Any Xpress learner is a reflective learner - from a dozen to a score

Here you may well find plentiful of expressions you will deal with in your next productive activity. 

The process can be explained both in the straightforward sense of 'from step one to step six' and in the metaphoric sense of ‘wholemeal approach’. The latter is in fact more appropriate than the former. 

A rule of thumb yet effective trick to expand your active vocabulary while learning is:

a) picking up the right stuff.  

b) What a new significance this expression takes on when thinking of the practical ways for activating your passive collocations and  new grammar patterns and use vocabulary like a native.  

c) Reading aloud confidently, explaining the content, the context of the words not in  shy way  (you read the chapter, didn't you?). So now learn around a dozen words or so faster as you make a bit of a joke out of it. 

There is a goodly number of ideas on helping activate vocabulary in class – have a great time with words!

Did you write a handful of expressions? now  revise some syntax aspects or quite a few vocabulary laden sentences.  Guess you learned at least several handfuls or without no doubt in double digits, I may indeed  be I wrong by a small margin.... Hope you don't respond with the same finger-down-throat ‘I’m going to be sick’ gesture.

• We did this in last year class with 3 pages from HUMOUR RULES.

Here, a score (20) of  our selected expression ---  K E Y   

This heading can be read both in the straightforward sense of …. and in the graffiti sense of ‘….’ The latter is in fact more appropriate, 

·         it permeates every aspect … naturally crop up in different contexts throughout   … so pervasive  …    an awful lot of guff talked about

·         while there may indeed be something … always an undercurrent of humour.

·         We can barely manage to say ‘hello’ without somehow contriving to make a bit of a joke out of it, 

·         at least some degree of banter, teasing, irony, understatement, humorous self-deprecation, mockery or just silliness. … we cannot switch it off.

 

A_ THE IMPORTANCE OF NOT BEING EARNEST RULE

• ·         an underlying rule in all conversation  … probably more acutely sensitive than any other nation to the distinction between ‘serious’ and ‘solemn’, between ‘sincerity’ and ‘earnestness’. 

• ·         crucial to any kind of understanding. I cannot emphasize this strongly enough … not able to grasp these subtle but vital differences, …  your behavioural ‘grammar’ will be full of glaring errors. 

• ·         solemnity is prohibited; earnestness is strictly forbidden; self-importance are outlawed.

• ·         (At least, I hope I am right about this )

• ·         the kind of hand-on-heart, gushing earnestness and pompous, Bible-thumping solemnity

• ·         smugly detached amusement, wondering how the cheering crowds can possibly be so credulous as to fall for this sort of nonsense.

• ·         politicians bring themselves to utter such shamefully earnest platitudes, in such ludicrously solemn tones? ...     the earnestness makes us wince.

• ·         gushy, tearful acceptance speeches … respond with the same finger-down-throat ‘I’m going to be sick’ gesture.

• ·         who dares to break these unwritten rules is dismissed as a ‘luvvie’. 

• ·          And Americans, although among the easiest to scoff at, are by no means the only targets of our cynical censure.

• ·         who can spot the slightest hint of self-importance at twenty paces,

            A1_ The ‘Oh, Come Off It!’ Rule

• ·         The sharp-eyed English public …. with scornful cries of ‘Oh, come off it!’  …  prefer sniping, pinpricking and grumbling from the …

• ·         sceptical spirit, choosing the ‘lesser of two evils’, rather than with any shining-eyed, fervent conviction … would be greeted with the customary ‘Oh, come off it!’

• ·          Among the young and others susceptible to linguistic fads and fashions, … the latest slang as being ‘up themselves’,

• ·         these may in turn have been superseded by new expressions, … values are deep-rooted, and will remain unchanged.

reader 2- session 4

Humour Rules

• TASK _ Read the text below and find 23 interesting expressions

       “At best a well-timed quip only raises a slight smirk”.

                     Much of our humour is not obviously hilarious (no fits of laughter); it is not often funny across cultures (sorry if you are a foreigner).

The heading can be read both in the straightforward sense of 'rules about humour' and in the graffiti sense of 'humour rules, OK!'*) The latter is in fact more appropriate, as the most noticeable and important 'rule' about humour in English conversation is its dominance and pervasiveness. Humour rules. Humour governs. Humour is omnipresent and omnipotent. I wasn't even going to do a separate chapter on humour, because I knew that, like class, it permeates every aspect of English life and culture, and would therefore just naturally crop up in different contexts throughout the book. It did, but the trouble with English humour is that it is so pervasive that to convey its role in our lives I would have to mention it in every other paragraph, which would eventually become tedious - so it got its own chapter after all.

