TOPIC: MEALS
TEXT A. AN ENGLISHMAN'S MEALS
Four meals a day are served traditionally in Britain: breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner.
In many countries breakfast is a snack rather than a meal but the English breakfast eaten at about eight o'clock in the morning, is a full meal, much bigger than on the Continent.35
Some people begin with a plateful of porridge but more often cornflakes with milk and sugar. Then comes at least one substantial course, such as kippers or bacon and eggs. Afterwards comes toast with butter and marmalade or jam. The meal is "washed down" with tea or coffee.
Most British people now have such a full breakfast only on Sunday mornings. On weekdays it is usually a quick meal: just cornflakes, toast and tea.
English lunch, which is usually eaten at one o'clock, is based on plain, simply-cooked food. It starts with soup or fruit juice. English people sometimes say that soup fills them up without leaving sufficient room for the more important course which consists of meat, poultry or fish accompanied by plenty of vegetables.
Apple-pie is a favourite sweet, and English puddings of which there are very many, are an excellent ending to a meal, especially in winter. Finally a cup of coffee — black or white.
Tea, the third meal of the day, is taken between four and five o'clock especially when staying in a hotel when a pot of tea with a jug of milk and a bowl of sugar are brought in. Biscuits are handed round.
At the weekends afternoon tea is a very sociable time. Friends and visitors are often present.
Some people like to have the so-called "high tea" which is a mixture of tea and supper — for example meat, cheese and fruit may be added to bread and butter, pastries and tea.
Dinner is the most substantial meal of the day. The usual time is about seven o'clock and all the members of the family sit down together. The first course might be soup. Then comes the second course: fish or meat, perhaps the traditional roast beef of old England. Then the dessert is served: some kind of sweet. But whether a person in fact gets such a meal depends on his housekeeping budget. Some people in the towns and nearly all country people have dinner in the middle of the day instead of lunch. They have tea a little later, between five and six o'clock, when they might have a light meal — an omelette, or sausages or fried fish and chips or whatever they can afford.
Then before going to bed, they may have a light snack or supper — е.g. a cup of hot milk with a sandwich or biscuit.
The evening meal as we have said already goes under various names: tea, "high tea", dinner or supper depending upon its size and also the social standing of those eating it.
(See: Potter S. Everyday English for Foreign Students. Lnd., 1963}
TEXT В. AT TABLE
Niск: I say, mum, I'm terribly hungry. I haven't had a thing all day. I could do with a snack.
Mother: Why, you're just in time for dinner.
Niск: No soup for me. I'd rather have beefsteak.
Mother: Are you quite sure you wouldn't like some soup? It tastes all right.
Nick: There is nothing like steak and chips. I'll go and wash my hands.
Mother: How's the steak? I'm afraid it's underdone.
Nick: Oh, it's done to a turn, just to my liking. I don't like meat overdone. May I have another helping of chips?
Mother: Yes, certainly. Hand me your plate, please, and help yourself to the salad. Just to see how it tastes.
Nick: Oh, it's delicious.
Mother: Shall I put some mustard on your steak?
Nick: No, thanks, I don't care for mustard. I'd rather take a spoonful of sauce. Pass me the sauce, please.
Mother: Here you are. Oh, isn't there a smell of something burning?
Niск: So there is.
Mother: I've left the layer-cake in the oven.
Nick: For goodness' sake get it out quick.
Mother (coming back): Oh, Nick! How awkward of you to have spilt the sauce over the table-cloth. Get a paper napkin from the sideboard and cover it up.
Nick: I'm terribly sorry. I was quite upset about my favourite cake getting spoiled.
Mother: Don't worry. Here it is, brown and crisp on the outside. What will you have, tea or coffee?
Niск: A cup of tea.
Mother: Any milk? Shall I put butter on your bread?
Nick: No, thanks. I can't see the sugar-basin.
Mother: It's behind the bread-plate. Have a better look.
Nick: I'm afraid it's the salt-cellar.
Mother: So it is. In my hurry I must have left it in the dresser.
Nick: It's all right I'll get it myself.
Mother: Help yourself to the cake. There's nothing else to follow.
Nick: I've had a delicious meal.
