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ESL materials & ideas developed in China
"Briefing for an Australian Diplomat" lesson plan
a) Scenario
An Australian diplomat is about to be posted to China. He has had Chinese language training (Putonghua), but he has not lived in the country. A panel of Chinese experts, selected for their diverse views, has been chosen to give him backgrounding on a number of useful or interesting topics. Here are some of the things he needs to hear opinions about:
1a. Personal Relationships
How should the diplomat treat Chinese women, and how might they behave with him? (e.g. as colleagues, in business and government, in service occupations like maids and hairdressers etc., as advisors, as friends, as lovers). When & where can he associate freely with them, and be alone with them, without arousing suspicion or gossip? When is flirting OK? Should he treat married and unmarried women differently? How might some Chinese women try to take advantage of him or deceive him? If he does become genuinely interested in a Chinese woman, how should he make his feelings known? What is the attitude of the general public to mixed Chinese/non-Chinese relationships?
1b. If the Australian diplomat were a woman, what advice (along the lines of 1a) should she receive about Chinese men ?
2. Culural Taboos in China
What taboos will the Australian diplomat find amongst different groups of people in China? [Taboos in a culture are topics, ideas or behaviour that it is forbidden to discuss or do. For example, many cultures have certain sexual , religious and political taboos]. Which taboos are disappearing?
3. Attitudes to Unusual People in China
All societies have some outsiders and eccentrics. For example, most great innovators, inventors, scientists and artists, and especially writers have been outsiders and often eccentrics. No committee ever wrote a book worth reading. New ideas are often unpopular because they threaten established habits and interests. Ordinary people (even intelligent ones) usually find the ideas of outsiders and eccentrics hard to understand until these ideas become familiar.
An "outsider" is someone who thinks/feels himself/herself to be socially/culturally/professionally independent from the "normal" culture. A terrorist is an outsider, but so, usually, is a genius. An outsider by definition is not fashionable. An "eccentric" is someone whose behavior is "off centre" -- that is, different from what people accept as normal. Eccentricity may be in ideas, or behaviour, or just in a way of dressing.
3b)Task Assigment (consult with one or more partners) :
Make a list of historical figures in China who you think were probably outsiders or eccentrics.
Make a list of contemporary figures and people you know who are outsiders or eccentrics.
What are a) the popular and b) official attitudes in China to outsiders and eccentrics?
How have attitudes towards outsiders and eccentrics shaped the course of Chinese history?
Are these attitudes changing?
"Briefing for an Australian Diplomat lesson plan" copyrighted to Thor May 1999; all rights reservedback to Last Message index