English SME & SSE copy 1

Key Unit Competence: To use language learnt in the context of Cultural diversity and African development

INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITY

6.1. Describing Being in a Foreign Country

6.1.1. LEARNING ACTIVITY

Reading and text analysis.

Pre- reading activity

Question:

Imagine that you are in a foreign country where everybody behaves in a way you are not familiar with. They cannot speak your language; their beliefs, foods and ways of dressing are different from yours. How would you react in such a situation?

•  Text: Living in a foreign country: How to adapt?

Living in a foreign country is hard enough as it is, with all the cultural and administrative issues you must deal with. However, if you don’t want to get stuck in the expatriate bubble, you’ll need to learn to adjust to life in a foreign country.

While living in a foreign country sounds exciting and romantic, it does have a catch. When foreigners tread on unfamiliar ground, they tend to stick to what is familiar to them. Thus, many expatriates never make the transition from expatriates to compatriots. After all, becoming a part of the local culture is probably the hardest part of life abroad.

It is tempting to share your experiences of living in a foreign country exclusively with other expatriates. Nobody else will understand your hesitation to try the local food, your problems with adjusting to the pace of life and your ambivalence towards social customs as well as those who are in the same boat. However, in order to get the most out of your expatriate experience, you need to break out of your comfortable little cocoon after a while and try to immerse yourself in the local culture. If you let go of false impressions and stereotypes, then you have already taken the first major step. Living in a foreign country can then become a truly life-altering experience.

It is not as easy as it seems to adjust to life abroad.

The process of making the transition from living like an expatriate to a more local lifestyle takes time. Culture shock is part and parcel of living abroad and hits all of us eventually. The trick is not to let it get the better of you. After all, it takes some time for all international travelers and expatriates to get used to their new environment.

For most people who live in a foreign country, many aspects of the local culture seem strange at first. This might appear exciting at first. The initial reason for moving abroad is after all often the wish to explore foreign cultures.

However, after living in a foreign country for a while, little things that you initially considered charming may begin to annoy you. You will remember how everything ran on schedule back home, how clean your former hometown was, or how much more relaxed and friendly everyone seemed.

Everybody who decides on living in a foreign country needs some time to adjust to their new environment. Lina (32) felt that way when she moved from Sweden to Ecuador. Everything seemed different from her hometown Gothenburg, and after the burst of initial excitement, those differences started to get to her.

However, after a while, she began to accept that things were simply not the same in Quito. Until you get to this point, try to be respectful, patient, and humble.

After all, you are a guest living in a foreign country, at least until you have made the transition from being expatriate to compatriot.

Adapted from https://www.internations.org/guide/global/living-in-a-foreign-countryhow- ;to adapt 15281 retrieved on March 19th, 2018

•  Comprehension questions

1. Which obstacles is an immigrant likely to face in the host country?

2. Explain why people move to different countries and places.

3. Explain the right attitude that an immigrant should adopt and say why.

4. Based on the above passage, discuss at least five reasons why you would

adapt to new cultures if you moved to a different country or city.

5. Why does the transition from living as an expatriate to adapting to the local lifestyle take time?

6.1.2. APPLICATION ACTIVITY

Vocabulary, word pronunciation, sentence and essay writing

1. Use a dictionary and thesaurus to look up the missing meanings of the words/phrases and pronunciation in the table below. Copy the table into your book and fill in the blank spaces.

2. Construct different sentences using the following words and phrases. Closely refer to the passage.

a. adjust

b. unfamiliar ground

c. ambivalence

d. life altering

e. transition

f. expatriates

g. Culture shock

h. compatriot

3. Write 150 words essay discussing the importance of adapting to new cultures.

6.2. Comparing cultures

•  Text: My new home

“An American is anyone who lives in the United States of America. Whether it is an immigrant or a natural born citizen, they are an American.” My secondgrade teacher used to say this to us when we were in our Social Science class.

When I heard these words, I felt an unusual joy. But this joy was not for me, it was for my parents. As I am a natural born citizen, my parents are immigrants.

