Intermediate English dialogue

Talking about "culture" ...

Simplified from a discussion among teenagers

HORIZON: What does the word "culture" mean to you?

SIMON: Culture?

HORIZON: Yes, culture!

ERIC:  Don't ask him, he doesn't know what the word means!

SIMON: Shut up, you! Of course I do. I know quite a lot about culture....

ERIC: O.K. then, what?

SIMON: Well it's reading, and music, and the arts, and so on. Cinema.....

ERIC: Yes, it's anything like that.

HORIZON: Right. And do either of you take part in any cultural activities?

SIMON: Yes.... I watch quite a few cultural programmes on telly. And I like drawing too.

ERIC: Well I watch quite a lot of films, mainly on the box. That's cultural, isn't it ?

SIMON: It depends on the film really, doesn't it? I mean, some films are cultural, but there's plenty that aren't. I mean, you couldn't call Jurassic Park culture, could you?

ERIC: Why not ? Of course it's culture.

HORIZON: What about Titanic? Was that culture?

ERIC  Oh absolutely!  It was really cool!

SIMON: Yeah, I agree. I mean it was a story really, wasn't it? And it was history. It made you think about things. It wasn't just action.

HORIZON: And what about other forms of culture? Do you ever go to the theatre, or to a concert?

ERIC: I've only ever been to the theatre once, and that was with school; I thought it was a waste of time.

HORIZON: Your parents don't go to the theatre?

ERIC: No, they never go out.... except to the pub.

SIMON: We usually go to the panto at Christmas; but I've only been to the theatre once apart from that, as far as I can remember. That was to see the Mousetrap **. It was great!

CLARE: I love going to the theatre. I wish I could go more often, but I really have to push my mum sometimes. What I like best are musicals.... I saw Evita in London a couple of years ago. It was fabulous; and I've seen Phantom of the Opera too. That was absolutely fantastic.

HORIZON: So you enjoy music, then; do you play an instrument or anything?

CLARE: No. Sometimes I wish I did. I played the recorder when I was little, but that's all. But I love music, very much. I like all kinds of music.... well most kinds. I can't say I'm really into jazz all that much.

HORIZON: What about pop music? Is that culture? What d'you think, Rebecca?

REBECCA: Yeah, of course  ....... Most of it, anyway. I'm not sure if you can call some kinds of rap "culture"; but most of the time, pop's a sort of culture, isn't it?

SIMON: Oh definitely. It's just different.

REBECCA: Yes, I suppose so; I mean something can be cultural for one person, but awful for someone else, can't it?.

ERIC: Like rap....

REBECCA: Well yes.... if you look at it like that.

HORIZON: And reading? Do any of you read books, for your own pleasure?

CLARE: Oh yes, I read lots. I love reading.

HORIZON: Eric ?

ERIC: Not much. I read Harry Potter, but not normally. I prefer video games. Books are too slow, normally.

HORIZON: And d'you think you get enough culture?

CLARE: Not really....

ERIC: It depends what you mean by culture, doesn't it?  I think it'd be better if they made it more interesting at school. But they make it boring, so you just switch off.

CLARE: Don't be ridiculous! It's you that think it's boring, that's all. It isn't really! You just don't try to enjoy it.

* Horizon magazine: Original Linguapress printed magazine for low intermediate learners. No longer published.
** The Mousetrap - A very famous detective thriller by Agatha Christie

WORDS
the box - television - plenty: quite a lot - panto: pantomime, a traditional comedy - enjoy : appreciate, like -  recorder: a simple type of flute - be into : be interested in, like - switch off: stop paying attention -  -


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Student Worksheet

Grammar : Note the use of “question tags” in the dialogue. For example:

It depends on the film, doesn’t it?

Now select the appropriate tags for these statements..

For teachers

Ideas for the classroom:
 Oral work; Take this dialogue in class, alternating the roles frequently to involve as many students as possible. Concentrate on sentence stress and intonation if possible. Note in particular the tag questions.
  Make sure that students place the apostrophe in the correct place in expressions like don't or isn't .
  Remind students of the rule for tags: a tag repeats the base auxiliary that was used or implied, with a negative/affirmative transformation, as in :  You've done that, haven't you.

   Stressing of tags depends on the nature of the tag.
   Most tags are not real questions; the speaker is expressing a point of view, and is just asking for confirmation, as in
        You couldn't call Jurassic Park culture, could you?
"Normal"  tags such as this, whether they are affirmative or negative, take a falling stress.
        You / couldn't call Jurassic Park \ culture, \ could you?         

Occasionally, tags really have an interrogative value; the speaker is asking a question, as in
        It depends what you mean by culture, doesn't it?
In these cases, the tag takes a rising intonation.
        It de/pends what you mean by \culture, doesn't / it?
For more on tags see A Descriptive Grammar of English §4.4 , pages 164 - 166


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This teaching resource is © copyright Linguapress renewed 2020.
Originally published in Horizon the intermediate level English newsmagazine.
Republication on other websites or in print is not authorised

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