Cultural Iceberg

Cultural

Iceberg

Ⅰ

. Listening and Speaking

1.

Discussion

1)

What’s your understanding of cultural differences?

2)

What cultural differences do you know?

3)

Suppose you are studying aboard, what problems you would

meet?

2.

Listen to the following

text

and

complete the tasks.

1) Which country has the speaker been to for studying?

A. America

B. Briton

2) Why did she blush in the first story?

A. She did not bring enough money with her.

B. She was not accustomed to the way the storekeeper treat her.

C. She found that she bought the wrong article and wanted to change.

3) What did the westerners always say according to the listening

material?

A. Excuse me

B. Hello

C. Thank you

4) What could we conclude from the two stories? (Open-ended)

5) On what occasions mentioned in the text did the westerners say

“thank you”? (Tick the right ones)

□

pouring out a cup of tea

□

seeing their guest off

□

handing over a spoon

□

offering fruits

□

passing

the sugar

□

cleaning the house

6) How did she feel about that? (Open-ended)

3.

Listen

to

the

following

conversation

and

complete

the

tasks

.

Tony was invited to a Chinese friend’s home. He had a good time,

but

he

felt

a

little

unpleasant.

The

following

is

a

conversation

between

Tony and his friend Bill, listen and see what happened on earth.

??

1. What did Tony bring with him as a gift for his Chinese colleague?

2. Did Tony wrap up the tapes?

3. When Tony gave his Chinese hosts the gift, what did they do?

4. What did Tony expect them to do?

5.

How

do

the

westerners

and

Chinese

people

differ

in

receiving

presents?

??

4.

Challenge to Speak

Conversation one:

A:

I

am

curious.

My

foreign

teacher

told

me

that

March

17

th

is

St.

Patrick’s Day. I don’t know what that means. Can you help me?

B:

I heard that St. Patrick’s Day is a religious festival that celebrated in

the

English-speaking

countries

in

the

West,

mainly

by

people

of

Irish

descent, but also by others.

A: How do people celebrate this day?

B:

Some

cities

hold

parties.

There

is

a

superstition

that

says

you

must

wear green on St. Patrick’s Day. If not, others have permission to come

up and pinch you. On St. Patrick’s Day, everyone who wants to get into

the spirit of the day wears green.

A: Hmm, it sounds very interesting.

B: It’s all ju

st for fun.

Conversation two:

A:

Did

you

hear

Xiao

Wang?

He

just

asked

that

foreign lady her age?

B: You are kidding? Doesn’t he know it is impolite

to ask a foreigner his or her age?

A: He probably doesn’t know that custom. He doesn’t know very much

about foreigners and their ways.

B: Yeah, he’s a little ignorant of the outside world. But he has a good

understanding of Chinese customs and appropriate behavior here at home.

By

the

way,

I

wonder

why

foreigners

are

so

sensitive

about

revealing

their ages.

A:

I’m

not

sure.

I

think

they

like

to

give

the

impression

that

they

are

young. They feel flattered to be thought younger than they actually are.

B: How strange! I would like to appear older so I can get more respect!

5.

Role Play

1) John is invited for dinner at his Chinese friend Li Ming’s home. But

when he sits at the table, he finds he cannot use the chopsticks.

2)

A

Chinese

girl

loses

her

in

New

York

City.

She

says

“hello”

to

passers-by

and

asks

for

direction,

but

people

give

her

contemptuous

look and go away. Act it out and discuss with your partners why she is

treated like that.

6. Function items:

◆

Expressing Curiosity

What’s that

？

Excuse me, can you tell me why/what/where/who/when…?

I wonder why…?

I am curious to know…?

I am dying to know…?

◆

Confessing Ignorance

I am sorry, I didn’t know that.

I am afraid I don’t know.

I have no idea.

I did not realize that.

Forgive me.

Excuse my ignorance, but what is that?

Doesn’t he know that…?

Proverb:

A single flower does not make a spring.

Ⅱ

. Reading

：

Pre-Reading:

1.

What’s you

r understanding of an iceberg?

2.

Do you think cultural differences can cause conflict?

3.

What similarities between cultural differences and an iceberg?

The following expressions may help you answer the above questions.

above

the

water

below

the

water

food

festival

fashion

value

religion

salary

age

marriage

Text A

：

Culture Is an Iceberg

The Iceberg metaphor for culture shows a cruise ship sailing

close to the iceberg for a look at this foreign territory. Part of the iceberg

is immediately visible; part of it emerges and submerges with the tides,

and its foundations go deep beneath the surface.

Culture' is rather like an iceberg; you can see a little of it, in the

same way that you can see how we behave 'on the surface.' But the

biggest and most important part- our cultural values- are hidden below

the surface. They are like underground rivers that run through our lives

and relationships, giving us messages that shape our perceptions,

attributions, judgments, and ideas of self and other. Cultures are more

than language, dress, and food customs. Cultural groups may share race,

ethnicity, or nationality, but they also arise from cleavages of generation,

socioeconomic class, sexual orientation, ability and disability, political

and religious affiliation, language, and gender -- to name only a few.

Culture

is

an

essential

part

of

conflict.

Many

Chinese

people

tend to ask about age, marital status, and even salary when first meeting

one

another.

To

them,

these

are

open

conversational

topics.

Knowing

a

person's

age

helps

them

use

appropriate

terms

of

address,

such

as

'Lao

Wang', 'Xiao Li', or kin terms such as 'uncle' or 'aunt', etc. And Chinese

people

pay

a

lot

of

attention

to

family

life,

so

naturally

talk

of

family

members

features

as

a

common

topic.

As

to

salary,

since

there

is

a

national system of salaries, people usually don't consider it a

secret and

they

talk

about

it

openly.

However,

in

Britain,

weather

and

sports

are

common

topics.

Age,

marriage

and

salary

are

some

taboo

questions.

These are considered too private or too personal to talk about when first

meeting someone. Here is another typical case. 'Lao ' is a commonly used

term by Chinese people to address someone who is older than the speaker

to show his politeness, respect and closeness, e.g. 'Lao Zhang', 'Lao Wang

'. The term does not necessarily mean old age. 'Lao Wai ' is a colloquial

term of address for foreigners. While westerners dislike being labeled as

'old', for they assume that old means useless.

Confronting with cultural conflicts, we can take in some strong

points from the foreign cultures. But at the same time,

we cannot throw

away our own culture and accept another one totally. Every culture is a

treasure to the history of the Earth, so we should only pick out those we

lack to perfect our own. Different cultures add the most colorful element

to the world of 21st century. The cultural gap should not be the obstacle

to the civilization of human being. It ought to be the motivation of our

going farther.

vocabularies: