BRITISH STUDENTS. GUIDE.

British students build new language barrier

            1) Match the following formal words with their less formal (neutral or colloquial) equivalents:

1. insularity

a) to order

2. complacency

b) to enroll

3. to replenish

c) detachment

4. to commission

d) to refill

5. to recruit

e) self-satisfaction

2) Join the two parts of the collocations. Supply the necessary form words (articles, prepositions):

1. breed

a) test

2. bear

b) complacency

3. reach

c) compliment

4. take

d) brunt

5. return

e) degree

f) standards

3) Pick out from the text the words and expressions that describe the unsatisfactory state of affairs in language learning in the UK:

Fall, slump, …. …. …. ….

4) Explain the following:

• A-levels

• tuition fees

• peer pressure

• vicious circle

• pool (of pupils)

5) Show the difference between: 

pupil, student, entrant, undergraduate

6) Answer the questions:

• People of what professions need foreign languages more than others?

• What foreign languages are popular in the UK?

• How many Britons can speak foreign languages?

• How can you account for English people’s lack of interest in foreign languages?

• Why is it difficult to keep up the quality of language learning in the UK?

7) Discuss:

• Compare the situation with foreign language learning in Britain and Belarus.

• Make up a dialogue between a parent with his/her teenage child. The parent is trying to persuade the child to take her/his English/French/German lessons seriously. The child seems reluctant to do it. 

• Work out several arguments that you think might persuade British teenagers to take up foreign languages.