Beginner one-piece

You might think body language is universal. After all, we’re the same species, right? But basics like what is considered a polite greeting and definitions of “personal space” vary widely from culture to culture. Americans, for instance, are considered rather reserved in the way they greet friends, and they define personal space more broadly than most other cultures. Knowing how another culture’s basic body language differs from yours may be of great importance to you.

1)Mind how you meet and greet. Americans and Canadians, male and female, tend to greet each other with a nice firm handshake. In Asian countries, the polite form of greeting is to bow, and the lower you bow, the deeper respect you have for the person you are bowing to. In Spain, Portugal, Italy and Eastern Europe, men kiss each other on the cheek.

2)Be careful about eye contact. In America, uneven eye contact is preferable in a conversation – unless it’s someone you care deeply for. In Middle Eastern countries, intense prolonged eye contact is the norm, and the person you’re speaking with will move very close to you to maintain it. The Japanese, on the other hand, consider it an invasion of privacy, and rarely look another person in the eye.

3)Americans, in general, smile when they meet or greet someone. Koreans, however, think it’s rude for adults to smile in public – to them, smiling in public is a sign of embarrassment.

4)Don’t point. Most Americans think nothing of pointing at an object or another person. Native Americans consider it extremely rude to point with a finger, and instead they point with their chin. It’s also rude to point with a finger in China; the polite way is to use the whole hand, palm facing up.

5) Give the right amount of space. In Asian cultures, particularly China, the concept of personal space is nearly nonexistent. Strangers regularly touch bodies when standing in line for, say, movie tickets. People in Scandinavian countries, on the other hand, need more personal space than we do.

1.Comprehension questions.

1.Is body language universal?

2.What is specific about meeting and greeting in different countries?

3.Where is uneven eye contact preferable?

4.Where is smile considered a sign of embarrassment?

5.How do Native Americans point to objects?

6.Describe the amount of space.

2.Find in the text English equivalents to the following.

Чергазаквиткамикіно, Азіатськікультури,ввічлспосіб,гру,вийий посміхатисяналюдях,розмова,глибокапов, важливетигазначення,варіюватися.

VOCABUALARY PRACTICE

1. Find the vocabulary words and cross them out.

J I M S O R R Y C I P

T H A N K Y O U V T L

R M T X P B A D K S E

P A R D O N M E O O A

N I A C D N P E T K I

P E X C U S E M E B M

L I F W E L C O M E G

E S T H I D G O N P L

Y O U R E G R E A T A

S U I P L E A S E R D

3.What do you say? Choose a phrase from the topical vocabulary.

1.You want to order a coffee. The waiter is reading the newspaper.

2.A friend buys you a drink.

3.A child says ‘Goodnight’ to you.

4.You answer the phone at work. It is 10.30 a.m.

5.You answer the phone at work. It is 3 p.m.

6.It is 2 a.m. on January 1st. You meet a friend on the street.

7.A friend spoke too quickly. You don’t understand.

8.It is 24th December. You meet your boss on the bus.

4.Read the dialogues.

Sandra: Hello, I’m Sandra. What’s your name? Sam: My name’s Sam.

Sandra: Hello, Sam.

*****

Sandra: John, this is Sam Brown. Sam, this is John Mason. Sam: Hello, John.

John: Hello, Sam.

*****

A:Hi, Jim. How are you?

B:Fine, thanks, Rebecca. And you?

A:I’m OK, thanks.

5.Complete the conversations. Check the example (1).

6.Put the lines in the conversation into the correct order.

-Fine, thanks.

-I’m OK, thanks. And you?

-Hello. My name’s Rita. What’s your name?

-Hello, Tina. Hello, Mary.

-I’m Tina, and this is Mary.

-Hello, Rita. How are you?

7.Read the text and complete the activities that follow.

The handshake has become a common form of communication all around the world. It is used to say “hello”, “goodbye”, “we agree”, as a greeting upon first acquaintance, and as a mutual sign of goodwill and peace. A handshake can establish a first impression with someone, whether it be good and firm, or limp and clammy. It has made its way to the highest levels of government and society where agreements between nations are sealed. This ritual has “become perhaps our most important non-verbal communicative innovation”.

