Countries, nationalities and languages

country	nationality	language
Argentina	Argentinian	Spanish
Brazil	…	Portuguese
Britain	British	…
China	…	Mandarin, Chinese
Egypt	Egyptian	Arabic
…	French	French
Germany	German	…
Greece	Greek	Greek
Israel	Israeli	Hebrew
Italy	…	Italian
…	Japanese	Japanese
Korea	…	Korean
Mexico	Mexican	Spanish
Poland	Polish	Polish
Russia	Russian	…
Saudi Arabia	Saudi Arabian	Arabic
…	Spanish	Spanish
Switzerland	Swiss	Swiss-German, French, Italian
The United States USA	American	English
Turkey	…	Turkish

8. Underline the main stress in the words in the box and practise saying them.

Braz i lian Arabic Chinese

Japan Italian Germany

Japanese Austria Saudi Arabia

Egyptian Korea Egypt

Make a few sentences with the words from the table above. You may give additional information if you know.

e.g.I come from Argentina, so I am Argentinian and my first language is Spanish. The capital is Buenos Aires, which has a population of more than 10 million people.

Answer these questions, using the information from the table above.

1 What are three countries where the first language is English?

2 What language is spoken in Brazil?

3 What are three languages spoken in Switzerland?

4 What language is spoken in Saudi Arabia?

5 What nationality are people from Poland?

6 What language is spoken in Mexico?

7 Where do people speak Hebrew?

 

Study the information in the box. Write the regions of the world to the countries below.

Europe(e.g. Britain, Spain, etc.) the Mediterranean(e.g. Italy, Spain, etc.) the Far East(e.g. China, Japan, etc.) the Middle East(e.g. Egypt, Iran, etc.) the Caribbean(e.g. Jamaica, Trinidad, etc.) South/Latin America(e.g. Brazil, Chile, etc.)

1 Germany - Europe

2 Saudi Arabia

3 Jamaica

4 Corsica and Sardinia

5 Japan

6 Argentina

Study the information in the box and complete the sentences below with the name of the people from the country on the right.

When we are talking about people from a particular country, nationalities ending in ‘-i’ or ‘-(i)an’ can be made plural with an ‘s’, but most others are formed with the definite article (and no ‘s’). (The)Thais / Israelis / Brazilians / Russians are … TheFrench / the British are …

1 I’ve worked a lot with Germans / German people. 2 I’ve spent lots of time with the French / French people.	GERMANY   FRANCE
3 We do a lot of business with ….………….. 4 I used to know a lot of……….………….… 5 I have always found.…….…very friendly. 6 People often say that.….…….are reserved. 7 ………………………… are very organised. 8 I met a lot of………….on my trip to Moscow.	JAPAN ISRAEL BRAZIL BRITAIN SWITZERLAND RUSSIA

Grammar

Comparison of Adjectives (See Grammar Reference on page 161)

Complete the table with the comparative or superlative form of the adjective.

positive	comparative	superlative
good	better	the best
busy
modern
bad
hot
cheap
friendly
safe
expensive

Underline the correct word in brackets.

1 Tokyo is (bigger / the biggest) than Berlin.

2 London is (more expensive / the most expensive) than Paris.

3 Oxford is one of (older than / the oldest) universities in Europe.

4 Rome was (hot / hotter) than I expected.

5 Madrid is much (modern / more modern) than I expected.

6 London is a very (cosmopolitan / the most cosmopolitan) city.

Match an adjective with its opposite. Which adjectives describe life in big cities? small cities? Compare them.

 

adjective	opposite
fast	cheap
modern	slow
expensive	friendly
dangerous	boring
busy	quiet
unfriendly	old
noisy	safe
exciting	relaxing

e.g. A big city is more expensive than a small one.

A small city is safer than a big one.

Open the brackets to make comparative or superlative sentences.

Web log [31]

Day 24:

Just finished my tour of Russia, which is (1) _____ (big) country in the world and one of (2) _____ (interesting) too. My flight was much (3) ______(comfortable) this time- big seats! Also, the service was (4)_____ (good) than last time - free food and drink! When I arrived in Warsaw, the people at Customs were (5) ____ (friendly) than before (on my first trip I waited an hour while they checked my passport!

Fortunately, Poland isn't as (6)_____ (cold) as Moscow, which was freezing!

This afternoon I had (7) ____ (delicious) lunch of my trip so far: a Polish speciality called pieczen in a great restaurant in (8) ____(old) part of the city.

Write the correct form of the adjectives.

