Let’s talk about Belarus
- What are the symbols of Belarus?
- Do you speak the Belarusian language in your everyday life?
- What historical sites can you advise your British friend to visit to make his/her stay unforgettable?
- Many people gather to make the world better. What do you think young people of Belarus can do to make their country a better place to live in?
Let’s talk about any English-speaking country
- Do you think that people speaking the English language are similar in character?
- Give me a piece of advice on what to choose from a tourist guide to do when planning a visit to the USA?
- If you have a chance to travel to any country in the world, which one will you choose?
Let’s talk about national character and stereotypes
- Do stereotypes really reflect national character?
- Would you like to visit Great Britain? Why or why not?
- Ask your British friend how they celebrate Christmas in their family.
- Your British friend wants to discover Belarusian cuisine. What advice will you give him/her?
- What do you think is the best symbol of Belarus?
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It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.
Card № 22 Let’s talk about national character and stereotypes
2. Do you agree that people belonging to one nation have a lot in common? Prove your point of view.
For example, the Germans are regarded as scientifically-minded and industrious, they’re always considered solid, intelligent and mathematical. And, for instance, Israeli are believed to be mercenary, industrious, shrewd, loyal to family, religious.
There is a big amount of examples we can list about national character of different people. Proving the difference of the national stereotypes I want to compare Russian and English nations. There are a lot of features that vary.
The Russians are industrious, tough, brave, progressive and suspicious.
They are always considered to be nationalistic, over – patriotic (because of this reason they’re good soldiers), we are willing to respect opinion of other people.
Speaking about Englishmen I may note that they’re reserved, tradition-loving, courteous, honest, extremely nationalistic and etc. To my mind, they have a specific sense of humor. They say that they can’t understand our jokes and anecdotes not only because of the different meanings of the words, but because of their humor is more delicate.
Looking at these features of the Russians and the Englishmen it is not hard to mark out the differences. The Englishmen are reserved, but the Russians are open-hearted and communicative. The Englishmen are tradition-loving and the Russians, to my mind, don’t keep their traditions in such a degree.
There is a great majority of factors that influence the nations stereotype and its people’s character. People that live in the southern countries have less problems than those who live in the North and because of this they’re more cheerful and artistic.
The history also has a great influence on the national character. The peoples in Asia are revengeful because their forefathers often were at war with others. In Africa many
countries were colonies of the Great Britain, Holland, Spain and so on and they (Africans) were the slaves and because of this they’re still hard-working and industrious.
The National Character exists. It is not a myth, it’s a reality. But the National Character doesn’t describe the character of every person, it describes the character of people of nation in general. Every person has its own character, but according to the person’s belonging to some nation many traits of character are similar and these features may be explained as the national character.
For example, the Germans are regarded as scientifically-minded and industrious, they’re always considered solid, intelligent and mathematical. And, for instance, Israeli are believed to be mercenary, industrious, shrewd, loyal to family, religious. There is a big amount of examples we can list about national character of different people. Proving the difference of the national stereotypes I want to compare Russian and English nations. There are a lot of features that vary. The Russians are industrious, tough, brave, progressive and suspicious. They are always considered to be nationalistic, over — patriotic (because of this reason they’re good soldiers), we are willing to respect opinion of other people.
Speaking about Englishmen I may note that they’re reserved, tradition-loving, courteous, honest, extremely nationalistic and etc. To my mind, they have a specific sense of humor. They say that they can’t understand our jokes and anecdotes not only because of the different meanings of the words, but because of their humor is more delicate. Looking at these features of the Russians and the Englishmen it is not hard to mark out the differences. The Englishmen are reserved, but the Russians are open-hearted and communicative. The Englishmen are tradition-loving and the Russians, to my mind, don’t keep their traditions in such a degree. There is a great majority of factors that influence the nations stereotype and its people’s character. People that live in the southern countries have less problems than those who live in the North and because of this they’re more cheerful and artistic. The history also has a great influence on the national character. The peoples in Asia are revengeful because their forefathers often were at war with others. In Africa many countries were colonies of the Great Britain, Holland, Spain and so on and they (Africans) were the slaves and because of this they’re still hard-working and industrious. The National Character exists. It is not a myth, it’s a reality. But the National Character doesn’t describe the character of every person, it describes the character of people of nation in general. Every person has its own character, but according to the person’s belonging to some nation many traits of character are similar and these features may be explained as the national character.
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Другие топики по теме
Топик Культура и национальные стереотипы описывает такие понятия, как нация, национальная культура и этнические или национальные стереотипы. Например, понятие “нация” описывается как исторически сложившаяся устойчивая общность людей, возникшая на базе общности языка, религии, территории проживания, традиций и образа жизни, проявляющегося в общности культуры. Безусловно, национальный характер существует и, в зависимости от принадлежности человека к той или иной нации, многие черты характера схожи, и эти особенности могут быть объяснены
как национальный характер. В топике сравниваются национальные черты характеров немцев, израильтян, россиян, англичан, народов Азии и Африки, южан и северян.