At a young age, I could not quite make out if I was an American or an Asian Indian. My life would always go two ways. When I was at school, I felt like an American. I spoke, dressed, and acted like my classmates. But at home, it was a different story. We spoke a different language and my grandparents always wore different clothes.

At school, I always got along with the other students and as far as I can remember, they liked me. I was treated just like everyone else and everyone, including my teachers, was nice to me. Sometimes I am put in the ‘spotlight’ when someone asks about my culture and traditions. It is no big deal because it does not bother me. If I am from a different nationality, I will get questions asked about my culture. Sometimes I like it when others ask me about my culture. It shows individuality in me. I do not think there is anything wrong with being different or individual. I am glad that school is not a problem for me because education is important to my family and me.

I often ask my father many times why he came to America. He always says the same thing;for better education and more opportunities. Whatever he has done till today and will ever do is for my siblings and me. Because of that, I do not ask him anything else. This way I do not feel guilty of reminding him of his homeland, India. After a hard life in India, my father came here so he can give his children a good education and not give them hardship. I know there is no way I can pay him back for all he does. That is why I want to fulfill his dreams. He wishes to see all his children happy and well settled after we start our careers.

And, I know I can make him happy in many other ways, but I want to make him very happy by becoming a doctor. After he knows we are successful, he will be relived, and I will be too.

Education is just one area in which America has opened its doors. America is full of different kinds of people and nationalities. I feel as if I am not the only one from a different culture. Along with me, there are millions of other people who live in two worlds. That is the good thing about America. This country gives chances to people to find their spot in this world. I am just one out of a million.

In America people can practice their traditions as individuals, rather than just one nationality practicing the same tradition.

In my family, we have many traditions that are not like the traditions of other people. A common tradition is taking off our shoes when entering our homes.

When I go to my friends’ homes, I sometimes forget they leave their shoes on, and so I start to take off mine. Then I remember, so I just follow them into their homes, like everything’s okay, nothing went wrong. But when they come to my home, they always take their shoes off, because it is our tradition. And, for that, I respect them. Also, every night we sit together at the dinner table where homemade Indian food is served. We are vegetarians, so there is no meat in the house. Every night, after dinner, we sit in front of God and pray to him for safety, happiness, and for him to always be with us.

Then there are those special days, the holidays. Unfortunately, our holidays do not consist of Thanksgiving or Christmas, but consist of the holidays celebrated in India. Such holidays include Navrati, where we dress up in our cultural costumes and dance a cultural dance all night long at a community gathering. A holiday that follows Navrati is Diwali. This is a five-day celebration for the New Year. Then there are colorful holidays, like Holi. This is when everyone dresses in white and throws around forty different colored powders or colored water at each other to show the absence of darkness.

Here in America, we celebrate Navrati only on weekends. We call up friends and relatives on Diwali to wish them a prosperous New Year. On Holi, if we get lucky, we get to go to a temple close by to celebrate for an hour or two. This is because we do not have off for such holidays here. It is usually on weekdays, some people must go to work, and others have to go to school. When I was young, I did not know why we got off for holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, but not for holidays like Navrati and Diwali. As I grew older, I came to realize the differences and learned to adjust to the circumstances.

Although there are so many differences in my two cultures, I never let myself mix them up. I leave my American culture outside my home and I leave my Indian culture inside my home. Sometimes I find it hard when I am stuck in the doorway. I remember what my father said once at the dinner table. He said, “Yes, I grew up in India, and all my childhood memories are there. If something happens in India, it will upset me. But I am also living in America. America has also given me a home, so now I must worry about America more than India, as I live here.” So, just as my father has accepted America, I must accept my American way of life, but I will never forget my Indian customs.

