.
Interviewer: Really, so you’re an advanced level.
So what’s made the difference to your learning?
Mrs Jones: Well, I suppose I love the Spanish
lifestyle and culture. I went to live and work in
Spain after I left university so I had a real need to
communicate in the language. I learnt by chatting
to my new Spanish friends and listening to the
radio and following the local football team. I even
followed soap operas on TV in Spanish. They say
you know you can truly speak a language when
Ask students to listen to the interview and then
choose the correct answer.
Extension: Exploit the screen further by asking:
What levels of language are there and elicit:
Elementary
Intermediate
Advanced
Students may also now: beginner, lowerintermediate, upper-intermediate, proficient.
Encourage students in stronger groups to use all
of them.
Tell students to make a short summary of
© Young Digital Planet 2015 – Core Curriculum for English – Teacher’s Guide
you can dream in it, and I can. And I can
understand jokes too, but not tell them.
languages they can speak and at what level:
I can speak… at…
Interviewer: So did you just learn by socializing?
Mrs Jones: No, that was a big part of it, but I also
paid to have Spanish lessons. And they really
helped with understanding the grammar rules.
Interviewer: So what’s the best way to learn a
language?
Mrs Jones: Well, I think ideally you need to
combine good lessons with lots of speaking
practice. And you really do have to have a real
reason to want to learn the language. I still send
email messages to my friend in Spanish because
I want to communicate with them.
Interviewer: Thank you very much for your time.
Mrs Jones: You’re welcome.
Key:
1
2
3
4
5
6
D English, Spanish and French.
A an elementary level.
B badly.
C an advanced level.
B can understand a joke in Spanish.
C you need to have good lessons and lots of
speaking practice.
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Practice 1
Key:
1 False 2 True 3 True 4 False 5 True
6 True 7 False 8 True 9 False 10 True
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Ask students to read and choose True or False.
Extension: Put students in pairs and ask them to
practise reading the dialogue.
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Practice 2
Key:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
tell [a joke in Spanish]
send [an email message]
ask [a question]
speak [a language]
know the meaning [of a word]
understand [grammar rules]
speak [fluently]
be elementary [level]
communicate [in a language]
translate [a word]
Tell students to match the parts.
Extension: Put students in pairs and ask them to
practise the phrases: one of them says tell, the
other has to say: a joke. Then they swap.
You can also ask students to work individually,
cover left / right side of the screen and try to
remember as many phrases as possible.
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Practice 3
Key:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
vocabulary
pronounce
pronunciation
language
meaning
grammar
communicate
translate
Play the game.
Give the Ss these instructions for the Hangman
game. Hangman is a spelling game. The aim is to
find the hidden word by guessing the letters.
The alphabet is set out at the bottom of the
screen.
Look at the number of letters in the word.
Guess the first letter, e.g. ‘e’.
Guess the next letter and click it.
Continue until you have guessed the word.
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Practice 4
Key:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
languages
speak
pronunciation
sentences
advanced
chatting
jokes
grammar
email
communicate
Ask students to read and complete the sentences
with the correct word.
Extension: Put students in pairs and ask to
practise reading the dialogue.
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Practice 5
Key:
1
2
3
4
5
6
Would you mind answering some questions?
How many languages do you speak?
What languages do you speak?
How well do you speak it?
What’s the difference between the
languages?
What is the best way to learn a language?
Ask students to put the words in the language
survey questions in order. The aim of the screen
is to make sure students feel comfortable with the
questions. Pay attention to pronunciation and
intonation – you may ask students to listen and
repeat the sentences when the exercise is done.
Nominate students to answer these questions.
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English to take away
Key:
Students’ own answers.
This is a free practice stage and the aim is
personalisation.
Give students the following instructions:
Work in pairs. Take it in turns to complete the
survey.
Extension: In weaker groups first do the
questions together (Student A’s role).
Suggested questions:
1
2
3
4
5
6
Would you mind answering some questions in
our survey?
How many languages do you speak?
What languages do you speak?
How well do you speak it / them?
What’s the difference between the languages?
What is the best way to learn a language?
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Handout
Complete the column with the countries’ languages.
Country
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
Language
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Chile
China
Croatia
Cuba
Denmark
Finland
France
Egypt
Hungary
India
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Japan
Kazakhstan
Latvia
Libya
Nigeria
Poland
Portugal
Romania
New Zealand
Morocco
Russia
Singapore
Slovakia
Somalia
Switzerland
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
Unites States
Vietnam
Zimbabwe
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