Meet and Greet

Intro

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

• surface
• Bear hug
• weirding them out
• straight

• custom
• setting
• closer
• they're big on

• creep me out
• somehow

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

There is an infinite number of ways to say hello to someone. Countries and cultures certainly have their own greeting customs, from handshakes (like in the picture) to hugs to kisses. But within each country and culture, there are countless variations, appropriate for different situations.

In the US, in a professional setting like meeting someone for a job interview or greeting a new co-worker, shaking hands is customary. Many people also shake hands in social situations. They shake hands when they are introduced for the first time or when they are saying hello to someone they don’t know that well. But in these same situations, some people just say hi and do not extend their hand.

For closer friendships and family relationships, greetings also vary. Stereotypically, American men are not as affectionate with other men. Even some fathers and sons will simply shake hands, even if they haven’t seen each other for a year. In other families, men hug or kiss each other on the cheek.

Did you see Hollywood director Martin Scorsese win the Academy Award? Many of the men around him hugged and kissed him to congratulate him.

Listen to Mason and Kevin talk about greetings.

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

Kevin

Mason:  I don’t know about you…. I, I had dinner with my family this weekend…

Kevin:  OK.

Mason:  And, uh, they’re big on the kiss on the cheek. Like, it’s kind of a family thing for us.

Kevin:  I think it’s nice. I, I do it with many of my friends.

Mason:  Yeah?

Kevin:  Yeah.

Mason:  The kiss on the cheek?

Kevin:  Yeah. Definitely a hug. Definitely a hug. Often a kiss on the cheek.

Mason:  I, I used to be really huggy with my friends, like, my high school friends who I’d known for a long time. But, uh, the new friends, it seems inappropriate now somehow.

Kevin:  Huh. Why, why is that?

Mason:  Um, I don’t know, uh…

Kevin:  I mean, ‘cause you haven’t been friends as long? I mean…

Mason:  Maybe, yeah.

Kevin:  ‘Cause, ‘cause I feel like I have better friends here than I did in high school, with, with few except… I mean, you know, a few exceptions, but… I have some really great friends here.

Mason:  Yeah, I don’t know, um… and also, I mean, like, I don’t, I don’t like to do surface hugs, like, when I go for a hug. It’s… I want…

Kevin:  Bear hug.

Mason:  ... Full body contact, so, uh, I think that maybe scares people, maybe I’m weirding them out.

Kevin:  Not that kind of straight man, like, butt-out hug…

Mason:  The slap-and-hug? The angry war-like hug? No, I don’t…

Kevin:  That really does creep me out. I think, but I think a nice… I think a kiss on the cheek is appropriate.

Mason:  So, can we be hugging friends now?

Kevin:  We can. I mean, it depends on how we feel about it.

Mason:  Hey, you know… cool.

Kevin:  It’s all good with me.

 

Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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