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Manners

Manners

Date: Sep 18 2007

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

American mothers always say, “Mind your manners” when their kids snap at someone. A good parent raises kids who are polite. Kids who chew with their mouths closed and don’t make a mess when they’re eating. Kids who say “please” and “thank you” when it’s appropriate and don’t speak too loudly.

Amanda’s parents made sure she grew up to be polite. Mason’s parents tried really hard but…well, read for yourself…

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Mason

Mason

Amanda

Amanda

Mason:  Amanda, when we were out the other night, I was kind of noticing, this is a weird thing, but, you have great manners!

Amanda:  Thanks. I was raised that way.

Mason:  Where did you learn? Did your parents just teach you?

Amanda:  My parents. They beat it into me to always be polite…

Mason:  Are you serious?

Amanda:  ...that rudeness was the sin of all sins.

Mason:  Obviously my parents didn’t do their job because…I’m not kidding…when I was in like 5th grade, they sent me to a manners class.

Amanda:  Oh, etiquette, right?

Mason:  Yeah, it was like etiquette. It was the old sort of finishing school brought into the 20th century.

Amanda:  I actually thought those were only for girls.

Mason:  So did I! It was called Spit, Polish and Shine.

Amanda:  Okay. What was the one take away for you?

Mason:  I’m proud to say…I failed!

Amanda:  You’re proud to say you failed?

Mason:  I did.

Amanda:  Oh.

Mason:  But they tried to teach us…the butter spoon...and this knife and that five forks and there was…

Amanda:  I suppose there’s different families of manners, but that’s kind of being…what, proper? Versus being not rude and considerate.

Mason:  Then there’s holding the door open and saying “bless you” when someone sneezes.

Amanda:  Absolutely. Not making your wife sleep in the wet spot.

 

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Discussion

When Amanda and Mason were out together recently, Mason noticed that Amanda has really good manners. She says that her parents beat it into her, which means they were really serious about teaching her manners.

Mason’s folks, however, had to send him to an etiquette school, which he failed! But what they were trying to teach him there was a lot of fancy customs, like which size fork to use for which course of a meal. Amanda says that that stuff isn’t as important as just generally being considerate. You know, not making your wife sleep in the wet spot.

Wait, what?! What is she talking about?

We have no idea.

Do you have good manners? What’s considered to be good manners in your country?

As Mason mentioned, it’s polite to say “bless you” when someone sneezes. What do people say in your country?

 

Comments

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balambula

Uganda

It is quite interesting that good manners are on their way out and a lot of families are simply looking on as though nothing serious is happening. It is a pity. Thank you English Baby for making space for ettiquete's sake.

07:41 AM Aug 31 2010 |

xin7

xin7

Chile

When someone sneezes we say "Salud" (which literally means health)

04:05 AM May 27 2010 |

askim

askim

Germany

I like it when people have good manners! But it shouldn’t be exaggerated.

10:30 AM Oct 03 2007 |

1 person likes this

ahoi

Albania

Sneezing is considered worldwide as something which comes from our souls and which is healthy, so we say "Shendet!" that means Health.

Manners make us human.

12:30 PM Oct 02 2007 |

victor25

victor25

Moldova, Republic Of

Your teacher is wrong ;) if you'll say bless you,someone who sneezed would think you are very nice person, I always say so ;) believe me it's better than pretend that you didn't hear anything, of course it's good to say that if you care about people, and want to make friends of them ;)

Actually I don't agree, I think it's annoying to pay attention to someone's sneezing. Think by yourself if that person sneezes several times, are you going to say "bless you" all the time? I think it's ridiculous. Anyway there are different perceptions of politeness and you may see your way to be appropriate, but not for me.

 

11:43 PM Sep 26 2007 |

matildamm

Singapore

Manners is nurtured through the cultivation of the growing up stages in the respective culture and race.  So, to inculcate the right manners comes from the right values and it reflects the personality and traits of each individual as a whole.

12:46 PM Sep 26 2007 |

tear_drop

tear_drop

Poland

to – victor25; Your teacher is wrong ;) if you'll say bless you,someone who sneezed would think you are very nice person, I always say so ;) believe me it's better than pretend that you didn't hear anything, of course it's good to say that if you care about people, and want to make friends of them ;) 

11:43 PM Sep 24 2007 |

lol80

lol80

Peru

goog manners good behaviour!! god bless you amanda and Mason

06:23 PM Sep 23 2007 |

kikam

kikam

Algeria

it's a good think to speak about. good manners are our language with the others,if everyone acts in good manners with the other,there would be less problems in our daily relationships..

in my country,if you act badly,you may be considered as impolite or having no shame.

our religion has foccused on every detail in men'n life,especially social behaviours,and we have,for each detail,advices and rules to obey in order to keep the wormth in every relationship…we thank god for this… 

 

10:46 AM Sep 23 2007 |

babyxiao

babyxiao

China

according to victor25's opinion, i have the similar feeling.

whether we should or not say bless you if somebody sneezes, this is a habit's thing.

in germany they are also used to saying Gesundheit (means health) in this case,

but in china for instance, people just keep silent. and if somebody behaves like westerner to say bless you or Gesundheit, it could really worse than say nothing.

forget to say, if somebody sneezes in china because of having catch a cold in deed, close friends would definely pay more attention to him/her instead of a simple bless you or gesundheit. in this case i think it is more natural and warm.

09:35 AM Sep 23 2007 |

ONUR73

ONUR73

Turkey

i think manners as likes water and weather for us

09:33 AM Sep 23 2007 |

victor25

victor25

Moldova, Republic Of

 "As Mason mentioned, it’s polite to say “bless you” when someone sneezes. What do people say in your country?"

Actually my teacher told me that it is not polite to say "Bless you" when someone sneezes. It is better to keep silence and not to pay attention and that person who sneezed should say in a low voice "Excuse me".  

 

05:43 AM Sep 23 2007 |

tuanhungstar

Viet Nam

vietnamese have a good tradition of manner. everyone in family must polite together. So i love vietnam country

03:22 AM Sep 21 2007 |

1 person likes this

babacarly

Germany

can somone  explic me what that mean coz i dont get it

 

01:48 AM Sep 21 2007 |

arif ali

Turkey

 in my opinion ,Etiquette is  a omen civilisation.We  absolute must teach  our children.  

11:23 PM Sep 20 2007 |

Janey Deng

Janey Deng

China

manners is from the habit,i think.it plays a very important role in our daily life.

08:35 AM Sep 20 2007 |

yang yang xu

China

Manners are very important in our lives. when you do something in a rude or impolite way, people will think that your family habit are not good. Everybody knows that family is the most influencing part when the chilid grow up. In China, we have a lot of good manners. However, some people don't care about what they did. It causes some bad impression about chinese. I admire that Amercian are very polite. I hope one day, chinese are the most polite people in the world.

02:04 AM Sep 20 2007 |

Marité

Peru

That is a great way to get along well with everybody!Tongue out

01:13 AM Sep 20 2007 |

Julio

Julio

Mexico

Greetings!

Great lesson, I don't understand why people consider the kind of fork you use.

 In Mexico say "Salud" when somebody sneezes.

 

Great job Guys!!!!

Thanks! 

08:55 PM Sep 19 2007 |

shv_2005

shv_2005

India

good

11:16 AM Sep 19 2007 |

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