Quiz

From: Joanna

Subject: Languages

Dear all,
In our class yesterday, someone asked which place in the world has the most languages. Here is some information. At the end there is a question for you, which will give you an opportunity to think about the topic in a more personal way. MMC English Placement Test
Experts say there are probably more than 7,000 languages in the world today. 60% of all the world's languages are in Asia and Africa. In Europe, you can only find 4% of the world's languages.
Some languages are international. For example, almost 300 million people in different countries can understand Arabic. There are more than one billion speakers of Chinese.That’s over 15% of all the people in the world.
There are fewer than 200 countries in the world. Many countries have more than one language. In India, for example, there are 23 official languages. This is more than any other country. In addition to the official languages, there are hundreds of local languages that people in India may speak. There are many cities where you can hear different languages. There is only one official language in places like Beirut or Dubai.
However, you can hear lots of other languages, like English, French or Hindi. In London or New York, you can hear more than 100 different languages every day.
The place with the most languages is Papua New Guinea. This country has a population of approximately 6.3 million. Here, there are over 840 languages. Many of these languages have a very small number of speakers. For example, in 2011, the number of people who spoke the Abaga language was under 150. Here is a question for you. Think about a place you know well, maybe your hometown, or the area where you live now. How many different languages can you see or hear every day?

Best,
Joanna

1. South Korea and the United States are very different countries – culturally, historically, linguistically, and in many other ways. Yet both societies value education and have systems which can deliver an excellent education to students. As in the U.S., education for South Korean children is mandatory and free for all unless a family chooses a private school. Both educational systems are divided into elementary school,
secondary school (middle school and high school), and higher education (college and graduate study). Despite these basic similarities, it will probably come as no surprise that there are also significant differences between the educational systems of the two
countries.

2. First, the curriculum for each country is designed differently. For Koreans in kindergarten through high school, the curriculum is highly centralized and nationally determined. The U.S., in contrast, gives each state the ability to determine the focus of the curriculum that will be taught in schools. For example, “moral education” is one of the subjects taught in every Korean school; the U.S. has no similar requirement. Also, Korean schools are more foreign-language-oriented, since learning English is regarded as a more vital skill for Koreans than learning any foreign language is for Americans. Furthermore, Korean high schools are divided into schools that focus on academic skills for those who plan to pursue higher education and vocational skills for those who want to train for a career. At these specialized schools, students can focus on only one academic subject for all of high school. This study focus differs greatly from the
standard system for U.S. high schools.

3. High school life is very different in the two countries as well. Korean students are very focused on studying, and it is a core principle of Korean society that being a student is a young person’s primary identity. In South Korea, after the school day ends, high
school students continue studying in their school libraries, at private schools, or in tutoring sessions until late at night – maybe as late as midnight. American students, in contrast, consider being a student as only one part of their identities. Americans tend to spend after-school time on extra-curricular activities such as athletics, performing arts, student government, and volunteering. Furthermore, dropout rates are very different. A USA Today article quoted a Korean high school principal as saying “no one just drops out … to drop out of school is a major disaster, a catastrophe. It wouldn't happen unless it was unavoidable.” In fact, 93% of all Korean students graduate from high school on time, while almost 25% of American high school students — more than 1.2 million every year — fail to graduate.

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You should say,
[1] what event was being celebrated?
[2] who was there?
[3] why it is memorable to you?

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