Individual work

1. Read the text “How Ukrainians See Themselves”. Do you agree with the author?

National character is a very interesting phenomenon that combines people in identical nationality.

National character has a deep influence on the history, culture and lifestyle of a nation. Ukrainians are not an exception. The main feature of the Ukrainian national character is the skill to launch rockets when people dress in wooden boots. Ukrainians like to work. We have a lively inquisitive mind and creative imagination. Thanks to these features Ukrainians gave the world many famous scientists, such as Amosov, Korolev, Yangel, Vernadsky, Antonov.

As Russians, Ukrainians have a wide mysterious Slavonic soul. We are not materialistic people, but we are rather cunning. We can sympathize, but sometimes greed lives in our hearts.

Ukrainians like to have fun, but suddenly melancholy fills our souls.

We are not the first to start the war. We are a peace-loving nation, but we had cossacks who inspired our enemies with fear.

Ukrainians fought for independence, but we are not frenzied patriots.

We consist of deep contradictions.

Our power is in our spirituality and capacity for work. We are an unpredictable nation.

2. Now read the text from the section Supplementary Reading “Nationalism and Identity” (p. 61) and the poem “The English” (p. 63). Are they serious or are they written in the ironic key?

3. Compare the ideas in tasks 1 and 2. If Ukrainians spoke ironically about themselves, what else would they say?

4. Be ready to discuss in groups the topics below:

• Are national stereotypes always true? Do you believe in them?

• Do such factors as history and geography influence shaping the national character?

Unit 2 national character and regional differences

PRE-READING TASKS

Task 1. With a partner discuss the following questions:

For example:

• Would you give a job to a man with an earring/ a woman with pink hair/ a man with very long hair/ a woman in very modern clothes? Why? Why not?

• What would you/ your family think about you marrying a foreigner/ a person of a different race or religion/ someone much poorer/richer than you?

• Do you think someone’s clothes/appearance tells you anything about them? What?

Task 2. Work in small groups and discuss the types of prejudice given below. Then answer the questions.

Prejudices can be:

national	religious	social
regional	racial	sexual
political	based on appearance	based on intelligence/or ability

1. Can you think of examples of each type of prejudice?

2. Can you think of any other types of prejudice?

READING

1. Skim the text to get the general idea.

Prejudice

North and South

In every country there are regional differences. People living in one region make jokes about the characteristics (real or imagined) of people living in another. Television is breaking down regional differences, but the jokes and comments continue. In Britain there are many jokes which begin 'There was an Englishman, an Irishman, a Scotsman and a Welshman, and ...'. In England itself there are myths about every region, but the broadest differences are those between the North and the South. There are real geographical and economic variations; the North can be characterized as more industrial, cooler, hillier and more working-class, the South as middle-class, more suburban, flatter and wealthier. There are also the often irrational things the English say about each other. Several people were asked to comment on the differences. Perhaps the most interesting comment was made by a woman from Lancashire (in the North), who said: 'Southerners? I can't stand them. They’re stuck-up and snobbish. But at least they're not as bad as bloody Yorkshiremen!'

As Yorkshire is also in the North, it shows that the most violent prejudices are very localized.

Here are some of the comments we collected.

What some Northerners say:

'If you go into a pub in the South, everybody ignores you. The North is much more direct and friendly. We're real people.'

'You know the old saying ... people in the North earn the money, people in the South count it.'

'As you go North, the beer gets better.'

'I think there's more sense of community. Perhaps we interfere more — but we help each other too.'

'Southerners? They don't like getting their hands dirty. They stand around in wine bars, covered with talcum powder and after-shave, talking posh.'

‘I was born in Manchester, but I live in the South. You know, I think things are better in the South for women. Northern men seem to want to get down the pub on their own and avoid women. Men in the South help more in the home — that's a statistic. Northern men are more ... more macho.'

'They think they're better than us — just because they talk posh. They're a load of snobs.'

'In Yorkshire we say what we mean. Southerners think we're bloody rude, but we're more blunt and honest. They smile in your face and stab you in the back.'

'If you go to London, keep your hand on your wallet. They'd rob their own grandmothers.'

'Liverpudlians are the funniest people in the country. They've got this marvellous natural sense of humour.'

'The North may be dirtier — but don't forget "where there's muck there's brass". (i.e. where there's dirt, there's money.)

What some Southerners say:

'Actually some of my best friends are Northerners, but of course they're not typical Northerners, if you know what I mean.'

'The North? A load of men with heavy colds, standing round in pubs wearing cloth caps, swilling beer and playing darts.'

'They spend their money on beer and Bingo. We probably earn less, but we spend it on our houses. When they come down here, they think we're all rich. We're probably worse off then them.'

'I used to work in Yorkshire. They're all bloody rude, and bloody mean.'

'They live on sticky buns, tripe and black pudding. The food's much more varied down here.'

'I really think the North's more conservative ... I'm not talking about politics, but their attitude to life. Things change more here.'

'They say we "talk posh" — we just speak better English, that's all.'

'There's more equality of the sexes in the South. Northerners treat women like doormats. Mind you, the women go round in curlers all day on Saturday - or they used to ten years ago.'

They've got a massive inferiority complex. They imagine that we're all either stockbrokers, or country bumpkins with straw in our mouths. The prejudice comes more from them. They don't see that we're just like them.'

'I'm a Southerner - but I do find the North much warmer ... the people, that is, not the weather ... and friendlier ... more genuine, I think.'

(Viney P. Streamline English. Directions [Теxt] /

P. Viney. – Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1995. – P. 21.)

2. Read the text again and answer the questions. Discuss the questions in pairs.

1. What parts of Great Britain are known to be prejudiced against each other?

2. What stereotypes do Northerners/Southerners usually have about Southerners/Northerners?

3. What kind of regional prejudices do we have in Ukraine? Do you think there is any truth in them?

4. Are there prejudices about different towns?

5. What do people in towns say about people in the country?

6. What do people in the country say about people in towns? (Town/Country

prejudices are very similar all over the world.)