A. Read the following text.

Emoji, the new global language?

The days of English as a global language may be

6
coming to an end – it might be replaced in the

future by icons of smiley faces, cats and hearts.

While more than 1.5 billion speak English, 3.2 use

the Internet, three quarters of them through

smartphones equipped with emojis.

More than 90% of social networking users

communicate through these symbols and more than

million emojis are exchanged every day. This

kind of message has become so common that the Oxford Dictionary named the “Face with Tears of

Joy” emoji the Word of the Year 2015.

The word emoji , which comes from the Japanese e (“picture”) + moji (“character”) are single

character glyphs created in Japan in the late 1990s, but which only reached a global audience in

2011, when Apple included them in the IOS 5 operating system. Since last May (…) there are about

1900 images to choose from, but what are they good for? Vyvyan Evans, an expert in communication

and cognitive linguistic and author of The Emoji Code, explains that these icons help to reproduce

in the digital environment almost all the characteristics of human communication in the real world.

The symbols work in a manner similar to non-verbal cues in face-to-face interaction (body language,

intonation and facial expressions) and communicate the nuances of mood and emotion between

people who cannot see the gestures of their interlocutor. (…) Psychologist Linda Kaye (…) comments

that many users who participated in her research also reported using them to help make a written

message less ambiguous. (…)

B. Look at the highlighted words in the text. What do they mean in this context? Choose the
correct option.

1. global a) local b) encyclopedic c) worldwide

2. exchanged a) replaced b) traded c) kept

3. reproduce a) be original b) represent c) follow

4. nuances a) lights b) shades c)slight differences

5. ambiguous a) enigmatic b) clear c) explicit

C. Are the following sentences true (T) or false (F)? Quote from the text to justify your
options.

1. Emojis might take the place of English. _______

_____________________________________________________________________

2. Emojis were designed by Apple in 2011. _______

_____________________________________________________________________

3. There are approximately 1.900 emojis. _______

_____________________________________________________________________

4. Emojis can be compared to verbal communication. _______

_____________________________________________________________________

5. Emojis help written messages become clearer. _______

_____________________________________________________________________

D. Say what/who the following words refer to. They are underlined in the text.

1. it (l. 2) _______________________ 2. them (l. 5) _______________________

3. which (l. 11) ___________________ 4. who (l. 19) _______________________

5. who (l. 20) ____________________ 6. them (l. 20) ______________________

E. Answer the questions about the text.

1. What are the advantages of using emojis?

_____________________________________________________________________

2. How do emojis work in face-to-face interaction?

_____________________________________________________________________

VOCABULARY and GRAMMAR:

A. Establish the right connection between words to build up compound nouns.

1. credit ____ a) place

2. check ____ b) desk

3. work ____ c) card

4. information ____ d) board

5. key ____ e) in
B. Fill in the gaps with the prepositions given below.

for – around – out – off – back

1. When I go on holiday I like to look ______ instead of just relaxing by the pool.

2. Do you get nervous when the plane takes _______ ?

3. Whenever I go on holiday I don’t want to come ______ home.

4. How long have you been waiting _______ me? I’m so sorry.

5. At first I didn’t like the hotel. But it turned _______ that I enjoyed the stay.

C. Choose the correct verb to fill in the gaps.

to print – to be – to order – to attend – to travel

1. Try _____________ punctual next time.

2. Don’t forget ______________ those documents.

3. I would like ______________ my meal, please.

4. John refused ______________ by plane. He’s afraid.

5. She decided _______________ a new IT course at school.

D. Rewrite the following sentences in the active or in the passive voice.

1. In the future English might be replaced by icons of smiley faces, cats and hearts.

In the future smiley faces, cats and hearts ______________________________________

2. More than 1.5 billion speak English.

English ____________________________________________________________________

3. More than 6 million emojis are exchanged every day.

People ____________________________________________________________________

4. The Japanese created the word emoji in the late 1990s.

The word emoji _____________________________________________________________

5. Billions of people around the world are surely using emojis right now.

Emojis ___________________________________________________________________