Instructions

 

 

Ask students the languages they use to communicate with others in Canada and other countries. You can bring to their attention that English is typically used as a lingua franca but other languages can and should be used, too.

Suggested time: 1 minute

 

This warm-up activates students' schemata about other languages. The goal is to encourage openness and familiarity with other languages (e.g., learning a word or two in a language other than students' L1 and English). Students can work in pairs and share ideas about each question.

Suggested time: 5 minutes

 

 

Go over the two first topics with students and ask for examples. Ask students to work in small groups and share ideas about the last question.

Suggested time: 5 minutes

 

 

 

 

Give students a copy of the card with "Thank You" in 30 different languages. In pairs, encourage them to try to say these words and identify the languages. Tell  students they will listen to people say “thank you” in the 30 different languages and ask them to number the languages they hear.

 

 

 

Play the recording (or video with no images) and pause after each language. Encourage students to use pholonological recognition as a strategy to understand the words.

Suggested time: 10 minutes

 

 

 

 

 

Click on the hyperlink to the video and let students watch and check their answers. Have students work in pairs or small groups and discuss the 3 questions in the slide.

Suggested time: 10 minutes

 

 

 

Students can check their answers by looking at this slide. Note that the word for “thank you” may be the same in different languages (e.g., Persian and French) so students might have a different order than the one shown.

Suggested time: 2 minutes

 

 

 

 

Get students to work in pairs and provide each group about 5 minutes to prepare a role-play. Have groups present in front of the class and get the audience will identify: 1) their role; 2) languages/used.

Suggested time: 10 minutes

 

 

 

 

 

Ask the 2 questions to the whole class and have them share a few thoughts.

Suggested time: 5 minutes

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the end of task 4. For a copy of this task, card and video used, download the documents below.