1 A Life in the country is slower than city life. (slow)

B Yes, the city’s much faster. (fast)

2 A New York is ___ ____ Los Angeles. (safe)

B No, it isn’t. New York is much ____ ___. (dangerous)

3 A Seoul is ____ ____ Beijing. (big)

B No, it isn’t. It’s much _______. (small)

4 A Madrid is ___ ___ ___ Rome. (expensive)

B No, it isn’t. Madrid is much ______. (cheap)

5 A The buildings in Rome are ___ ___ ___ the buildings in Prague. (modern)

B No, they aren’t. They are much ____. (old)

6 A Cafes in London are ____ ____ cafes in Paris. (good)

B No! Cafes in London are much _____. (bad)

 

Listening

 

18a. Leroy is answering questions about his home town, London. Complete the questions with is or are and the correct words from the box. Then listen and check.

London, the restaurants, the people, the buildings, the night-life, the weather

1 What is London like? - Well, it’s a really exciting city! There’s so much going on all the time.

2 What ________ like? – It’s OK, and not very cold in winter, but people don’t come here for the sunshine!

3 What ________ like? – They’re very interesting. They come from all over the world. London’s a very cosmopolitan city.

4 What ________ like? – Fantastic! Lots of them are historical and famous, but there are some wonderful modern ones, too.

5 What ________ like? – They’re great! You can find food from every country in the world.

6 What ________ like? – Oh, it’s amazing! There are so many clubs and theatres, and, of course, the music scene is fantastic!

 

B. Work in pairs. Ask and answer the same questions about the city you are in now.

C. Last year Leroy was Berlin, Tokyo and Detroit. Listen and complete the interview with him.

L = Leroy, I = Interviewer

I: Do you travel a lot, Leroy?

L: Oh yeah. I sing all over the world. Last year I was in Berlin, Tokyo – oh, and of course, Detroit.

I: And what are they ______?

L: Well, they’re all big, busy cities. Tokyo’s the biggest and the _______. It’s much ______ than Berlin.

I: And is it _____ interesting?

L: Well, they’re all interesting, but, in fact, for me the _____ interesting is Detroit.

I: Really? Why?

L: Well, in some ways, perhaps it isn’t as interesting as the other two cites – it doesn’t have historical buildings, or _______, old Japanese temples – but you see, Detroit is the birthplace of soul music and that’s everything for me.

I: I see. So Detroit’s best for music. And what about food? Which is the ______ city for food?

L: Ah, the food. For me there’s no question, Tokyo definitely has the ________ delicious food – I just love Japanese food!

I: I see. Is it even ________ than chicken satay?

L: Ah, I don’t know about that!

D. Work in pairs. Compare some cities in your country.

Speaking

19a. Work in pairs. Talk with your partner about your city. Ask and answer the questions:

What is it like?

How big is it?

Is it old or modern?

Is it very cosmopolitan?

Which nationalities live there?

What do you like and dislike in your city?

19b. Work with your partner. Compare two cities that you both know and answer the questions: Which one do you like better? Why?

 

20.Work in small groups. What do you think?

 

1. What do you like best about living in your country?

2. What would you miss if you lived abroad?

3. Do you know any foreigners living in your country?

4. What do they like about it? What do they find different?

5. What social problems are there in your country?

6. What are the causes of each of the problems?

7. What could be done to prevent or solve them?

8. Are there any institutions in Russia that help alleviate such problems?

Writing

 

Translate the sentences from Russian into English.

1 Япония меньше, чем Китай.

2 Берлин не такой большой, как Токио.

3 Лондон - это более дорогой город, чем Москва.

4 Этот район самый опасный в нашем городе.

5 Китай меньше, чем Россия, а Корея еще меньше.

6 Я покажу вам самые красивые и лучшие места нашего города.

A. Read the text and complete it using the phrases from the box.

where the Queen lives are much bigger see the Queen many cars on the streets

The City of My Dream

London lies on the River Thames. A century ago London was the biggest city in the world, but now there are many cities which (1) ______.

London is famous for many things. Tourists come from all over the world to visit Buckingham Palace, (2) __________, and the Houses of Parliament. They also come to visit its theatres, museums, and many shops.

Like many big cities, London has problems with traffic and pollution. Over 1,000,000 people a day use the London Underground, but there are still too (3) ____________. The air isn’t clear, but it is cleaner than it was 100 years ago.

If I were in London I would ride on the big wheel next to the river and (4) ________ at the ceremony.