Mind Your Manners

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Pre-Intermediate Instant Lesson
Pre-Reading Activities
A: Word Game
In each of the rows below, one word does not belong. Decide which word does not belong in each row. The words are
from todays article.
1. shop assistant / store / shopping center / soldier / mall
2. subway / taxi / cab / bus / government
3. be friendly / look smart / be helpful / be polite / be rude
4. snack / smile / nod / spit / visitor

B: Discussion
1. Answer the questions below in pairs.
When you are shopping in a store, and you need a shop assistants help, which of these is most important to you?
Choose any two. Explain your answer to your partner.
a shop assistant who is polite a shop assistant who is helpful
a shop assistant who looks smart a shop assistant who gives you a discount
a shop assistant who tells you the truth a shop assistant who does not make mistakes

2. Which of these rules do you think is important for people who help visitors to your country? Why do you think this?
Dress smartly. Do not eat while you are helping a visitor.
Brush your teeth every day. Do not talk on a telephone while you are helping a visitor.
Do not sing while you are working. Always say hello to visitors.
Do not smoke while you are working. Do not use unfriendly words when you are helping a visitor.
Do not ask for money from visitors. Be polite.

Reading Activities
A: Understanding The Headline
Read the headline and one paragraph of todays article and answer the questions.
1. What are the shop keepers doing? 2.Who are they being polite to?
i. They are being friendly and polite. i. People who are living in Beijing.
ii. They are being rude. ii. Tourists who are visiting the city from other countries.
iii. The article does not say. iii. The article does not say.

3. Why is the government telling people to be polite?

i. The government hopes tourists will spend more money.
ii. The government hopes tourists will like people from Beijing.
iii. The article does not say.

Smiling And Friendly Shop Keepers

BEIJING Saturday July 5 (Reuters) - Smiling and friendly, even the police are trying very hard to be polite...to foreign visitors
Beijings shop assistants, taxi drivers, doormen, restaurant staff and on government orders. (Continued.../)
ARTICLE 2008 THOMSON REUTERS. LESSON 2008 WWW.ENGLISH-TO-GO.COM

ARTICLE 2008 REUTERS LIMITED. LESSON 2008 WWW.ENGLISH-TO-GO.COM 1

B: True or False?
Read the statements. Use Part One of todays article to decide if a statement is true (T) or false (F).
1. The government wants the people of Beijing to be friendly to tourists.
2. The government gave people booklets on politeness.
3. The booklets tell taxi drivers to clean their teeth.
4. There are 17 million people in Beijing.
5. People in Beijing are nodding and smiling when visitors ask them questions.

Smiling And Friendly Shop Keepers

BEIJING Saturday July 5 (Reuters) - Tea, lady? Silk scarf?
Smiling and friendly, Beijings shop assistants, taxi drivers, door-
men, restaurant staff and even the police are trying very hard to be
polite...to foreign visitors on government orders. The govern-
ment gave out booklets, before the Olympic Games..teaching peo-
ple how to improve customer service, look smarter and learn some
English....
Booklets tell taxi drivers to brush their teeth more often and not
to snack or sleep in the cab, especially when on duty.
The government booklets tell police not to smoke, chew, or use
chilly words in front of the public while other campaigns told
Beijings 17 million people not to queue-jump, spit, or ask tourists
about their age, wage, or talk about sex or religion.
Beijing workers are trying very hard for the 500,000 overseas
visitors expected in Beijing for the Games, nodding and smiling if
they know the answer or not.
People are really trying hard and will speak English to you
which is something they didnt do on my last visit here a few months
ago, said Isabella Steinhuber, 27, a tourist from Wels, Austria, shop-
ping in the busy Wangfujing mall. (Continued.../)
ARTICLE 2008 THOMSON REUTERS. LESSON 2008 WWW.ENGLISH-TO-GO.COM

C: Reading For Information

Here is a list of ideas. Which of these does Part One of the article say?
1. Dress smartly. 6. Always say hello to visitors.
2. Do not eat while you are helping a visitor. 7. Do not smoke while you are working.
3. Brush your teeth. 8. Do not use unfriendly words when you are helping a visitor.
4. Do not talk on a phone while you are helping a visitor. 9. Do not ask for money from visitors.
5. Do not sing while you are working. 10. Be polite.

D: Matching Information
From your list in Reading Activity C, match the rules with the people. (One is done for you as an example).
i. taxi drivers __________________________________________________________
ii. police __________________________________________________________
iii. people who work in shops or help visitors _________________________________________________________
iv. people living in Beijing __________________________________________________________
Example answer: i. taxi drivers - Do not eat while you are helping a visitor.

E: Reading And Understanding

Read the last part of the article.
Match the words in italics from the article with their meanings. Draw an arrow from the meaning to the word.
1. If you adopt something you... i. ...do it sometimes but not very often.
2. If you remember something you... ii. ...take over something and use it.
3. If you do something occasionally you... iii. ...break something so it falls down.
4. Your manners are... iv. ...keep something in your mind.
5. If you demolish something you... v. ...the way you behave with other people.