TEXT С. IN THE DINING-HALL
— Let's go to the dining-hall. We haven't much time left, but we'll manage it all right if you hurry. You take a place in the queue and I'll see what we can get for dinner.
— All right. What is on the menu?
— Cabbage soup with meat, chicken soup with noodles and pea soup.
— I don't know whether I'll have any. What have they got for seconds?
— Fried fish and mashed potatoes, beefsteak, bacon and eggs.
— And for dessert?
— A lot of things. We can have stewed fruit or cranberry jelly or strawberries and cream.
— Then, I'll take cabbage soup with sour cream and... Well, and what about some starter? We've completely forgotten about it.
— As we are in a hurry I believe we can do without it. I never thought you were a big eater.
— Neither did I. But I wouldn't mind having something substantial now.
— So we'll take one cucumber salad and one tomato salad. That'll do for the time being. I think I can manage a bit of fish-jelly as well and then chicken soup with noodles. That'll be fine.
ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY (II)36
Words
bacon n napkin n snack n
biscuit n noodle soup n sociable adj
bread-plate n omelet (te) n sour cream n
chips n pastry n starter n
cornflakes n pepper-box (pot) n (beef) steak n
cream n porridge n stewed fruit n
fruit juice n poultry n sugar-basin n
jelly n pudding n sweet n
jug n roast beef n table-cloth n
marmalade n salt-cellar n toast n
mustard-pot n sauce-boat n
Word Combinations
to boil meat (potatoes, cabbage, to fry bacon, eggs, potatoes,
eggs, water, milk, etc) fish (cod, perch, pike, had
to stew fruit (vegetables, meat) dock, trout, salmon)
crust of bread to taste good (bad, deli-
to sit at table (having a meal) cious, etc.)
(cf.: to sit at the table writing to be done to a turn (over
a letter, etc.) done, underdone)
to have (take) smth. for dinner crisp toast
(for the first, second course, to help oneself to smth.
or dessert) to pass smth. to smb,
to butter one's bread (roll, etc.) to dine in (out)
to have a snack (a bite of food) it's to my liking
to have another helping of smth. there's nothing like ice
to roast meat (mutton, pork, cream (steak, etc.)
beef), fowl (chicken, duck, there's nothing else coming
goose, turkey), potatoes for a change
Study the meanings and use of these items of your Essential Vocabulary:
1. Food and Meal. Food is a general term for anything that people eat: bread, meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, milk, tinned goods, sweets, etc.
е.g. Man cannot live without food. The doctor said that the patient needed good nourishing food. Where do you buy your food?
Meal is a generalizing collective term for breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner and supper (cf. the Russian arch, трапеза).
е.g. How many meals a day do you have? Supper is an evening meal. I don't want any hot meal; I think I'll do with a snack.
2. Course is a dish served at a meal; a part of a meal served at one time.
е.g. Dinner may consist of two or more courses. What shall we take for our second course? Soup was followed by a fish course.
3. To fry, to roast, to stew. To fry means "to cook (or be cooked) in boiling fat". We usually fry fish, potatoes, eggs, bacon, pancakes, etc.
To roast means "to cook (or be cooked) in an oven or over an open fire." In this way we may cook meat (veal, pork), fowl (chicken, turkey), etc.
To stew means "to cook by slow boiling in a closed pan with little water." In this way meat may be cooked, also vegetables, fruit, etc.
4. Starter (pl -s) is a dish served before or at the beginning of a meal (it may be salad, fish, olives, soup, fruit juice, etc.) Hors d'oeuvre (pl -s) is usually used on menucards.
5. Omelette is eggs beaten together with milk and fried or baked in a pan. The English for яичница is "fried eggs". We eat fried eggs, soft-boiled eggs, hard-boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, poached eggs, four-minute boiled eggs.
6. Porridge is a dish of oatmeal or other meal (buckwheat, semolina, millet, etc.) boiled in some water. Milk and sugar or milk and salt are added to it.
7. Toast is sliced bread made brown and crisp on the outside by heating in a toaster. Toast is placed on a toastrack.
8. Chips are fried pieces of potato, often eaten with fried fish.
9. Soft and strong drinks прохладительные и крепкие напитки.
Soft drinks are lemonade, fruit drinks, fruit juice, etc. Strong drinks are wine, liqueurs, brandy, vodka, etc.
