Endangered language

High school (ages 12+)
People & Society

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/endangered-language

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the estimated number of living languages?Approximately 7,000 languages are spoken worldwide today
2. What does it mean when a language is endangered?It means very few people speak it, and it might stop being spoken soon. If only a few old people can talk it, the language could disappear.
3. Why do languages disappear?Big, popular languages like English or Spanish are seen as useful for school and jobs, so families stop teaching their own language to their children. Things like movies, TV, and moving to cities also make people use the big language more.

Language Shift: The process by which a community abandons its native language in favor of another language.
Linguistic Documentation: The systematic recording and analysis of a language, often to preserve it for future generations.
Language Nests: Immersion-based preschool programs designed to teach endangered languages to young children.