unit16 culture.ppt

Unit 16 Culture
Tang Xiaoyun
Step 1 Open class with discussion: What is culture? (20 minutes)
1) Leading-in story: The Hat and the Skirt
Pre-listening question: Why are the three girls’ reactions so different from each other? (The teacher puts forward this question for Ss to think about before telling the story.)
The Hat and the Skirt
One day on the sunny beach, three girls from America, Japan and China respectively were leisurely strolling around.
Each of them was elegantly dressed in a beautiful skirt with a delicate hat. How charming a picture it was with the three girls on the crowded beach.
The Hat and the Skirt (continued)
Suddenly a gust of wind blew across the sea to them, making both their skirts and hats almost flying.
At that moment, the American girl just ran after her hat which was blown away, letting her skirt flying in the wind.
The Hat and the Skirt (continued)
The Japanese girl pressed her hands on her skirt as soon as possible, totally ignoring her hat.
The Hat and the Skirt (continued)
As to the Chinese girl, she put one hand on her hat and the other on her skirt immediately, keeping both safe.
Suggested analysis:
This is a frequently told story about culture difference in different countries. The different reactions of the three girls are due to the fact that they are brought up in different cultures. American people are quite open while Japanese people are well known for paratively conservative personality. For Chinese girls, they are usually taught to be decent in public. That is why the Chinese girl in the story paid attention to both her hat and skirt. This story brings us to the issue we are going to discuss today—culture.
2) Warm-up questions:
Question 1 What is culture?
(The concept of culture is rather abstract plicated for freshman. To make it easier for Ss to do this, the teacher will provide an example as the following one and then ask each student to contribute a sentence that reflects their understanding of what