10. Jelly is usually made by boiling fruit (cranberries, strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, currants, apricots, etc.) and sugar. Something is added to make the mixture stiff.
11. Marmalade is a kind of jam made from orange or lemon cut up and boiled with sugar.
12. Pudding is a very popular English dish. It is a thick mixture of flour, suet, meat, fruit, etc., cooked by boiling, steaming or baking. There are many kinds of pudding. Some of them are quite substantial and serve as the main course of lunch or dinner. Others are rather like sweet cake and eaten for dessert.
EXERCISES
I. Study Text A and a) spell and transcribe English equivalents of the following:
(первый) завтрак, каша, корнфлекс, бекон, тост, мармелад, сок, достаточный, пудинг, компот; основательная (еда), ростбиф, омлет, сосиски, сухое печенье.
b) give the four forms of the following verbs:
eat, fry, roast, accompany, fill, bring.
c) explain the meaning of the following phrases:
a full meal, plain food, a sociable time, a housekeeping budget, to go under various names, social standing.
II. Try your hand at teaching:
A. Preparation. Write 15 questions about Text A. See to it that a word or phrase from Ex. I is used either in each of your questions or in answers to them.
B. Work in Class. Ask your questions in class and correct the students' mistakes (see "Classroom English", Sections I, II, III, VIII, IX).37
III. Study Texts В and С and a) explain the meaning of:
delicious (about food), layer-cake, oven, napkin, a big eater, done to a turn, seconds.
b) give the Infinitive oft
overdone, spilt, upset, mashed, stewed.
IV. a) Give a summary of Text В in reported speech.
Example: Text С is a talk between two friends in the dining hall of their Institute. They seem very hungry, but they haven't got much time left before the end of the break, so one of them stands in the line, while the other reads the menu. There is a rich choice of dishes in it but as they are in a hurry they take only salads, fish jelly and chicken soup, which shows that they are obviously Russians: the English are not overfond of soup, as you know.
b) Learn Text С by heart and recite it la pairs. V. Study Essential Vocabulary II and the commentary to it and answer the following questions:
1. What kinds of food do you know? Give as many nouns denoting food as you can. 2. What meals do you know? 3. What dishes do you know? Give as many names of dishes as you can. 4. What is understood by a "course"? What attributes may qualify this word? 5. What can be boiled? 6. Do we fry meat or do we roast it? 7. What is an omelette made from? 8. What are cornflakes generally eaten with? 9. What is the difference between fried potatoes and chips? 10. What kind of meal is five o'clock tea in England? Do you know other names for this meal? 11. What kinds of fruit do you know? 12. Do we roast fish? What is the way to cook it? 13. Do you ever have stewed fruit for dessert? 14. Do you usually have a starter before dinner or do you do without it? 15. Where do you have your meals on weekdays and on Sundays?
VI. Fill in prepositions or adverbs where necessary:
1. Take another helping ... salad. 2. I think I'll trouble you ... a second cup of tea. 3. Will you please pass ... the sugar. 4. She is going to make some fish soup ... dinner. 5. Marmalade is made ... orange peel. 6. The egg is eaten ... a small spoon. 7. Their meal consisted ... two courses. 8. What can you recommend ... the first course? 9. The meat is done ... a turn. 10. No sugar ... me, thank you. 11.... midday people have their meals ... home or ... the canteen. 12. Custard is made ... eggs and milk. 13. The fish is just... my liking. 14. Evening meal goes ... various names ... England. 15. I don't take milk ... my tea. 16. Help yourself ... some pastry. 17. Broth is made ... boiling chicken. 18. Will you please hand ... the salt-cellar? 19. What do you usually order ... dessert? 20. The way to refuse ... a dish is ... saying "No, thank you." 21. You may ask ... a second helping.
VII. Translate these sentences into English:
1. На завтрак подали корнфлекс с молоком. Затем последовал поджаренный бекон. 2. Невозможно представить себе английский завтрак без тостов. Их намазывают маслом н джемом. 3. Завтрак часто едят наспех, так как все спешат. 4. Обед обычно состоит из двух блюд. Мясное блюдо подается с большим количеством овощей. За ним следует компот. 5. Так называемый «большой чай» — весьма основательная трапеза. 6. Он всегда не прочь, как он выражается, «плотно закусить». 7. Ничего нет вкуснее земляники со сливками! 8. Бифштекс вкусный? — По-моему, он недожарен. — А мне кажется, он как раз такой, как надо. 9. Что желаете на второе? — Какое-нибудь рыбное блюдо, как обычно. 10. Для меня ничего нет лучше жареной картошки, конечно, если она румяная и поджаристая. 11. Сколько вам кусочков сахара? — Благодарю вас, я пью чай без сахара. Ломтик лимона, пожалуйста.
