UNIT 11

Card 1: England

Chau: Excuse me. You are Dung right?

Dung: Yes, I am. Who you are?

Chau: My name is Chau. I’m your partner in Speaking class. Nice to meet you

Dung: I’m also looking for you. Nice to see you too

Chau: Our exercise is discuss some proverbs about the customs of England. Are you
free? Could we do the exercise now?

Dung: I’m free……

Chau: Do have any ideas?

Dung: We are not expected to spit because it extremely polluting the environment,
public places. Besides, it is not just anti-social but also unhealthy. Reckless spitting leads
to the spread of various infections and diseases like coronavirus, tuberculosis and many
others

Châu: Exactly! In VN, during Covid19 spit can spread infections easily. However even in
normally life without any pandemic, spit affects the fine customs of Vietnamese people .

Dung: How About you? Do you know what we are expected to do?

Chau: It’s the custom to say sorry in EL. Especially that the England are willing to
apologize for anything even though they didn’t do that. It shows the disappointed about
themselves and really sorry for what they did. Sorry is not only sorry for the mistake, but
also show the respect in communication.

Dung: so do Vietnamese. But there’s a little difference with British that Vietnamese
people just say sorry when they’re in big, serious troubles. And, they’re too shy to say
sorry for small problems.

Chau: Ok, I will finish and send it back for you. See you later.
Card 2: Thailand

Chau: Excuse me. You are Dung right?

Dung: Yes, I am. Who you are?

Chau: My name is Chau. I’m your partner in Speaking class. Nice to meet you

Dung: I’m also looking for you. Nice to see you too

Chau: Our exercise is discuss some proverbs about the customs of Thailand. Are you
free? Could we do the exercise now?

Dung: I’m free……

Chau: Do have any ideas?

Dung: We are not expected to touch people’s head.

Chau: Why? I think it’s an act of love. In Viet Nam the adult usually rub children’s head
to show love.

Dung: A human head is located at the top-most place of the entire human body,
therefore Thais believe that the head is the highest, and the closest body part to the
heaven. The head is also considered to be holy, since blessings from monks and priests
are normally ‘poured’ onto the head to be flown all over the body. -> touching a Thai in
the head without permission is considered to be something impolite and rude.

Chau: I got it

Dung: How About you? Do you know what we are expected to do?

Chau: It’s the custom t wai in TL. It is the greeting has existed for a long time. when
greeting you will put your hands in front of your chest, head down. Thai people also use
"Wai" as a way to show respect, gratitude and apology.
Dung: In VN, we also have one gesture to greet the elderly as “wai” in TL. But we will
greet the elderly by crossing our arms and bowing, it shows respect for them.

Chau: Ok, I will finish and send it back for you. See you later.

Card 3: Korea

Chau: Excuse me. You are Dung right?

Dung: Yes, I am. Who you are?

Chau: My name is Chau. I’m your partner in Speaking class. Nice to meet you

Dung: I’m also looking for you. Nice to see you too

Chau: Our exercise is discuss some proverbs about the customs of Korea. Are you free?
Could we do the exercise now?

Dung: I’m free……

Chau: Do have any ideas?

Dung: We are not expected to write a name in red.

Chau: Woaa. I have never heard that before. In Viet Nam don’t have this custom. Why
we’re not allow to do that?

Dung: Because it unlike in Western countries that believe black as death, many Asian
countries consider red as the representative of this and Korea is one of them. Koreans
believe that red ink can ward off evil spirits and protect the dead person, but writing the
name of a living person in red will have the opposite effect. -> Koreans abstain from
signing contracts, writing letters, or writing notices in red, and instead use it entirely in
black.

Chau: Is That so
Dung: How About you? Do you know what we are expected to do?

Chau: In Korea, You are supposed to speak basic Korean when asking for help. Korean
love their language very much. It is difficult for you if you asking the way or talking to
local people in English. So you should learn some basis Korean before visiting there.
They are willing to help if you Speak Korean.

Dung: I think it’s polite to do that. Let’s put them into our exercise.

Chau: Ok, I will finish and send it back for you. See you later.