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Практические задания. Breaking Stereotypes: An Inside Look
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Практические задания
1 Pre-Reading Discussion. – Answer the following questions.
a) Have you got any stereotypes about people of other cultures?
b) What are your stereotypes about Americans, British, Germans, etc.?
c) Watch video sequences about the British and American people and their lifestyles and comment on what you’ve seen.
d)Do the British and American people have much in common?
e) What are the ways to break stereotypes about other people?
2 Read the following text and do the exercises given below.
Breaking Stereotypes: An Inside Look
1) People worldwide believe certain stereotypes about people from other countries. Some stereotypes are positive and some are negative, but all are somewhat dangerous – or at least unkind – because they are too general. Although stereotypes are partly right, they are also partly wrong. A stereotype often begins with the word all: “All people from that country are poor. ” “All people in this city are impolite. ” People who believe a certain stereotype usually do so because they lack knowledge. Before going to another country or after being in that country for only a short time, people often carry many stereotypes with them; they believe that they “know” about the country. However, after living there for a long time, meeting many people and having many different experiences there, they change their opinions about stereotypes. As people learn more about another culture, they begin to see and appreciate the great variety of customs, educational levels, beliefs, and lifestyles.
2) I remember I used to believe a lot of stereotypes about Americans. Before I came here to travel (and later to live a few years), I thought that I already knew about American culture. For example, I used to think that everyone here spent a lot of time and money on new styles. I thought that most people were rich workaholics who lived in the suburbs and commuted to the cities every day. I was sure that all American families drove their big cars to baseball games every weekend, where they drank beer and ate hot dogs. I was certain that nobody knew anything about my country or world politics. As I visited people in different parts of the States and Canada, however, many of my ideas changed. I discovered that it’s difficult to describe a “typical” North American.
3) When I first came here on vacation, I stayed in motels, ate in inexpensive restaurants, and concentrated on going sightseeing to places such as Disneyland. It was interesting, but I didn’t get to know any of the people here. I saw them in public places, but I didn’t know how they lived. So I contacted a friend of my parents, and she invited me to stay with her family for a few days. The Harrison family lives in a small town in Connecticut, which almost seems to be a suburb of New York City. The wife, Gina (my parents’ friend), takes a commuter train to work in New York, where she teaches languages at a two-year college. Her husband, Robert, is a police officer who hopes to retire before he turns fifty. He dreams of moving to a small house on top of a mountain somewhere in the countryside, where he wants to cut wood, catch fish, write a novel, and “live a simple life”. Gina laughs and says they can’t afford to live a simple life because the two kids will need to go to college in a few years. Their kids seem to follow each new thing that comes along (e. g. pictures of rock music stars all over their bedrooms). They go to school, of course, but they’re also interested in so many activities – school plays, football, guitar lessons, etc. – that they’re almost never home. The Harrisons are a busy family with a lot of energy. They don’t spend much time together because each family member has his or her own interests. In some ways, the Harrisons fit my stereotypical ideas of an American family.
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4) While I was at the Harrisons’, Robert contacted a friend of his in San Francisco. He mentioned me in his letter, and I received an invitation to stay with Craig Burton and Lisa McKinney when I traveled west. Craig and Lisa are a couple who live downtown in an old house that they are trying to renovate; they can’t pay workers to fix up their house, so they’re doing most of the renovation work themselves. Lisa and Craig met each other years ago when they were both traveling around Europe. Typical college students of the time, they were interested in politics and impatient for social change, so together they demonstrated against war and worked to solve social problems. Nevertheless, when they had to get jobs, they gave up most of their political activities, and nowadays they don’t travel much, either. They get pleasure and satisfaction from working on their house; they also enjoy yard work, and when they have free time, they invite friends to weekend barbecues. Their values and goals are different now from twenty years ago; nevertheless, for me, Lisa and Craig present a contrast to the “typical American family”.
5) I think that my favourite visit was with the least typical American “family” I met during my travels. There were eight elderly people – from sixty-five to eighty-five years old – living together in a communal home. One warm summer afternoon, as we sat and talked in their backyard, the family told me about the problems of the elderly in America. Many older people not only have health problems but also financial difficulties; besides, they often feel unsafe, useless, and alone. By contrast, the enthusiastic people in this group have great energy and interest in life. They can satisfy their needs and get help from others in their communal house. Several of them are good cooks; some enjoy yard work; others provide transportation to the store, the doctor, and so on; still others offer entertainment – they play the piano, sing and dance, tell stories, etc. The most important advantages of their lifestyle, however, are the security, the sense of importance, the self-confidence, and the friendship that these elderly people offer one another. I consider my experience with their family one of the most valuable of my trip. ( Interactions 2. November 27, 2002)
A Choose the sentence that best expresses the main idea of each paragraph.
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Paragraph 1:
a) Stereotypes are always wrong.
b) It’s good to live in another country for a long time and learn about different lifestyle.
c) People who don’t know much about another culture may have over-simplified ideas – stereotypes – about it.
d) There is a variety of lifestyles in every culture.
Paragraph 2:
a) People who live in the United States have different lifestyles from people who live in Canada.
b) Everyone has a lot of stereotypes about Americans.
c) Most Americans follow styles, go to baseball games, have big cars, live in the suburbs, and know nothing about other countries.
d) Ideas that people have about another culture can change when they’ve actually spent time with different people from that culture.