VIII. a) Act out the dialogues below: A. Inviting someone out
S.: Hallo, Bill, have you got any plans for this evening?
В.: No, really, no.
S.: Well, would you like to have a meal with me?
В.: Oh, well, I'm not sure I can manage that.
S.: There's a nice Chinese restaurant in town — the food's very good there.
В.: Oh, that sounds very nice, thanks.
S.: I'll call for you about 8, then.
В.: 8 o'clock. Fine, thanks.
B. Asking your friends to do you a favour.
J.: I'm just going shopping. Do you want anything?
M.: Are you going past the baker's by any chance, Jan?
J.: Yes.
M.: Well, I wonder if you could get me fifteen Danish pastries.
J.: Fifteen? I can't imagine why you want fifteen.
M.: Well, I want to give everyone in the class one for tea.
J.: OK! I hope I'll get one of them.
M.: Of course, thanks a lot. (Functions of English. Teacher's Book. Cambridge Univ. Press, 1981)
b) Make up dialogues of your own using word combinations from the texts.
IX. Ask your partner
1. About the dinner he usually has (time, place, dishes). 2. If he takes any starter and what he likes for it. 3. What kind of soup he likes best of all. 4. What his favourite meat dishes are. 5. What kinds of fish he knows. 6. If- he likes stewed carrots. 7. What other stewed vegetables or fruit he eats. 8. What he wants for dessert. 9. How many lumps of sugar he takes with his tea. 10. If he prefers strong or weak tea. 11. What he usually does if he spills some liquid on the table-cloth. 12. If he can cook any dishes. 13. About the way he cooks meat (fry, roast, stew). 14. If he sometimes eats out. 15. If he prefers eating out.
X. Compose dialogues between a Russian and an Esglish student discussing a) English and Russian meals; b) their favourite dishes; c) where each of them has his meals. XI. a) Study the text:
Bread -and-Butter Pudding
Beat up two eggs and add to them one pint of milk and a little flavouring. Butter the pie-dish and cut three slices of bread-and-butter in fingers, removing the crusts. Put a layer of bread in the dish, sprinkle with sugar and a few cleaned currants or raisins, add more bread, fruit and sugar and then pour over the milk and the eggs. Leave to soak for one hour, then bake in a slow oven about an hour. Sprinkle with sugar before serving.
b) Describe the way you cook your favourite dish. You may need some verbs besides those in the text, such as mince, mix, grate, grind, chop, sift, roll, bake. XII. Try your band at teaching:
A. Preparation. Find 3 proverbs dealing with the topic. Translate them and give their Russian equivalents.
B. Work in Class. Get a member of the class to write one of them on the blackboard. Make another student translate it and give its Russian equivalent. Tell the class to think of a short situation illustrating the proverb. Correct the mistakes. (Look up the words you may need to do the exercise in class in "Classroom English", Section VIII.)
