Lesson A

Communication and Cultural Awareness

What are you like?

Personality Traits
Personality traits or characteristics can be
determined by our actions, attitudes and behaviors.

To discover your own personal traits, ask yourself

the following questions:

• What brought me joy as a child?

• What brings me joy now?
• What’s my biggest accomplishment?
• What’s my biggest dream?
• What’s my biggest fear?

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• How would others describe me?

Many of your personality traits are likely to be Here is a list of adjectives that describe negative
positive. Here is a list of positive adjectives that can aspects of personalities:
help you describe personality traits:
Arrogant. believing you are better
Adventurous. a lover of adventures than others
Charming. liked by other people Stingy. don’t like to share or spend
Confident. sure of yourself much money
Conscientious. conscious of others and Bossy. acting like you are the boss
your environment Cowardly. fearful of everything
Discreet. not loud, not sharing too Lazy. not wanting to work
much information Malicious. with bad intentions
Extrovert. outgoing, happy to interact Obnoxious. crazy, out of control
with others
Picky. too selective
Fair. acts with justice
Dishonest. not honest
Fearless. not afraid of anything
Rude. not courteous or polite to others
Helpful. enjoys helping others
Sarcastic. making fun of things or people
Imaginative. creative, good imagintion with irony
Open. easy to talk to, mind open Impulsive. acting without thinking
to other ideas
Self-centered. only focused on yourself
Cheerful. happy
Thoughtless. not thinking, especially about
Optimistic. always looking at the bright other people
side of situations
Unfriendly. not friendly or nice to others
Courageous. having a lot of courage
Neurotic. very crazy or worried about things
Sociable. friendly with others
Agreeable. easy to get along with
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Look at the adjectives above. Circle the three

positive and three negative personality traits that
best describe you. Explain to a partner why you
chose them.

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Reading

What makes a person influential?

Discuss the following questions in small groups:

a. Is there anyone who has made a difference
in your life?

b. How has this person made a difference

in your life?

c. Do you think you have made a difference

in someone’s life? How?

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The Person Who Has Made
a Difference in My Life
When I think about the person who has made
a difference in my life, the first person that comes • After reading about the person who has made
to mind is my mother. She taught me a lot of things, a difference in Martina´s life, deduce meaning from
context. Write a short definition or a synonym for
and the most important thing is she made me want these words:.
to become a successful businesswoman.
Business:
When I was young, my mother told me about life,
the best way to live, and how to be a good person. Business person:
She is really the most influential person in my life. Productive:
Growing up and seeing my mother owning and
Idol:
running a prosperous store helped give direction
to my life. She was the one who taught me how to • Using vocabulary from page 2, write and
run a productive business and taught me several key explain 5 traits that describe Martina´s
mother’s personality:
points to having a business. One of her tips to having
a wealthy business was to always provide excellent 1.
customer service and to satisfy every customer.
2.
Seeing my mother as an efficient business person 3.
has made me aspire to have my own business one
day. Although she is a busy manager in her company 4.
and her own business, my mother still has time to 5.
take care of our family.
• Mention two reasons why Martina´s mother’s
My mother is my idol. As I look back at the things business is so successful.
I have done in life, it would not have been possible 1.
without having someone special like my mother
2.
in my life. She has given me endless support and
love. I am very thankful and blessed to have her. • Summarize the paragraph in 3 lines.

Martina
Source: Taken and Adapted from The Person Who Has Made a Difference
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in My Life. (2016, Apr 04). Retrieved from https://bit.ly/3kAZeYL

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 Oral Communication

Do you like chocolate?

Listen to someone talk about the process of making

chocolate and put the steps in order.

Beans fermented

Inner part pressed and liquid

chocolate produced

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Arriba Cacao Beans crushed and outer
shell removed

Making Chocolate
Spread in sun to dry
Chocolate from Belgium has always been world-
famous. But now Ecuador has become an important
name in chocolate. In Ecuador, the climate and Beans roasted
geological conditions are so perfect because the
country is located on the Equator, where the soils Cocoa tree-ripe red pods grown in
are rich in nutrients and sunlight is available all South America, Africa, and Indonesia
year long. These two crucial factors make for
a cocoa bean that is so rich in flavor and aroma, Taken to factory
that chocolatiers around the world go crazy for it.
Arriba Cacao is a special bean that makes for the
finest dark chocolate. This kind of bean grows Pod harvested and white
cocoa beans
successfully only in Ecuadorian soil and its trademark
is its fine aroma. Only 5% of the world’s cocoa
is labelled as “fine aroma”. Transported by train or truck

Tip Put in large sacks

Watch your pronunciation!