The most widely accepted theory is that handshaking originated in

medieval Europe where knights would extend their hand to other knights in order to show that they had no weapons hidden or concealed behind their back. This seems to fit quite nicely with

the modern version of a handshake – two people using one single gesture to convey friendship, openness and non-harming.

Regardless of its origins, the handshake has become a solid part of modern life and culture. People of all races, shapes, sizes and status use the handshake as a way to greet a person, make an agreement or say goodbye.

Why is our handshake so important? The way you shake hands speaks volumes about who you are as a person. For some people a handshake is just a useless formality but to others it is a massive indication of a person’s depth of character, trustworthiness and strength. When you shake hands with a person you are doing much more than saying “hello”. You are saying “this is who I am“.

If you are a business person your handshake can be the maker or breaker of a big contract or deal. If you are a doctor or health care provider your handshake can fill a patient with confidence and trust. It is extremely important for all people to learn how to shake hands with meaning.

1.The way you shake hands speaks volumes about ………………………………………….

2.When you shake hands with a person you …………………………………………………

3.If you are a business person your handshake can be ………………………………………

4.For some people a handshake is ……………………. but to others it is a ………………...

c.Complete the following phrases using the text.

Common form of ………, ……… acquaintance, mutual ………, non-verbal ………

innovation, medieval ………, ……… hidden, to convey ………, to greet a ………, to fill a patient with ……… .

8. Writing options. Try to make a story on the offered topics.

1.What makes it easy to talk to someone? What traits do you look for in a conversation partner?

2.Have you ever had a great conversation with a complete stranger?

3.What are peculiarities about men and women conversations?

4.What topics are taboos for your culture / personally?

5.Why do people like to learn bad words in another language?

6.Would you like to have a career that requires you to talk to a lot of people? Why?

HUMOUR TIME

Last night I hugged my pillow and dreamt of you... I wish that someday I’d dream about my pillow and I’d be hugging you.

LESSON 1

Family Relations

It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers

and sons.

Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who

belong to us, we see the past, present, and future.

Treat your family like friends and your friends like family.

The English are a nation of stay-at-home. “There is no place like home,” they say. And when the man is not working he is at home in the company of his wife and children and busies himself with the affairs of the home. “The Englishman’s home is his castle,” is a saying known all over the world. And it is true.

A “typical” British family used to consist of mother, father and two children, but in recent years there have been many changes in family life. Some of these have been caused by new laws and others are the result of changes in society. For example, since the law made it easier to get a divorce, the number of divorces has increased. In fact one marriage in every three now ends in divorce. This means that there are a lot of one-parent families. Society is now more tolerant than it used to be of unmarried people, unmarried couples and single parents.

You might think that marriage and the family are not so popular as they once were. However, the majority of divorced people marry again, and they sometimes take responsibility for a second family.

Members of a family – grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins – keep in touch, but they see less of each other than they used to. This is because people often move away from their home town to work, and so the family becomes less united. Christmas is the traditional season for reunions.

Relationships within the family are different now. Parents treat their children more as equals than they used to, and children have more freedom to make their own decisions. The father is more involved with bringing up children, often because the mother goes out to work. Increased leisure facilities and more money mean that there are greater opportunities outside the home. Although the family holiday is still an important part of family life (usually taken in August, and often abroad) many children have holidays away from their parents, often with a school party or other organized group.

Who looks after the older generation? There are about 10 million old-age pensioners in Britain, of whom about 750,000 cannot live entirely independently. The government gives financial help in the form of a pension but in the future it will be more and more difficult for the nation economy to support the increasing number of elderly. At the present time, more than half of all old people are looked after at home. Many others live in Old Peoples’ Homes, which may be private or state owned.

1. Comprehension questions.

1. What type of nation are the English?

2. What caused family changes in Britain?

3. What’s the traditional season for relatives’ reunion?

4. What changes can be observed in relationships between children and parents? 5. How and by whom is older generation looked after?