Extracted from: https://www.pbs.org/weta/myjourneyhome/essays/sejal_p.html

•  Comprehension questions

1. What could the teacher of the writer always tell students about an American person?

2. Explain why the writer felt unusual joy whenever someone talked about nationality?

3. Explain the challenges faced by the writer due to cultural diversity.

4. Give reasons why the family of the author left their homeland to America. Closely refer to the passage.

5. Compare Indian culture and American culture as discussed in the passage.

6. Which pieces of advice did the father give to his family about both cultures?

7. Recommend some pieces of advice to the people who struggle with new cultures.

6.2.2. APPLICATION ACTIVITY

Vocabulary, sentence construction

1. Find the meaning of the following words as used in the passage using dictionaries and internet

a. Spotlight

b. Customs

c. Stuck

d. Immigrant

e. Homeland

2. Construct meaningful sentences using the following words:

a. Spotlight

b. Customs

c. Stuck

d. Immigrant

e. Homeland

3. Write a paragraph comparing the culture of your community with that of community different from yours.

6.3. Cultural Diversity

6.3.1. PRE-READING ACTIVITY

Read and explain the following quotes

1. “Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” -- Maya Angelou (African American Poet, Civil Rights Leader, National Women’s Hall of Fame; b. 1928)

2. “A blessed deed is saying hello with a smile to someone you meet on the street, in the shop, in the bus, in the office, in the church, in the holy places, in the mosque, at the park, at the school, at the university…..’ This is the greatest action of belonging to one another.”

Lailah Gifty Akita, Think Great: Be Great!

• Text: Importance of culture diversity

Why is cultural diversity a good thing? Culture is the lens with which we evaluate everything around us; we evaluate what is proper or improper, normal or abnormal.

If we are immersed in a culture that is different from ours, we can experience culture shock and become disoriented when encounter a fundamentally different culture. People naturally use their own culture as a yard stick to judge other cultures. Such judgment could reach to a level whereby people tend to discriminate against others whose ways of living are different from theirs.

People fear essentially what they don’t understand. Cultural diversity is inevitable since in our country, at our workplaces, and schools there exist increasingly various cultural, racial, and ethnic groups. We can learn from one another, but first we should have a level of understanding about each other in order to facilitate collaboration and cooperation.

Learning about other cultures helps us understand different perspectives within the world in which we live and helps dispel negative stereotypes and personal biases about different groups.

In addition, cultural diversity can help us recognize and respect “ways of being” that are not necessarily our own, so that as we interact with others, we can build bridges toward trust, respect, and have more understanding across cultures.

Furthermore, this diversity makes our country a more interesting place to live in.

Indeed, people from diverse cultures contribute to the development of language skills, new ways of thinking, new knowledge, and different experiences.

How can you support cultural diversity? You ought to increase your level of understanding about other cultures by interacting with people outside your own culture. Meaningful relationships may never develop simply due to a lack of appreciation of others’ cultural values. You should avoid imposing your own values on others as that may conflict or be inconsistent with their beliefs. You ought to recognize and understand that concepts such as family ties, gender roles, spirituality, and emotional well-being, vary significantly among cultures and impact on behavior.

Within the workplace, educational setting, and clinical setting, it is paramount to advocate for the use of materials that are representative of the various cultural groups in the local community and the society in general. You should intervene in an appropriate manner when you observe others engaging in behaviors that show cultural insensitivity, bias, or prejudice. You ought to be proactive in listening, accepting, and welcoming people and ideas that are different from your own.

Cultural diversity supports the idea that every person can make a unique and positive contribution to the larger society despite their differences. Imagine a place where diversity is recognized and respected; various cultural ideas are acknowledged and valued; contributions from all groups are encouraged; people are empowered to achieve their full potential; and differences are celebrated.

Extracted from: Senior six student book, Rwanda Education Board

•  Comprehension questions

1. Discuss the dangers of judging other people based on your own culture.

2. Basing on the above text, explain how cultural diversity can improve someone’s perception about life.

3. Explain how cultural diversity can be promoted.

4. What is the shortcoming of using your own culture to judge other cultures?

5. How can individuals fight against cultural insensitivity?

6.3.2. APPLICATION ACTIVITY

Vocabulary, debate, sentence and essay writing

1. Find the meaning of the following words as used in the passage using dictionaries and internet.

a. yard stick

b. diversity

c. family ties

d. proactive

e. bias

f. f. prejudice

2. Construct different meaningful sentences using the following words and expressions from the passage.

a. yard stick

b. diversity

c. family ties

d. proactive

e. bias

f. prejudice

3. Debate on this motion “Cultural Diversity is a blessing, not a loss of one’s identity”.

4. Write an essay talking about the importance of cultural diversity.

6.4. Describing customs

PRE-READING ACTIVITY

Based on your society, explain why people should have knowledge of different customs.