(Continued.../) Most Chinese people working in service indus- large umbrellas at security points across the city are smiling occa-
tries have adopted English names to make it easier for Westerners. sionally for visitors.
We try to choose names that are simple so that people will Peoples manners and the organization of the subway and buses
remember us, said Liao Shi Jun, aka Ivan, who works in a store is perfect but its so sad to see they have demolished so many old
in a new shopping center in the expatriate popular Sanlitun area. parts of the city, peoples homes, for the Olympics, said tourist Agnes
Even soldiers standing to attention in the stifling heat under Wintersberger from Cologne, Germany.
ARTICLE 2008 THOMSON REUTERS LIMITED. LESSON 2008 WWW.ENGLISH-TO-GO.COM

Glossary - aka - also known as, this introduces another name the person is called

ARTICLE 2008 REUTERS LIMITED. LESSON 2008 WWW.ENGLISH-TO-GO.COM 2

Post-Reading Activities
You may do one or more of these.
A: Language
The present continuous tense is: am / is / are + verb + -ing (the present participle).
I am talking to my friend.
To make the present participle with most verbs, you add -ing to the verb:
talk talking go going sell selling
1. Make present participles for these verbs.
buy look stand weigh hold
2. Read the spelling rules.
For some verbs, there are spelling rules. Here are two rules.
one vowel + one consonant - double the consonant, add -ing - get getting
one vowel + one consonant + e - remove the e and add -ing - give giving
Make present participles for these verbs.
smile shop

3. Look at the photos. Use the word prompts to make sentences using the present continuous to describe what is
happening. One is done for you as an example.
Photo i.

woman / hold / her daughter The woman is holding her daughter.

little girl / weigh / an apple _____________________________________
woman / stand / in the supermarket ____________________________
woman and little girl / shop / for food ____________________________

Photo ii.

woman / buy / some bananas _______________________________________

woman / stand / at the checkout ___________________________________
woman / look / at the photographer ___________________________________
woman and the man / look happy ____________________________________
woman and the man / smile ________________________________________

4. To make a negative you add not to a statement. e.g. The woman is not holding her son. / The woman isnt holding her son.
Make negative sentences about the photos using the word prompts below and adding not.
little girl / weigh / a lettuce __________________________ woman / stand / in the bank _________________________
woman / buy / some eggs ________________________ woman / stand / in a supermarket aisle __________________
woman / look / at the floor __________________________ woman and the man look sad _______________________
woman and the man cry ___________________________

B: Miming
Work in groups. Your teacher will give you a card. Mime the action on the card to the other students. They must guess
what you are doing.

C: Discussion
Read this from todays article. Then, answer the questions.
while other campaigns told Beijings 17 million people not to... ask tourists about their age, wage, or talk about sex or religion...
1. What did the campaigns tell people in Beijing not to ask questions about?
2. Is it all right to ask people questions about these things in your country? Why or why not?
3. What things is it polite to ask strangers about in your country?
4. What do you do when you meet someone for the first time in your country? What do you say? What do you do? (do
you shake hands, do you smile etc?.)
ARTICLE 2008 REUTERS LIMITED. LESSON 2008 WWW.ENGLISH-TO-GO.COM 3
TEACHERS' NOTES AND ANSWER KEY
Pre-Reading Activities
A: Word Game - Notes
This is an activity suitable for pairs of students as they can discuss which words
they know and which ones they dont. To complete the activity, students only have
to recognize which words belong to a certain group, rather than knowing precisely
what they mean. You may decide to look at the meanings of words in some details
or prefer instead to move onto the next activity in which some of the words will
reappear.

A: Word Game - Sample Answers

1. soldier (The other words are all related to shopping.)
2. booklet (The other words are all related to government.)
3. be rude (The other words are all actions related to being polite.)
4. visitor (The other words can be both nouns and verbs.)

B: Discussion - Notes
The discussion questions introduce some more vocabulary from todays article so it
is worth working through them to help students familiarize themselves with key
words before they read them in the article.

Reading Activities
A: Understanding The Headline - Answers
1. i, 2. ii, 3. iii.

B: True or False? - Answers

1. T, 2. T, 3. T, 4. T, 5. T.

C: Reading For Information - Answers

The following rules are in the article: 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 10.

D: Matching Information - Notes

Students should have a list of 5 rules from the previous activity. They now use the
article to match each rule with the group of people the rule is for.

D: Matching Information - Answers

dress smartly: iii,
do not eat....: i,
brush your teeth: i,
do not smoke: ii,
do not use unfriendly words: ii,
be polite: iii, iv,

E: Reading And Understanding - Answers

1. ii, 2. iv, 3. i, 4. v, 5. iii.

Post-Reading Activities
A: Language - Answers
1. buying, looking, standing, weighing, holding,
2. shopping, smiling
3. The woman is holding her daughter.
The little girl is weighing an apple.
The woman is standing in the supermarket.
The woman and the little girl are shopping for food.
The woman is buying some bananas.
The woman is standing at the checkout.
The woman is looking at the photographer.
The woman and the man are looking happy.
The woman and the man are smiling.
4. The little girl is not/isnt weighing a lettuce.
The woman is not/isnt in the bank.
The woman is not/isnt buying some eggs.
The woman is not/isnt standing in a supermarket aisle.
The woman is not/isnt looking at the floor.
The woman and the man are not/arent looking sad.
The woman and the man are not/arent crying.

B: Miming - Notes
Make cards for your students using the words below. Each word should be on a
different card. Make one set of cards for each group of students.
Divide students into groups. Tell students in turn to take one of the cards. They
mime the action on the card for their group. The group must say what the
person is doing using the present continuous.
e.g. You are smiling. / You are nodding. / You are queue-jumping. etc
Please remind students they are miming the actions - they do not talk and they
are pretending to do the action i.e. they are miming spitting, not actually

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