International University

Department of English
English Linguistics

PROJECT BINDER
Listening 2 Course

Academic year: 2021 – 2022, Semester 1

Lecturer: Mr. VU TIEN THINH

Group members:

1. Vũ Phương Lan Chi - ENENIU20010

2. Trần Ngọc Phương Nghi - ENENIU20148
3. Võ Đông Kiều Ngân - ENENIU19

January 2021
Lecture 1: THE US POPULATION
Lecture 2: THE IMMIGRANTS

- The active immigrating (coming to a new country to live) is certainly nothing new throughout history.
- People have immigrated or moved to new countries for many different reasons:
 Economic
 Political
 Natural disasters such as droughts and famines
- To escape religious or political persecution
- Most people don’t want to leave their native land ↔ only under great pressure of some sort
≠ a few people quite adventurous and restless by nature, like to move a lot.
→ Came to America to live
- Immigration is quite fascinating to most Americans (who view themselves as a nation of immigrants)
- However, the early Britain considered themselves settlers (colonists) of the US rather than immigrants
↔ think they were merely settling new land for the mother country ≠ moving to a new country
- Large numbers of Dutch, French, German and Scotch Irish settlers & large numbers of blacks were
brought from Africa as slaves at the time of independence from Britain in 1776
- About 40% of people living in the United States were non-British
- The traditions that form the basis of life were mainly British traditions
- This period is usually referred to as the colonial period
1. The great immigration (began 1830 - ended 1930): three major stages
- First stage (1830-1860): before this time, the number of immigrants was comparatively small (only
about 10,000 a year)
 The rate began to climb in the 1830s ↔ about 600,000
 The rate continued to climb during the 1840s ↔ 1,700,000
 The rate continued to climb and during the 1850s ↔ 2,600,000
→ the majority of immigrants came from Germany, Great Britain and Ireland
- Second stage (1860-1890): another 10 million people arrived
 The majority continued to be from Germany, Ireland and Great Britain.
 A smaller but significant number from the Scandinavian (nations of Denmark, Norway and Sweden)
- Third stage (1890-1930): the era of heaviest immigration
 Almost 22 million immigrants arrived in the United States (mostly from the southern European
countries of Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain & the Eastern European countries of Poland and
Russia)
2. The reasons why these people immigrated to the United States
- A few interesting facts
 The population of Europe doubled between 1750 and 1850 & the industrial revolution in Europe
caused widespread unemployment ↔ the combination of increased population and the demand for
land by industry → that farmland was becoming increasingly scarce in Europe → the abundance of
available land in the growing country of the United States was a great attraction
 In 1862, the government offered public land free to citizens and to immigrants who were planning to
become citizen and plentiful jobs during these years of great economic growth
 Freedom from religious or political persecution.
 The direct result of natural disasters (the frequent failure of the potato crop in Ireland between 1845
and 1849 led to widespread starvation)
 Improved ocean transport beginning in the 1840s
→ Summary the reasons: first the doubling of the population in Europe between 1750 and 1850,
second the unemployment caused by the industrial revolution, and third the land scarcity in Europe
followed by religious and political persecution and natural disaster ↔ combined with improved
transportation
 Immigration numbers have never again reached the previously discussed levels
- Reasons for the decline
 Various laws ↔ limit the number of immigrants coming from different parts of the world to the
United States
 The first law was the Chinese exclusion act of 1882, followed by many other laws which also tried to
limit the numbers of immigrants from various countries or parts of the world
 Certain economic and geopolitical events also contributed to the decline
 The Great Depression starting in 1929 and World War Two
 The current situation: is quite different from that in the past
- In 1965 strict quotas based on nationality were eliminated
- According to US census figures in 1860, the percentage of immigrants that were European was 92%
HOWEVER by 1960, it had dropped to 74.5% and 14% by the year 2002
- In 2002, 52.2% of immigrants came from Latin America (the Caribbean, Central America, and South
America)
- More than 1/3 of the total of all immigrants to the United States in 2002 came from Mexico or another
Central American country
- The next largest percentage 25.5% of immigrants were from Asia mainly from the Philippines, China,
and India
- Although immigration dropped sharply when the United States entered WW1, remained low
throughout the depression, and WWII ↔ at the end of the 1940s, immigration began to increase again
and has risen steadily since then
- The actual number of immigrants coming nearly to the states in recent years = the numbers coming
yearly between 1900 and 1910
- The population of the United States is much larger now
- The percentage of the population that is foreign born is considerably smaller today than it was a
century ago
 Will the trend continue for non-Europeans to immigrate to the United States? → probably yes
 Do these non-European people come to the United States for the same reasons that Europeans came?
well land is no longer plentiful and cheap, industry no longer requires large numbers of unskilled
workers ↔ in fact the government usually tries to restrict immigration to those who already have the
skills to be successful in US society
 People come for political and economic reasons and probably will continue to do so
Lecture 3: AMERICANS AT WORK
Lecture 4: FAMILY IN THE UNITED STATES

