Lesson 4

Reading

1. Work in pairs. What do you know about Chinese and Irish culture?

What languages are spoken in these countries?

English is the most widely spoken language in Ireland, although the official language is Gaelic. The official language in China is Mandarin, but Cantonese and English is spoken in Hong Kong (part of China).

2. Read the post quickly and underline any information you can find about these cultures.

Soup and rock music are popular in Ireland.

People in China eat a lot of rice and they use chopsticks.

3. How have these cultural influences shaped the writer’s life?

The writer loves soup and rock music and has a typical Irish sense of humour. The writer likes the Irish author Roddy Doyle.

She is also familiar with Chinese eating habits (using chopsticks and eating rice), Chinese traditions, and is learning Cantonese.

4. Read the text again and study the phrases in bold which introduce reasons for a situation.

1. Which of them a) give the reason first or b) give the situation first?
2. Which are followed by a noun, and which are followed by a clause?

My father is Irish and my mother is Chinese (a - reason), so I am fortunate to have two cultures to explore (b - situation).
I am deinitely my father’s daughter (b - situation) because we both love soup and rock music (a - reason).
Through his books (a - reason), I’ve learned about the typical Irish sense of humour (b - situation).
Thanks to my mum (a - reason), I am lucky to have grown up using chopsticks and eating rice (b - situation).
I am familiar with the traditions of Chinese culture (b - situation) not only because my mum celebrates them, but because my parents introduced them to me at an early age (a - reasons).
I have also started to learn Chinese (b - situation) due to my mum, who is from Hong Kong (a - reason).
I am fortunate to + clause because (of) + clause through + noun Thanks to + noun + clause not only because + clause but + clause due to + noun.

5. Complete the sentences with the correct words. Use the bold phrases in the text to help you. In some cases, there may be more than one possible answer.

1. It’s thanks to your help that I got full marks in my Maths test.

2. Through hard work, he’s reached the top of his profession.

3. My parents spoke to me in English from the day I was born, so I am lucky to be fluent now.

4. I am interested in Greek culture, not only because my grandmother came from Greece, but also because it is a fascinating country.

5. I found it difficult to make friends in the US due to the culture gap.

6. He is very open-minded because he comes from a multicultural family.