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Keep your English up to date 

F. A. Q. s 

Professor David Crystal 

Now, nobody knows how many abbreviations there are in the 

English language, or in any language for that matter – half a million 

in one big set of dictionaries I've got:  half a million abbreviations, 

can you imagine it!  They're very important, abbreviations, because 

they save time and they add familiarity;  it's a way of gaining 

rapport. I don't say "I'm in the British Broadcasting Corporation 

studio", I say "I'm in the BBC studio"…it adds a sort of familiarity, 

doesn't it. 

Now there are written abbreviations and spoken abbreviations, 

and the written ones are the ones that are interesting today – 

because you can have letters like U.N. for  United Nations and 

you can have words like UNESCO for the other organisation. 

Now, faqs – you've seen them a thousand times I suppose on computer screens – 

are computer text files containing a list of questions and answers, especially basic 

stuff on news groups  where you want to find a quick reply.  

It's not a universally spoken word. You don't say I've got some faqs – because that 

could be very misleading, it could sound like facts, f-a-c-t-s. So most people use it 

as an initialism, they spell it out: F. A. Q. And it's beginning to be used now in a 

more general way, outside the internet  setting. People talk about F.A.Q.s in all 

kinds of non-computer circumstances. I saw it on a church notice board once. I'll 

leave you to guess what the questions were. 

Keep your English  

up to date 

Teacher’s pack 

Lesson plan and student worksheets  

with answers 

Lesson 3:  

F. A. Q. s 

CONTENTS 

1.  Level, topic, language, aims, materials 

2.  Lesson stages 

3.  Answers 

4.  Tapescripts 

5.             Student worksheets 1, 2, 3 

Level:       Intermediate and above 

Topic:       Abbreviations 

Language:   FAQ 

                Creating new abbreviations 

Aims:       Listening skills – A short talk 

                Language skills - Abbreviaitons 

Materials:   Worksheet 1             –  Introductory speaking and vocabulary exercises,  

listening section 1 

                Worksheet 2             -   Listening section 2 

                Worksheet 3             –  Extra work: Vocabulary and language 

                Tapescript                –  Available in teacher’s notes 

LESSON STAGES 

A 

Explain to the students that they are going to listen to a talk by Professor David Crystal 

and that the talk is about the way the English language changes. This particular talk is 

about abbreviations. 

B 

Hand out Student Worksheet 1. Students do Speaking Exercise 1 in small groups or 

pairs.  

C 

Students do the Vocabulary Exercise 2, without dictionaries at first. 

Practise the pronunciation of the vocabulary, as they will hear it in the talk. 

D 

Students read Listening Exercise 3 and then listen to Section 1 of the talk. 

They answer the questions. 

Students listen again and answer Listening Exercise 4 

E 

Hand out Student Worksheet 2 

Students answer Listening Exercise 5 

Students listen to section 2 of the talk and check their answer for Listening Exercise 5 

F 

Students answer Listening Exercise 6 and Listening Exercise 7 

They listen again to Listening Section 2 to check/complete their answers. 

Students do Listening Exercise 8 

G 

If you wish to do some extra work with the class, hand out Student Worksheet 3 

For the listening exercise, Play the complete talk and then give the students copies of the 

tapescript to check their ideas. 

For the pronunciation, use F-A-Q and SCUBA as your models. 

For the language, note that the idea here is to get students to use the language creatively, it 

is not about thinking of actual abbreviations.

TAPESCRIPTS 

Listening Section 1 

Now, nobody knows how many abbreviations there are in the English language, or in any 

language for that matter – half a million in one big set of dictionaries I’ve got:  half a 

million abbreviations, can you imagine it!  They’re very important, abbreviations, because 

they save time and they add familiarity;  it’s a way of gaining rapport.  I don’t say “I’m in 

the British Broadcasting Corporation studio”, I say “I’m in the BBC studio”…it adds a sort 

of familiarity, doesn’t it.   Now there are written abbreviations and spoken abbreviations, 

and the written ones are the ones that are interesting today – because you can have letters 

like U.N. for  United Nations and you can have words like UNESCO for the other 

organisation.  

Listening Section 2 

Now, FAQs – you’ve seen them a thousand times I suppose on computer screens – are 

computer text files containing a list of questions and answers, especially basic stuff on 

news groups where you want to find a quick reply.  It’s not a universally spoken word.  

You don’t say I’ve got some FAQs – because that could be very misleading, it could sound 

like facts, f-a-c-t-s.  So most people use it as an initialism, they spell it out: F-A-Q.  And 

it’s beginning to be used now in a more general way, outside the internet  setting.  People 

talk about FAQs in all kinds of non-computer circumstances.  I saw it on a church notice 

board once.  I’ll leave you to guess what the questions were. 