Pronunciation: The sounds: /æ/ and /ʌ/
Vocabulary
Depending on the dialect, English has 14-22
vowel sounds. Compare that to the 5 vowel trademark. something that someone is known for,
sounds in Spanish. a special characteristic.

/æ/ and /ʌ/ are the two closest vowel sounds labelled. called
in English and so it is very difficult to hear and pod. part of the cacao plant containing the beans
pronounce the difference. However, there are
some tricks to help you distinguish them. sacks. bags
The /æ/ sound usually appears as the letter a. outer. outside
The /ʌ/ sound appears as the letter u.
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inner. inside
Examples: bad/bud, began/begun, drank/drunk,
fan/fun, hat/hut, ran/run, sang/sung, swam/swum

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Reading

What do you know about coffee?

How Coffee is Produced

The following diagram illustrates the process
of coffee manufacturing and preparation for sale
on the market. The whole procedure can be divided
into 11 stages. It involves producing coffee and
commercializing it as a consumer good. The first
stage is the gathering and drying of the coffee beans
in the sun. Then, the beans go in an oven to dry.
This is followed by a cooling process. The next step
is to grind them in order to make powder. In the
Freepik following stage, this powder is placed into a cistern,
Coffee and hot water is added to the container. Once the
mixture is strained, it is put in a freezer. In the next
stage, the coffee is ground again. Water is removed;
a vacuum assists in this process. The last step is to
In pairs, discuss the following questions. put the powder in a package to sell it in supermarkets
a. Do you like coffee? around the world.
b. How many cups of coffee do you drink daily?
Retrieved from https://bit.ly/3hdic5K
c. Do you know where coffee comes from?
d. Have you ever seen a coffee tree?

Tip

A clause is a group of words that contains at least

one subject and one verb. In English, there are
two clauses: dependent and independent.
An independent clause can be a sentence by itself;
it is another name for a simple sentence.
Example: Martina left the party early.
A dependent clause cannot be a sentence by itself
because its meaning is not complete; it means it
depends on something else to complete its meaning.
1. Circle all the time order words you find
Example: ...because she was tired.
in the reading.
A complex sentence is a combination of one 2. Close your book and try to remember the
independent and one dependent clause. coffee process. Describe it to a partner in your
own words. Try to use time subordinators
Example: Martina left the party early because in your description.
she was tired.
A dependent clause always begins with Vocabulary
a subordinating word, or subordinator.
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stages. steps, phases

Time subordinators: after, before, since, when
Reason subordinators: because, since, as gathering. collecting
Place subordinators: where, wherever grind. to make fine powder from something

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 Writing

How do you see yourself 10 years from now?

Your Ten-Year Vision

Step 1 Step 3. Who will you be in 10 years?

Answer the following questions. Write your answers To answer this question, you can complete the
inside of each circle. following ideas.

• What is ideal in my health/personal life/school? In 10 years, I will be years old.

• What does health/personal life/school mean to me?
In 10 years, I will feel

In 10 years, I will be
Health
In 10 years, I will contribute by

In 10 years, my achievements will include

School In 10 years, I’ll experience

In 10 years, I’ll love

In 10 years, I’ll be surrounded by

In 10 years, I’ll be an inspiration for

In 10 years, I’ll be helping

Personal Life

Step 2. What do you want? Step 4.

To answer this question, write what you do want in life In 90-100 words, write your first draft.
inside the circle. Place what you don’t want outside of the
circle. This will help you focus on what is important for
you to have in your vision and goals. Consider what you
want in: health, school, family, relationships.

Writing a ten-year vision takes time and practice.

Don’t forget to take a look at the work you’ve completed
already on the previous steps. These steps connect
you to who you want to be and what’s important for
you ten years in the future.

Want

When you are done, look for a classmate or your

teacher to read what you have prepared. They can
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comment on it, on the content and grammar and

vocabulary. When you get home, you can edit your
Don’t want first draft and share it again with a family member
or a personal friend.

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