•  Text: A universal language

People love to compare. In most parts of England, you buy your bus ticket on the bus. In France, you buy it at a metro station. In Australia, you can buy it from a newsagent. We all find this kind of comparison entertaining. Books on cross-cultural communication exploit our curiosity by focusing on differences between people across the world: in social behavior, the roles they adopt in society, their attitudes to money, the significance of their body language, etc.

Proxemics, the study of different standards of personal space, is one example. How close I stand to someone when I am speaking to them depends not only on my relationship with them, but also on my culture.

This is important because if the person I am with is not used to standing as near as I do when we are talking to each other, they might feel uncomfortable. Statistics tell us that the average distance at which two people stand in a social context neighbors chatting for example is anything between 1.2 meters and 3.5 meters. In Latin cultures (South America, Italy, etc.) and in China, this distance tends to be smaller, while in Nordic cultures (Sweden, Denmark, etc.) people usually stand further apart.

The message sent by your posture and gestures is another case in point. For example, it is quite common in European countries to sit with your legs crossed and the top foot outstretched. But, as I know from personal experience, people in Arab countries hardly ever sit in this way because they might show you the bottom of their shoe, which is a serious insult. It is said that in the Philippines, people often greet each other by raising their eyebrows quickly.

In the USA, this is a sign of surprise. Such information fills the pages of guides for travelers and international businesspeople. But I would really question the usefulness of what are presented as ‘essential’ or ‘must know’ facts. Clearly it is important to know a little about eating customs, tipping and the rules concerning basic greetings whether you should bow or shake someone’s hand. But beneath the surface, we are not so different.

There are many signs that are universal in the emotions that they communicate. Focusing on these similarities the things that we all have in common is a much more profitable route than focusing on the differences. Smiling is the best known of these, but not the only one. Behaviorists have proven that all over the world, people show sadness in a similar way. The face ‘falls’: the mouth becomes downturned and the eyes begin to look glassy. The person will probably look down or away and seem distracted. There are also common factors when people are bored. They will look at other things in a distracted way their watches, for example.

Their feet will begin to move restlessly indicating that they want to escape; they tap their fingers or scratch their heads. Anger can also be read quite easily: the facial muscles tense up, oft en causing people to frown; the eyes stare, fixing themselves on the target of their anger; blood rushes to the face causing it to become red. If the anger is great, the body will also tense up as if preparing itself for a physical fight. Understanding these universal signals and reacting appropriately is the real key to cross-cultural communication.

If we all apply just a little sensitivity and common sense, it is unlikely that we will cause lasting offence by making the wrong gesture or invading a stranger’s personal space. Of course some cultures show their emotions more openly and others prefer to keep them more hidden. Isn’t that also the case within cultures, from one individual to another?

https://ngl.cengage.com/assets/downloads/life_pro0000000047/sample_unit_10_life_ ;upper_intermediate.pdf.

• comprehension questions

1. Compare England, France and Australia in terms of transport related activities.

2. Explain some customs for European countries and Arab countries as discussed in the passage.

3. Based on the above text, identify customs that people in the world have in common.

4. Justify why people need to have basic skills on different cultures’ customs.

5. “Focusing on the similarities of things that we all have in common is much more profitable than the differences”. Explain the statement as used in the passage.

6.4.2. APPLICATION ACTIVITY

1. Use a dictionary and thesaurus to look up the missing meanings of the words/phrases and pronunciation in the table below. Copy the table into your book and fill in the blank space

2. Write an essay comparing your custom with that of other people..

Pay attention to the use of comparison of adjectives.