The history also has a great influence on the national character. The peoples in Asia are revengeful because their forefathers often were at war with others. In Africa many countries were colonies of the Great Britain, Holland, Spain and so on and they (Africans) were the slaves and because of this they’re still hard-working and industrious.
Different nations have different characters. We expect every nation to have some typical qualities.
English people like reading a lot, especially newspapers-talking about the weather, going to a pub, discussing news and drinking beer there. They also like to spend time in a club. English people are considered to be cold, reserved and rather haughty(надменный) They rarely shake hands. The traditional love of the English for their homes is known all over the world. They prefer to spend free time at home with their families. And it is true that Englishmen prefer to live in the house of their own. But nowadays more and more flats are built and fewer detached and semi-detached houses.
The remarkable politeness is one of the most striking traits of the English. They are never tired of saying «Thank you» and «Sorry».The English take everything with exquisite sense of humor. They can be easily offended if you say they do not have it. It is well known all over the world that the English do not like noisy behavior. Nobody rushes for seats in buses or trains.
Many of the world’s famous sports began in England, including cricket, football, lawn tennis and rugby.
In fact every national character is a combination of good and bad traits. But still you must treat every nation with equal respect.
The four part of the United Kingdom have four nations that are differ from each other almost in every aspect of life.
Traditionally the English are thought to be reserved and shy of strangers. They don’t show much emotions. Besides, the English have the ability to control themselves in difficult situations. As far as I know they’re a little suspicious of change and rather conservative. Nevertheless, the Englishmen are very hardworking, responsible and honest.
The Scots on the contrary, are less reserved and very talkative. Actually, they like chatting especially the country people. They’re easy-going and have natural sense of humor. Moreover, the Scots have a strong sense of their values and traditions, which are in their national songs, dances, poetry, and manners. People say, they have a reputation of being rather thrifty, but despite this fact they are very generous and hospitable. The Scotts always welcome visitors with open arms and offer them plenty of food and drink.
- What are the main national traits of British people?
- What are the specific qualities of their character?
- Are the British tea-drinkers?
- What is your favourite dish?
- What are your favourite sports?
Traveling to all corners of the world gets easier and easier. We live in a global village, but this doesn’t mean that we all behave in the same way.
Firstly visiting different countries we should know how to behave when you meet someone for the first time. In many parts of Asia, there is no physical contact at allSecondly many countries have some rules about what you should and shouldn’t wear. In Japan, you should take off your shoes when entering a house or a restaurant.Then there are some rules about food and drink. In Mexico and Japan, many people prefer not to discuss business while eating. Lunch is time to relax and socialize, and the Japanese rarely drink alcohol at lunchtime.At last different countries have different points about doing business.
5. Do stereotypes connected with the British sound true?
Not always I can say. Some things are true but others are not.
F.e. The great British breakfast and afternoon tea are mostly found in hotels.
They really drink a lot of tea but coffee is also popular.They are shy and don’t make friends easily with strangers.They don’t spend much of money on clothes. And one more true fact is that when they meet they really begin their conversation about weather.
По материалам интернет-источников.
There are certain stereotypes of national character which are well known in Britain. For instance, the Irish are supposed to be great talkers, the Scots have a reputation for being careful with money, the Welsh are renowned for their singing abilities, and the English are considered to be reserved. These characteristics are, of course, only caricatures and are not reliable description of individual people from these countries.
British people give a relatively high value to the everyday personal contacts. Some writers on Britain have talked about the British desire ’to belong’, and it is certainly true that the pub, or the working man’s club, or the numerous other clubs devoted to various sports and pastimes play a very important part in many people’s lives. Many people make their social contacts through work and, partly as a result of this, the profession is also important aspect of their sense of identity. British people try to appear as if they belong to as high class
as possible, though nobody wants to be thought of as ’snobbish’.
The British have few living traditions and are too individualistic to have the same everyday habits as each other. They are rather proud of being different. However, this does not mean that they like change. They don’t. They may not behave in traditional ways, but they like symbols of tradition and stability. The British are rather conservative and their conservatism can combine with their individualism. Why should they change just to be like everyone else? Indeed, as far as they are concerned, not being like everyone else is a good reason not to change. Their driving on the left-hand side of the road is a good example to this. Systems of measurement are another example. The British government has been trying for many years to get British people to use the same scales that are used nearly everywhere else in the world. But everybody in Britain still shops in pounds and ounces.
The modern British are not really chauvinistic. Open hostility to people from other countries is very rare. If there is any chauvinism at all, it expresses itself through ignorance. Most British people know remarkably little about Europe and who lives there. The popular image of Europe seems to be that it is something to do with the
It is probably true that the British, especially the English, are more reserved than the people of many other countries. They find it comparatively difficult to indicate friendship by open displays of affection. For example, it is not the convention to kiss when meeting a friend. Instead, friendship is symbolised by behaving as casually as possible.
