1. Task Reporting on body language

2. Skills building 1: Anticipating a response

3. Try to find out some behavioural differences between Chinese and westerners.

5. Understand how to predict the answers to the question while listening. Where do they live? When did this take place? Information you expect to have name of a place a specific time Question

6. How long have they been in this country? a time period Which hand do Arabs eat with? left or right hand Why would you like to write a book about customs? A reason or reasons

7. Decide if the statements below are true or false, and then listen to the interview to check your answers. 1.In china a person who invites you to dinner might be upset. 2. It is polite to eat with your left hand in Arab countries. 3. In Japan you can use lots of soap in the bath. T F F

8. 4. Making a slurping noise while eating spaghetti in Italy is okay. 5. When eating noodles in Japan, making a slurping noise is okay. 6. It is better to wear your shoes in a Chinese, Japanese or Korean house. 7. When you are late for a meeting, there is no need to say sorry. F T F F

9. 8. In England it is usual to talk about the weather when you start a conversation. 9. In the West, when you are complaining, it is usual to say worry first. T T

10. Tapescript Interviewer: Good morning, Ms Wang. Can you talk to us about your new book? Ms Wang: Yes, I decided to write a book about customs around the world. One reason is that the first time I took a foreigner home to meet my mother, the

11. foreigner did not try all the dishes she offered him. My mother was very upset and thought the foreigner didi not like her food. The foreigner thought he should not eat everything as he did not want to look greedy. I realized there are some differences between cultures that people might find interesting.

12. Interviewer: So what is included in the book? Ms Wang: Many different behaviours, gestures and rules. For example, in Arab countries it is not polite to eat with your left hand. Interviewer: Have you heard any funny stories about people getting the customs

13. wrong? Ms Wang: There are always stories about foreigners going to Japan and using soap in public baths. That is a really bad thing to do because the Japanese wash with soap first and only get in the bath when they are already clean. I also wrote about Japanese

14. people going to Italy and slurping their spaghetti. Western people think that it is terrible to make a noise when you are eating, but in Japan the Japanese believe that slurping shows you enjoy your noodles. Another example is wearing shoes in the house. People in China, Japan and Korea always take their shoes off when they go inside someone’s house, while in England

15. you would not take your shoes off unless you were in your own home. Interviewer: Do you have advice for business people in your book? Ms Wang: Oh yes, one piece of advice is that no matter what country you are in, if you are late for a meeting, you should say sorry. It doesn’t matter how

16. important you are! Another thing is that in England you can always start a conversation by talking about the weather. Interviewer: I understand that complaining is different in the West. Is that right? Ms Wang: Actually, yes. As strange as

17. it may seem, Westerners always say sorry before they complain. People would find you quite rude if you did not. Interviewer: Thank you, Ms Wang. That was very interesting and good luck with the book. Ms Wang: Thank you.

18. Step 1: filling in a chat 1. good 2.telling the true 3. Yes 4. No 5. Hello or goodbye 6. crazy 7. where you are (you place) 8. good job 9. OK

19. Skills building 2:formulating written questions Remember the following points when writing questions. Get to the point! Give all the necessary information. Use simple language.

20. Sample answers 2. Last night, we watched a television show on CCTV 8. Did you see it? If so, did you like it? 3. I finished a book last night. How about you? What happened in the last book you read?

21. Step 2: surveying your classmates 1. a 2. b 3. a 4. a

22. 5. You and your friend are taking photos in a park. You are posing and your friend is holding a camera. After a flash, your friend holds up his hand with fingers pointing up and palm facing out. Index finger and thumb make an ‘O’. a. He is saying 'OK'. b. He is asking you to pose again. Other:_________________________

23. 6. Your daughter and you are going shopping. You want to buy a new skirt for your daughter. You pick up a blue one and show it to her. She shakes her head from side to side.Then you pick up a red one. She nods her head up and down. Your daughter: a.likes the blue skirt. b. is satisfied with the red skirt you chose. Other: __________________________

24. 7. All of your family are enjoying a big dinner on Mid-Autumn Day. After the meal, you lean back and pat your stomach with the palm of your hand. You mean: a. Oh, I am full. It's quite delicious. b. I have got a stomach-ache. Other:_______________________

25. Skills building 3: Organizing a report Answers 8 4 2 6 3 5 1 9 7

26. Writing a report on body language Step 3

27. Introduction Procedures/Method Results/Findings Conclusion

28. Sample answers This report is about body language used in both China and the United States. It looks at how the same gesture is used in two different countries and how the gesture expresses different meanings in the two countries. It also states the similarities and differences of body language in these two countries.

29. The information was collected from my classmates through a survey. In order to conduct the survey, I created some situations sand answers for some common gestures for my classmates to respond to. After collecting their answers, I recorded their answers and analyzed the statistics.

30. From the outcome of my survey, we can see that for most of the gestures, people in both countries share the same meaning, as with the gestures of the head nodding up and down, the head shaking from side to side and thumbs up. There are also some differences

31. in the meaning of some gestures. For example, there are differences in the meaning of the gesture of waving, when the palm faces out and the hand moves left and right. In the USA it means ‘Hello!’, but in China it means 'N0.', a negative answer. Nowadays, some young Chinese also use

32. this gesture to greet others. So with the increase in cultural, educational and economic exchange between the two countries, the differences in body language between the two nations will become smaller and smaller. These results suggest that people from different cultures more or less can

33. understand each other by using these gestures. It seems that in the future we can make full use of body language to help us convey our ideas or feelings when we talk with foreign friends.