Lexical exercises
учебно-методический материал (11 класс)

Exercises: Culture and Cultural Differences

Ex.1. 

Answer the questions.

a) Would you agree or disagree with the opinion expressed in the following statement:

In today’s Russia there is something like a foreign language boom. People of different age groups, professions and social status are involved in learning or even mastering this or that foreign language.

 Justify your point of view.

b) Should we or shouldn’t we integrate language learning and culture learning? To answer this question do the following task:

-  Nowadays much has been said about the importance of learning about other cultures in today’s multicultural Global Village. But what is culture?

 There are hundreds of definitions of culture, but what is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear this word? Literature, Music, Art? Cultural patterns of behavior in contrast to non-cultural manners of behavior? What does this word means personally to you?

To answer these questions you have to read the quotations reflecting different points of view on what human culture is?

Ex.2. 

Compare all these statements and form an opinion about what culture includes.

1. What is culture? I believe, it is the way of life of a particular society or group of people, including patterns of thought, beliefs, behavior, customs, traditions, rituals, dress, language, as well as art, music and literature.  Elizabeth Primrose

2. Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group from another. Geert Hofstede

3. Very often when we use the word “culture” we mean the customs, beliefs, art, music and all other products of human thought which were made by a particular group of people at a particular time. Adam Cotter

4. Culture is the best that has been known and said in the world, and thus the history of the human spirit.  Matthew Arnold

5. Culture consists of patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reacting. The essential core of culture consists of traditional ideas and especially their attached values. Clyde Kluckhohn

6. Culture refers to the experience, knowledge, values, and behaviors of any one group of people.

Carol Archer

7. Culture is but the fine flowering of real education, and it is the training of the feeling, the tastes and the manners that makes it so. Minnie Kellogg

Ex.3.  Read the following interpretation of the concept “culture” given in one of Russian reference books. What is in focus in this “culture” definition? Give the right answer to the questions below:

1. Is culture a product of historical development of human society?
2. Is culture a way of life?
3. Is culture a product of human spirit?
4. Is culture as cultural patterns of interaction of people in a particular society?
5. Does the definition say that culture is something learned by an individual in society or does it say that it is genetically given to every member of the society?
6. Does it say that education helps to transmit culture from one generation to another in any society?

Культура (от лат. слова ”culture” - возделывание, воспитание, образование, развитие, почитание) - исторически определенный уровень развития общества, творческих сил и способностей человека, выраженный в типах и формах организации жизни и деятельности людей, в их взаимоотношениях, а также в создаваемых ими материальных и духовных ценностях.

(«Большая Российская Энциклопедия», 1999)

Ex.4. Match the English and Russian words with each other. 

Ex.5.  What is culture? What defines culture? For example, language, music… Write some words in the diagram.

                      Culture        

Ex.6.  Keywords.

1. Values    Example: "The government believes in family values."

2. Stereotype   Example: "She doesn't fit the typical stereotype of an accountant."

3. Culture shock     Example: "After growing up in Manhattan, moving to the countryside was a real culture shock."

4. Diversity    Example: "London has a large amount of ethnic and cultural diversity."

5. Culturally acceptable Example: "It isn't culturally acceptable in some countries to blow your nose in public places."

6. Assimilation Example: "The assimilation of immigrants into the culture of their host country is a very important issue."

Match the words to their definitions.

1. A state of distress experienced by someone who finds themselves in a new environment.

2. Beliefs of a person or social group in which they have an emotional investment.

3. The process of integration of members of an ethno-cultural group into an established community.

4. A too simple and therefore distorted (wrong) image of a group.

5. Good enough, satisfactory.

6. A variety of things or people.

Ex.7.  Translate and remember new words.

     Cultured - Showing good taste or manners

Belief - The mental act, condition, or habit of placing trust or confidence in another:

Ethics - A system of accepted beliefs which control behavior, especially such a system based on morals.

Values - Beliefs of a person or social group in which they have an emotional investment (either for or against something).

Civilization - The social process whereby societies achieve an advanced stage of development and organization

Cultural diversity -The fact or quality of cultures of being diverse or different.

Cultural uniqueness -Culture/customs which make a country distinctive/different from other countries.

Cultural misconceptions -Mistaken thoughts, idea, or notion; misunderstandings about a culture. These are false ideas about a culture resulting from misunderstanding rather than from reality.

Cultural shock - A condition of confusion and anxiety affecting a person suddenly exposed to an alien culture or milieu.

Local culture - refers to the culture developed at the local level.

Global culture - refers to the culture developed at the global level through new information technologies.

Global village - the entire world and its inhabitants. The world thought of as being closely connected by modern communication and trade and thus eliminating borders.

Stereotype -A generalized perception of first impressions.

Ex.8.  Study the following information:

A Using ‘the’

Most names of countries are used without ‘the’, but some countries and other names have ‘the’ before them, e.g. The United States / US(A), The United Kingdom / UK, The Netherlands, The Philippines.

B Suffixes of adjectives referring to countries and languages

-ish: British, Danish, Flemish, Irish, Polish, Spanish, Turkish

-(i)an: American, Australian, Belarusian, Canadian, Russian

-ese: Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese,, Vietnamese

-i: Iraqi, Israeli, Kuwaiti, Pakistani, Yemeni

-ic: Arabic, Icelandic, Slavonic

Some adjectives are worth learning separately, e.g. Cypriot, Dutch, Greek, Swiss, Thai.

C Nationalities

Some nationalities and cultural identities have nouns for referring to people, e.g. a Finn, a Swede, a Turk, a Spaniard, a Dane, a Briton, an Arab. In most cases we can use the adjective as a noun, e.g. a German, an Italian, a Belgian, a Catalan, a Greek, an African, a European. Some need woman/man/person added to them (you can’t say ‘a Dutch’), so if you have doubts, use them, e.g. a Dutch man, a French woman, an Irish person, an Icelandic man.

D People and races

People belong to ethnic groups and regional groups such as Afro-Caribbeans, Asians and Latin Americans. What are you? (e.g. North African, Southern African, European. Melanesian)

They speak dialects as well as languages. Everyone has a native language or first language; many have second and third languages. Some people are expert in more than one language and are bilingual or multilingual.

DISCUSSION

Cultural Diversity Conversational Questions

1. Have you ever experienced culture shock? What has surprised you?
2. What is reverse, or re-entry, culture shock? Have you ever faced it?
3. Have you ever felt confused by the actions of someone from another culture?
4. What strikes you as unusual about your own culture?
5. What is something about your culture that clashes with your personality?
6. What do you like about your own culture?
7. What does it mean to be polite in your culture? What is considered rude in your culture?
8. In your culture, is it polite to be straightforward and direct when you talk to someone? To whom is it OK and to whom is it not OK?
9. How do young people in your culture behave differently from older people?
10. What conversation tips would you give to someone who is visiting your native country?
11. What are the five most important values of your culture? (For example, Family)
12. Would you ever consider living permanently in a country other than your home country? Why or why not?
13. Do you think "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" is always good advice? Why or why not?
14. What do you think is important when visiting another culture?
15. Is there a foreign culture that really suits your personality?
16.  How does culture influence personality? How much does our cultural background actually define us?