Communication

Americans ask a lot of questions, but they would never talk about age, income, religion and sexual orientation.

FOOD

American restaurants serve enormously big portions (though, food is not always delicious). One should be careful not to order too much for a dinner.

In the USA, there are very few street vendorsselling goods, vegetables or fruit. Sometimes you can find them in the very large cities like New York, or in a special farmer's market in the countryside areas. Sometimes you can find them in the very large cities like New York, or in a special farmer's market in the countryside areas.

RELATIONSHIP

For Americans it is not acceptable to give expensive gifts when the relationship between man and woman are at the first stage. There is a widespread idea that while receiving expensive gifts a girl is being bought, and if she is unable to purchase expensive things by herself and expects to get them from a man she is a "gold-digger". There­fore such kind of question that we often hear from Ukrainian girls - "What kind of present did you get from him?" - will never be asked by the American girls. The American couples rarely laugh at each other in the presence of the strangers, because it can be considered as conflict relationship.

SPORT

Americans are keen on jogging. Sometimes one can think that every American jogs. Some people do it even in the lunch time. For example, an office worker changes his/her clothes and goes to a park for jogging.

EXAMS AND CHEATING

Cheating at the exam is considered to be mean and unfair. Unlike in Ukraine, American students never use cribs. Moreover, it is a shame to prompt to a friend. Generally, the attitude towards the exams differentiates greatly – Americans do not take exams as a “struggle between a student and a teacher”.

CLOTHES

American women dress more casually both for leisure and work. Sporting and energetic style gravitating to unisex is rather widespread, unlike Ukraine, where ladies prefer strongly decorated clothes and love romantic style, sometimes even theatrical.

OTHER HABITS

People get up at 5 or 6 in the morning in America. A lot of Americans live in residential areas away from city. So it takes an hour or two to get to a job place.

PUNCTUALITY

Americans are very punctual. Being late for 5 minutes for a meeting causes profound irritation. They rarely reschedule or cancel meetings.

Comprehension

1. Explain in English the meaning of the following words:

· To meld together

· Retired parents

· Diapers

· To breastfeed

· Street vendor

· Gold-digger (coll.)

· Cheating

· Crib

· Casual clothes

· To reschedual the meeting

2. Put the questions to the following answers:

a)________________________________________?

At the age of 18.

b)________________________________________?

Age, income, religion, sexual orientation.

c)_______________________________________?

Because in the US it`s forbidden to use force against children.

d)________________________________________?

Jogging.

e)_________________________________________?

Sporting & unisex style.

3. Match the two parts together:

The parents in America expect their children	They usually get up at 5 or 6 in the morning to get to a job place in time
In the USA you can buy vegetables & fruits	Only in supermarkets or outside the city in special markets for farmers
You will never see an American couple	To leave home after finishing high school
If you prompt to your American friend	Conflicting or laughing at each other in public
Most Americans live outside the cities, so	You consider him stupid

4. What do these time markers in the text mean:

· 18 y.a.

· 3-4 y.a.

· 5-6 in the morning

· 5 minutes

5. Open the brackets (mind Tenses, Active & Passive):

a) If an American (to retire), he or she (to live) in retirement homes.

b) He (to imprison) for (to punish) his son in public.

c) If an American girl (to get) very expensive presents from her boyfriend, she (to consider) a gold-digger.

d) His irritation (to cause) by my (to be late) for the business meeting.

Discussing & Writing:

1. What facts impressed you the most in the text?

2. What negative Ukrainian features are mentioned in the text by American authors?

3. What description in the American way of life did you like best of all? Why?

4. What description in the American way of life appeared unacceptable to you? Why?

5. Write an essay “Ukraine vs America” according to the points in the text above, adding more examples.

TEXT B:

Pre-reading tasks

1.You`ll read the text between cultural differences between Britains and other nations. Before reading ask about your/your friend`s experience of communication with an Englishman.

2.Describe in some words a typical British, highlighting the most vivid features of the British character.

To newcomers, the British can seem a strange and difficult na­tion. To be fair, any host nation can seem strange and difficult to a newcomer in any land. We have all grown up learning strict codes of conduct,rules of behaviour and lists of what is or is not polite. However, these rules and customs are quite different from country to country and few of us are ever taught them in a systematic way. We absorb them, throughout our lives, learning what is acceptable within our own culture and discovering what is not.

Living within or alongside another culture, one is bound to make mistakes which offend, amuse or irritate members of the host culture. In the same way, newcomers can be offended, amused or irritated by the speech, behaviour or practices of the host culture. Because rules about what is polite, ac­ceptable or expected in our own culture are not recorded in a concise form, we often do not appreciate how rigid these rules can be or how closely we follow them. When our culture's rules conflict with another culture's, we often do not realise that this is what is happening and assume that breakdowns"in communication or lack of warmth are due to prejudice or unpleasantness.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-30