Ольга Сорочан Ольга Сорочан

Cultural differences reading
Intermediate level

Description

In this lesson, Ss will read a text about cultural differences 'A Guide to good manners: How not to behave badly abroad'. At the beginning of the lesson, Ss will watch a 3-minute video from the 'My big fat Greek wedding' movie and discuss the cultural differences presented in the episode. After this, Ss will be given practice in reading for gist and detail. As a follow-up activity Ss will discuss in groups and present their own 'Guide to good manners in Turkey'.

Materials

Abc My big fat Greek wedding video
Abc Task 1 and Keys
Abc A Guide to good manners or how not to behave badly abroad article
Abc Headings from the article

Main Aims

  • To give students practice in reading for gist and detailed information

Subsidiary Aims

  • To give students practice in speaking for fluency in the context of developing a 'Guide to good manners in Turkey' To provide clarification and give Ss practice in using vocabulary related to cultural differences and good manners abroad

Procedure

Warmer/Lead-in (6-6 minutes) • To set lesson context and engage students

Ss watch an episode from the My big fat Greek wedding movie and discuss cultural differences they noticed in the video. Before the watch, T introuduces them into the context of the episode. T: A girl from a Greek family living in America is going to marry an American man. In this video, their parents are to meet for the first time. Watch and notice as many cultural diffrences between the families as you can. After watching, Ss work in pairs and dicsuss their ideas.

Pre-Reading dicussion and vocabulary introduction (5-6 minutes) • To prepare students for the text and make it accessible

T says Ss will read an article called 'A Guide to good manners or how not to behave badly abroad' (written on the board), elicits several ideas what they think the article will be about. Ss are given hand-outs with five headings from the article, work in pairs and discuss what the article will discuss under each of the headings. T says there will be some vocabulary in the article Ss may need to know before they read and writes it down on the board. Ss are given one minute to dicuss which of the items they know, which they are not sure about, which they do not know. After they discuss, T elicits the meaning of the vocabulary from Ss. Alternatively, T writes the vocabulary on the board and elicits the meaning from Ss.

Reading for gist (5-6 minutes) • To give Ss practice in reading for gist

Ss are given 1.5 minute to skim the text and find out if their predicitons were correct. When ready, Ss work in pairs and discuss if their guesses were correct, match the headings with the paragraphs, check themselves against the keys.

Reading for specific information (8-8 minutes) • To give Ss practice in reading for specific information

Ss are given hand-out with T/F statements about the text, they work in pairs to discuss them, check themselves against the keys. At the end, T asks Ss if they have questions, deals with them if there are any.

Freer speaking (8-10 minutes) • To provide opportunity to respond to the text, give Ss practice in speaking for fluency

Alternative 1: T says Ss will now develop their own guide to good manners in Turkey for tourists/foreigners. Ss are given hand-outs with headings such as ''Drinking habits', ''Problem solving'', ''Behavior in Queues'' etc. illustrated by two contrasting pictures. Students have to discuss which picture describes Turkey best, explain why, cut it out pin it on the wall. Students work in teams. When finished they discuss the pictures pinned by the other team, agree/disagree, explain why. Alternative 2: T says Ss will now develop their own guide to good manners in Turkey for tourists/foreigners. Ss work in groups of two/three and come up with ideas, take notes of them. Then T unites two pairs/groups and they share their ideas, agree/disagree. Before Ss discuss, T elicits from them some useful language for a guide, e.g. You should/should not, Do/Don't, It is a good/bad idea to etc.

Delayed error correction, wrap-up (4-4 minutes) • To enable Ss to correct and reflect on mistakes, praise them for good language, wrap up the lesson

T writes examples of good language and that which needs correction on the board, elicits correct answers from Ss. If time permits, Ss are asked to think about the most interesting/useful fact/part of the lesson and share it with their group-mates while mingling

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