Life and Culture in the English Speaking World [antikvár]

II\TR0DUCTI01\i Life and Culture. Two big words, which encompass virtually the whole of human existence. How is it possible to distil the essence of a society or a civilisation into a brief survey, designed for non-native speakers^ A daunting task, since one soon becomes lost in a maze of quasi-philosophical speculation, to which little time can be allotted in an already crowded language syllabus. Where does one draw the line between the mere transmission of data (without which of course no cultural analysis is possible) and exclusive concentration on language skills (where life and culture would only creep in by chance)^ Some compromise is of course necessary, and the authors make no apology for the inevitably subjective choice of topics and materials, and the bias towards those areas which, in their experience, generate more fruitful discussion. This book has been written with the following students in mind: pupils studying English at upper secondary school level, or those who are pursuing English language studies at university level. It is assumed that students will already have reached and consolidated an intermediate level of English, and that they will have had some exposure to the basic features of life in Britain and the USA. Given the wealth of pair-work and group work exercises, the book is suitable for use in class together with a teacher. It may, however, be successfully used on a self-access basis: a teacher's book containing an answer key and hints as to how lessons may be prepared is available with the book. In the preparation of this book, the authors have held fast to one of their central beliefs - that, in order to make sense of an essentially 'distant' culture, students should be encouraged to bring as much of their personal experience as is possible to the topics considered. This highly personalised approach has been employed throughout the book, although there are certain areas (the geography and history sections are a case in point) which lend themselves less readily to an approach of this kind. This bi-cultural dialectic works for constant interplay between the mother culture and that of the countries understudy. Indeed, students are allowed the chance to talk about their own experiences and feelings (something which is often denied them in this kind of book) and, implicitly or explicitly, to internalise information about life and culture in the English speaking world without recourse to a series of repetitive and boring comprehension questions.