ESL WORKSHEET - Common communicative gestures

LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS

BODY LANGUAGE

LinguaHouse
Oct. 3, 2023

Level: Upper-Intermediate (B2-C1)
Type of English: General English
Tags: People and Places; Psychology; Body Language; 16-18 Years Old; 18+ Years Old; Vocabulary Lesson; Article Based
Publication date: 10/03/2023

In this updated lesson plan, students define some common communicative gestures and explore how these are used cross-culturally and in business contexts. The lesson includes listening and reading practice, discussion activities and a chance to use gestures in a mini-drama or mini-presentation. An optional extension activity defines some common body idioms (by Stephanie Hirschman).

• CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in American English.
• CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in American English.
• CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in British English.
• CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in British English.
• CLICK HERE to download/listen to the audios (Am/Br English).
• CLICK HERE to download/watch the videos (Am/Br English).

AUDIO TRANSCRIPTS

Gestures
Point at someone or something.
Nod your head or shake your head.
Fold your arms.
Wink at someone.
Shrug your shoulders.
Snap your fingers.
Beckon to someone.
Clench your fist.
Crack your knuckles.

Body Positive Podcast
Host: A big hello to all our listeners! This is the podcast, Body Positive, where we look into everything related to the human body. Welcome to our guest Alison Wheeler, an expert in what’s called kinesics, or the science of body language. Alison, you’re going to tell us more about some gestures that we all use, right?
Guest: Yes, exactly. Contrary to what you might believe, gesture is not exactly a universal language. What I mean is that everyone in the world uses their body to communicate meaning, but not always in the same ways. I want to talk about what some gestures mean to most people in a Western cultural context and how they might be different in other parts of the world.
Host: Interesting. Let’s start with something we all use every day – nodding your head to mean yes and shaking it for no.
Guest: Okay, well, that’s something that people do all over the English-speaking world and in many parts of Europe, Asia and Oceania. However, be aware that this pattern is reversed in Bulgaria, while in parts of Greece and Italy, you may find people indicating no by moving their head up quickly instead of shaking their head from side to side.
Host: That’s worth knowing. Now, how about shrugging your shoulders. To me that means something like, “I don’t know, or I don’t understand.”
Guest: Now that one really does seem to be pretty universal, and you’re not going to run into many problems if you use that anywhere in the world. However, you do need to be careful with winking and pointing in some cultures.
Host: Why is that?
Guest: Well, to start with, winking at someone doesn’t really have a clear meaning, even within English-speaking cultures. It could mean that two people are in on the same joke, or it could signal that someone is flirting with you. In some contexts, that could be really offensive.
Host: I know what you mean. And pointing?
Guest: Well, everyone points, and most people use their first finger, but there’s a surprising amount of variety. In some cultures, it’s considered rude to point at people. In other cultures, people point with their whole hand or with different fingers, and sometimes people even point with their lips.
Host: Amazing. And I think you have one final example that you’d like to share?
Guest: I do and it’s a really interesting one. Beckoning to someone, meaning, “Come here”, is another universal gesture. However, while we might use one finger, in Spain people might use all the fingers on their hand and in Sicily the hand is waved with the palm down in a sweeping movement. But the most interesting variation is from Japan, where people place their hand, palm outwards, next to their head and use four fingers. To native English-speakers it looks like waving, because the hand is held so high. And the coolest thing is that this is the same gesture used by those waving cat figurines, called Maneki Neko, which are supposed to bring good fortune to the owner.
Host: I know those cats! They’re very popular souvenirs and you can even get them as an emoji for your phone!
Guest: Right! In fact, there are lots of emojis that refer to gestures! And I have a theory that this is making the use of gestures more universal worldwide.
Host: I’d like to hear more about that...

Adapted from: https://www.linguahouse.com/esl-lesson-plans/general-english/body-language. Accessed on October 4, 2023. © 2008–2023 LinguaHouse.com. All rights reserved.