ХIII. a) Read the text below and comment on it:
Tea
Britons drink a quarter of all the tea grown in the world each year. They are the world's greatest tea drinkers. Many of them drink it on at least eight different occasions during the day. They drink it between meals and at meals. They drink it watching television. Join the Tea-V set! says one well-known tea advertisement. (See: Musman R. Britain Today. Lnd., 1974)
b) What is the attitude towards tea drinking in this country? XIV. Translate toe following sentences:
1. «Сколько раз в день вы едите? — спросил врач. ~ Регулярное питание очень важно для здоровья». 2. Он съел полную тарелку каши, хотя говорил, что совсем не хочет есть. 3. Сегодня в меню есть мясные блюда, тушеные овощи, сладкий пудинг, разные закуски и даже мороженое с фруктами на десерт. 4. Сколько вам кусочков сахара? — Достаточно двух 5. Не хотите еще немного салата? — Благодарю вас, мне достаточно. 6. Суп вкусный? — Я еще не пробовала, он очень горячий. 7. Вы сказали сестре, чтобы она принесла чистую посуду? 8. Вы какой любите чай — крепкий или слабый? — Не очень крепкий, пожалуйста. 9. Что сегодня на второе? — Жареная рыба с картошкой. 10. Обед подан в столовой. И. Тебе намазать хлеб маслом? — Да, и вареньем. 12. У нас сегодня был легкий завтрак, и после прогулки мы проголодались. Было бы неплохо сытно поесть. 13. Он наскоро поужинал и принялся за работу. 14. Она любит консервированные ананасы больше, чем свежие. 15. В этом доме гостей всегда угощают совершенно особенным яблочным пирогом (apple-tart). Он необыкновенно вкусен. 16. Ее муж любит, как он говорит, вздремнуть полчасика (take a пар) после плотного обеда. — Это вредно для пищеварения. Ему бы лучше пройтись с полмили. 17. Ты уже накрыла на стол? — Нет еще. Не могу найти чистую скатерть.
XV. a) Study the text:
Pubs
For many British people, the pub is the centre of their social life. People from some countries find this rather shocking, but for most people in Britain a pub is a place with a friendly atmosphere where they can meet their friends and talk over a drink — and often over a meal.
At lunchtime you can often get sandwiches or a plough-man's lunch (bread and cheese). In the evening many pubs serve 'basket meals' (especially chicken and chips served in a basket) at the bar, and some have restaurants where you can get a complete meal.
It is quite normal for women to go into pubs in Britain, but like everybody else they must follow the licensing laws. These are very complicated and control the time pubs are allowed to open. (See "Approaches." Cambridge 1979.)
b) Comment on the text adding some more information on the topic. XVI. Make up dialogues:
Suggested Situations
A. Helen has invited some friends to a dinner party. She has cooked ail the dishes herself and proudly mentions the fact. Her friends do not find everything quite to their liking, but try not to show it. On the whole, every one is having great fun.
B, An irritable husband is sitting at dinner and criticizing his wife's cooking. He is trying to teach her the way this or that dish should be cooked though he knows very little about it. The wife is doing her best to defend herself.
C. A hostess is treating a lady-visitor to a meal. The visitor keeps repeating that she is on a slimming-diet, that she never eats anything fattening and that, in general, she eats like a little bird. Yet she helps herself to this and that very heartily, till the hostess begins watching the disappearing food with some anxiety.
D. A slow waitress is taking an order from a hungry and impatient client. All the client's efforts to order this or that dish are refused on all kinds of pretexts: the pork is fat; the beef is tough; they haven't got any more potatoes in the kitchen; the ice-cream has melted; the cook has a toothache, etc.
E. Two very young and extremely inexperienced housewives are advising each other as to the best way of feeding their husbands. One of them is inclined to take the line of least resistance and to serve only tinned food for all the meals. The other points out that tinned food alone will never do and suggests other ways of solving the problem.
XVII. Brash up your table manners. A. Answer the following questions and then check your answers by comparing litem with the answers below:
1. What is the correct way to sit at table? 2. Should you use your fork or your knife for taking a slice of bread from the bread-plate? 3. How should you get a slice of bread from the plate standing on the far end of the table? 4. What is the correct way of using spoon, fork and knife? 5. How should you cut your meat? 6. What are the dishes for which knife shouldn't be used? 7. What is the way to eat chicken? 8. What is one supposed to do with the stones while eating stewed fruit? 9. What should you do with the spoon after stirring your tea? 10. What should you do if your food is too hot? 11. What should you say to refuse a second helping? 12. What should you say if you like the dish very much? 13. What should you say if you dislike the dish? 14. What shouldn't one do while eating? 15. Where should one keep the newspaper or the book during a meal, on the table or on one's lap?
