Language awareness - Macmillan Red Stars

TASK: Introduction to Macmillan's Red Star system

[A] In pairs, watch the online video


[B] Answer these questions.
  1. Approximately how many words are there in the English language?
  2. What percentage of the language used make up the most common 7,500 words?
  3. Where did Macmillan gather these words from?
  4. What's the speed for normal English speech?
  5. Look up 'tweet' in Macmillan's online dictionary. Is it in red? How many stars?
  6. How many black words were used in the video?
[C] Discuss with your teacher.