Conduct a Quick Quiz with a Show of Hands to Indicate Agree Or Disagree

Day 5 - Superstitions

WARM-UP (5 minutes) Conduct a quick quiz—with a show of hands to indicate agree or disagree: If a black cat crosses my path, I will have bad luck. If I walk under a ladder, I will have bad luck. If I break a mirror, I will have seven years of bad luck. If I cross my fingers or knock on wood, I will have good luck. If I open an umbrella inside the house, I will have bad luck. If I accidentally bump one elbow, I bump the other one to prevent bad luck.

“If you agreed with at least one of these, then you are at least a little superstitious. There are over one million superstitions, and most people believe at least one or two of them. This morning we are going to talk about some of the superstitions that people have.”

PRESENTATION/GUIDED PRACTICE (10 minutes) Ask “helpers” to read the paper strip taped to the bottom of their chair. These strips will have interesting facts about superstitions (adapted from Even More True Stories, p. 51):

1. The number 13 is considered so unlucky that, in some parts of the world, buildings have no 13th floor and streets have no houses with the number 13. 2. Number 4 is considered unlucky in Japan, because in Japanese the word “four’ is pronounced the same as the word “death.” Japanese never give gifts of four knives, four napkins, or four of anything. 3. Seven is a lucky number in many places, and 8 is thought to be lucky in Japan (and China!). 4. Numerologists make a living giving advice about numbers. In 1937, when the Toyoda family of Japan wanted to form a car company, they asked a numerologist if “Toyoda” would be a good name for the company. He said, “No—because ‘Toyoda takes ten pen strokes to write, and 10 is not a lucky number.” As an alternative, he suggested “Toyota” that required 8 pen strokes, and 8 was a lucky number. As a result, millions of people drive “Toyotas” today and not “Toyodas.” 5. There are even superstitions about superstitions. These tell people how to reverse bad luck. For example, if someone spills salt (bad luck), some think that person needs to throw a little of the spilled salt over the left shoulder to reverse the bad luck. 6. To reverse bad luck in general, people turn around three times, turn their pockets inside out, or put their hats on backwards. In the U.S., baseball players sometimes wear their caps backwards when their team is losing. 2

7. With so many superstitions, it is understandable that some are contradictory. For Germans, it is good luck if the left eye twitches and bad luck if the right eye twitches. In Malaysia, it is just the opposite. 8. Accidentally putting clothes on inside out brings good luck in Pakistan but bad luck in Costa Rica. 9. In Chile, unmarried people won’t take the last piece of food on the plate because it means they will never marry. In Thailand, taking the last piece means a person will marry someone good-looking. 10. Some superstitions have been around so long that they have become customs. In many parts of the world it is polite to say “God bless you” when someone sneezes. People used to think that the soul could escape from the body during a sneeze—and that saying “God bless you” would provide protection for the soul.

NOTE: Ask students to replace their strips under their seats for the next class.

COMMUNICATIVE PRACTICE (25 minutes) #1 Say: “Many things happen in the world that we cannot explain. Work in small groups of four to discuss the following mysterious phenomena—in English! Share any personal experience in any of these areas.” (Have these written on a cling sheet or overhead cell.) 1. GHOSTS 2. BERMUDA TRIANGLE (where 100+ ships and planes have disappeared and 1,000 lives have been lost) 3. UFOs 4. ASTROLOGY (Do stars and planets influence personality and behavior?) ESP (extrasensory perception—Can some people read other people’s minds and accurately predict the future?) 5. FATE (Do people control their own future or is it already determined?) 6. PREDICTING THE FUTURE (Can some people see the future by looking into a crystal ball, reading someone’s palm, reading tea leaves, or using cards?) Debrief by mentioning the above phenomena one at a time and hearing the results of the groups’ discussions.

#2 Ask the same small groups to think of one superstition they know about and dramatize it for the whole class. Invite the class to guess which superstition it is.

COOL-DOWN (10 minutes) In Dialogue Journals ask students to write about superstitions in China. Ask that they also complete the following sentence: “I am/am not superstitious because…” 3

Talking Points for English Corners: Continue discussion of superstitions in general and share any personal superstitions held by members of the group.