- •Arts and culture
- •What is art
- •1. Read the passage and answer the questions below.
- •2. Answer the questions.
- •3. Discuss the questions with a partner.
- •4. Study the following graph to find out more about art forms. There are two mistakes in the way the words are organized into groups. Can you find them?
- •5. Which branch of the arts do you think these people are talking about? Underline the words which helped you to guess.
- •1. Work in pairs. Look at the photos of the reading material and discuss these questions.
- •2. Use the questions to interview your classmates on their reading habits. Find the person in the class whose reading habits are most similar to yours.
- •3. Read the following passage about Choosing a Book to Read and circle the correct form of the adjectives in bold.
- •4. Look at your choice of words and answer these questions:
- •5. A Listen to a critic commenting on a book and tick the adjectives she uses to describe the characters and the plot.
- •6. Say what you should feel about a book and what characteristics it should have for you to choose to borrow it/buy it/read it up to the end/say it’s one of your favourite.
- •1. Tell your partner how you’re feeling today/at the moment. Explain why. Choose words from the lists if appropriate.
- •2. Say what makes you feel like that.
- •3. Listening
- •1. Describe what you can see in these photos of museums. Which would you like to visit most? Which would not appeal to you?
- •2. Skim the text and say what the main function of museums is. The Changing Role of Museums in Society (an extract from Glenn Lowry’s 1speech)
- •3. Read the text again and answer the following questions:
- •1. Fill in the table with derivatives:
- •2. Complete the sentences using the words from the table. In some sentences more than one word can be used.
- •3. Match the verb from the left column with the noun or nouns from the right:
- •1. Do you think a museum should:
- •1. Answer the following questions:
- •1. Look at the photographs and use some of these words to describe the works of art.
- •I really think ... Is excellent / outstanding / very original, don't you?
- •I couldn't agree more — I particularly like the vibrant colours/the use of ...
- •X is a/an brilliant/extremely talented sculptor/painter.
- •It's all right if you like that kind of thing, but I don't think it will appeal to everyone.
- •2. Match the phrases, a) – g), taken from the text, to the descriptions, I) – IV).
- •1. Read the text about mi5, Britain's secret service, and answer the questions. Write yes or no. Odd jobs for young Bonds
- •2. Recognising meaning
- •3. Learning from learners
- •4. A new job. Dave is about to start a new job. Listen to him talking to the manager. What’s the job?
- •5. Work with a partner. Choose a job. Then ask and answer questions about the responsibilities, hours, breaks, etc.
- •6. What could we say?
- •7. Talk about rules and regulations one should be aware of visiting a cinema / a theatre / a swimming pool / a tv chat show / a park.
- •8. A. Work in groups. Talk about your school.
- •1. Thinking about function
- •2. Getting the forms right
- •In pairs, choose two photographs each and tell each other which of the activities shown in the pictures seem more attractive to you and why.
- •Useful language
- •2. You are going to read a newspaper article about how American plays now dominate London’s theatre district – the West End.
- •American Dominance in the West End by Michael Billington
- •3. Match each brief summary below to the paragraphs of the article. There is also one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.
- •4. Explain or paraphrase the following expressions and sentences from the text paying particular attention to the underlined words.
- •6. What verbs are called phrasal verbs or multi-word verbs?
- •7. Fill in the gaps with the suitable words from the table and Ex. 6. Sometimes you have to change the form of the verbs and use derivatives.
- •1. Read the text and fill in the gaps with the words from the box below. (The first one has been done for you).
- •The movies
- •2. Discuss the following questions:
- •1. Find examples of how the words other and another are used in the text about American movies. Can you explain the usage?
- •2. Study the box below and use this information to do the exercises that follow.
- •3. Fill in the gaps using another, (the) other, (the) others.
- •1. Add more verbs showing attitude to the lists given below.
- •2. Study the examples below and fill in the rule.
- •3. Explain if there is any difference between adjectives used in the following combinations:
- •4. Study the following chart and match the groups of adverbs with the groups of adjectives they can be used with. Give names to groups of adjectives: gradable/ungradable.
- •5. Are the underlined adjectives gradable or ungradable? Suggest an appropriate adverb to complete each sentence. Try to use a different adverb each time.
- •1. Discuss these questions.
- •2. Read the review of the film Tin Cup and answer these questions.
- •3. Here are some words that can be used to talk about films. Check you know what they mean, and add more from the review of Tin Cup. Then discuss the questions below.
- •4. Here are some adjectives often found in reviews. Put the adjectives into two groups, positive and negative.
- •5. In reviews, adverbs are often used to intensify adjectives upwards or downwards. They fall into the following groups.
- •6. Work in pairs or groups. Tell each other about a film you have seen recently, using the vocabulary in Exercises 3, 4 and 5. Give a summary of the story and your opinion of the film.
- •7. Read the writing task and follow the Steps to Writing below.
- •Presentation Language of Politeness
- •In the conversation below, two guests are visiting friends at their house.
- •1. Recognising function
- •2. Making offers, requests and asking for permission
- •3. Preparing for a holiday
- •Odeon cinema
- •1. Do you think the figures of cinema attendance have ever changed in your country? If so, explain what the reasons may be.