- The American family is disintegrating ↔ the declining birth rate, a rising divorce rate and the
discontent of women with domestic roles
- A lot of people have one fixed idea of “the family” = a married couple, mother stays home to care for
the children and father works
- How the American family has changed in three different time periods: the mid mid-1940s to the mid-
1960s; the mid-60s to the mid-80s; the present
I. TRADITIONAL FAMILISM: 1940s – 1960s
- After WWII, characterized by a very strong economy  a rising standard of living and a growing
middle class.
- Demographically:
 Predominant - traditional family: A married couple with children.
 Divorce rates were low >< birth rates were high.
 TV programs depicted the family in the classical configuration: working father, housewife and
children
- Culturally, 3 dominant characteristics: conformity to social norms, greater male domination of the
family, and clear-cut gender roles → clear and separate roles for men and women at home and at work
II. INDIVIDUALISM: mid 1960s – mid 1980s
- Independence and self-reliance
- One should think and act for himself or herself according to what feels right
- Easily confused with egotism or selfishness but it's much more
- One has the freedom to decide what's best ≠ allowing that decision to be made by the community or
society
- Conflict with the concept of community
- Characterized by a lack of conformity to social norms → 3 important social and political movements:
the sexual revolution, women's liberation and the anti-war movement
- Culture: 2 important developments - the idealization of one's career and work & the drive for self-
expression and self-fulfillment.
- The feminist movement challenged traditional gender roles and male domination of society
 Women entered professions previously closed to them: medicine, law, management.
 Men began to consider a more active role in raising their children
 A time of rapidly rising cost of living
→ These forces changed the demographics of the former picture ↔ the new picture includes new
configurations (families which the husband and wife both worked, families of single parents with children and
families of cohabiting couples with or without children)
- More women pursuing careers and making money → less economic pressure to stay in unsuitable
marriages → divorce rates doubled in a decade
- Rising divorce rates and more financial independence for women ↔ marriage was a less attractive
arrangement
- The number of single parent households tripled
- Less conformity to social norms → cohabitation quadrupled
III. NEW FAMILISM: mid 1980s – present:
- Are constantly informed by the media about the deteriorating American family
- Not willing to give up gender equality, the freedom to leave an unsuitable marriage or the self-
fulfillment of an interesting job at the same time
- Children paid a high price for these: daycare or after school hours home alone while parents both
worked; grew up with only one parent or with stepparents
- Continuing decline in divorce rates + decline in birth: due to families better financial situations
- 1/4 U.S. children live with only one parent
- Birth rate is probably declining because an increasing lifespan results in fewer women of childbearing
age; the reduction in unmarried teen pregnancies
- Balance work with family obligations, especially the care of children: shifting from one's career to
one's family
- Americans want to regain the commitment to family of the first period and keep the quality and
fulfillment of second which requires:
 One parent may try to work at home or only work part time to have more time for the children
 Places of work may offer more flexible working hours
 On-site daycare to allow more time for parents and children
 The government could mandate parental leave, family allowances → allow parents to stay home to
look after their newborn children and quality daycare centers → adequately staffed by professionals
who stay at their jobs and with the same children year after year
- None of these changes is guaranteed but changes or similar ones are necessary to ensure a healthier US
family in the future and the health of family is needed to play the central role in every society
Lecture 5: RELIGION
Lecture 6: PASSAGE

