Around the world

A. Choose the correct geopolitical word in A, B or C to complete each of these sentences.

1. Japan, Korea and the Philippines are all in the ________ .

A. Near East B. Middle East C. Far East

2. The South Pole is situated in the _________ .

A. Arctic B. Antarctic C. Antarctica

3. New Zealand is part of ______________ .

A. Australia B. Australasia C. Austria

4. Bangladesh is part of ____________ .

A. the Indian subcontinent B. India C. Indiana

5. Nicaragua is a country in __________ .

A. North America B. South America C. Central America

6. Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Panama and Honduras all form part of ________ .

A. Latin America B. Spanish America C. South America

7. Apartheid was abolished in _________ in the 1990s.

A. southern Africa B. North Africa C. South Africa

8. The United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland form a group of islands known as ______ .

A. Great Britain B. England C. the British Isles.

9. The United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland form part of ___________ .

A. Continental Europe B. Mainland Europe C. Europe

10. Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab Emirates form part of what is known as_________ .

A. the West Indies B. the Gulf States C. the European Union

11. Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark are known collectively as ________ .

A. the Baltic Republics B. the Caribbean C. Scandinavia

B. Change each country / area below into the nationality and / or language spoken of the people who come from that place (for example: Britain = British). Write each word in the appropriate space in the table. Be careful, because usually we add or remove letters to / from the name of the country before we add the ending.

Greece • Portugal • Ireland • Belgium • Finland • England

Wales • Scotland • Holland • Lebanon • Malaysia • Norway

Sweden • Thailand • Peru • Bangladesh • Israel • Japan

Iran • Burma • America • Canada • Spain • Turkey

Switzerland • Saudi Arabia • Denmark • Iraq • Australia • Malta

Kuwait • Russia • Yemen • Philippines • Poland

-ese (e.g., China = Chinese)

-(i)an (e.g., Brazil = Brazilian)

-ish (e.g., Britain = British)

-i (e.g., Pakistan = Pakistani)

-ic (e.g., Iceland = Icelandic)

Others (e.g., France = French)

C. A quick quiz. Answer these questions.

1. What do we call a variety of language spoken in a particular area? Is it an accent, a dialect or an idiom?

2. What is your mother tongue?

3. What do we call a person who is able to speak (a) two languages and (b) three or more languages fluently?

4. With regard to your country, what is (a) the name of the continent in which it is located, (b) the main language spoken and (c) the nationality of the people?

Answers:
A.
1. C 2. B (Antarctica is the name of the continent and is not preceded by the) 3. B 4. A 5. C (countries
between North and South America, i.e., south of Mexico and north of Colombia) 6. A (all countries south of the USA where Spanish or Portuguese is widely spoken as a first language) 7. C 8. C 9. C (Mainland Europe and Continental Europe have the same meaning. British and Irish people often refer to Continental Europe as the Continent) 10. B 11. C

C.
1. a dialect
2. Your mother tongue is the language you first learned to speak as a child and which you continue to use at home, with your friends, your family, etc.
3. bilingual / multilingual
4. The seven continents are: Europe / North America / South America / Asia / Australasia / Africa / Antarctica. In some countries, more than one language is officially spoken (for example, in Belgium some people speak French and some speak Flemish).