1.1 Understanding basic expressions in social interaction for life.
In this competency, there are some materials that included in it, are:
- Greetings and leave takings.
- Introducing yourself and others.
- Expressing thank.
- Apologizing/Expressing sorry.
- Grammar: Personal Pronoun
- Grammar: Simple Present Tense
Greeting and Leave Taking
Read the text about greeting below.
How are you?
'Hello', 'How are you?', 'Good morning', 'Have you eaten yet?', 'Where are you going?'. These are greeting which people use in different languages when they meet each other. But what is greeting?
A greeting is a way of being friendly to someone. It is a way of being polite. it is also a way of starting a conversation. in many languages a question is used as a greeting: 'Where are you going?', 'How is everything?'. But questions like these are not real questions. They do not require a full answer or even a true one. In English, for example, the most common greeting is a question about person's health: 'How are you?'. But we do not expect the person to tell us about their health when they repley. we do not expect them to talk about their headache or their backache, if they have one. People reply to these questions with a fixed expression such as 'Just walking around' is sufficient. It is not necessary to describe where you are actually going.
In most languages, a greeting is usually followed by small talk. Small talk means the little things we talk about at the start of a conversation. In English-speaking countries people often make small talk about the weather; 'Nice day, isn't it?', 'Terrible weather, isn't it?'. But there is something special about small talk. It must be about something which both people have the same opinion about. The purpose of small talk is to let both people agree on something. This makes meeting people easier and more comfortable. People usually agree about the weather, so it is a safe topic for small talk. But people often disagree about religion or politics so these are not suitable topic for small talk in English. The topic for small talk also depend on where the conversation is taking place. At football games, people make small talk; 'Great game, isn't it?'. At the bus stop, people may comment about the transportation system; 'The buses are very slow these days, aren't they?'
Greeting and small talk are an important part of conversation in any language. The way people greet each other and the things they talk about, however, may be different from one language to another. This shows that there is much more to be aware of when we learn a language than just the vocabulary and the grammar of the language. We also have to learn the social behaviour of the people who speak it.
Answer some questions about:
- Is it true that people use greeting when they say goodbye to each other?
- Is it true that learners of english should only learn grammar and vocabulary?
- Is it true that some languages do not have greetings?
- Is it true that small talk means talk of great importance to speakers in the conversation?
- Is it true that the purpose of of greeting is the same in all languages?
Listening
Tom: Good afternoon, Tina.
Tina: Good afternoon, TOm.
Tom: How are you today?
Tina: Fine, thank you.
The expressions and the responds:
Man: Good morning./Good afternoon./Good evening.
Woman: Good morning./Good afternoon./Godd evening.
Man: Hai./Hello.
Woman: Hai./Hello
Man: How are you?/And how are you this afternoon?
Woman: Fine, thank you./Just fine, thank you.
The expression of Leave Taking
- Goodbye.
- Good night.
- See you tomorrow.
- Nice to meet you.
- It's been nice talking to you.
The expression of Introducing Friend
1. Tina: Tom, this is Chan.
Tom: Hi, how are you?
Chan: Fine, thanks.
2. Jane: This is my assistant, Lee.
Lury: Hello.
Lee: Nice to meet you.
3. Chan: I'd like you to meet Jacko.
Kahn: How do you do, Mr. jacko. My name is Kahn.
Jacko: How do you do. Nice to meet you.
4. Ann: Do you know Josh?/Have you met Josh?
Gina: No, I don't./No, I haven't.
Ann: Josh, this is Gina.
Josh: Hi./Hello.
