Answers and an explanation for each question appear once you add this activity to your own library.

🌍 A1 Reading Practice

Languages of the World

Read a short text about world languages and answer 8 simple questions.

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How to Use This Lesson

👩‍🏫 Teacher Note

Spend about 8 minutes on this lesson. Read the text together with your class, then let students answer and check the answers.

🎒 Learner Note

First, read the short story two times carefully. Next, answer the 8 questions below and check your score!

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Our Big World of Languages

⏱️ Read time: 2 mins

There are about 7,000 languages in our world. Today, more than 1 billion people speak English. That is 1,000 million people! English has the most speakers in the world.

A simple, colorful world map graphic with various speech bubbles showing different language greetings, clean flat vector

Papua New Guinea has over 800 languages. That is more than any other country. Switzerland has 4 national languages. Three of these languages are German, French, and Italian.

A friendly, simple illustration of a tropical landscape with diverse icons representing communication, bright and educat

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Words to Know

Word	Simple Meaning	Example Sentence
world	Our Earth; all people and places.	She travels around the world.
billion	A very big number: 1,000 million.	More than 1 billion people speak English.
speaker	A person who speaks a language.	She is a native speaker of Spanish.
national language	An official language of a country.	She is from Brazil and she speaks Portuguese.

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Practice Exercises (8 Questions)

Test your memory from the text. Check the answer, evidence, and explanation for each question.

Level: Easy Question 1 of 8

1. There are about 7,000 languages in our world.

____ True ____ False

Level: Easy Question 2 of 8

2. How many people speak English today?

____ a. More than 1 billion ____ b. About 800 ____ c. Exactly 4

Level: Easy Question 3 of 8

3. One billion is the same as 1,000 million.

____ True ____ False

Level: Medium Question 4 of 8

4. Which country has more languages than any other country?

____ a. Switzerland ____ b. Papua New Guinea ____ c. Brazil

Level: Medium Question 5 of 8

5. Fill in the blank: How many national languages does Switzerland have?

Switzerland has ___ national languages.

____ (Your answer) (Type the number or word)

Level: Medium Question 6 of 8

6. Which three languages in Switzerland are named in the text?

____ a. English, French, and German ____ b. Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian ____ c. German, French, and Italian

Level: Tricky Question 7 of 8

7. Another language has more speakers than English.

____ True ____ False

Level: Challenge Question 8 of 8

8. Fill in the missing number from the story:

Papua New Guinea has over ___ languages.

____ (Number) (Type the number)

Languages of the World

Languages of the World

How to Use This Lesson

Our Big World of Languages

Words to Know

Practice Exercises (8 Questions)

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