В. Make up dialogues discussing good and bad table manners. Use the material of Section A for questions and that of Section В for answers. Answers to Exercise XVII.
a) "It tastes (really) fine" or "It is delicious."
b) Never eat the stones (trying to be overpolite). Neither would it be a good idea to dispose of them by dropping them under the table, placing them in your pocket or in your neighbour's wine-glass. Just take them from your mouth on your spoon and place them on your own saucer.
c) Nowhere near the table. Reading at one's meals is a bad habit; it is bad for your digestion and impolite towards others sitting at the same table.
d) Sit straight and close to the table. Don't put your elbows on the table. Don't cross your legs or spread them all over the place under the table.
e) Never lean across the table or over your neighbours to get something out of your reach. Just say: "Please pass the bread." Or. "Would you mind passing the bread, please?"
f) Nothing. Keep your impressions to yourself and don't embarrass your hostess.
g) Fish dishes are generally eaten without using knife. If one does, it is considered a serious breach of good table manners. The same refers to rissoles, cereal and, in general, to anything that is soft enough to be comfortably eaten with spoon or fork.
h) Neither. Your hand is quite correct for getting a slice of bread for yourself. After all, it is you who is going to eat it.
i) While eating, one should produce as little noise or sound as possible. It is decidedly bad manners to speak with your mouth full. Don't put your bread in your soup. Don't pour your tea in your saucer. Don't leave much on the plate: it is impolite towards your hostess. If you have liked the dish, it doesn't follow that you should polish the plate with your bread.
j) Don't hold your spoon in your fist, don't tilt it so as to spill its contents. The fork should be held in your left hand, the knife in your right.
k) It is wrong first to cut all the meat you have got on your plate in small pieces and then eat it. Cut off a slice at a time, eat it, then cut off another, holding your knife in the right hand and your fork in the left.
l) "No more, thank you."
m) Cut off and eat as much as possible by using your knife and fork; the remaining part eat by holding the piece in your hand by the end of the bone.
n) Never cool your food by blowing at it. Just wait a bit, there is no hurry.
o) Don't leave your spoon in the glass while drinking. Put it on your saucer.
XVIII. a) Read and translate the following extracts:
1. Breakfast in the Jenssen home was not much different from breakfast in a couple of hundred thousand homes in the Great City. Walter Jenssen had his paper propped against the vinegar cruet and the sugar bowl. He read expertly, not even taking his eyes off the printed page when he raised his coffee cup to his mouth. Paul Jenssen, seven going on eight, was eating his hot cereal, which had to be sweetened heavily to get him to touch it. Myrna Jenssen, Walter's five-year-old daughter, was scratching her towhead with her left hand while she fed herself with her right. Myrna, too, was expert in her fashion: she would put the spoon in her mouth, slide the cereal off, and bring out the spoon upside down. Elsie Jenssen (Mrs. Walter) had stopped eating momentarily the better to explore with her tongue a bicuspid (коренной зуб) that seriously needed attention. (From "The Ideal Man" by J. O'Hara)
b) Comment on the table manners of the Jenssen family and say what you would do if you were the father or the mother:
2. While Anna prepared herself to meet her class of fortysix lively and inquisitive children her landlady was busy preparing the high tea for her husband and the new lodger.
She had screwed the old mincer to the kitchen table and now fed it with rather tough strips of beef, the remains of the Sunday joint. There was not much, to be sure, but Mrs. Flynn's pinch-penny spirit had been roused to meet this challenge and the heel of a brown loaf, a large onion, and a tomato on the table were the ingredients of the rest of the proposed cottage pie.
"If I open a tin of baked beans," said Mrs. Flynn aloud, "there'll be no need for gravy, I shan't waste gas unnecessarily!" She pursed her thin lips with satisfaction, remembering, with sudden pleasure, that she had bought the beans at a reduced price as "This Week's Amazing Offer" at the local grocer's. She twirled the handle of the mincer with added zest.
Yesterday's stewed apple, she thought busily, could be served out with a little evaporated milk, in three individual dishes. A cherry on top of each would make a nice festive touch, decided Mrs. Flynn in a wild burst of extravagance. She straightened up from her mincing and opened the store cupboard where she kept her tinned and bottled food. In the front row a small jar of cherries gleamed rosily. For one long minute Mrs. Flynn studied its charms, torn between opposite forces of art and thrift. Victory was accomplished easily. "Pity to open them," said Mrs. Flynn, slamming the cupboard door and returned to her mincing. (From "Fresh from the Country" by M. Reed)
c) Comment on the character of the landlady. Prove your statement. XIX. Try your hand at teaching:
A. Preparation. Find some pictures and jokes on the topic and prepare to work with them in class. (See "Classroom English", Sections VII, VIII.)