- Customs vary from country to country  often bewildering for foreigners to understand.
- Ingrained in the culture that most local people accept them without thinking about them.
- Some of the reasons for the customs or traditions are historical and may have been forgotten.
- Some customs that seem natural to local people may seem strange and inexplicable to ppl new to a
country.
- Many ethnic groups still practice customs brought by their ancestors from their countries.
I. BIRTH:
- Momentous occasion.
- Celebrated in some ways or another
 Baby shower: non-religious tradition observed by almost everyone
+ A shower is given by a close friend or relative of the expected mother shortly after the baby is due.
● In the past: showers arranged in secret, mom is invited and surprised.
● Now: not always a surprise anymore.
+ Mother-to-be is showered with gifts from small to big.
+ Gifts are open on the spot.
+ Good wishes, admiration, advice, expressions of envy -> the mother is reassured about the coming event
and the desirability of her situation.
+ Man participation is becoming more coming
● In the past when birth mainly took place at home, birth is a strictly female event with man is banished
from the room
+ After women go to hospital to have their babies, men are still expected to wait in the waiting room for
the doctors to tell the good news.
+ Today: modern couples attend classes together to prepare for the babies, men are with their wives in the
delivery to coax them along with the doctors.
● Baptism:
+ After a baby is born a few weeks, many parents want a religious service for their babies even if they are
not religious.
+ Held in church or synagogue.
II. MARRIAGE:
- No longer necessary for a man to ask for her father to hold her hands in weddings.
- In modern couples, a woman is the one to bring up the subject of marriage.
- Most young people still want their parents’ approval.
- Still traditional for a young man to give his fiancée a diamond ring at the beginning of their
engagement period.
- Actual wedding ceremony:
+Traditionally, the bride's family pays for the expenses.
+ The ceremony can be simple or elaborate.
+ Reception: can be simple in a church or a sit-down dinner at a local hotel with dance and private
orchestra.
- Sometimes, people are only invited to the wedding or only to the reception. These events can only be
attended by invitations.
- Shower: the bride-to-be receives gifts to help to set up a new household; wedding gifts are expected
from people who receive invitations.
- Occasionally, they choose not to have religious services -> opt for a civil wedding at a government
building.
- Every bride at her wedding should be wearing or carrying something old, something new, something
borrowed, something blue.
- It’s bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her wedding dress before the ceremony.
- Throwing rice at the bride and the groom to signal fertility -> banned/ rose petals as substitute.
- Brides wear white, female guests should not wear white.
III. DEATH:
- Whether to have a funeral held in a church or a funeral home.
- Whether to have the body cremated or not.
+ If yes  a memorial service.
+ If not  Whether to display the body at the funeral  hold a wake, body is displayed in its casket 
express sympathy, words of comfort, a eulogy, good deeds.
- Body taken to a cemetery after another brief religious service.
- Most people learn of the death from family, also printed in the newspaper  attend without invitation,
send a sympathy card.
- Send flowers  check the correct kind first.
- Clothes: traditionally black but no longer observed.
Lecture 7: PASSAGE
Lecture 8: CRIME & VIOLENCE

- Violent crime decreased in the United States between 1994 and 2001.
 Violent crime, homicide rate arson and aggravated assault fell 52% in 1994.
 51 victims/ 1000 people over the age of 12 in 2001  dropped by 24/1000.
- The U.S. population is getting older  older people commit fewer crimes than younger people.
- Stricter law enforcement + stringent penalties
- White collar crime not getting better: Embezzlement, bribery, political corruption, and corporate
policies.
- 2 theories of crime that are based on one's feelings about the nature of human beings:
I. GOOD BY NATURE:
- Embraced by liberals.
- Society is to blame  the cause of the criminal behavior in the United States
- Root causes like racism, poverty, and injustice. Obvious causes like the breakdown of the nuclear
family violence on TV, inferior education for some children, unemployment, child abuse and a
proliferation of drugs.
- Criminals are alienated from society because they have been deprived of the benefits that most
Americans have  strike out at the society
- The existence of an underclass in U.S. society lends support to this liberal theory.
- Critics: most from the underclass do not become criminals >< people from rich families become
violent criminals.
II. AGGRESSIVE BY NATURE:
- Embraced by conservatives
- People: innately aggressive and predisposed to violence.
- Society curbs this aggressiveness by socializing us & by punishing us.
- Our conscience functions as a curb on violence and criminal behavior.
- If socialization fails,  the fear of punishment should act to curb crime.
- The amount of crime and violence depends greatly on how we bring up our children: how well we pass
on important values, how punishment is used as a deterrent to crime, how effectively the criminal
justice system functions.
- Helps us understand white collar crime because those who commit white collar crime are not part of
the underclass  lack a well-developed conscience.
- Critics: children from families with apparently sound values who still become. White collar criminals.
III. SOLUTIONS:
- Both the family and society can play a part in reducing crime.
- The family – socialization  children respect themselves, others and the values of their society.
- Society - overcoming the alienation of the underclass by helping these people to feel that they are part
of the society instead of its victims  the underclass has the same benefits as the majority; Good
education, health care and employment, justice system.
Lecture 9: CRIME & VIOLENCE
Lecture 10: PUBLIC EDUCATION