- •2. Which of the underlined phrases in the extracts:
- •1. In sentences 1-10, do the underlined verbs and expressions refer to the past, present or future or are they a perfect form? Do they talk about general (g) or specific (s) ability?
- •In three sentences the verb or expression of ability can be replaced with could or couldn't. Which three sentences?
- •2. Choosing the best form
- •3. Completing a text
- •1. Look at the grid below. Highlight seven boxes containing the abilities which you have or used to have earlier in your life. Do not show your partner your grid!
Useful language
What would you like to do?
Do you fancy going to the cinema?
Why don’t we go to the disco?
Let’s have a hamburger.
We could always stay at home.
What/How about eating out?
Shall we see a new play at the Theatre Royale tonight?
RESPONDING TO SUGGESTIONS | |
POSITIVELY |
NEGATIVELY |
OK/Right/All right That sounds fine/great ... Good idea!/That’s a good idea... That sounds like a good idea to me... |
!!! When you say ‘No’ to a suggestion, it is polite to give a reason, or suggest something else instead !!!
I don’t think that’s a good idea... I’m not in the mood for... How about ... instead? I’d rather (do smth) I’d prefer to (do smth) |
Example:
Kate: Let’s go and see a movie on Saturday.
Richard: Sorry, I can’t. I’m going to visit my cousins. Why don’t we go next week instead?
Kate: OK. What about Wednesday?
Richard: That sounds good. Shall I meet you at your house?
Kate: I have a better idea. How about getting something to eat before the movie?
Richard: Good idea! What time? About 7 o’clock?
Kate: Right. See you then.
Reading
1. Pre-reading task
Give an example of each of the following. Tell your partner about them, and say what you think of them.
a) an American TV programme that is popular in your country;
b) an American movie that is popular in your country at the moment;
c) your favourite American movie star;
d) an American play or musical that was recently performed in your country.
2. You are going to read a newspaper article about how American plays now dominate London’s theatre district – the West End.
Look at the sentences below and check you understand all the words. Then read the passage and decide which are true and which are false, in the writer’s opinion.
1. American plays are not as good as the publicity for them claims.
2. Only theatre in Britain is dominated by American product.
3. Both Britain and the United States should support writers and actors from their own countries.
4. American plays should be banned from Britain.
5. There are twice as many American movies as there are European ones on British TV.
6. The themes of British and American plays are very similar.
7. American plays are more glamorous that British ones.
8. The people who decide which plays and films we watch should choose to show things from other countries, not just the United States.
American Dominance in the West End by Michael Billington
A
Overrated, overhyped and over here, American fare dominates the West End, the television and British cinemas. We hear a lot about London theatre's domination by stars. Less noticed has been its surrender to the stars and stripes. Whole weeks now go by in which, as a critic, I see nothing but American product and I learn far more about life in Manhattan or the midwest than Manchester or Midlothian. But that is merely a symbol of a far wider phenomenon in which Britain's cultural and political agenda is increasingly set by the world's one surviving superpower.
B
Some will argue that this is merely a healthy symptom of cultural free trade and of a historical tit-for-tat. Britain has long dominated Broadway; now American theatre is getting its revenge. But I share the view of critic Robert Brustein, who argues, from an American perspective, that the anglicising of New York theatre "has not only worked to exclude the best work coming out of Europe, but has also managed to eclipse our native traditions". I am not asking for the erection of cultural barriers, simply a measure of moderation and a recognition that both Britain and America need to nurture their native talent. What really appals me is Britain's capitulation to American economic and cultural power. It's hard to find a non-American film at the local cinema. Only last week 34 of 46 movies on mainstream television were American, while only one came from continental Europe. American fast-food chains and coffee shops cover the country. And now there is even talk of the Booker prize, which has done an immense amount to stimulate British, Irish and Commonwealth writing being open to American fiction at the behest of a financial services company.
C
Does it matter? Isn't this merely a symptom of the new globalised era in which we all live? Without descending into little-Englandism, I think it matters deeply, because we are increasingly cutting ourselves off from other sources of supply and neglecting our native strengths. In purely theatrical terms, we would much rather do a mediocre American play than a good one from Europe, Africa, Australia or Canada. And the traditional British belief that theatre is a means of analysing society as well as exploring character is in danger of being eroded by the American fixation with personal psychology. American plays habitually ask, "Why am I not happy?" British plays, at their best, ask, "What's wrong with the world?" None of this means that I want to prohibit the best American work. What I am against is the lazy belief that everything American is invested with a glamour and radical edge lacking in Britain.
D
For what it's worth, my own observation, after a week recently spent in New York, was that articulated by Jonathan Freedland in the Guardian's opinion pages: America is a society that currently stifles genuine debate and dissent. And, although I saw a handful of good shows in New York theatre, I came away convinced that our slavish submission to everything American is unwarranted. We are in danger, given the current artistic deluge, of becoming the 51st state. It's high time our cultural arbiters woke up to the fact that there is a world elsewhere.
The Guardian Weekly
6-6-2002, page 18
Glossary
Midlothian = the area around Edinburgh, Scotland
The West End = London's theatre district
Broadway = New York’s theatre district
The Booker prize = an annual literature prize