ANSWER KEY 

SPEAKING 

1.  

a.  BBC   -   British Broadcasting Company        Radio and television producer 

    CNN   -   Cable News network                   Television producer (USA) 

    UN   -   United Nations                         International organisation – peace 

    IBM   -   International Business machines       Computer manufacturer 

    NATO -   North Atlantic Treaty Organisation   Military alliance, USA and Europe 

b.  CD   -   Compact Disc                           Stores digital information, often music 

    TV   -   Television                                Shows electronic pictures 

  DVD   -   Digital versatile disc                    Stores digital information, often 

movies 

    WWW - World Wide Web                      An address or space on the internet 

    USA   -   The United States of America         A federally organised democratic 

nation 

VOCABULARY 

2.  

a.  to save time                    to be more efficient or faster 

b.  familiarity   a feeling of closeness or knowing something well 

c.  rapport                        good easy relationship 

d.  a web page  part of an internet site 

e.  universally                   everywhere 

f.  A computer screen           the monitor you look at when on the internet  

LISTENING SECTION 1 

3.  

BBC, UN, UNESCO (The United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural 

Organisation) 

4. 

a.  Half a million (500, 000) 

b.  They’re very important because they save time and they add familiarity  

c.  Written and spoken 

LISTENING SECTION 2 

5. 

a.  FAQ 

b.  The world of computing, the internet. 

6. 

b.   Frequently Asked Questions 

7. 

a.  False – It is not universally spoken 

b.  True – So, people spell it out to avoid this confusion 

c.  False – He has seen it on a church notice board 

8. 

a.  web page 

b.  internet site 

c.  FAQ 

d.  questions 

e.  answers 

f.  problem 

EXTRA WORK 

1. 

a.  familiarity 

b.  text 

c.  spell 

d.  church 

2.       

a.   Spelt out:             WHO (World Health organisation) 

WTO (World Trade Organisation),  

IMF (International Monetary Fund) 

    Said as one word:    AIDS (Acquired Immune deficiency Syndrome) 

                              NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) 

3. 

b.       adverb            adjective         noun 

          badly             driven           car 

          modifier         adjective         noun 

          really             lovely           day       

WORKSHEET 1 

You are going to listen to a short talk given by Professor David Crystal about language 

change and new developments in English. 

SPEAKING 

1.  

a.  Look at these organisations. What do you know about them?  

  What are they responsible for? What do they do? 

BBC         CNN           UN         IBM         NATO 

b.  What are these things? 

CD         TV           DVD       WWW          USA 

c.  Can you say what each letter in these abbreviations stands for? 

Example: NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation 

VOCABULARY 

2.  Match these words and phrases to their definitions 

a. to save time   part of an internet site 

b. familiarity   everywhere 

c. rapport     the monitor you look at when on the internet 

d.  a web page   a feeling of closeness or of knowing something well 

e. universally   to be more efficient or faster 

f.   a computer screen   aood easy relationship 

BBC Learning English – Keep your English up to date 

F. A. Q. s 

? BBC Learning English 

bbclearningenglish.com 

LISTENING SECTION 1 

3.  Now, listen to Professor Crystal talking about abbreviations in English. 

Which examples of abbreviations does he give? 

4.  Listen again and answer these questions. 

a.  How many abbreviations are there in Professor Crystal’s dictionary set? 

b.  Why are abbreviations important? 

c.  What two types of abbreviation are there? 

WORKSHEET 2 

LISTENING SECTION 2 

5.  Professor Crystal next talks about one particular abbreviation. Listen to Section 2 

of the talk and answer these questions 

a.  What is the abbreviation? 

b.  Where does it come from? 

Answer these questions below and then listen to Section 2 again to check your ideas. 

6.  What do you think the three letters stand for? 

a.  Fast Answer Questions 

b.  Frequently Asked Questions 

c.  Fairly Asked Quotes 

7.       Are the following sentences true or false? 

a.  Currently, the word is spoken everywhere 

b.  The pronunciation of FAQ could sound like the word ‘facts‘ 

c.  The abbreviation is only used in an internet context. 

8.  Complete the paragraph with the correct words. 

FAQ       web page       internet       questions       answers          problem 

FAQs are types of (a) __________ and are part of an (b) __________site. People use the 

FAQ page when they are looking for information about a product or service. On the (3) 

__________page you can read typical or common (d) __________that people might ask, 

with the (e) __________This may help you with your (f) __________ . 

WORKSHEET 3 - EXTRA WORK 

LISTENING 

1.      Listen to the complete talk and complete the sentences with the correct words. 

a.  They’re very important abbreviations, because they save time and they add _____ 

b.       Computer _____ files containing a list of questions and answers 

c.       So most people use it as an initialism, they _____ it out 

d.       I saw it on a _____ notice board once 

PRONUNCIATION 

2.     FAQ is an abbreviation that is spelt out 

SCUBA is an abbreviation that is said as a single word 

a.       How are the following said? Are they spelt out or said as a single word? 

AIDS        WHO         WTO        IMF         NATO 

LANGUAGE 

3.       FAQ comes from the first letters of a phrase or set of words.  

It is not the name of an organisation or company.  

This is the way abbreviations often come in to the language. They are created. 

a.       Look at the examples of possible abbreviations created in the same way as FAQ. 

BDC   badly driven car                RLD   really lovely day 

VUL   very useful lesson             RAQ   rarely asked question 

b.     Look at the language patterns. Put the other two in the correct pattern. 

adverb              adjective           noun 

rarely                asked              question 

_____               ______            ______ 

modifier           adjective           noun 

very                  useful              lesson 

_____               _____             ______ 

c.  Now, try to create your own new abbreviations. 

Think about common things in your life