Unit 6 Unit 6A FRENCH FOURTH

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Cultural information

Watch the video and answer the following questions.1. Why did Denise hit Paul? Because Paul said that his father was stupid. 2. Why do you think Xu Datong insists on Denise apologizing to Paul? Because no matter what, one does not hit people and Denise should know better than that. 3. What’s Paul’s father, Quinlin’s attitude towards the matter? It is no big deal. Kids will make it up themselves.

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Cultural information

4. What do you think are the differences in educating children between Chinese and the Americans? open-ended.

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Cultural information

From The Gua-Sha Treatment

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Cultural information

Jian Ning: Denise, why did you hit Paul? Denise: He hit me too. Jian Ning: It doesn’t matter. You don’t hit people. You know better than that. Xu Datong: Denise, I want you to apologize to Paul. Quinlin: It’s no big deal. Xu Datong: Yes, it is. Come on, apologize to Paul. Denise: Going to win. Xu Datong: Say you’re sorry. Quinlin: The kids are fine; they make up. Let it go. Xu Datong: Come on. Count three. One … two … two and half …

Audiovisual supplement

Cultural information

(Denise spit on Paul and Li Datong hit Denise on the head.) Jian Ning: Datong! Xu Datong: Say that you’re sorry. Denise: He said that you’re stupid. Li Datong’s father: 当面教子背后教妻。啊？

Audiovisual supplement

Cultural information

1. Independence Day In the United States, Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. Independence Day is commonly associated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, carnivals, picnics, concerts, baseball games, political speeches and ceremonies, and various other public and private events celebrating the history, government, and traditions of the United States.

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Cultural information

2. American Flag For more than 200 years, the American flag has been the symbol of the nation’s strength and unity. It’s been a source of pride and inspiration for millions of citizens. On June 14, 1777, in order to establish an official flag for the new nation, the Continental Congress passed the first Flag Act: “Resolved, That the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.”

Audiovisual supplement

Cultural information

Today the flag consists of thirteen horizontal stripes, seven red alternating with six white. The stripes represent the original thirteen colonies, the stars represent the fifty states of the Union. The colors of the flag are symbolic as well: Red symbolizes Hardiness and Valor, White symbolizes Purity and Innocence and Blue represents

Vigilance, Perseverance and Justice.

General analysis

Structural analysis

Rhetorical features

In this text, the author discusses the costs and benefits of living in a foreign culture. He also points out that globalization is diminishing the divide between cultures.

General analysis

Structural analysis

Rhetorical features

This text talks about the cultural influence of a foreign culture on expatriated families. It can be divided into three parts. Part I (Paragraphs 1 - 3): The author describes his way of celebrating his home country’s National Day, i.e. the Independence Day of the United States.

Part II (Paragraphs 4 - 9): The author makes a contrastive analysis of the costs and benefits of the expatriated people.

Part III (Paragraphs 10 - 12): The author talks about the effect of globalization, and argues that globalization has produced more negative than positive effects on cultural diversity.

General analysis

Structural analysis

Rhetorical features

The author of this text follows a “specific-to-general” pattern in his discussion, i.e. he first talks about what it means to his children to hang out the national flag of their native land in a foreign country on July 4th every year and then expresses his view on the importance for expatriated people in general to keep their cultural identity, especially when the whole world is undergoing a process of globalization. The specific points can be found in his discussion of the costs and benefits of raising children in a foreign culture in Paragraphs 4 - 9 while the general conclusion can be found in Paragraphs 10 - 12, especially Paragraph 12.

Detailed reading

A FRENCH FOURTH

Charles Trueheart1 Along about this time every year, as Independence Day approaches, I pull an old American flag out of a bottom drawer where it is folded away - folded in a square, I admit, not the regulation triangle. I’ve had it a long time and have always flown it outside on July 4. Here in Paris it hangs from a fourth-floor balcony visible from the street. I’ve never seen anyone look up, but in my mind’s eye an American tourist may notice it and smile, and a French passerby may be reminded of the date and the occasion that prompt its appearance. I hope so.

Detailed reading

2 For my expatriated family, too, the flag is meaningful, in part because we don’t do anything else to celebrate the Fourth. People don’t have barbecues in Paris apartments, and most other Americans I know who have settled here suppress such outward signs of their heritage - or they go back home for the summer to refuel.

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3 Our children think the flag-hanging is a cool thing, and I like it because it gives us a few moments of family Q&A about our citizenship. My wife and I have been away from the United States for nine years, and our children are eleven and nine, so American history is mostly something they have learned - or haven’t learned - from their parents. July 4 is one of

the times when the American in me feels a twinge of unease about the great lacunae in our children’s understanding of who they are and is prompted to try to fill the gaps. It’s also a time, one among many, when my thoughts turn more generally to the costs and benefits of raising children in a foreign culture.

Detailed reading

4 Louise and Henry speak French fluently; they are taught in French at school, and most of their friends are French. They move from language to language, seldom mixing them up, without effort or even awareness. This is a wonderful thing, of course. And our physical separation from our native land is not much of an issue. My wife and I are grateful every day for all that our children are not exposed to. American school shootings are a good object lesson for our children in the follies of the society we hold at a distance.