Paragraph 3:
a) The Harrisons fit several of the stereotypes of a “typical” American fa-mily.
b) Most Americans dislike their lifestyles and want to move to the countryside.
c) The members of the Harrison family don’t seem to love each other very much because they never spend any time together.
d) It’s interesting to go sightseeing to places such as Disneyland, but it’s also interesting to see how people actually live.
Paragraph 4:
a) Lisa and Craig got married after they traveled around Europe, and now they are living in an old house.
b) Because they weren’t successful in changing society through political action, they got jobs and stopped traveling.
c) A couple without children who live in a downtown area present a contrast to the stereotype of the American family.
d) People don’t keep the same values and goals that they had when they were in college.
Paragraph 5:
a) The communal lifestyle may provide many advantages to older people who no longer live in the “typical American family”.
b) Elderly people who live alone often get sick and are afraid of crime.
c) If people have the opportunity, they will choose to live in big family groups rather than in couples or alone.
d) A good place to stay when you travel is in a communal house because there are many people to talk to.
B Discussing the reading:
1) In your opinion, which did the writer like the most? The least? Why do you think so?
2) What stereotypes do people from other countries have about your country? How are these ideas wrong?
3 Read the passage and decide if you agree with its author and explain why.
My impression of America and Americans prior to my internships (in Seattle) were based on information received through mass media, movies, and my perception that our country lost the “Cold War”. I believed in a wide variety of stereotypes which are a bit uncomfortable to describe, but I will describe them anyway. I beg you to consider that, as a Scorpio, I can be a bit too sarcastic and harsh.
My stereotypesprior to the trip to the USA:
1) Americans are not polite and carry themselves arrogantly.
2) Americans eat hamburgers, drink Coca-Cola, and do not understand a thing about exquisite foods.
3) Americans think only about money, and during conversations measure the other person’s potential as a client and prospects for profit.
4) Americans have very bad / weak family relations, especially between parents and children.
5) Americans teenagers do not want to study and think of school as a playground – they mock teachers, behave poorly, etc.
6) Americans are not able to maintain close friendships.
7) Americans are crazy about sexual harassment: men are afraid of “unnecessarily” looking at a woman and women terrorize them with threats of taking them to court “If you don’t…”
a) Can you predict how the author’s views changed after this trip?
b) Compare your answers with the original letter.
After my trip to the USA and life with home hosts mystereotypes underwent a serious change and I formed quite a different view of American citizens. In order to be consistent, I will present my new views in the same order as above.
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1) Americans are polite, but they are very independent. For example, people say ‘sorry’ quite frequently for actions that would be considered normal in Russia. Americans say ‘sorry’ when they pass close by another person in a store, when they take dumbbells from a spot near you in the gym, when they cough unexpectedly during a lecture, they say ‘excuse me’ when they request that you let them pass to get off the bus, etc. But at the same time, they feel entirely comfortable doing whatever they feel like at a certain other times: women put on their makeup while riding on city buses; during important gatherings anyone can drink coffee or leave the room for a minute; during a presentation the lecturer can put his feet up on the table, etc.
2) Americans most assuredly eat hamburgers, popcorn, and drink Coca-Cola. However, they also love Mexican, Chinese, and other types of dishes. At home they try to cook something that is very fast, filling, and tasty. They do not cook for the future but if there are leftovers, they save them in plastic containers. The residents of Seattle drink enormous amounts of excellent coffee.
3) Americans do often think about money, business, retirement plans, shopping, etc. Discussions amongst our group and American businessmen were very interesting: the businessmen tried to learn our opinions about the market in the Urals, our perspectives on the armed conflict in Kosovo, etc. At the same time, however, Americans are fully open to heart-to-heart discussions: if the discussion becomes heated, they say calm and uphold to their opinions.
4) Although American relations within the family differ somewhat from Russian relations, there are normal, warm relations between spouses and children. At the same time, children are taught from an early age to keep track of and economize money, and plan things according to their personal abilities. When a father sells rather than gives a car to his teenage son, he gives him a lesson in life: nothing in life is free. The majority of children begin their own personal household away from their parents immediately after finishing school.
5) I visited an American school and saw that the students behaved themselves completely. I was very surprised to see that several students sat in the library and read books prior to the beginning of classes (around 7: 00 in the morning). I was also surprised by their interest in foreign languages, especially Italian and Russian. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that at this school there were two gymnasiums, a large swimming pool (of standard Olympic size: 50 meters long), and that the teenagers study music, including jazz, and play in school bands. Naturally, Americans are able to be friends with each other from a distance. It is possible, however, that they simply require more time than Russians before fully trusting another person. It is possible that they are more careful with what they say, but, all the same, they are able to be good friends.
6) I do not know how it is in other cities in America, but the companies where I was able to work see to it that any employee, irregardless of sex, race, age, etc., is made to feel comfortable. Women in the workplace are colleagues and not sexual objects for making hints at or flirting with. And this doesn’t cause problems for any of the workers, nor did it cause a problem for me.
7) In addition, the atmosphere was very light: people joking and patting one another on the shoulder was entirely normal.
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I would again like to repeat that my opinions are by no means the truth in the previous instances and that I was unable to visit other states and other large cities in America in order to gain a more complete picture of American citizens. All the same, the meetings and conversations I had at both my internship and outside life in Seattle showed me that Russians and Americans share many cultural similarities and are able to quickly find a common language.
(A. Bryukhanov. A Collapse of Stereotypes)
c) What new facts did you come across?
4 Read text A or B and discuss with a partner how different people see Americans and British. What are their differences and similarities?
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