6.5. Describing Traditional Rwandan culture

6.5.1. LEARNING ACTIVITY

• Text: Rwandan Traditions and Culture

In the Rwandan culture, it is considered extremely rude to eat in public. People are not supposed to eat on the street, in public transportation, and sometimes even during big parties in the presence of strangers. In addition, traditionally adults don’t eat in front of their in-laws. In the past, adults could not even eat in front of their own children and would often take their food into their bedroom. Some men would only eat food cooked by their wives and refuse to eat any food cooked by a housekeeper. It was said in the past that women were not supposed to eat goat meat, for two reasons: it would make them grow beard and become stubborn. However, it is now believed such assumptions were invented by greedy men who wanted all the good meat for themselves.

Going out to eat in restaurants is a fairly new concept that has only taken hold with the influence of foreigners. In the recent past, if a man or a couple went out to eat, it meant that the wife was a bad cook or that the man did not have a wife at all.

Even today, there are many Rwandans who generally do not dine out. In the past, it was considered a taboo for in-laws to eat at a married couple’s house. It was also taboo for them to stay the night and they would have to find another place in the neighborhood to stay. Rwandans say that drinking milk makes women beautiful.

When there is a beautiful woman, Rwandans might say that she must have drunk a lot of milk. If you invite someone or even multiple people out to dinner or drinks, it is expected that you will pay for them. When Rwandans are served a bottle of beer with a glass, they will sometimes pour a few drops into the glass, swish the liquid around, and then pour it on the ground behind them. This serves two functions: it symbolizes sharing the drink with ancestors and helps clean out the glass. When a guest stops by for a visit to a friend or family member, it is expected that the host will offer him or her something to drink.

The most common drink is Fanta or beer. It is considered very rude to offer water, at least not until the guest has finished the first drink. When a married couple has children, their names essentially change to reflect the identity of their first-born child. For example, if parents are named Joshua and Gloria. As soon as they get their first baby-girl and call her Simbi, everyone who knows them (friends, family members, community members, neighbors, perhaps even colleagues) would start to call them Papa Simbi and Mama Simbi.

People hence start considering them as having enriched their identity and recognition with a family and address. However, this practice was borrowed from other African Countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

When a couple is planning a wedding, the man and the woman separately hold numerous “planning meetings” at which they meet their friends and family to organize and finalize the details for the marriage.

One of the ways that the family of a bride prepares for a wedding is to plant a few banana trees along the road leading to their house. In the past this was done to show that the family was relatively wealthy, because it was implied that they could also supply their guests with banana beer from their banana trees.

When a man and a woman share the bed, the man always sleeps on the side of door so that he may protect his wife in the case of an intruder or a problem.

It is considered a serious taboo for an unmarried man to spend the night at an unmarried woman’s home. This is part of a larger discussion about gender and double standards/disparate access and opportunities: it is not acceptable for women to go out dancing without men. If they do so, they will be taken for prostitutes.

It is forbidden for a married person to pronounce the name of his or her motherin- law or father-in-law. When greeting them or even describing them to others, people cannot say their names and must describe them instead. They cannot even share meals.

If a woman sews at night or in the dark, people will discourage her by saying that she is sewing her parents’ eyes. This is most likely to prevent women from straining their eyes by sewing under faint light. Whistling at night is considered a taboo as it is believed to be a way of summoning snakes. It is also a taboo for a woman to whistle at any time of the day for she would be considered as male. If you have the hiccups, people say that someone is talking about you. When you have a twitch on your eye or face, people believe it is a good omen.

