Culture Lesson Four

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Culture Lesson Four

• Celebrations, Weddings, and Childhood in America

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Idioms related to age

• Sweet 16
• Describing a 16th birthday party, usually for a
  girl
• Over the Hill
• When someone turns 40 or 50, we may say they are
  over the hill
• Bite the Dust
• An informal to say someone has died

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Idioms related to childhood

• knee high to a grasshopper
• That was long ago, when your grandpa was knee
  high to a grasshopper.
• Terrible twos
• Im ready for my son grows out of this stage. No
  wonder they are called the Terrible Twos! ?
• Rug rats
• Help get the rug rats ready for school.

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In the First Year

• The Baby Shower
• The Birth of the Baby
• The Babys Baptism or Dedication
• Babys First Christmas, etc.
• 1st Birthday (different from China)
• Smash cake, especially for the baby

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In A Students Life

• Losing the first tooth
• First Day of School
• School events and activities
• Graduations (different levels)
• School dances (Prom, Homecoming)
• 16, 18, 21Birthdays
• First Job, Job Hunting

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Young Adults

• Courtship
• Engagement
• Wedding Shower
• Rehearsal Dinner
• Wedding
• Wedding Reception (Dance)
• Honeymoon

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Adult Life

• Promotion at Work, Mid-life Crisis (?)
• Moving/House-warming
• Anniversaries
• Important birthdays (40, 50, 65, 100)
• Retirement/Senior Benefits
• Elderly Life
• Death/Funeral

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Three Important TermsShower, Reception, Party

• ShowerBaby, Bridal, Card
• Card showers common for elderly people
• ReceptionWedding, Anniversary, Open House
• This term is a bit more formal
• PartyBirthday, Christmas, Halloween, Slumber
• This term is a bit more casual

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What do we give for these events? Some examples

• Baby shower toys, clothes, books
• Wedding household items, money
• Birthdays cards, something small but nice that
  suits the person well
• Anniversaries depends on the year
• Death flowers for the deceased, flower and
  sympathy cards for the family

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Word OriginsHoneymoon

• In ancient times, it was a custom for newly
  married couples in some cultures to drink a
  potion containing honey for each day of the first
  month they were married (or the first moon of
  their marriage). It has come to mean that happy,
  blissful time when a man and woman first marry.

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What are the meanings of these words?

• Dating
• Casually seeing one or more people
• Courtship
• Strictly seeing one person you intend to marry
• Engagement
• Period of preparation before the wedding
• Wedding/Marriagethe wedding day

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Here are the missing words

• Bride
• Groom
• Flower girl
• Maid of honor (or Matron of honor)
• Bridesmaid (s)
• Minister
• Ring-bearer

• Accompanist
• Soloist
• Groomsmen
• Attendants
• Usher (s)
• Candle lighters
• Best man

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Common differences

• 1. Number of Children per family
• 2. American stress individualism and independence
• 3. Americans typically think of self BEFORE
  society
• 4. Americans often own a house with some land or
  a yard

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Ages of Children

• Newborn first month
• Infant formal, 1st year
• Baby 1st to 2nd year, informal
• Toddler 2-3 years

• Preschooler 4-5 years
• Child 6-12 years (or general 1-12)
• Teenager 13-19 years (teens)
• Adolescent 13-19 years, more formal

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American Education

• Preschool and Kindergarten
• l
• Elementary School
• l
• Middle School/Junior High School
• l
• High School
• l
• University/Vo-Tech/College

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Common things at home

• Chores
• Sibling rivalry
• Diet
• Family reunions
• Family vacations
• rituals

• Moving to a new house/city
• Pets
• Medical care

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Common things at school

• Games and sports
• Clubs
• Art, music
• Dances
• After-school jobs

• Summer Activities
• Friendship, early love ?

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Common ProblemsEarly Childhood

• Nightmares
• Sleepwalking
• Bed-wetting (10 still have this problem at age
  six)
• Shyness

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Common ProblemsSchool-age

• Bullying
• Learning disorders (ex. Mozart, Tom Cruise, the
  Wright Brothers, Edison, da Vinci, Disney, Henry
  Ford)
• Obesityextremely overweight
• In 1982, 4 of children overweight
• In 2001, 25-33 overweight, depending on race

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Common ProblemsTeens

• Drugs
• Many marijuana addicts start using by age 14
• Eating disorders
• Early 90s 10 mill. females, 1 mill. males
• Average model, 511, 117 lbs.
• Average woman, 54, 140 lbs.
• Suicidethird leading cause of death for 15-24
  year olds (1. accidents, 2. murder)

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Common ProblemsAll ages

• Divorce
• Large numbers of single parent and never-married
  families
• Abuse
• Physical 1 mill. /year, 2000 deaths
• Sexual 1 in 5 boys, 1 in 3 girls ???
• Emotional few clear statistics
• Povertymany more than old people

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Region 3The Southern States

• Alabama
• Arkansas
• Delaware
• Florida
• Georgia
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maryland
• Mississippi

• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• Virginia
• West Virginia
• 1 of the 13 colonies

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Region 3Famous People from the South

• Sports Hank Aaron, Jesse Owens, Muhammad Ali,
  Arthur Ashe
• Actors James Earl Jones, Sidney Poitier, Andy
  Griffith, Don Knotts
• Presidents so many! Washington, Lincoln,
  Carter, Jefferson, etc.
• Writers Harper Lee, William Faulkner, Margaret
  Mitchell, O. Henry, Willa Cather

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Region 3And even more famous people!

• Polar Explorer R.E. Byrd, Vice Pres. Al Gore,
  Billy Graham, Oprah Winfrey, Jim Henson, John
  Wilkes Booth, Benjamin Banneker (mathematician),
  Jefferson Davis (Pres. of the South), Martin
  Luther King Jr., industrialist E.I. du Pont,
  Helen Keller (both blind and deaf)

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Region 3Brief History of the South

• First settled for business, 1607
• Developed more slowly than the rest of the
  colonies. (Rural/undeveloped)
• Small farms became large plantations (late
  1600s) began slave-demand
• Staples tobacco, rice, and cotton
• Civil Warnot just about slavery???
• Even until recentlywhite vs. black

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Region 3The People of the South

• The people are laidback, rednecks, friendly,
  hospitable, welcoming, loving, moving at a slower
  pace
• Population lt1 million-16 million
• Many retirees in Florida many immigrants in this
  area
• Speech is very different!!! It reflects a lot
  of Black and Caribbean slang
• Can you understand these words?...

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(This is the translation.)

• Its cold tonight.
• Im going to find some wood so we can start a
  fire.
• Then you and your family can come and sit by the
  fire and get warm.
• Did you understand? ?

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Region 3Southern States famous for

• Universities, for example
• U.S. Naval Academy, Johns Hoskins University,
  Duke, Regent University
• Georgia peaches, KFC, moonshine,
• pecan pie, lemonade, other fruit
• Horse Racing (Kentucky Derby), Mardi Gras,
  Magnolia blossoms
• Hot summers, beautiful autumns

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A Folk Song from the SouthDown in the Valley

• Down in the Valley, Valley so low,
• Hang your head over,
• Hear the wind blow.
• Hear the wind blow, Love,
• Hear the wind blow.
• Hang your head over,
• Hear the wind blow