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Unit Eleven: Cultures Around the World
Lesson 1
Cultural patterns
Objectives: By the end of the lesson you will have
• talked about culture and cultural differences
• read a passage about culture
• written a short passage about Bangladeshi culture
A Think of the word 'culture'. Write down five words that come to your mind regarding culture. In pairs/groups compare the words you have written, talk about the words, and include some more if necessary.
Note down a few things that make up culture (i.e. what the components of culture are).
B Read the following definitions of culture, and discuss what you feel about them. Do you think these definitions are adequate?
1. Culture is to know the best that has been thought and said in the world
2. Culture is a complete picture of life
Say which of the things in the following box can be included within culture?
food habits, manner of eating, dress, concept of time, marriage customs, moral values, system of education, transport system, language, religion, science and
technology, computers
Add anything else you think are important elements of culture.
C Now look at the following questions and try to find answers to them from the passage that follows.
1 How does the passage define culture?
2 Do all countries have the same culture?
3 What do the examples in the passage show about cultural differences?
A society's culture is made up of all of its ideas and ways of behaving. Language, music, ideas about what is bad and good, ways of working and playing, and the tools and other objects made and used by people in the society - all these are part of a society's culture. As studying a person's repeated actions is a good way to find out about that person, studying the important patterns of an entire society is a way to learn about the culture of that group. Patterns of behaviour and action vary from individual to individual, class to class, society to society and country to country. These differences are referred to as cultural differences. What is an appropriate model of behaviour in one culture might prove inappropriate or even rude in another culture. For example, when Latin Americans talk to each other, they stand about 18 to 12 inches apart, measured nose to nose. To stand further away from each other while talking seems unfriendly to them. In some Arab countries too, the proper and polite distance for a conversation is to be close enough to feel the other person's breath. But in British or American society, getting so close during a conversation is considered inappropriate.
D In pairs, try to find out some differences between our culture and cultures of other countries (e.g. India, Japan, China, Malaysia, Britain, USA, etc). Exchange your ideas with other pairs. Then write down five sentences stating these differences.
e.g. In Bangladesh, we eat with our fingers but in China, they use chopsticks. In Britain and the USA, people eat with knives & forks but.............
E Write a short passage on 'Bangladeshi culture1 and how it is being influenced by
exposure to other cultures.
Focus:
Skills.
Speaking, reading, writing.
Functions.
Describing behaviour/ ways of living, comparing.
Grammar/Structure.
Adjectives -polite/impolite, friendly/hostile/ indifferent, late/punctual. Vocabulary
nose to nose, pattern, polite distance, appropriate.
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Unit Eleven: Cultures Around the World
Lesson 1
Cultural patterns
Objectives: By the end of the lesson you will have
• talked about culture and cultural differences
• read a passage about culture
• written a short passage about Bangladeshi culture
A Think of the word 'culture'. Write down five words that come to your mind regarding culture. In pairs/groups compare the words you have written, talk about the words, and include some more if necessary.
Note down a few things that make up culture (i.e. what the components of culture are).
B Read the following definitions of culture, and discuss what you feel about them. Do you think these definitions are adequate?
1. Culture is to know the best that has been thought and said in the world
2. Culture is a complete picture of life
Say which of the things in the following box can be included within culture?
food habits, manner of eating, dress, concept of time, marriage customs, moral values, system of education, transport system, language, religion, science and
technology, computers
Add anything else you think are important elements of culture.
C Now look at the following questions and try to find answers to them from the passage that follows.
1 How does the passage define culture?
2 Do all countries have the same culture?
3 What do the examples in the passage show about cultural differences?
A society's culture is made up of all of its ideas and ways of behaving. Language, music, ideas about what is bad and good, ways of working and playing, and the tools and other objects made and used by people in the society - all these are part of a society's culture. As studying a person's repeated actions is a good way to find out about that person, studying the important patterns of an entire society is a way to learn about the culture of that group. Patterns of behaviour and action vary from individual to individual, class to class, society to society and country to country. These differences are referred to as cultural differences. What is an appropriate model of behaviour in one culture might prove inappropriate or even rude in another culture. For example, when Latin Americans talk to each other, they stand about 18 to 12 inches apart, measured nose to nose. To stand further away from each other while talking seems unfriendly to them. In some Arab countries too, the proper and polite distance for a conversation is to be close enough to feel the other person's breath. But in British or American society, getting so close during a conversation is considered inappropriate.
D In pairs, try to find out some differences between our culture and cultures of other countries (e.g. India, Japan, China, Malaysia, Britain, USA, etc). Exchange your ideas with other pairs. Then write down five sentences stating these differences.
e.g. In Bangladesh, we eat with our fingers but in China, they use chopsticks. In Britain and the USA, people eat with knives & forks but.............
E Write a short passage on 'Bangladeshi culture1 and how it is being influenced by
exposure to other cultures.
Focus:
Skills.
Speaking, reading, writing.
Functions.
Describing behaviour/ ways of living, comparing.
Grammar/Structure.
Adjectives -polite/impolite, friendly/hostile/ indifferent, late/punctual. Vocabulary
nose to nose, pattern, polite distance, appropriate.