- US education is compulsory in most states to the age of 16 or until the students reach 9th grade.
- A small percentage attend private schools, either religious or secular schools. But the vast majority
attend public school.
- The federal government does not determine the curriculum or the examinations.
I. 3 LEVELS OF CONTROL:
1. State Department of Education: 2 basic functions
- Sets basic curriculum requirements for all the schools in its state.
- Sets the number of credits a student must complete to graduate from a high school, includes both
required courses and electives.
2. School district:
- The number of school districts the state has depends on the size of its population and the size of the
state.
- Each school district is run by a school board that is elected by the citizens of the district.
- Responsible for the specific content of courses taught in its schools  decides what electives will be
available for students.
- Responsible for the operation of the schools in its district, the hiring of teachers and administrators.
3. The individual school:
- Teachers have primary responsibility for deciding how to teach the content of each course and for
preparing and giving examinations to the students.
II. FUNDING FOR EDUCATION:
- 7% of the money comes from the federal government  The rest of the money comes from the state and
local taxes; The percentages fluctuate over time and from state to state.
- Currently, ~49% of school funding comes from the states and about 44% comes from the school
districts.
III. 3 ISSUES RELATED TO FUNDING:
1. Inequality of educational opportunity:
- Public schools are funded to a great degree by local taxes  schools in poorer communities do not have
the same amount of money  children from poorer areas are less likely to receive a good education.
2. Funding for private schools:
- Generally, run by religious organizations.
- Colonial times - most schools were supported by religious organizations  19th century - public
education paid for by taxes as the best way to provide equal educational opportunity for all children.
- Charter schools are nonsectarian public schools that compete with regular public schools for students;
operate under contract to a sponsor; have greater autonomy.
+ 1st charter schools came into existence - end of the 1980s
 + 2003, 2695 charter schools with 685000 students enrolled: 15% increase over 2002.
+ Charter school students did a little better than their public-school counterparts on standardized
exams.
- The school voucher concept is a much more controversial:
+ The government provides students with a certain amount of money each year that they can use to
attend whatever school they choose. Public or private.
+ Competition will improve the education students receive.
+ Largely private schools
+ Different from charter schools: non-sectarian, charter schools cannot apply restrictive admission
standards as public schools.
+ Today, voucher programs funded by taxpayers are operating in only 3 U.S. cities: Supporters:
private schools offer a better education than public schools; Opponents: vouchers rob public schools of
needed funding, not truly provide school choice because of restrictive admission standards.
3. Increased emphasis in various states on raising standards and on giving students
standardized exams.
- 2002 - education bill that requires extensive testing programs and other systems to ensure adequate
yearly progress of students.
- Funding for schools from the federal government is relatively small, it still represents a lot of money
that schools do not want to lose.
- Some people support this movement toward standardization and accountability in the educational
system, while others see it as a dangerous step away from local control of schools.
Lecture 11: POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION ADMISSIONS