The British are comparatively uninterested in clothes. They spend a lower proportion of their income on clothing than people in most European countries do. Many people buy second-hands clothes and are not at all embarrassed to admit this. Of course, when people are ’on duty’, they have to obey some quite rigid rules. A male bank employee, for example, is expected to wear a suit with a tie at work. But on Sundays the British like to “dress down”. They can’t wait to take off their respectable working clothes and slip into something really scruffy. In fact, the British are probably more tolerant of strange’ clothing than people in most other countries.
The English people are great pet lovers. Practically every family has a dog or a cat, or both. They have special dog shops selling food, clothes and other things for dogs. There are dog hairdressing saloons and dog cemeteries. Millions of families have ’bird-tables’ in their gardens. Perhaps, this overall concern for animals is part of the British love for nature.
The British are always talking about the weather. Unlike many others, this stereotype is actually true to life. But constant remarks about the weather at chance meetings are not the result of polite conventions. They are not obligatory. Rather, they are the result of the fact that, on the one hand, to ask personal questions would be rude while, at the same time, silence would also be rude. The weather is a very convenient topic with which to ’fill the gap’.
British Stereotypes – Британские стереотипы
Разработку своего урока по теме «National Stereotypes» с презентацией к нему прислала наша коллега из г. Клецка Надежда Георгиевна Прищепа.
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Topic: National Character
Lesson: National Stereotype
Aims: Discussion of stereotypes, explaining, improving character adjective vocabulary
Activity: Discussion and comparison of National Stereotypes
I. Warm-up. How many countries do you remember?
T: Have you ever heard someone say Irish people are all drunks, or African-American people are always late, or women are bad drivers? Those are stereotypes: commonly held ideas about specific groups. You most often hear about negative stereotypes, but some are positive.
For example, there’s a stereotype that Asian people do better in school. One of many problems with any stereotype is that even if it’s true in some cases, it’s certainly not true in all cases.
II. Listen to the recording and check.
III. Reading. Let’s read the article and say what made the author unhappy.
Americans are:
arrogant – высокомерный
harsh – суровый
open-minded – открытый
materialistic – материалистический
ambitious – амбициозный
progressive – прогрессивный
efficient – эффективный
straightforward – простой, откровенный
practical – практический
fast food eaters – едоки быстрого питания
Australians are:
nature lovers – любители природы
shallow – поверхностный, пустой
honest – честный
open-minded – открытый
love to joke – любят шутить
meat eaters – мясоеды
sports lovers – любители спорта
surf all day – занимаются серфингом весь день
drink all night — пить всю ночь
Brasilians are:
impulsive – импульсивный
always late – всегда опаздывают
carnival addicts – обожают карнавалы
soccer and coffee lovers – любители футбола и кофе
criminals and robbers – преступники и грабители
inventive and constructive people – изобретательные и конструктивные люди
family oriented people – хорошие семьянины
community oriented people —
women are supermodels – женщины- супермодели
men are macho — мужчины — мачо
Canadians are:
submissive – покорны
agreeable – приятный
modest – скромный
open-minded –
progressive –
efficient –
straightforwrd –
polite – вежливый
respectful – почтительный, вежливый
anxious – тревожный, беспокойный
law-abiding – законопослушные
tolerant – толерантный, терпимый
anti – American – анти – американский
passive – пассивный
They care for handicapped / elderly / minorities ; they don’t like successful people.
The Chinese are:
hardworking – трудолюбивый
fast-learners – быстро обучаемы
open-minded –
ambitious – амбициозный
progressive –
business-oriented – бизнес-ориентированный
great at maths –способны в математике
terrible drivers – ужасные водители
arrogant – высокомерный
assertive – напористый
very short – очень низкие
do kung fu –занимаются кунг фу
wear glasses – носить очки
pirate and copy everything – пиратствовать и все копировать
don’t value contracts – не ценить контракты
drink green tea – пить зеленый чай
eat everything that lives – едят все, что живет
IV. Work in groups of three. Choose one of the nationalities described in the article and discuss:
1) Why might these character be true?
2) Why is it dangerous to think that all people have the same character traits?
3) Why can stereotyping be often bad?
4) Which stereotypes of their own country or region don’t you like? Why?
V. Look at the postcard from Britain describing a perfect European. Are they serious or humorous characteristics?
T: Express the same idea using the formal subject.
e.g. It is believed that Italians aren’t controlled.
Homework.
1)Write a short composition comparing their own region or country to another one. Ask them to include various stereotypes, as well as examples from their own experience that either confirm or refute the stereotypes they mention.
2) Learn the word ( in written form)
