Gender issues in America

So ready to find in every little thing some general, obsessive topic, to dissect it collectively, to take it to its extreme conclusion, extreme instances, to articulate and define it, to institutionalize it –whether it is a question of D-Day, catastrophes, jaws, earthquakes, parasites, cancerous rays or AIDS – Americans are for the moment obsessively preoccupied with sexual harassment and the sexual abuse of children. It seems to me, a foreigner forgetting for a moment where I’m from, that America is living through all the myth of all the cultures that came into being before her; that she is experiencing them passionately, collectively, in a fairy-tale, ignorant mish-mash, where the origin quoted is not important, what matters is the story. It seems to me that in America a theme that has the structure of myth, a primordial form, a fairy-tail, an archetype, really flourishes.

Myth is a fable; American culture is fabulous, American culture is profoundly mythic. So it is not at all clear ( and not at all important) whether the theme of sexual harassment has been brought to the surface by genuine and, they say, alarming statistics, or whether it is just the infantile longing of collective America for a new myth, a new collective psychoanalytical theme. Or both. Such a theme is readily taken up by the media, the newspapers, publishing houses, television, the firm industry, it becomes a public, collective and personal nightmare, it determines behavior, attitudes, it stimulates new laws, and like adrenaline it quickens the collective American metabolism, sharpens the sensibilities, and clarifies attitudes.

(by Dubraska Ugresic. Have a Nice Day: From the Balkan War to the American dream)

Exercise 6. Make a plan to the text.

Exercise 7. Write an essay to the given topic: What cultures mostly influence the Kazakhstani one? (Use 100 words)

Check yourself

1. Give the equivalent to ‘Она была принята в медицинский колледж’

a) She was admitted to medical school.

b) She decided to continue her education in Paris.

c) It was difficult for her to start a practice in the USA.

d) A serious eye infection made her abandon her dream of becoming a surgeon.

2. Give Russian equivalent to ‘She decided to continue her education in Paris’.

a) Она была принята в медицинский колледж в Париже.

b) Она не училась в Париже.

c) Она передумала учиться в Париже.

d) Она решила продолжить учиться в Париже.

3. Which sentence is not used in the Past Simple?

a) She is a good specialist.

b) She wrote too many letters.

c) She couldn’t graduate from medical school.

d) She couldn’t establish her hospital.

4. Which sentence is used in the Past Simple negative?

a) She was a woman.

b) She has written too many letters.

c) She couldn’t graduate from medical school.

d) She can’t establish her hospital.

Glossary

English	Kazakh	Russian
jaws[dʒɔ:z]	ақыл үйрету	нравоучения
harassment [hə’ræsmənt, hærəsmənt]	мазасыздану	забота, беспокойство
primordial[prai’mɔdi əl]	бастапқы	первичный, начальный
covert[kɔ’v ə: t]	баспана, жасырын	убежище, скрытый
infection [ ɪn’fekʃən ]	инфекция	инфекция, заражение
own[oʊn]	меншiк	собственный
to establish [is’t æ bli ʃ]	ашу	открыть
tribe [traib]	тайпа	племя
to cure [‘kjʋər]	емдеу	лечить
prophecy ['prɒfɪsɪ]	болжау	предрекать

LIW № 20

Prepare a presentation on the film ‘G. I. Jane’ (1997).

LIW №21

Write a report on the film ‘Tootsie’ (1982). What does the film say to views about current days men and women? What has changed in their relations nowadays?

References

Main literature:

1.R. Side and G. Wellman. Grammar and Vocabulary for Cambridge Advanced. Longman, 2011.

2. Зубанова И.В., Никольская А.И. Такая Разная Америка. Москва, 2012.

Additional literature:

3. Internet resource. www.vikipedia.

4. Nick Robinson and others. Face to face. CAE. Advanced. Student’s Book. 2012.

5. Objective. CAE. Advanced. Student’s Book. 2011.

6. Вайль П., Генис А. Американа. Слово, 2014.

HAND OUT № 15 (135) Discipline: English as a foreign language Credits- 2 Advanced level Practical lesson Lexical theme: Culture of the United States Grammar: Structures with get and have. Causatives Teacher: assistant professor Akbalaeva Zhanat Kelzhanovna

E xplain the following quotations:

Those who know nothing of the foreign languages know nothing of their own. (J.W. von Goethe)

Culture is widening of the mind and of the spirit. (J. Nehru)

GRAMMAR COMMENT: Structures with get and have. Causatives

We can use get and have in both active and passive patterns when we talk about making other people do something for us. (I’ll get the waiter to bring us menu I’ll have the waiter bring us menu.) The passive: I’ll have/get the menu brought to you. We can sometimes use get instead of be: They got punished by the principal.

Complete each of the sentences using a causative form:

Example: Hasn’t that film developed yet?

Haven’t you had that film developed yet?

1. Can it be true that you’re really going to deliver my sofa today?

Can it be true that I’m _______________________________ today?

2. One of the others agreed to post my letters for me.

I got ________________________________ to post my letters for me.

3. My dentist is supposed to be capping my two front teeth this morning.

I’m _______________________________this morning.

4. My car really need serviced.

I really __________________________ serviced.

5. Why did you let them go without signing the receipt?

Why didn’t you ________________________ letting them go?

Give Russian equivalents to the sentences in the upper given exercise.

Exercise 1. [T. 15]. Text “Strange behavior”. Listen to four friends talking about strange behavior. Mark sentences T(true), F(false).

		true	false
1	Pete has a friend called Martina and she owns two rabbits.
2	Martina has got a habit of talking to Pete everywhere she goes.
3	There was a couple that used to have a bag of toy animals, children’s toys.
4	The couple used to line the toys up, so that the toys could look out of the window.
5	Natalie don’t find the couple’s behavior bizzar.

Exercise 2.Give the brief content of the text you have listened to.

Exercise 3. Speak on the given topic "Nothing ventured, nothing gained" - If you don't take a risk, there is no opportunity.  In the U.S. business world and in other areas, many people place a high value on risk taking. Many small businesses and new product ideas exist because of someone's willingness to take a risk. Business owners know that there is risk involved in starting a business, but they also know that if they don't take a risk, there is no opportunity to be successful. The value of risk taking is most likely rooted in U.S. history and the individualist mentality that is common in the U.S.

Exercise 4. Discuss the picture associations and compare with your country ones.

Pic.1Edward Hopper's 1942 painting Nighthawks depicts a typical American diner and is an example of increased self-confidence in the unique elements in American culture.

Pic.2 American cultural icons, apple pie, baseball, and the American flag.

Exercise 5. Read the first passage of the text and translate the second one.