Culture

Shock

Conversation Class

LISTENING
QUESTIONS
TEXT

Teacher
Fellipe Lobo
Questions:
What is culture shock?
Have you ever experienced culture
shock?
Have you ever experienced
reverse culture shock?
What is the best/most important thing
your culture has given to the world?
What is the best/most important
thing your culture/country has
adopted from another culture?
If you could choose three aspects of
your culture to put in a "time box" for
the future, what would you put in it?
What are some things that define a
culture? (music, language, ...)
Do you know much about your
own culture?
What do you think is interesting
about your own culture?
When people from other countries
think about your culture, what do
they usually think of?
What do you like most about your
own culture?
What do you like least about your
culture?
What does it mean to be polite in
your culture?
What is considered rude in your
culture?
Vocabulary:
STRICT
When you talk about 'strict' rules, this refers to rules that are enforced carefully and with
no flexibility. 'Strict' also implies very conservative ideas.

- He is on a very strict diet. He only eats vegetables.

- It is a very strict company, but it's a good job.

PATRIARCHAL
A 'patriarchal' society is a society where the men have the most power.

- It was a patriarchal business, and it was difficult to be the only woman.

- His family came from a very strict patriarchal community.

SHUN
If you 'shun' someone, you stay far away from them. This could be because you don't like
them or because you are embarrassed by them.

- After the problems at work, my coworkers basically shunned me.

- He never shuns poor people and usually gives them money.

MAD AT SOMEONE
To be 'mad at someone' is to be angry with him.

- My best friend is mad at me and I don't know why.

- He always gets so mad at me when we play chess and I win.

SPAWN
In this case 'spawn' is the child or offspring of Satan. This word usually has a negative
feeling.

- My boss is the spawn of the Devil.

- She is really beautiful, but her children look like the spawn of Godzilla.

TRAMP
A person with no home, job or money who walks around and asks for money.

- The street was full of tramps

- He lost his job and now is living as a tramp.

Vocabulary:

STRICT / PATRIARCHAL / SHUN / MAD AT SOMEONE / SPAWN / TRAMP

1) He was ________________ in his family for marrying a girl from a different religion.
2) She seemed like the ________________ of Dracula because she was always biting
other kids.
3) Do you promise you won't get _______________ if I tell you the truth?
4) Because of his health issues he has to be very _______________ about what he eats.
5) It is hard to get used to living in such a _______________ society. I'm used to
equality.
6) _______________ know the houses you get the good food.
Quiz:
1) What happened for the first time at
18?
a) She got a job
b) She had a boyfriend
c) Both of these things
2) How does she describe her father?
a) Relaxed
b) Strict
c) Outgoing
3) What was life like when she first went
to Lebanon?
a) A big relief
b) Very difficult
c) A lot of fun
Questions:
How do young people in your
culture behave differently from
people in Canada?
Have you ever felt confused by
the actions of someone from
another culture? If so, tell me
about it.
What are the five most
important values of your
culture? (For example, Family)
If you could change one thing
about your culture, what would it
be?
Would you ever consider
marrying or dating someone
from another culture?
Would you ever consider living
permanently in a country other
than your home country? Why or
why not?
4) Why were people upset with her
in Lebanon?
a) She was too Canadian
b) She wasn' enough Canadian
c) Both of these
5) What made it difficult for her?
a) The language barrier
b) Her style of dress
c) Her tattoos
6) What happened at the end of her
stay in Lebanon?
a) She wanted to go home
b) The old ladies loved her
c) She decided to stay for good
Do you think "when in Rome,
do as the Romans do" is
always good advice? Why or
why not? Have you ever been
in a situation where you felt
you had to "do as the Romans
do"?
What do you think is important
when visiting another culture?
If a group of people just came
to your country from overseas,
what advice would you give
them?
What culture besides your own
do you admire? Why?
If aliens visited your country,
what might surprise them?
Tak a lo :
Studying abroad: culture shock
Text:

Studying in a foreign country can be exciting.

