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Did you know … ?
Elicit or explain that the next most commonly spoken mother 
tongue in the United States is Spanish. Elicit or explain that 
English is spoken as a mother tongue – and a second language 
– in countries that used to be part of the British Empire.
Focus on … participle adjectives
Get students to complete the exercises. Afterwards, test students 
with a few more examples of 
ing
/
ed
adjectives.
Extra practice
Ask students to draw up two lists, one with words which have 
the same meanings and another with false friends in their own 
language.
More activities
1
Students write an essay entitled 
How important is the 
English language in your life?
Remind them to include a 
topic sentence in each paragraph.
2
Ask students if foreign loan words are used in the English 
language. What evidence of this is there in the text? 
Encourage students to name or fi nd out words from their 
own or other languages which are used in English. If you 
like, you can write a few of these words on the board and 
ask students to name – or research – their original source. 
For example: 
algebra
(Arabic), 
fruit
(French), 
hamster
(German), 
coma
(Greek), 
traffi c
(Italian), 
tycoon
(Japanese), 
marmalade
(Portuguese), 
potato
(Spanish), 
kiosk
(Turkish).
3
Students research their own mother tongue on the 
Internet and fi nd out how many people speak it as their 
mother tongue, and, where appropriate, as a foreign or as 
a second language.
Real Reading 4 by Liz Driscoll
 Teacher’s 
notes

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