- Facts figures: there are 4182 public and private 4 year and 2 year colleges in the US (range from full
universities with diverse programs to smaller 4 year colleges 2 year community colleges)
- → most of them are accredited = meet certain standards said by institutional and private evaluators
- When applying to a school ↔ make sure it was accredited
- More private colleges than public colleges > 3/4 of students (≈78% are enrolled in public colleges and
universities)
- Some of the small private schools may have < 100 students
- Some of the large State University systems have 50,000 or more
- Most of these schools are co-educational (some of them are primarily for women and others are
primarily for men)
- Some schools may offer only 1 program of study ≠ others have a great variety of programs
- The total cost for attending < $5000/year
- The prestigious private schools ≈ 30 – 40,000/year
- Located all over in industrial areas, agricultural areas, large cities & small towns
- Admissions requirements vary greatly, some are relatively easy to be admitted >< others are highly
competitive
- Most schools will ask undergraduate applicants to submit their high school transcripts (with a record
of their grades) and test results for the standardized tests (regularly offered to high school students)
- The scholastic aptitude test commonly known as the SAT (the most common standardized exam)
- Students who are applying to Graduate School usually take other more specific standardized exams
depending on which college they are applying to
E.g:
 Some students are required to take the graduate record exam
 The GRE students applying to a business college must take the GMAT
 Students applying to law college will have to take the LSAT
- The total exam foreign students must take before being admitted to American colleges or universities
↔ are all prepared by a company (independent of the school system) ↔ have come under a lot of
criticism lately >< they are still widely used as a way to determine who will be admitted to various
schools
- Most schools try to look at the whole student consider factors other than simply grades and test scores
- Some of these factors may be extracurricular activities in school, ethnic background, work experience,
etc.
- Some schools will have personal interviews with students they are considering for admission
- Many schools private as well as public try very hard to have a student population with a wide variety
of backgrounds and ages
- The most prestigious and highly competitive colleges or universities will also consider these other
factors
- Stanford & Harvard have so many more people applying than they can possibly accept → students
take grades and S80 exams very seriously
- General medical and law colleges (private and public) very difficult to get into → test scores on
standardized exams can be extremely important
- Students who want to attend a State College or university ↔ graduate from high school in the upper
3rd or even upper half of high school class
- Community colleges (publicly supported) offered different educational opportunities than those
offered by a senior college or university
1. Admissions requirements in public community colleges are usually much more lenient than a 4-year
college or university
2. It’s cheaper, the tuition and fees are usually quite a bit lower ↔ school does not have dormitories ↔
students often live at home
→ People who are unable to go to a 4-year college or university can have an opportunity for college
credit
3. Community colleges offer 2-year programs → lead to an associate of arts degree (all of it are
vocational in nature)
- People attend community colleges for many different purposes:
 may be taking only a course or 2 in some field that particularly interests them (not be planning on
getting a degree)
 other people may be going to Community College full time and planning to transfer to a 4-year college
or university
 Among the 2.8 million high school graduates in 2002
 65.2% were bold in college
 more than 90% of those attended full-time are young men represented half of the high school
graduates
 68.4% women went on to college
 female high school graduates at 62.1%
- More white students enrolled in college than black or Hispanic students (66.7% of white graduates,
58.7% of black graduates and 53.5% of Hispanic students)
- 42.6% of full-time students in 2002 were either employed or looking for work ↔ jumps to 75.7%
for part time students
Lecture 12: DISTANCE EDUCATION

Definition: Instructions when teachers and students are separated by distance or time or both.
1. Reasons why distance education grows quickly:
- Economic conditions professionals need to upgrade their knowledge or skills all the time
- Necessary for pp to improve skills (B.A/ B.S to pursue M.A/ PhD)
→ High demand for postsecondary edu.>< univ. and colleges face budget crunches → find ways to deliver
instructions economically
→ Modern technology postsecondary edu. available to many pp
2. How it works:
Video/ Video conferencing: students can interact with professors
+ Audio: students get audiotapes or record from video conferencing for convenient use
+ CD-ROM: get by mail or download from internet
+ Internet
+ Bulletin boards: log on anytime, read posts from other students, then respond
+ Chat room: offer a forum for real time interaction
+ Emails: convenient when students need to submit assignments or ask professor questions
3. Things to be aware of:
6 points to consider before choosing distance education:
+ Residency requirement: take courses and spend a few days on campus
+ Time limits: courses and programs must be done within limited time. Assignments have deadlines.
+ Admission requirements
+ Saving money: no expenses on traveling to campuses
+ Minimum requirements of computer (windows, micro, sound card, hard drive, RAM, modem, …) and
internet connection
+ Students need to be disciplined and independent
LECTURE 13: THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN THE ECONOMY:

- The American economy is basically a capitalistic economy.