In other cultures, there is 'a time and a place' for humour; it is a special, separate kind of talk. In English conversation, there is always an undercurrent of humour. We can barely manage to say 'hello' or comment on the weather without somehow contriving to make a bit of a joke out of it, and most English conversations will involve at least some degree of banter, teasing, irony, understatement, humorous self-deprecation, mockery or just silliness. Humour is our 'default mode', if you like: we do not have to switch it on deliberately, and we cannot switch it off. For the English, the rules of humour are the cultural equivalent of natural laws — we obey them automatically, rather in the way that we obey the law of gravity.  

There is an awful lot of guff talked about the English Sense of Humour, including many patriotic attempts to prove that our sense of humour is somehow unique and superior to everyone else's. Many English people seem to believe that we have some sort of global monopoly, if not on humour itself, then at least on certain 'brands' of humour - the high-class ones such as wit and especially irony. My findings indicate that while there may indeed be something distinctive about English humour, the real 'defining characteristic' is the value we put on humour, the central importance of humour in English culture and social interactions.

THE IMPORTANCE OF NOT BEING EARNEST RULE

At the most basic level, an underlying rule in all English conversation is the proscription of 'earnestness'. Although we may not have a monopoly on humour, or even on irony, the English are probably more acutely sensitive than any other nation to the distinction between 'serious' and 'solemn', between 'sincerity' and 'earnestness'.

This distinction is crucial to any kind of understanding of Englishness. I cannot emphasize this strongly enough: if you are not able to grasp these subtle but vital differences, you will never understand the English — and even if you speak the language fluently, you will never feel or appear entirely at home in conversation with the English. Your English may be impeccable, but your behavioural 'grammar' will be full of glaring errors.Once you have become sufficiently sensitized to these distinctions, the Importance of Not Being Earnest rule is really quite simple. Seriousness is acceptable, solemnity is prohibited. Sincerity is allowed, earnestness is strictly forbidden. Pomposity and self-importance are outlawed. Serious matters can be spoken of seriously, but one must never take oneself too seriously. The ability to laugh at ourselves, although it may be rooted in a form of arrogance, is one of the more endearing characteristics of the English. (At least, I hope I am right about this: if I have overestimated our ability to laugh at ourselves, this book will be rather unpopular.) 

To take a deliberately extreme example, the kind of hand-on-heart, gushing earnestness and pompous, Bible-thumping solemnity favoured by almost all American politicians would never win a single vote in this country — we watch these speeches on our news programmes with a kind of smugly detached amusement, wondering how the cheering crowds can possibly be so credulous as to fall for this sort of nonsense. When we are not feeling smugly amused, we are cringing with vicarious embarrassment: how can these politicians bring themselves to utter such shamefully earnest platitudes, in such ludicrously solemn tones? We expect politicians to speak largely in platitudes, of course — ours are no different in this respect — it is the earnestness that makes us wince. The same goes for the gushy, tearful acceptance speeches of American actors at the Oscars and other awards ceremonies, to which English television viewers across the country all respond with the same finger-down-throat 'I'm going to be sick' gesture. You will rarely see English Oscar-winners indulging in these heart-on-sleeve displays — their speeches tend to be either short and dignified or self-deprecatingly humorous, and even so they nearly always manage to look uncomfortable and embarrassed. Any English thespian who dares to break these unwritten rules is ridiculed and dismissed as a 'luvvie'.

And Americans, although among the easiest to scoff at, are by no means the only targets of our cynical censure. The sentimental patriotism of leaders and the portentous earnestness of writers, artists, actors, musicians, pundits and other public figures of all nations are treated with equal derision and disdain by the English, who can spot the slightest hint of self-importance at twenty paces, even on a grainy television picture and in a language we don't understand.

Kate Fox, Watching the English, The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour, 2004, London, pp. 61 – 63 

reader 2-session 3

Grooming Talk is talk between strangers that is only there to pass the time.  

The context seems to be the party or dinner-party, and this is one of the chapters in which the observations only really work for certain strata of English society. The usual reserve, the ‘embarrassed confusion’ of introductions that aren’t quite introductions – see the No-Name Rule – the ‘Pleased to Meet You’ Problem…. One must appear ‘self-conscious, ill at ease, stiff’: she seems to be describing a Hugh Grant character on a bad day.
Then some of the Gossip section could come straight out of a stand-up routine. (Fox references observational stand-up quite early on).
 The names of the rules are somehow tongue-in-cheek:

1.  Privacy Rules,
2.  the Guessing-Game Rule,
3.  the Distance Rule – how far you are from the person spoken of, in terms of relationship or intimacy, determining how frank you can be in describing their misdemeanours –
4.  and the Reciprocal Disclosure Strategy.

