Unit2Englisharoundtheworld（1）Ⅰ.TeachingGoals:1.LearnaboutthedifferencesbetweenAmericanEnglishandBritishEnglish.2.Learnaboutcommunicationskills.3.Reportrequestsanddemandsusing“He/Sheasked…to…”and“He/Shetold…to…”.Ⅱ.TeachingTime:FiveperiodsⅢ.BackgroundInformationⅠ.EnglishLanguageThelanguagewecallEnglishderivesprimarilyfromlanguagesspokeninEnglandforonlyaround1500years.ThelandnowknownasEnglandwasinvadedbyseveraltribesknownastheAngles,JutesandSaxons.ThenameEnglandisderivedfromAngles’land,andtheEnglishlanguagecomesprincipallyfromacombinationofthedialectsspokenbythesethreetribes.ThepeopleofEnglanddiffusedtheirlanguagearoundtheworldthroughtheestablishmentofcolonies.ThefirstEnglishcolonieswerefoundedinNorthAmerica,beginningwithJamestown,in1620.TheEnglishalsoestablishedcoloniesinAfrica,AsiaandmanyoftheislandsintheAtlantic,IndianandPacificoceans.Asrecentlyasthe1950s,one-fourthoftheworld’speoplelivedinacountrywhereEnglishwastheofficiallanguage,thatis,thelanguageadoptedforusebythegovernment,evenincolonieswhereonlyasmallpercen-tageofpeopleactuallyspokeEnglish.Afterindependence,leadersofmostformerBritishcoloniesselectedanindigenouslanguageastheofficialonebutcontinuedtouseEnglishforinternationalcommunication.NowtheEnglishlanguageisusedbyabout600000000peopleinalmosteverypartoftheworld.Chineseistheonlylanguageusedbymorepeople.About350000000peoplespeakEnglishastheirnativetongue.MostofthemliveinAustralia,Canada,GreatBritain,Ireland,About60000000people,chieflyinIndiaandPakistan,speakEnglishalmostaswellastheirownlanguage.Probably150000000otherpeoplecanuseEnglishtosomeextent.Today,aboutoneofeverysixusesEnglish.CharacteristicsofEnglishlikealllanguages.Englishhassomecharacteristicsthatmaymakeiteasytolearn.Ithasothercharacteristicsthatmakeithardtolearn.PeoplewhoknowalanguagerelatedtoEnglishfindmanyEnglishwordseasytolearn.Inaddition,therelativelyfewinflectionsinEnglishmakethatpartofthelanguageeasytolearn.CharacteristicsthatmakeEnglishhardtolearnincludesitsspellingandidioms.Inflections.Aninflectionisachangeinaword—usuallyinthelastsyllable—toshowitsgrammaticalfunction.Inflectionsareusedtoindicatecase,number,gender,voice,mood,andtense.Englishhasonlyafewinflections.Forexample,toindicatecase,theEnglishnoun“lion”hasonlytwoforms:lionandlions.SpellingisamajorproblemformanystudentsofEnglish.InEnglish,manysimilarsoundsarespelleddifferently.Forexample,crew,blue,shoe,throughandtooallrhyme.Idioms.Anidiomisanexpressionthatcannotbetranslatedwordforwordintoanotherlanguagewithoutunderstandingit.Englishhasmanydifficultidioms.Apersonmightknowwhatallthewordsinanidiommean.Buthestillmustlearnthespecialmeaningoftheentirephrasetounderstandit.用心爱心专心115号编辑Ⅱ.AmericanEnglishandBritishEnglishWrittenEnglishismoreorlessthesameinbothBritainandtheUSA,andineverydayspeechthetwopeopleshavelittledifficultyinunderstandingoneanother.Infact,theAmericanshaveexportedalargenumberoftheirwordsandphrasestoBritain—throughliterature,themovies,TV,Americansoldiersduringbothworldwarsandtourists.ThefollowingwordsandphrasesareofAmericanorigin:teenager,boyfriend,radio,rightaway,wayoflife,etc.SomeofthewordsthatAmericansnowusecomefromthelanguagesoftheirimmigrants,particularlyfromtheGermans.Thebasicmeaningof“dumb”inbothBritishandAmericanEnglish,is“unabletospeak”.IntheUSA,itacquiredasecondmeaning“stupid”，straightfro...
