Role play

Work together.

Choose a nationality that you think it is very easy to imitate. Devise a scene which will clearly indicate to other people in the class who you are imitating. Act the scene out for the rest of the class. Don't tell them which nationality you are imitating, don't mention the nationality and don't use any words from the language spoken by this nationality.

When you have finished, discuss whether the stereotype images you produced were fair, unfair, complimentary or derogatory.

Group discussion

1. How would you portray your nation?

2. How accurate do you think national stereotypes are?

3. Do you think stereotypes can be harmful or dangerous? Why? Why not?

4. What are your country’s national stereotypes?

a) The following line is about the English:

Englishness, however, didn't free my spirit so well as being truly foreign did.

Which other nationality strikes you as being truly free-spirited? Describe the people you most admire for their free spirits. Explain what it is about their behaviour that you like and how you learnt about them.

b) When you were a child, did you want to be different from the way you were - a

different nationality or living with different people in a different place? Write an ac-

count of the alternative lifestyle you devised for yourself.

Situations for improvisation

Make up monologues on the following situations.

1. You have a very definite opinion of the British and you are eager to share it with other students.

2. Other nations see the Russians differently, don’t they?

3. We do have some national stereotypes, though they are not always objective and sometimes may be harmful.

Make up dialogues on the following situations.

1. You are discussing the image of the British. Discuss whether we have realistic or stereotypical generalizations of the nation.

2. Discuss with your partner how you view the Americans.

3. You are discussing how the world sees the Russians.

Communication round off project

1. What images do others have of people from your country? How can you find out? (There are some suggestions below). When you have collected information, discuss whether national stereotypes can be useful, or whether they are always derisive and

liable to prolong racist attitudes.

2. You are to arrange an exhibition of national stereotypes. What exhibits would you design? It could be something representing your country (or other countries) in the world, focusing on some themes such as a culture, technology or history. The choice is yours!

Decide what kinds of activities you will provide for the visitors.

Talk show

Some students are to be talk masters who are to interview people of different nationalities. Each group, consisting of one talk master and the people being interviewed, acts out their talk show in front of the group. The rest of the group are the audience and may ask additional questions or put forward suggestions regarding the topic, the people being interviewed or the talk master himself.

PMI

You are to think of the plus points (P), minus points (M) and interesting points (I) of an idea of stereotyping.