Adapted from https://helainainrwanda.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/cultural-norms-traditions taboosand- superstitions/ retrieved on March 18th, 2018

•  Comprehension questions

1. Explain five aspects of the Rwandan culture as discussed in the above passage.

2. Describe the wedding process in the Rwandan culture as portrayed in the above passage.

3. Why is the beauty of a woman believed to be a result of over consumption of milk?

4. In your opinion, do you think it is right for Rwandans to be superstitious?

5. Do you like/dislike the passage? Give 3 reasons to support your view.

6.5.2. APPLICATION ACTIVITY

Vocabulary, sentence, paragraph and letter writing

1. Give the meaning of the following words and expressions as used in the above passage

a. extremely rude

b. invented by greedy men

c. considered taboo

d. to pour

e. symbolizes

f. to reflect

g. a bride

h. double standards

i. faint light

j. a twitch

2. Use the above words and phrases to construct your own meaningful sentences.

3. Write an eighty-word paragraph about any other aspect of the Rwandan culture that you know.

4. Imagine that you have a friend from another community where they are not aware of your culture and he would like to come and work for a project in your community. Write a detailed letter to him/her describing your traditional culture.

6.6. Describing the causes of migration

6.6.1. LEARNING ACTIVITY

Reading, text analysis and picture observation

Study the above pictures and answer the questions below:

a. What is happening to the people and why?

b. What would cause someone to leave his or her country or city for a foreign one?

• Text: Factors of migration

People migrate for several reasons. These reasons may fall under four areas that are environmental, economic, cultural and socio-political reasons. Within all these, there are some that may be seen as ‘Push’ or ‘Pull’ factors. Push factors force individuals to move out voluntarily, and in many cases, they are forced because they are risking something if they stay.

Push factors may include conflict, drought, famine, or religious based discrimination. Poor economic activity and lack of job opportunities.

Other strong push factors include race and discriminating cultures, political intolerance and persecution. Pull factors are those factors in the destination country that attract the individuals or groups to leave their home. Those factors are known as place utility, which is the desirability of a place that attracts people.

Better economic opportunities, more jobs, and the promise of a better life often pull people into new locations. Sometimes, individuals have ideas and perceptions about places that are not necessarily correct but are strong pull factors for them. As people grow older and retire, many look for places with warm weather, peaceful and comfortable locations in order to spend their retirement after a lifetime of hard work and savings.

Such ideal places are pull factors too. Very often, People consider and prefer opportunities closer to their locations than similar opportunities further away.

In the same spirit, people often like to move to places with better cultural, political, climatic and general terrain in closer locations than locations further away. It is rare to find people move over very long distances in order to settle in places that they have little knowledge of.

Adapted from http://eschooltoday.com/migration/the-pull-and-push-factors-of-migration.html retrieved on March 18th, 2018.

•  Comprehension questions

1. State and explain the reasons why people migrate.

2. Assume there are migrants who come to your home area. Explain how you would treat them.

3. Imagine that you are an influential leader in a country, what polices

would you put in place to limit the movement of people?

4. Explain the impacts of immigrants to their host countries or communities.

6.2.2. APPLICATION ACTIVITY

Vocabulary, sentence and essay writing

1. Find the meaning of the following words while referring the passage above.

a. Migrate

b. Push factor

c. Political intolerance

d. Vein

e. Peaceful and comfortable

2. Construct meaningful sentences with each of the following words and phrases:

a. Migrate

b. Push factor

c. Political intolerance

d. Vein

e. Peaceful and comfortable

3. Suppose you experienced a situation involving ‘culture shock’.

Write an essay of about 350 words showing the right way of behaving in such a situation.

6.7.Language structure: Adverbs of time and place

I. Adverbs of time

Notes

Adverbs of time modify the meaning of a sentence by telling us when, for how

long, an action happens. Many adverbs of time are the same as adverbs of

frequency. There is quite a bit of overlap between these two types of adverbs.

Here are some examples of adverbs of time:

•  yesterday
•  today
•  tomorrow
•  later
•  now
•  last year
•  since 1999/Monday/3 o’clock etc.,
•  all day/month/week etc.,
•  for a week/a year/a 100 years etc.,

Adverbs of time focus on when an action happened, but also for how long, and how often.

Some adverbs tell the exact number of times an action happens or happened. These adverbs are usually placed at the end of the sentence. Many adverbs that express frequency can also be placed at either the beginning or the end of the sentence.

