Prime Time 5, Coursebook mit Audio-CD

3 Writing: Foreign languages – what for? Write a text for a website in which you encourage young people to learn foreign languages. Consider the following points: • Start like this: “It all happened to me last month/year/… when …” • Write about a situation where you needed to speak a foreign language. • Explain how your language skills helped you in that situation. What was the advantage of being able to communicate? • What kind of difficulties (if any) did you have when you wanted to talk to foreigners? • Use this experience in your final paragraph to convince other young people to learn and/or to practise their languages. 4 Language in use: Special English a) Read text 1 (sentences 1–5) and then complete text 2 with phrases in the passive voice. Each of the sentences in text 1 corresponds with a sentence in text 2. b) Which of the two texts would you prefer? Text 1 1. Journalists at the news service Voice of America first used Special English in 1959. 2. Even today Voice of America still employs that version of English. 3. The newsreaders read slowly and only use a limited amount of words. 4. The listeners can easily discern adjacent words because there is always a slight pause between them so that the word boundaries become clear. 5. The people who make the programmes intend to reach people who have a working knowledge of English but do not speak it regularly. Text 2 Special English (1) at the end of the 1950s. It is a simplified version of the English language that (2) by the United States broadcasting service Voice of America today. The news (3) slowly, using a limited vocabulary of about 1,500 words and simplified grammar. Adjacent words can easily (4) because there is a short pause between them so that word boundaries are clear. Programmes in Special English (5) for an audience of people who have a working knowledge of English but do not speak it every day. Can write accounts of experiences, describing feelings and reactions in simple connected text. (B1) 13 1 The world speaks English Nur zu Prüfzwecken – E gentum des Verlags öbv