- 3 important characteristics in American style capitalism:
+ Individual ownership of property, including such things as houses and land, businesses, and
intellectual property such as songs, poems, books, and inventions.
+ Free enterprise: the freedom to produce, buy and sell goods and labor, without government
intervention.
+ Free competitive markets: those businesses that succeed stay in the market, and those that fail were
leaving the market.
- In a pure capitalistic system, the government:
+ Is not expected to interfere with the natural economic forces.
+ To take a laissez faire attitude towards business.
+ The government's role would be limited to a very few areas:
● Make laws concerning contracts and property rights.
● Be responsible for national defense.
● Provide only those goods that private businesses could or would not ordinarily provide such as
roads and canals.
=> In truth, the US is not a pure capitalistic system, the government does not maintain a completely laissez
faire attitude towards business => The government's role in business has been growing since the 1930s.
- 4 basic reasons why the government tries to regulate the economy:
+ Protect the environment: the cost of polluting the environment can affect all members of society.
● Companies must comply with certain government regulations. Ex: companies may be required to
install expensive pollution control equipment.
● The government has regulations about how toxic waste can be dumped and impose fines on
those companies that do not follow these regulations.
+ Help people who for some reason beyond their control, earn little or no income (be too young, or
too old, or too ill, or otherwise unable to support themselves) by various public assistance or
welfare programs that are paid for tax money.
+ Try to see that the marketplace stays competitive and to be sure that competition was protected:
the government passed antitrust and monopoly regulation laws:
● Antitrust laws: prevent businesses from joining together to drive other businesses out of the
marketplace.
● Monopoly regulation laws: prevent a situation where one business, because of its size and
strength, just naturally drove all the similar businesses out in the marketplace.
+ Maintain economic stability: the government uses 3 methods:
 ● Taxation: collects money from people in businesses.
❖ The economy is growing too fast and inflation becomes a problem => the government can
raise taxes to take money out of the economy and lower the inflation rate.
❖ However, raising taxes can also lead to increased unemployment.
=> The government has to be very careful to regulate taxes to keep unemployment and inflation in
balance.
● Through expenditure - the money that the government spends: some limits decisions about how to
spend the money or based on economic conditions, different industries or in different parts of the
country. Ex: the government may try to help the economy of a certain state by buying goods and
services from businesses inside that state.
● Controlling the interest rate on money the government will lend to business:
❖ The economy is growing too slowly => the government lowers the interest rate: encourage
individuals to borrow more money to begin new businesses and expand old businesses.
❖ The economy is growing too fast => the government raises the interest rate: discourage
investment in new businesses in business expansion.
- Republicans, the more conservative party, tend to favor fewer taxes, less welfare to the poor, and
conditions that help businesses grow.
- Democrats are often more protective of the environment and more sympathetic to the needs of the old,
poor, and sick => in favor of raising taxes to pay for social programs and to regulate businesses more
closely.
=> The extent to which the government interferes with the economy changes depending on which party the
President is from, which party has the majority in Congress, and how well the President and Congress work
together.
LECTURE 14: GOVERNMENT BY CONSTITUTION
LECTURE 15: THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN THE ECONOMY:
LECTURE 16: THE CONCEPT OF CULTURE

I. What exactly is culture?

1. Murdoch: produced what many have called the ultimate laundry list of things cultural by naming 900
Odd categories of human behavior.
2. Edward B. Tyler: culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, custom,
and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.
3. Another definition of culture that many find useful is the totality of learned socially transmitted
behavior.
4. Now, a particular culture that would mean the total shared way of life of a given group. This would
include their ways of thinking, acting, and feeling as reflected in their religion, law, language, art, and
customs, as well as concrete things such as houses, clothing, and tools.
II. Cultural anthropology is the study of cultures living and dead. It includes:
1. Linguistics - the study of speech forms.
2. Archeology - the study of dead cultures.
3. Ethnology - the study of living cultures.
III. Why study cultural anthropology?
1. The first reason:
- Ruth Benedict, a well-known anthropologist, noted that the story of humanity (from the Stone Age to
the present) is such a fascinating one of cultural growth.
- Every society has gone through three stages or steps of cultural growth: savagery, barbarism, and
civilization.
2. The second reason:
- Learn about different cultures => learn and use a foreign language effectively.
- Knowing the language of another culture is not enough for meaningful communication.
- Ned Seeley - in his 1993 book “Teaching culture” lists six skills to nurture and support intercultural
communication:
+ Cultivate curiosity about another culture and empathy towards its members.
+ Recognize that different roles and other social variables such as age, sex, social class, religion,
ethnicity, and place of residence, affect the way people speak and behave.
+ Realize that effective communication requires discovering the culturally conditioned images of people
when they think, act and react to the world around them.
+ Recognize that situational variables and conventions shaped people's behavior in important ways.
+ Understand that people generally act the way they do (because they're exercising the options their
society allows for satisfying basic physical and psychological needs.)
 + Develop the ability to evaluate the truth of a generalization about the target culture and to locate and
organize information about the target culture from books, mass media, people and personal observations.
=> Culture and society must coexist.
- For example: Teesside - a stone age people in the Philippine rainforest.
IV. Multiculturalism:
- Large societies such as those in Canada, the United States, India, Egypt, are multicultural or pluralist
societies => tend to have many subcultures.
- In multicultural environments, discovering similarities among people from different cultures is as
important as identifying differences.
- Some of the universals that international students have all experienced in their earlier educational
life:
+ All cultures use rewards and punishments to encourage correct behavior.
+ Societies withhold certain information from the young. This might include faults in our leaders or
sexual taboos.
+ The effort by the controlling group in a culture to educate the young to strengthen and secure its
dominant position.
LECTURE 17: THE EGYPTIAN PYRAMIDS:

Ancient Egypt's civilization, a civilization that after all, lasted for more than 3000 years with at least 30
consecutive dynasties.
- A dynasty is a series of kings or queens of the same royal family, and the pyramids were constructed
as tombs or burial places for the Egyptian kings and their family members.
- Egyptians believed that they could be assured of an afterlife only if their bodies could be preserved
from decay or destruction = If once mummy was preserved, the soul would go on living.
+ The ancient Egyptians believed that the dead person could take his or her earthly possessions along to the
next world >< Western idea: you can't take it with you when you go.
+ The dead person was provided with food, clothing, furniture, weapons, and even servants => the Pharaohs
wanted to have their bodies and their possessions hidden to protect them from grave robbers.
- Construction of the mighty pyramids:
+ The first and second dynasties:
● Lasted from about 3100 to about 2665 BCE.
● Constructed mastaba which came from an Arabic word meaning “bench” or “long seat”.
● Looked like a low flat-topped rectangle, a low bench, or a shoebox.
+ The third dynasty:
● Lasted from about 2664 until 2615 BCE.
● The first typical pyramid was built.
● This pyramid was for King Zoster (2650 BCE). It was built by an architect named Imhotep.
● This pyramid was constructed as a series of giant steps or stairs => the step pyramid. It was really
simply a pile of mastabas, each step smaller and higher than the one before, and it was never covered
with stone to give it a smooth surface.
+ The fourth dynasty:
● Lasted from 2614 to 2502 BCE.
● The three Great Pyramids of Giza, located near the town of Giza on the west bank of the Nile River,
just outside the capital city of Egypt, Cairo, were built.
● The largest of these pyramids is known as the Great Pyramid was built for King Khufu (Khufu was
called Cheops) => the pyramid of Cheops.
● 2.3 million blocks of limestone were used to build the Great Pyramid, the blocks averaged 2500
kilograms each. The largest stone block weighs about 15,000 kilos
● The base of the pyramid covers 5.3 hectares and area large enough to hold 10 football fields.
 - The ancient Greek historian Herodotus said that 400,000 men worked for 20 years to build the Great
Pyramid with only basic mathematics, with iron tools, no modern machinery (cranes, bulldozers, …).
- The second and third pyramids of Giza were built by Khufu his successors, the tomb of Khafre is
the second Pyramid of Giza.
● Its present height is 136.2 meters (the second pyramid).
● The third pyramid built for Menkaure covers only half the area occupied by the Great Pyramid, and
it is only 62.5 meters high.
● Because the pyramid method of burial provided very little or no protection at all for their royal
corpses, King Thutmose had his tomb dug out of the rock of a valley, far from the Nile River and far
from Cairo (11 kilometers from the river on its west bank) => the Valley of the Kings.
=> The Greeks called “the great pyramids of Egypt” one of the seven wonders of the world.
LECTURE 18: THE FIRST EMPEROR OF CHINA

LECTURE 19: THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT:

LECTURE 19: THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT:

LECTURE 19: THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT:

LECTURE 19: THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT:
LECTURE 20: CLASS COMMUNICATION:
LECTURE 21: GENDER AND COMMUNICATION

I. Men and women learn to communicate differently:

- Gender: The social identity that women and men learn when they grow up in a culture. Women tend to
learn to be feminine, while men learn to be masculine.
- Men and women communicate in quite different ways and amounts depending on the situation and the
reason for the conversation.
- Many cultures encourage women and men to communicate differently  patterns are learned when they
are young from their parents, peers.
- American boys and girls play together but they mostly play in same sex groups, play some games
together but their favorite ones are different.
- Boys play outside more than inside, in large, hierarchically structured groups.