Examples:

a. We are going to church on Sunday for prayer, but we fear that we don’t know their culture.

b. She is going to have a baby soon being in a foreign country.

c. My father went to Chile last year for a vacation.

d. We eventually went to a pub after eating.

e. He has already been to Canada three times, but he does not know their customs

Yet is used in questions and in negative sentences to indicate that something

that has not happened or may not have happened but is expected to happen. It

is placed at the end of the sentence or after not.

Examples of questions:

1. Have you washed your clothes yet?

2. Have you fixed the car yet?

Examples of Yet in negative sentences:

1. It was late, but they hadn’t arrived yet.

2. Angela has not yet finished her morning chores.

Still expresses continuity. In positive sentences it is placed before the main verb and after auxiliary verbs such as be, have, might, will. If the main verb is to be, then place still after it rather than before. In questions, still goes before the main verb.

Examples:

1. Before the main verb

b. Even when my mother was 70, she still enjoyed dancing to traditional music.

c. Jane will not be available next week. She will still be for the cultural festival in Nigeria.

2. After the present simple or past simple of be:

a. The teacher tried to advise them, but they were still late.

b. Their grandparents are still alive.

II. Adverbs of place

We can use prepositions to talk about:

1. Places or locations.

Examples:

b. He was standing by the pool.

c. You’ll find it in the entrance.

d. Sign your name here, at the end of the page.

The compartment door is very small so it’s difficult to get into it.

2. Direction

Examples:

a. Walk past the bank and keep going to the end of the highway.

b. We were in London. Birmingham was 250 kilometers away.

3. Distance

Examples:

a. Birmingham is 250 kilometers from London.

b. He is sitting at a hundred meters from his house.

Simple rules for adverbs of place:

• An adverb of place always expresses about the location where the action of the verb is being carried out.
•  Adverbs of place can be directional. For example: Up, down, north, around, southwest, away
•  Adverbs of place can denote distances. For example: Nearby, far away, miles apart
•  Adverbs of place are usually placed after a sentence’s object or main verb.
•  Many adverbs of place specify movement in a specific direction and end in the letters “-ward or -wards”.  For example: Toward, forward, backward, homeward, westward, eastwards onwards

An adverb of place can point out an object’s position in relation to another object. For example: Below, between, above, behind, though, around and so forth.

Exercise

I. Choose the best answer to complete each of these sentences.

1. Close the door when you go ___________.

2. The baby is hiding down there under the table.

3. The cat is hiding_______________ the couch.

4. Will you be starting your plants ________________ or in a greenhouse?

5. The ship sailed _______________, encountering heavy weather along the way.

6. When she saw me waiting, she ran __________________ me.

7. __________________ you live, I will come to that place to live.

8. He led the caravan, __________________ he wanted to go.

9. What are you doing _________there?

10. ___________we went, people greeted us warmly as they do it in their culture.

II. Write a paragraph using adverbs of time, place and comparison of adjectives talking about cultural diversity.

6.8. END UNIT ASSESSMENT

I. Complete the sentences, using the positive, comparative and

superlative of the adjectives in brackets.

1. Jane’s culture is……………than mine. (good)

2. I think living in your country’s ………………. than living in foreign

countries. (happy)

3. He thinks this test was…………. than the last one. (difficult)

4. They live in a really ……. house. (beautiful)

5. She is the………………. tennis player of the world. (good)

6. Susan is a………. girl. She’s much…… than her sister. (nice / nice)

7. My aunt’s customs are…………… than ours. (adaptable)

8. Hotels in London are…………. than in Vienna. (expensive)

9. Bob is……………. than Keith but Philip is the…………. (tall / tall)

10. Doris reads..… books than Peter but Frank reads the……. (many /many)

11. They live in a……. house but Fred lives in a…………. one. (big / big))

12. My sister is three years…………… than me. (young)

13. This was the………… cultural oriented film I have ever seen. (bad)

14. I talked to Claire from Kenya and she is a really………… girl. (smart)

II. Write an essay describing the importance of cultural diversity.