Make a presentation on the latest achievements in your special field. Stick to the following structure

Introduction
Introducing yourself	Greeting, name, position
Introducing your talk: Title / subject:	I’m going to talk about … I’d like to talk about … My topic / my subject is … The subject of this talk / my talk is … I’d like to talk to you about … I’m going to present ... / inform you about ... / describe ... The focus of my presentation / paper (academic) / topic / speech (usually to public audience)
Purpose	We are here today to learn about ... The purpose of this talk is to show / take a look at / report on / outline / give an overview / discuss / review…
Length	I’ll take (...) minutes of your time I plan to be brief This should last (...) minutes
Outline / main parts	I’ve divided my presentation into (four) parts / sections. They are The subject can be looked at under the following headings... We can break this area down into the following fields: Firstly / first of all / secondly / then / next / thirdly/ and then we come to .../ finally / lastly / last of all ...
Questions	I’d be glad to answer any questions at the end of my talk. If you have any questions, please feel free to interrupt. Please interrupt me if there’s something which needs clarifying. Otherwise, there’ll be time for discussion at the end.
Main part
Sequencing Ordering points Transition / Changing topic	First / next / then / after that Let’s turn to … The / my next point is… The next thing is … After all… Last of all… Finally, … Now let’s look at / move on/turn to …
Referring to an earlier point / departing from your plan / digressing	Going back to … By the way, …
Giving examples / Introducing and commenting on visuals (graphs, charts, diagrams, tables, pictures, handouts)	For example / for instance / such as / one example of this is / Let’s look at / take a look at … / have a look at… I’d like you to look at … If you take a closer look at …, you'll notice … I'd like to focus your attention on … I'd like to draw you attention to … I'd like you to look at … in more details In the picture we can see… As you can see from the picture… The graph chart shows / presents …
Conclusions
Summary	Let me just run over the key points again. I’ll briefly summarize the main issues. To sum up. ... Briefly ... In brief … In short …
Conclusion (if appropriate)	So, .. In conclusion ... We’ve seen that… As you can see, there are some very good reasons... I’d like to leave you with the following thought / idea … So, I would suggest that we ... I’d like to propose (more formal) …
Signal to end	That brings me to the end of my presentation. That completes my presentation. Before I stop / finish, let me just say ... That covers all I wanted to say today.
Questions
Invitation for questions / to make comments, or start a discussion	I’d be glad to try and answer any questions. So, let’s throw it open to questions. Any questions? I’d like to suggest starting the discussion.
Checking the questioner is satisfied.	Does that answer your question? Is that clear? May we go on?
Close
Thank you for your attention. Thank you for listening. I hope you will have gained an insight into ...

 

MODULE TWO

SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATION

UNIT ONE

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE – LANGUAGE of INTERNATIONAL

SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATION

I. WARM-UP

Complete the following sentences. Use the words in the box if you like. Then compare with other people in the class.

“For me, learning English is_______________________.”

a pleasure, a hobby, an opportunity, a necessity, an effort, a problem, a pain, a nightmare

 

Why are you learning English? Complete the sentences below and number them in order of importance for you. Compare with a partner.

In general, I want to:

learn write read improve feel make

 

a ________________ more confident when I speak.

b________________ my listening skills.

c________________ lots of new vocabulary.

d_______________ fewer grammar mistakes.

e _______________ better clear English.

f _______________ without using a dictionary.

 

In particular, I need English for:

taking travelling socializing doing giving writing

 

Are you learning English for some other reasons? Add them to the list above.

II. READING

4. How much do you know about the world’s major languages? Try the quiz. Then check your answers in the article “English Inc.”

Test your knowledge…

1. Approximately how many languages are there in the world?

a. 650 b. 6,500 c. 65,000 d. 650 000

2. Order the world’s top ten languages according to the number of native speakers.

Portuguese _ Arabic _

Chinese _ Japanese _

Russian _ German _

English _ Spanish _

Hindi _ Bengali _

3. How many people speak English as a first, second or third language?

a. 0,5 billion b. 1 billion c. 1,5 billion d. 2 billion

4. In a recent survey, how many Europeans said everyone should speak English?

a. 49% b. 69% c. 89% d. 99%

5. How much of the world’s mail is written in English?

a. 25% b. 50% c. 75% d. 90%

6. How much of the world’s mail is written in English?

a. 50% b. 60% c. 70% d. 80%

7. How many languages disappear every year?

a. 2 b. 5 c. 10 d. 20

8. What is the world record for the most foreign languages spoken by one person?

a. 14 b. 24 c. 44 d. 64

9. Where is the record holder in 8 from?

a. the USA b. Singapore c. Holland d. Nigeria

 

ENGLISH INC

English is to international communication what VHS is to video, Microsoft to software and Pentium to the microchip. It is, for better or worse, the “industry standard”. And those who don’t speak at least a little risk losing business to the increasing number who do. A quarter of the planet currently speaks English. That is one and a half billion people, two-thirds of whom speak it as a foreign language.

In a recent survey, 69% of Europeans said they thought everyone should speak English. More than half of them already do. For most, it’s not a question of choice but of necessity, as English has rapidly become the first language of business, science and popular culture. Three-quarters of the world’s mail is in English. So are four out of five e-mails and most of what you find on the Internet.

However not everyone welcomes the linguistic monopoly. The French Ministry of Finance, for instance, recently surprised the international business community by banning English terms like e-mail and Internet. In fact seven teams of language experts have been employed to come up with French alternatives. Le Web is not acceptable. La toile is. And when the French president himself referred to start-up companies as les start-upistes in a televised speech, he was strongly criticized for failing to defend France against the advance of the English language.

The French have a point. Twenty languages disappear every year because nobody speaks them anymore. At that rate, by the end of the 21^st century almost a third of the world’s six and a half thousand languages will be dead. Even in Germany, where Denglish is fashionable, and phrases like Jointventure, Powerpartner and Fitness-training are common, the leader of Free Democrats has expressed concern about the “flood of Anglicism descending on us from the media, advertising, product description, and technology”. Some go so far as to call it “a form of violence”.

Maybe it is, and big business certainly accelerates the process. As Professor David Crystal, author of the The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, puts it, “wave dollar bills in front of someone, and they will learn complicated spelling and grammar”.

But what about people who learn foreign languages just for fun? A 37-year-old American, Gregg Cox, has taken this simple pleasure to extremes. He holds the world record for speaking the most foreign languages – sixty-four at the last count! He would undoubtedly be an asset to any company doing international business. But for those of us who are less gifted linguistically, the power of the American dollar means there may soon be only one foreign language we need to learn, and that language will be English.

 

The number of native speakers of the world’s top ten languages:

1. Chinese 726m 6. Portuguese 165m

2. English 427m 7. Bengali 162m

3. Spanish 266m 8. Russian 158m

4. Hindi 182m 9. Japanese 124m

5. Arabic 181m 10. German 121m

 

 

IV. SPEAKING