+ There is usually a leader. A leader achieve status by:

● Giving orders, make the others play by the rules

● Talking center stage (talk a lot, give a lot of orders, tell a lot of jokes, making conversations,
interrupting others)
- Boys’ games have clear winners and losers, based on elaborate system of rules
- Girls in groups use a different pattern, style of communication.
- Girls play in small, not hierarchically structured groups or pairs, more inside than outside.
- Infrequent games, everyone gets a chance to play, no winner or loser, no direct orders, instead they
offer suggestions.
- Girls give orders less in games when playing house which helps develop children-child relationship.
Boys practice their masculine position in a family when they grow up.
II. Gender based stereotypes:
- Cultural upbringing lets people learn the norms of behaviors, gender-based patterns of communication
or gender bias. It also develops stereotypes, how women and men should communicate.
- Stereotypes can be quite wrong:

 There is a stereotype that: women talk too much, always try to take center stage
 Researchers found the exact opposite: Men produce more talk, are more likely to interrupt someone
particularly in public settings.
  The same case goes for educated male and women, specifically professors: male professors speak
more, for longer terms, take more center stage, talk more in departmental meetings.

- Social concept of what is feminine, and masculine reinforces these stereotypes.

- Women are criticized when they do these things because women should be quieter to be feminine,
while men don’t get criticized because these things are considered masculine.
III. Reasons to study the connection between gender and communication:
- To understand why misconceptions about gender in communication exist.
- Recognize these different communication patterns to communicate with others.
- Gender affects communication more or less in different cultures.
LECTURE 22: MEN’S MOVEMENT

I. The reasons for the men's movement:

1. The changing roles brought about by the women's movement.
2. The Industrial Revolution.
3. Man's desire to understand and affirm the concept of manhood.

II. The forms of the men’s movement: 4 basic groups:

1. The male feminist:

- These men work for women's rights and equality between the sexes.
- Vocal about blaming other men for much of the violence against women, and for the inequality that
exists between men and women in relationships and in the job market.
2. The second orientation in the men's movement:
- Men who join men's support groups to meet, give, and receive psychological support in dealing with
problems created by the new roles that they have to play at home and at work.
- Try to learn better to express their feelings and emotions, and to show sensitivity without being
ashamed.
3. The third group in the men's movement:
- Men who want to get back the power they feel they've lost (because of the advances made by women
as a result, the women's movement and feminist causes.)
4. The mythopoetic men's movement:
- Is identified with Robert Bly, the poet who wrote one of the most well-known books on the men's
movement; Iron John, the man involved in this aspect of the men's movement.
- They believe that men should be initiated into manhood as men were initiated when people still lived
in small tribes and bands and ancient cultures.
- Using mythology, poetry, and other rituals such as dancing, to explore and affirm the value of
masculinity and approaches to problem-solving.

III. What do women think of the men's movement?

1. Some women do not like the men's movement:

- They feel that it is a backlash.
- Men are trying to keep women from achieving equality.
 - Men advocate women's return to their roles of housewife and mother, rather than a business partner, or
competitor.
2. Some women like the men's movement:
- They are glad that men are learning to express their emotions and getting support from other men.
- They no longer feel that she alone is responsible for their family's emotional well-being.
- Share the role and responsibility.

LECTURE 23: WHAT’S IN A NAME?

LECTURE 24: ENGLISH AS AN GLOBAL LANGUAGE

I. English is obviously a global language:

- English is the language that people all over the world use to communicate, and that it is gradually
replacing other languages.
- English is the dominant language of business, travel and science.
- Need a common language => use English.
- English is used at tourist information centers, international hotels, and airports.
- E.g.:

 The Rome taxi driver will use English if visitors can’t speak Italian.
 Use English at business meetings and international sports events.
 The European Union uses English along with French at its meetings.
 The Asian trade group uses English at its meetings.
 Use English in educational settings, chat room on the internet.

- Most people who use the internet know English.

- English is the official language of more than 75 countries (schools, banks, business, and government.)
- Every year about 1 billion people study English.
- English offers people more opportunities.
II. English is not truly a global language:
- It is not the main language spoken by most people worldwide => English has not replaced other
languages.
- There are about three times as many people who speak Chinese as their first language as those who
speak English as a first language.
- People use English for work, not anywhere else.
- People use their first language for most daily communication.
- 75 countries have English as their official language, but this doesn't mean all or even most of the
people in these countries can speak English. EX: only 5% of the population speak English (India)
- How much English does a person need to know to be called an English speaker? EX: taxi driver,
aircraft controllers, pilots, air traffic controller.
=> Some people are afraid that if people use English more and more, their ability in their first language will
decline.

LECTURE 24: PHOBIAS