Understanding each other教案

li lin: mr hudson thought the summer palace was amazing but he got a bit upset before we got on the boat. it was really a pain that he wanted to wait for the next boat as he thought the first one was too crowded. i thought there was plenty of space on it. well, i suppose we should volunteer to show another set of visitors around next year---- at least we get to improve our english!

answers
a:  (1) three    (2) strange         (3) upset     (4) shake hands         (5) beef 
(6) gifts    (7) business cards    (8) ok      (9) crowded          (10) space
3. listen to the tape again and try to answer the following questions:
which tourist attractions did the two students show the three foreigners around? (the forbidden city and the summer palace.)
 why did the writer feel strange about mr singh? ( because he looked upset when the writer
held out his left hand to shake hands with him.)
where is mr singh from? ( he is from india.)
where is mr takashi from? ( he’s from japan.)
do you think the ok sign made by mr takashi means ‘very good’ or ‘ great’? (no.)
why wouldn’t mr hudson get on the boat? (he thought it was too crowded.)
1. read the first p aragraph of part b and find out what the word ‘taboo’ means. you can go back to the diary entry in part a. then read the rest of the article and circle the taboos in different cultures. find out the reason why mr takashi did not look very happy when the student just put his business card in his pocket.
answers
b: paragraph 2
  …, if you are from india, you may not eat beef because of your religion.
paragraph 3
in india, it is impossible to shake hands or give someone something with your left hand. japanese
people may bow and even give out their business cards to greet others and get upset if people do
not look at the cards carefully. so remember not to just put them in your pocket without looking.

5. read the guidelines in part c to know what you will do in this part. listen to the recording to
get more information about cultural habits.
tapescript
teacher: from my e xperience, people from the usa often feel uncomfortable if people are in  their ‘personal space’ ( about fifty centimeters around their body). but i heard that business people from asia have a different idea about personal space and usually stand closer than some people from the usa might like. latin americans are the same, and like to greet their colleagues with a hug. i also noticed that in th e usa, gift-giving is not part of the culture unlike in many other countries. i saw that gift-giving is very important in japan and on a trip, japanese people must bring back lots of gifts. there are also signs which mean different things in different countries. in the usa, an ‘ok’ sign is formed by touching the thumb to the index finger. this is a positive sign in the united stated, but in france, the same sign means ‘zero’ or ‘worthless’ and in japan, it is a request for small change.