Women talk three times more than men (23rd February, 2013

1. TALKATIVENESS: Walk around the class and talk to other students about talkativeness. Change partners often and share your findings.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.

researchers / protein / talkative / women's brains / speech / speaking quickly / words / professor / expression / possibility / widespread / responsible / infancy / insights

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. SEX DIFFERENCES: What are your insights about how women and men differ? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners often and share what you wrote.

	Women…	Men…
talkativeness
leadership
mental strength
driving
romance
humour

4. CHATTY: Students A strongly believe it's easier to talk to women than men; Students B strongly believe men are easier to talk to.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. CONVERSATION: What do you like to talk about? Rank these and share your rankings with your partner. Put the best at the top. Change partners often and share your rankings.

yourself politics English food

gossip the meaning of life the weekend the weather

6. LANGUAGE: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word 'language'. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if  a-h  below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	Women talk more because there diets are richer in protein.	T / F
b.	Women have more of something called Foxp2 in their brain than men.	T / F
c.	Foxp2 was first discovered ten years ago.	T / F
d.	Women use 13,000 more words a day than men.	T / F
e.	The report is the very first to report sex differences in human speech.	T / F
f.	Other scientists say Foxp2 is the only protein responsible for speech.	T / F
g.	The scientists said more research needs to be carried out on infants.	T / F
h.	Someone said women have to talk more because men don't listen.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

1.	talkative	a.	assertions
2	goes by the name of	b.	started
3.	prevalent	c.	linked
4.	deemed	d.	is called
5.	claims	e.	provided
6.	associated	f.	widespread
7.	established	g.	wisdom
8.	infancy	h.	chatty
9.	offered	i.	early days
10.	insights	j.	judged

3. PHRASE MATCH:  (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.	a protein	a.	good listeners
2	goes by the name	b.	prevalent
3.	a lot more	c.	insights
4.	a key neurological	d.	in the brain
5.	compared to just 7,000 words	e.	previously thought
6.	established earlier than	f.	themselves to be heard
7.	more than one protein	g.	of Foxp2
8.	some interesting	h.	component of speech
9.	men are not	i.	responsible for speech
10.	women must repeat	j.	for the average man

GAP FILL

Researchers in the USA have found that a protein in the brain might (1) ____________ why women are more talkative than men - three times more chatty, in (2) ____________. The research team at the University of Maryland say a "language protein" that (3) ____________ by the name of Foxp2 is a lot more prevalent in women's brains. The protein was first discovered a decade ago and was (4) ____________ to be a key neurological (5) ____________ of speech. The scientists say it is a lot more (6) ____________ in girls than boys. They believe the protein is the reason why girls start speaking earlier and more quickly than boys. It also (7) ____________ claims that women speak about 20,000 words a day, compared to just 7,000 words for the (8) ____________ man.		abundant deemed fact supports explain component average goes
Research team leader professor Margaret McCarthy said: "This study is one of the first to (9) ____________ a sex difference in the expression of a language-associated protein in humans or animals." She added: "The findings (10) ____________ the possibility that sex differences in brain and behaviour are more [(11) ____________], and established earlier than                 (12) ____________ [thought]." Other scientists have said there is more than one protein responsible for speech and that the research is in its (13) ____________. Readers of Britain's Daily Mail newspaper offered some interesting (14) ____________ into the chattiness of women. One said women have to talk more because, "men are not good (15) ____________ and women must repeat themselves to be (16) ____________ ".		previously listeners raise heard report infancy widespread insights

LISTENING – Guess the answers. Listen to check

1)	women are more talkative than men - three times ______
	a.  more chat, tea and fact b.  more chatty, in facts c.  more chatty, in fact d.  most chatty, in fact
2)	a "language protein" that ______ of Foxp2
	a.  goes by the name b.  goes in the name c.  goes of the name d.  goes under the name
3)	deemed to be a key ______ of speech
	a.  neurology opponent b.  neurologically component c.  neurological component d.  neurological component
4)	They believe the protein is the reason why girls start speaking ______
	a.  early and more quickly b.  earlier and most quickly c.  earlier and more quick d.  earlier and more quickly
5)	compared to just 7,000 words ______
	a.  for the averaged man b.  for the average man c.  for average men d.  for this average man
6)	This study is one of the first to ______
	a.  reporter sex difference b.  report a sex differential c.  report a sex difference d.  report sex differences
7)	raise the possibility that sex differences in brain and behaviour ______
	a.  are more widespread b.  are more widely spread c.  are more wildly spread d.  are most widespread
8)	research is ______
	a.  in its infancy b.  in its infants c.  at its infancy d.  on its infants
9)	offered some interesting ______ of women
	a.  insiders into the chattiness b.  insights onto the chattiness c.  insides into the chatty ness d.  in sites in to the chattiness
10)	women must repeat themselves ______
	a.  too to be heard b.  to be hard c.  to be heard d.  two be hard

 ;-)