It can be difficult too, especially if the culture
is very different from your own. However,
there are often surprises, even if the culture
is very similar. When Megan, a British
student, first arrived here in the United
States she knew that Americans ate their
food with a knife and fork. ‘But they don’t use
the knife and fork like we do,’ says Megan.
‘In Britain we eat with the fork in the left hand
and the knife in the right hand. Whereas
Americans often just use a fork in the right
hand.’
For students who come here from more different backgrounds, settling in can take
longer. Kit-ken, a student who came from Taiwan only a few months ago, told us
‘When I first arrived everything was new and exciting. I really liked the differences
between here and home. I was happy to be in a new country. Now, though, I miss
my family and friends and feel a bit lonely. Sometimes I’m confused about what to
do. There are still lots of things that I like, but now there are more things I dislike. I
feel really homesick!’

For advice we turned to some students who now have few problems about being a
student here. Seydou arrived from Senegal two years ago. He told us ‘Kit-ken
shouldn’t worry, this is perfectly normal. I felt exactly the same as she did. I didn’t
understand the culture and my English wasn’t improving, either.’

Seydou realised this was because all his friends were from his own country. ‘So I
decided to get to know some North American students, and other international
students. I went to the student union where there are a lot of different clubs. There
are sports clubs, dance clubs, clubs for people who have the same religion, clubs
for people who want to find out more about something – there are loads! I saw
there was a club for students interested in music and so I joined that. It made all
the difference! I made friends quite quickly, and I was able to understand the
culture a bit better. The students were interested in me, too. We talked about the
differences, and I began to feel a lot happier. We now get on well and often hang
out together.’

Miguel from Mexico added, ‘My main problem was the food. I really missed eating
my favourite dishes! Cooking for myself was also hard and I ate too much fast
food, which was not good for me. Then I found a Mexican restaurant nearby. Now I
go there quite a lot, and I often take other students to give it a try. Also my mum
sends me packages with Mexican food in them, and that really helps, too.
Understanding a new culture is important, but it’s good to have things from home,
too.’
Todd: So, Rina, now you are Lebanese (Mm-hm) and you
grew up in a very small Canadian town.
Rina: Oh, yes.
Todd: So you really have two cultures. What's it like growing
up with two cultures?
Rina: In the beginning it was very hard. My dad was
very strict. I wasn't allowed to work. I had to fight to have my
first job at 19.
Todd: Wow. At 19.
Rina: At 19. I wasn't allowed to have a boyfriend. I had to
fight for that one two, and I had my first boyfriend at 18.
Wasn't allowed to go out. First high school dance was grade
11. So, I hated it in the beginning. I was, but now I
appreciate it and I know where my parents were coming
from.
Todd: So, it this the standard Lebanese family type culture
where daughters are not allowed to work?
Rina: Ah, yeah, my dad had basically believed that if I went
out and worked I would, you know, be hit on by guys. It just
wasn't a place for his daughter, and typically before, yeah,
women don't work. They stay home. They took care of the
kids. They, you know, it was a typical patriarchal society and
my dad was very, very strict, and I spent a lot of my
childhood pushing away my culture because of that.
Todd: And how do you feel about your culture now?
Rina: I'm very, very proud of it. I love it. It's nice to be
different and I'm glad I get that chance to do that. Um, the
only thing, when I was in Lebanon, it was hard as well
because people didn't see me as Canadian, and they didn't
see me as Lebanese You know I was, a lot of people didn't
talk to me because of it. I went there and a lot of
people shunned me basically, so.
Todd: So even though you had no language barrier at all
cause you speak Lebanese?
Rina: Yep, yep, no, they basically, you know they were mad
at me because I was too Canadian, or they were mad at me
that I wasn't enough Canadian, and like, it was just, you
know, insane.
Transcript:
Todd: That's pretty tough.
Rina: Yeah, well, they have their, they have their image of
what you know, what Western society is like from movies
and, you know, because you know I have my tattoos, they
thought I was just basically Satan's spawn,and because I
wasn't running around like a tramp, they thought well, "What
is she is doing? What is she supposed to?" it was just the
worst of both world's really.
Todd: Ah, that's terrible.
Rina: Yeah, so because, they do, they have, and actually I
have to specify this: I was in a village. Like, both of my
parents are from villages
Todd: Oh, I see.
Rina: In Beirut, it's different, but when I was in the villages,
where I stayed the majority of the time, it was like that, but I
got, I made my little older ladies love me, but they were
talking to me at the end, having coffee with me while I
smoked my cigarettes, yep, yep.
Todd: Oh, that's good to hear.