VOCABUALARY PRACTICE

1. Fill in the missing vowels into the words expressing relations in the family.

4. Read and translate the following dialogues. A.: Do you want to see my family album?

B.: With pleasure.

A.: These are my parents. Here they are very young. This is their wedding. B.: You look a lot like your mother. You have the same eyes and smile.

A.: You think so? All relatives of my father say that I look a lot like him. We have the same nose. Look: this is my grandma. Here she is 25 years old.

B.: What a cutie! It's hard to believe that we will be 70 some day too. A.: I prefer not to think about it.

B.: Who is this attractive guy?

A.: This is my brother. He is a sailor. The uniform looks good on him, doesn't it? B.: Very much. And where is he now?

A.: He’s sailing on the Mediterranean sea. He’s coming on holiday soon. We’ll have a party to celebrate his arrival. Are you coming?

B.: For sure!

*****

A:Hi, Dan! We are making a survey on family ties. Can I ask you some questions?

B:Yes, please.

A:What makes a home a comfortable, pleasant place to live in?

B:I think that kind and good relations between people make their home a pleasant place for them. When you feel love and support you cope with any difficulty.

A:Who supported you and helped you find the way out of difficulties in your life?

B:My parents and friends tried to help me in such situations.

A:Whom do you admire in your family? What have you learnt to do from this person?

B:My grandmother. She is a wonderful person. Her life wasn’t easy, but she always had a

positive attitude to the events that happened. She taught me to be patient and tolerant to other people.

A:Do you agree that your family is the most wonderful treasure you have?

B:Yes, sure.

5.Read the text below and decide which answer (A, B, C, D) best fits each space.

Family Helping

Do you (0) feel depressed? Do you and your brothers or sisters (1) _______ to argue all the time and you don’t understand why? Does your brother or sister (2) _______ you, or is everything perfect?

Statistics show that there are times in every family when things just (3) _______ out of control. It’s nobody’s (4) _______, but everybody’s responsibility. At times (5) _______ that, Family Helpline can help. Here at Family Helpline, we care (6) _______ families. We want to help you make your family work. Our trained counselors deal (7) _______ people just like you every day. We are not always successful, but we (8) _______ help many families to live together again in peace.

Our counselors help you to stop (9) _______ each other of causing the problem. You all want to (10) _______ a solution and sometimes talking to somebody outside the family makes a difference. We’re here to listen call our operators on 555-26515. They’re available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

6. Write one word in each gap.

Arranged Marriages

The usual western idea of marriage is that you meet someone, (1) _______ in love, and then decide to marry each other. For those born (2) _______ some cultures, however, marriage may have quite a different meaning. In an arranged marriage, it is the parents who choose the partner and it’s possible (3) _______ the young person getting married not to meet their future bride or groom (4) _______ person until the day of the wedding. Indeed, a young person might be promised to another (5) _______ a child, many years before the wedding day.

Amongst communities that practice arranged marriage, it’s not unusual for a generation (6)

_______ to open up between parents and children, with many young people refusing to accept an arranged marriage. However, if the parents treat each other (7) _______ respect and recognize that they are both (8) _______ equal value, there doesn’t seem to be any real barrier to having a happy married life.

7.There are many patterns of family relations. Study some of them, add to their characteristics. Think about the ideal family type.

8. Writing options. Try to make a story on the offered topics.

1.What are some qualities that you think are important in a spouse or a partner?

2.Do you think it is better to be single or to be married?

3.Do you think arranged marriages are a good idea? Why or why not?

4.Do you want a husband or wife who is older, younger or the same age as you?

5.What makes a happy marriage?

6.Can you name a famous happily married couple?

7.Where do you want to go for your honeymoon?

8.What are some of the main reasons people get divorced?

HUMOUR TIME

Fred: Have you ever seen one of those machines that can tell when someone is telling a lie? Joe: Seen one? I married one!

*****

-So you want to become my son-in-law?

-Not exactly. I just want to marry your daughter.

*****

Dad: Son, what do you want for your 18th birthday? Son: Just a radio, dad... With a sports car around it.

*****

My new girlfriend is a pretty as a flower. A cauliflower.