B. Work in Class. 1. Tell a joke or show and describe a picture to the class. 2. Ask some questions to see if the listeners have grasped the meaning of your story. 3. If you want the students to use some new words write them on the blackboard, translate them, practise their pronunciation (in chorus) or usage (by making the students translate your sentences from English or Russian). 4. Tell the joke or describe the picture once more. 5. Make 1—2 students retell the joke (describe the picture) or make up a dialogue on the subject. 6. Correct the mistakes after the student has finished speaking. (See "Classroom English", Sections IX, X.)
XX. Role-playing:
Arrange a tea-party (at home or in the canteen). Two of the students are to act as host and hostess, having some friends round (2 or 3 of them are English). The main topic discussed at the party is traditions connected with meals. Each member of the group must tell a short story, joke or proverb to entertain the party.
XXI.. Arrange short debates on the following questions:
1. Should we stick to our custom of giving our guests a substantial meal? 2. How do you like the idea of celebrating family holidays in a cafe or restaurant? 3. Are old traditions, worth keeping?
STUDIES OF WRITTEN ENGLISH
IV
Repeating key-words in different ways and using topic -sentences properly within a paragraph are not the only writing techniques. Good writing no matter whether you are describing, narrating, arguing, or explaining should be well organized; that is, it should be under control of the central idea of the topic. Before starting to write any piece of prose you should organize your thoughts around a topic, you must have a plan or an outline.
Plan is a list of points which you intend to develop in your writing in logical order or in order of importance with reference to time, to point of view and to situation.
Note: The words "plan" and "outline" are sometimes used without sense discrimination. But it is better to use "plan" when the composition is not yet written or planning is made by the author. The word "outline" is used rather when dealing with a work already written by someone else.
The best way to learn how to make a good plan of your writing is to learn how to make an outline of original pieces of prose. There are different ways of writing an outline. It can be expressed in: 1) key-words or brief topic phrases (topic outline); 2) complete sentences (sentence outline); 3) groups of sentences containing the topic or main idea (paragraph outline). The choice depends on the length and complexity of the writing and experience of the beginner.
Examples: a) A sample topic outline of "A Day's Wait".
1. A very sick boy of nine years old.
2. Doctor's visit.
3. Feeling the same.
4. Leaving the boy for a while.
5. The boy's talk about death.
6. Argument about temperature.
7. Relaxation and nervous breakdown.
b) A sample sentence outline of "A Day's Wait".
1. The boy was shivering with fever, unwilling to go to bed.
2. The doctor took the boy's temperature and said there was nothing to worry about.
3. The boy seemed detached and kept looking at the foot of the bed.
4. The father went for a walk.
5. He came back and found the boy still staring at the foot of the bed.
6. The boy was sure he was going to die.
7. The father explained the difference between the Fahrenheit and Centigrade thermometers.
8. The boy relaxed, but the next day he cried very easily at little things that were of no importance.
Assignments:
1. Read the story "How We Kept Mother's Day" and make a topic outline of Its contents.
2. Make a sentence outline of the story.
3. Make a plan of your narration about the people presented is the picture (see p. 138).
LABORATORY EXERCISES (II)
1. a) listen to the test "An Englishman's Meals", mark the stresses and tunes. b) Repeat it in the intervals following the model.
2. a) Listen to the dialogue "At Table".
b) Repeat it in the intervals following the model.
c) Learn the text by heart.
3. Answer the questions using the given patterns.
4. Make up sentences using the given patterns.
5. Write a dictation.
6. Paraphrase the given sentences.
7. Translate the sentences into English. Check them with the key.
8. listen to the text "He Was Too Timid" or some other text on the topic "Meals". Get ready to give the summary in class.
CURIOSITY QUIZ FOR EAGERS
1. What is "Mother's Day"? Where and when is it celebrated?
2. What is a pub? What traditions are connected with if?
3. What is a bank holiday in Britain!
4. Describe some traditions or customs connected with family or public holidays in England.
5. What do the terms "Welsh Babbit", "Pancake Day" and "Dutch Treat" mean?
6. Find a story (an essay) or a passage in a novel by an English or American writer describing a meal. Give its summary in class.
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