It looks like Kate Fox is lowering her voice to a whisper.... (more privacy), doesn’t she go on?

Other Grooming Talk is Bonding Talk – female compliment and counter-compliments, male Mine’s Better Than Yours Rules – and ‘finally… the Long Goodbye Rules’, which highlight ‘the importance of embarrassment and ineptitude’. 

In the closing summary Fox reiterates, quite seriously, the importance of privacy. Most of what has gone before is to do with speaking while

• a) keeping your own cards close to your chest and
• b) not prying into the other person’s life without extreme caution.

Gossip is about breaking this rule, but only in ritualised, rule-bound ways. 

FOR A SLIDE SHOW:  HERE 

reader 2-session 2

A lot of this is good fun, and Kate Fox’s descriptions of some situations seem totally accurate. She is ostensibly offering an anthropologist’s-eye-view of English behaviour and manners, calling it ‘pop-anthropology’ in that self-deprecating way she describes as typically English. She seems to have decided that this means thorough, within the parameters she sets herself, but with entertainment definitely ahead of scientific method: it isn’t always as universal as she is making out.

Introduction  

The Introduction sets the tone. There’s a kind of mock-scientific thoroughness about it – it’s 22 pages long – in which she explains how she will avoid the pitfalls that abound when one is observing one’s own society. But she opens with a description of her in a bar, getting up some Dutch courage before she goes out to break some more English taboos: she’s going to keep it light. 

The other thing she establishes is that she is going to be searching for rules: patterns of behaviour which are more or less universal, whose exceptions are explicable – and which the English usually observe quite unconsciously. Forming orderly queues is the first one she mentions – it comes up as a touchstone quite often in Part 1 – and she’s chosen it because it is the rule that everybody knows marks out our Englishness. It’s also a bit quirky, and she can make jokes about it.

Part 1, Conversation Codes - The Weather.  

Previous observers have got it wrong because ‘they assume that our conversations about the weather are conversations about the weather.’ Really it’s a ‘code, evolved to help us… talk to each other.’  

She describes what she calls ‘English reserve’, an obstacle to opening conversations – I’ll buy that too, up to a point – which a safe, ever-changing topic like the weather can find a way through. There are rules she comes up with for ‘weather-speak’: the Reciprocity Rule, the Context Rule, the Agreement Rule… which show how we have to agree with the conversation opener, or demur only in highly stylised ways. 

 She slips in a section about the Shipping Forecast, and is rather lazy, I feel, in asserting that ‘listen we do, religiously, mesmerised….’ She’s talking about Radio 4 listeners – and while there might, or might not, be ‘millions’ for whom it’s a national treasure, there are more for whom it means nothing.

weather rules the isles

On weather rules and 

grammar of English…. Behaviour

More than nine in 10 Brits have talked 

about the weather in the last six hours. ...

Weather talk helps us overcome social inhibitions –

                  Kate Fox.

Weather forecast

folks, the rest of today is gonna be  dreadful rain pelting down from all sidesa little bit of relief for an hour or so thunder,  lightning, raining, pissing and flooding,wind coming in from the west up in  the southwest, windswill turn umbrellas inside out get a bit of snow up thereno relief at all on Monday and as for Tuesday,another dirty day,
at the coast, rain everywhere

1                     1      Wrong  weather conversation

https://www.simpleenglishvideos.com/elevator-small-talk/

DEBATE this text: 

 the main reason is that the British are chronically shy and use the weather as a conversational totem, allowing conversation and agreement between strangers, without having to potentially invade their personal space (as described by Kate Fox in her book Watching the English).

 The most fundamental rule of 'weatherspeak' is to agree with the first speaker, even if you then immediately qualify it in such a way as indicates the opposite, eg, 'It's too hot today', 'yeah, it is, but I don't mind it myself'. Also it is often the only "safe" topic for any given two strangers to talk about and not risk some sort of argument. In the UK everything is Serious Business to someone. It's been said that the British have only two hobbies, complaining about the weather, and arguing.

       Quotes

- Did you notice the heavy fog last night? - No, nothing wakes me.

Morecambe and Wise

Whenever people talk to me about the weather, I always feel certain that they mean something else

Oscar Wilde

The English winter - ending in July, to recommence in August.

Lord Byron 

It is easy to understand why the most beautiful poems about England in the spring were written by poets living in Italy at the time.

Philip Dunne

Weather forecast for tonight: dark.

