Effective Reading and Listening:
Learning About Different Cultures
S. Kathleen Kitao
Kenji Kitao Shohakusha Tokyo, Japan Copyright c 2003 by Dr. S. Kathleen Kitao and Dr. Kenji Kitao. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without prior written permission from the authors. Printed in Japan. This textbook is accompanied by a tape and a teachers' guide which includes an English explanation of how to use the textbook and answers for the exercises. For class adoption, we offer a complimentary teachers' guide. Published by Shohakusha 1-6-1 Idabashi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0072 Tel 03-3230-4813 Fax 03-3230-4857 info@shohakusha.com Introduction The following suggestions will help you get the most out of this textbook. As you read, try to be open to other culture and way of life. In this textbook, you will learn about various people and cultures. The readings will help you understand more about other countries and their people. Be aware of the differences in literary form and writing style. Some readings are written in essay form. They include a letter, a story, and a newspaper article. Do not translate the English you read. One purpose of this textbook is to help you develop reading skills without translating word-for-word into Japanese. Difficult words and expressions are presented in the vocabulary exercise before the reading. Try to guess meanings of words you do not know. If you find a word you cannot figure out and need to use a dictionary, use an English-English dictionary. Use the exercises to help you understanding the readings. The exercises help you understand the content of each reading, including the main point and important details. Use the photographs and other visual aids to help you understand what you are reading. Many illustrations were included to help you visualize the things you are reading about and give you background information. Read other material in English about subjects you find interesting. You can use the Further Study exercises to help you think of questions. You should read other materials in English to further improve your reading ability. Find subjects you are interest in to read about, because you will be more motivated to read if you read about subjects you are interested in. The Organization of the Chapters Each chapter begins with a Pre-Reading Exercise. The purpose of these is to help you think about the subject of the reading and what you already know about. The Pre-Reading Exercise is followed by a Vocabulary Exercise. The Vocabulary Exercise presents difficult words from the reading in sentences. After the reading, there are True/False and Comprehension Questions. There is also one other type of exercises, such as a Cloze Exercise or a Matching Exercise, which shows you the same information in a different form. Each chapter has a Listening Exercise, where students listen to a conversation related to the main reading and fill in blanks. In the beginning, the conversations are closely related to the reading, and there is little new information, and there are short blanks. In later chapters, there is more and more new information in the conversation, as well as longer and longer blanks. There are True/False Questions about the conversation. The last exercise is Further Study. This provides questions for students to find information about related to the topic of the chapter. * * * * * * * We wish to thank Juliet W. Carpenter of Doshisha and Nina Handjeva-Weller, both Women's College for reading and commenting on the manuscript. S. Kathleen Kitao Kenji Kitao, PhD April 2002 Kyoto, Japan Table of Contents Introduction 1. Hi, I'm Victoria James 2. University Life in the US 3. My Hobbies and Pastimes 4. The Internet 5. Finding a Job 6. Trip to Singapore 7. Marriage and Family 8. The Good Samaritan 9. My Visit to Dublin 10. Football 11. Women in Colonial Times 12. Seoul Travel Guide 13. CHDS Releases Latest Smoking Info.
Chapter 7 Pre-Reading Exercise Think about marriage and family in Japan. How do Japanese people usually meet their future husband or wife? How do they get to know each other? Do most Japanese married couples have children? How many children do they have? Vocabulary Exercise Fill in the blanks in the sentences with the words below. generalization average majority traditional divorce adopt 1. Many people don't approve of ________, but unfortunately, more and more married couples are not staying together. 2. In Japan, it is ________ for men to wear black suits, white shirts, and black ties to funerals. 3. The ________ temperature has been 20 degrees this month. 4. It is a ________ that all Japanese like sushi, but it is not true of every Japanese. 5. People who cannot have children sometimes ____________ them. 6. The ________ of the people support the new law, but a few people oppose it. American marriages and families include so may different types that it's difficult to make generalizations about them. My experiences are typical in some ways, but a lot of people have experiences different from mine. My wife Joy and I met at work. We worked for the same company, but not together. A friend introduced us. We had lunch together at work a few times, and then I asked her out for dinner. We continued dating. After about six months, we thought we were in love. We got engaged after we had known each other a year. We were both 25 when we got married. This is a little older than average for Americans. Americans usually meet their husbands or wives at places like work, school, clubs, or church or through friends. Most couples date for several months to a year or more. Some couples live together before getting married, but the majority of such couples do marry eventually. It is customary to get married in a church, even for people who are not religious. Sometimes, however, people get married by a judge. Sometimes they get married outdoors, in a beautiful place like a beach or a park. It is traditional for a woman to change her last name to her husband's last name when she gets married. However, in recent years, some women are keeping their own names. That is what Joy decided to do. After we got married, we decided to wait a while to have children. (Most American couples do the same.) After we had been married for about six years, we had our first child, Gloria. Joy took about six months off from work after Gloria was born. After that, she went back to work full time. My mother took care of Gloria until she was two years old. Then she went to a daycare center. We had another daughter, Linda, three years later. After Linda was born, Joy worked part time. About 80% of American couples have children. Between two and three children is average. More than half of American mothers continue to work after they have children. American families take many different forms these days. About 40% of American couples end up divorced, but divorced people often remarry. If they have children, they make a new family with children from the two families. There are married couples with children, like us. There are single mothers or fathers with children. Some couples decide not to have children at all, some couples adopt children. (420 words) True/False Questions T F ? 1. It is easy to talk about a "typical" American family. T F ? 2. The writer and his wife were 25 years old when they got married. T F ? 3. On average, Americans marry when they are about 26 years old. T F ? 4. Americans get married in a variety of places, including churches and beautiful places. T F ? 5. Unlike most Americans, the writer and his wife waited several years before they had children. T F ? 6. The majority of American couples have children. T F ? 7. American families take many different forms these days. Short Answer Questions 1. Where did the writer and his wife meet? 2. Where do Americans typically meet their future husbands or wives? 3. Who took care of Gloria until she was two years old? After she was two? 4. What did Joy do after Linda was born?Marriage and Family
| The author and his family | Other Americans | Meeting husband/wife | Americans meet their spouses through work, school, clubs or church or through friends. | Age of marriage | 25 for both husband and wife | Information not given. | People get married in churches, beautiful places, etc. | Wives' last names | The writer's wife kept her last name. | Having children | Most Americans wait a few years after marriage before having children. On average, they have between two and three. | Working mothers | More than half of American mothers work after they have had children. | Different kinds of families | The writer is married and has children. |