Cultural Values and Issues
Cultural Values and Issues
Cultural Values and Issues
WARM UP
1. Look at the pictures and discuss the following questions.
a) What do these gestures mean?
1 2 3
b) Are any of them impolite or offensive?
KEY WORDS
2. Write the corresponding words under the pictures.
4 6
5
Physical contact Eye contact Shake
hands
7 8
Tap on the shoulder Cough 9
1) ______________________ 2) ___________________
READING
Research has shown that the English are much more conscious of their personal space than other
nationalities, especially the Irish or the Scots, who seem more at ease with physical contact. The English
allow much less contact, even with friends. And they can be upset if you touch them unexpectedly. You
should never, for example, tap an English person on the shoulder if you want to attract their attention. It’s
safer to cough or say: ‘Excuse me?’
When the English meet people for the first time, they shake hands, but then immediately move further
away. Other nationalities, Spanish people or Egyptians, for example, move closer to someone they are
speaking to, but not the English. The English think you shouldn’t get to close because it suggests a desire
for intimacy. And they rarely kiss people they have just met at a party when they are leaving.
TRUE FALSE
1. English people avoid touching strangers.
2. English people like to talk with other people on trains and buses.
7. When English meet people for the first time they shake hands.
d) What do Spanish people do when they speak to someone for the first time?
GRAMMAR PRACTICE
SHOULD: suggestion.
a. You ______________ drive on the right in England.
b. You ______________ avoid eye contact with English people.
MUST: obligation.
c. You ______________ take off your shoes when you enter a mosque.
d. You ______________ speak with your mouth full. Shouldn’t Should not
e. You ______________ eat everything on your plate.
f. You ______________ believe anything you read in newspapers. Mustn’t Must not