George Carlin

              3. honest forecast from Donegal:

https://youtu.be/GwdRjVuL9Lo

 ===    script     =====

I'm sorry to report, folks, but the

rest of today is gonna be fekkin’ dreadful

have a look at this, look: rain pelting

down from fekkin’ all sides on top of

us. No less , you'll be drownded up to

the fekkin’ bollocks

look in the Midland

you get a little bit of relief for an hour

or so but that's about it

I'm advising you not to go out,

Look, on Monday I don’t

know how you’re gonna get the fekkin’

kids to school

thunder,  lightning, raining, pissing and flooding, 

you name it

 as everything on fekkin’ Monday.

Big, dirty wind coming in from the west

look at it

up in  the southwest winds

 they'll fekkin’ cut the bollocks off you walking to

school

They will turn umbrellas inside out

I don’t know how you’re gonna get up -even

Donegal is gonna get a bit of snow up there

there's no relief at all on Monday

and as for Tuesday,

another dirty, fekkin’ day,

 look at the coast,

look at the fekkin’ rain everywhere

bonus:
https://www.siliconrepublic.com/life/irish-weather-memes-good-drying-weather

Against the clock_ Timetable WATCHING THE ENGLISH in class

Reader 2. Timetable January-February

WATCHING THE ENGLISH 

The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour by Kate Fox

                               CONTENTS

        Foreword

        Introduction -Anthropology at Home

  PART ONE: CONVERSATION CODES
  PART TWO: BEHAVIOUR CODES

 January_ Sessions    30 min in class (debates)

 Read this part at Christmas, taking notes and underlining interesting parts/expressions.

Summarise 3 or the 8 sub-chapters 

                    day 1_____ WEDNESDAY, 9
presentation

                    day  2_____   Monday, 14

       Introduction -Anthropology at Home

     1. The Weather

                    day 3_____ WEDNESDAY, 16

2. Grooming-talk

                    day 4_____  Monday, 21

3. Humour Rules

                    day 5_____ WEDNESDAY, 23

4. Linguistic Class Codes

                    day 6_____  Monday, 28

5. Emerging Talk-rules: The Mobile Phone

                    day 7_____ WEDNESDAY, 30

6. Pub-talk

7. Racing-talk

8. Squaddie-talk

February_ Sessions     25-30 min in class

 Presentations   (1 o 2 learners )

   plus language activities

PART TWO: BEHAVIOUR CODES

1. Home Rules  .............. Monday,   4

2. Rules of the Road .........   WED,   6

 3. Work to Rule ............. Monday, 11

4. Rules of Play   ...............  WED, 13

5. Dress Codes   ............. Monday, 18

 6. Food Rules     ............ Monday, 25

7. Rules of Sex    ...............  WED, 27

8. Rites of Passage  ..... March  MON  4

 Conclusion: Defining Englishness

Epilogue

Thru the looking glass of English dis-ease

Wsh_402. Thru the looking glass of English dis-ease

TASK1A: Read these readers’ comments from newspapers reviews.

·         Watching the English . . . will make you laugh out loud ("Oh God. I do that!") and cringe simultaneously ("Oh God. I do that as well."). This is a hilarious book which just shows us for what we are . . . beautifully-observed. It is a wonderful read for both the English and those who look at us and wonder why we do what we do. Now they'll know. (Birmingham Post)

·         An absolutely brilliant examination of English culture and how foreigners take as complete mystery the things we take for granted. (Jennifer Saunders, The Times)

·         If you like this kind of anthropology (and I do) there is a wealth of it to enjoy in this book. Her observations are acute...fortunately she doesn't write like an anthropologist but like an English woman -with amusement, not solemnity, able to laugh at herself as well as us. (Daily Mail)

TASK1B: Share your gueses and thoughts about what the book is about.

TASK2: Read this passage from a blog.  How can you undertand the words? Anywhere you have been in a similar situation? In what ways have your heard of Englishness as a dis-ease?

The key thing to remember is the quality of ‘social unease’ that clings to the English when they are thrown together – whether among family or strangers.

It’s hard not to feel awkward in English Company. So the first experience we had, on meeting our Bed &Breakfast hosts – who were perfectly nice – was a feeling of awkwardness and the need to pretend to be comfortable, even though the accommodation was far from uplifting ….

TASK3: Read and react to these 4  reviews: from Goodread.com

         1_ Natasha’s:         

    https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/595372177 

2_  Samantha’s 

       https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2461434270?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1 

3_  Sarah’s:               https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/460207950

4_  Katerina’s:          https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1786765646?book_show_action=false