Chapter 7

Multiculturalism

Pre-listeningWarm-up Questions

1. Why do you think the crucible and the patchwork quilt are often used as symbols of the multicultural character of U.S. society?

2. What does the crucible do to different metals mixed in it?

3. Is the cultural in our country heterogeneous, as in the United States, or homogeneous?

4. What is symbol of the multinational character of Chinese population?

Pre-listening

Vocabulary and Key Concepts

• Read through the sentences and figure out what words would fit in the blanks. Then check your answers by listening to a dictation of the full sentences.

• (See the sentences in the textbook on page 69---70 )

Pre-listening

Predictions

• Using the pictures in your textbook and the vocabulary exercises as a starting point, write 3 questions that you think you can get answers in the lecture. (Answers vary)

Pre-listening• Note-taking Preparation

– Key Words: ListeningPractice writing down key words: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs while listening to the following sentences.

1. I understand why a foreigner might react skeptically to U.S. culture, esp. if the person comes from a more ethnically and racially homogeneous society.

2. It seems naïve or even perverse to deny the existence of a culture that has such great impact on other culture.

3. A melting pot, literally a pot in which metals like aluminum and copper are melted in order to blend them, is the traditional metaphor for the way the different groups of immigrants came together in the United States.

Pre-listening4. Some people feel that the monoculturalist view of m

any nationalities blending together to an alloy of all the parts in it is a myth.

5. Opponents point out that many groups have at times been excluded from participating in U.S. society through segregation and discrimination.

6. U.S. society probably did not assimilate new cultural input until the new immigrants were viewed with less prejudice.

7. The metaphor the multiculturalists use is the patchwork quilt, a mosaic of separate, autonomous subcultures.

8. Intermarriage and the adoption of children of another race make a difference in how people in a family look at themselves.

Rhetorical Cues• Transition Words

– Transition words and phrases help the listener understand the relationship between the lecturer’s ideas. A good understanding of them will make a formal lecture more coherent to you. Fill in the blanks on Page 72 with proper transition words or phrases.

– Nevertheless; on the other hand; however; for instance; in fact; rather; furthermore, etc.

Listening A. In the first listening, you get down the main subtopics

of the lecture. The lecturer begins with some objections to current views of U.S. culture, views that she finds naïve. She discusses three different views of multiculturalism. Listen for the three different views and write down as subtopics.

• ST1: the monoculturalist view • ST2: the multiculturalist view• ST3: the pluralistic viewB. In the second listening, write down necessary relevant

details. Remember to use key words to save time.

Post-listening• Answer the following questions.1. Is the U.S. an ethnically and racially homogeneous or hetero

geneous country? (heterogeneous)2. Does the lecturer think U.S. culture is easier of harder to und

erstand than the cultures of some other countries? (harder)3. Which of the three views of culture is the oldest, the monoc

ulturalist view, the multiculturalist view and the pluralistic view? (the monoculturalist view)

4. In the first subtopic, which groups suffered from discrimination? ( African, Asian, and native Americans as well as each newly arrived group)

5. What metaphor for the culture do the multiculturalists use? (the patchwork quilt)

Post-listening6. Does the multiculturalist view support the idea of one co

mmon U.S. culture? (No)7. Of the 1.6 million adopted children, what percentage mak

e their families multiracial? (17%)8. In what ways do we get our culture, according to the plur

alistic view? (We inherit, absorb, and choose it.)9. What will be the result that people fear if the large Hispa

nic immigration continues in the future? (fragmentation or destruction of the U.S. culture)

10. Does the lecturer see the United States as a culture that is open to change or one that is closed to change? (open to change)

Oral Activities• Discuss with your classmates on the

following questions.1. Is our culture racially and ethnically

homogeneous or heterogeneous?2. How open is our culture to influences from

other cultures?3. Do people from other cultures who spend long

periods of time in our country assimilate to our culture, or do they maintain their own culture?

4. What metaphor do you think fits our culture?

Post-listening

Written Work

• Write a summary of the lecture within 250 words.

Homework1. Review the main idea of the lecture and

make it a complete article.2. Log on the internet www.uscis.gov for inf

ormation about immigration, including information on processing immigrant visas, naturalization, and so forth.

3. Interview a foreign teacher or a foreign student whose parents or grandparents immigrated to the United States.