UNIT 1: First Impressions
Unit 1: Are first impressions accurate?
Part I. Let's practice first!
In this section, you will find a series of links that contain explanations and exercises on several topics related to Unit 1. This practice will help you communicate more clearly in English. Study the topics carefully before you complete Part II.
Note: It is your responsibility to study the topics and complete all the exercises provided. You should not send any results from this section.
Note: It is your responsibility to study the topics and complete all the exercises provided. You should not send any results from this section.
Grammar topic 1: Auxiliary Verbs do, be, have
1. Study the following examples and explanations.
2. Let's practice now:
Grammar topic 2: Review of verb tenses
A. Let's review the present simple.
1. Watch the following video to get familiar with the uses, examples and explanations:
2. Time to practice:
B. Let's review the past simple:
1. Watch the following video to get familiar with the uses, examples and explanations:
2. Time to practice:
- Grammar Interactive game: Play soccer to practice grammar
C. Let's review the Present Perfect Simple.
1. Can you tell the difference between the past simple and the present perfect simple tense?
Let's review it. Watch the following video:
2. Time to practice:
Vocabulary topic: Suffixes
1. Let's review this topic by looking at this video:
2. Let's practice now:
Part II. It's time to communicate!
Directions. Complete the following activity. Be careful with the grammar and vocabulary you use.
Task: What is your opinion on the way Costa Rican judge people on their first impressions? Are they fair or unfair judgements? Do some research on this and provide at least three (3) examples of real cases or accurate or inaccurate first impressions to prove your point.
Task 2: Read your partners' answers and choose two. Express your opinions on their posts. Do you agree or disagree with them? Why? Do you share similar examples?
Important note: Write your answer at the end of this blog.
Due date: Tuesday, August 22nd, 2017 at 9 a.m.
Task: What is your opinion on the way Costa Rican judge people on their first impressions? Are they fair or unfair judgements? Do some research on this and provide at least three (3) examples of real cases or accurate or inaccurate first impressions to prove your point.
Task 2: Read your partners' answers and choose two. Express your opinions on their posts. Do you agree or disagree with them? Why? Do you share similar examples?
Important note: Write your answer at the end of this blog.
Due date: Tuesday, August 22nd, 2017 at 9 a.m.
Task 1: Karen Romero M
ResponderEliminarMy opinion: I think that people in Costa Rica are unfair about the first impressions because majority persons don't have interest to meet better to the other people. This is one cause for they judge of negative way.
Examples about the topic
* When a person have tattoos on the skin usually people think that he or she is dangerous.
* When somebody have a special necessity, many people maybe think in the first encounter that this person isn't able for makes some activities in a specific job.
* Costa Rican sometimes judge to the strangers unfairly because their habits or customs are different.
Karen said that many people are not interested to meet the people they judge and that’s why wrong impressions remains. An example that catches my attention is: when somebody has a special condition people judge this person because sometimes people think that the person is not able to do some activities and I think this depends on the abilities that people have or how much stimulated the person was.
EliminarI think that sometimes the first impressions are made in the street so maybe that's why we really don't get a chance to know the person we are making assumptions, and it is because we think that it can be weird if you approach someone in a store, for example, and ask if they are criminals or if they are spoiled.
EliminarI think that Karen has reason, because the people pretend be the best and that nobody surpasses them. Many people are satisfied with the evil of others. So in first impression people see something bad, many do not seek or care to see the good.
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EliminarKaren's comment is true because sometimes people with disabilities are marginalized and face problems in their jobs because many people set aside their skills.
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ResponderEliminarI think that it does not matter who you are or where you come from, people tend to judge people at first sight, and Costa Rican people is not the exception. Also, people can make a mistake in the moment they make a first impression of someone. The first impression is based on the style, physical appearance, tone of voice, and others. Examples:
ResponderEliminar• If a person likes to wear big clothes or has tattoos, it does not mean that this person is parlous.
• If a person looks unsmiling, it does not mean that this person is boring or unfriendly.
• If the person has a good job, it does not mean that he or she is organized with his or her things.
I agree with Astrid's comment because of what she said that it doesn't really matter where you come from you may judge people based on your first impression, which is absolutely truth. You can be from Australia and probably you'll judge based on the first time you heard someone talk or maybe by the way they walk or even just by how they look at their cellphones.
EliminarI think the same as Astrid because in the first impressions is when people usually make mistakes about the personality of others and are based on other aspects. The examples are very common that most people do when they meet someone.
EliminarI think that Astrid's comment is quite true and I like her examples because not only people with bad looks are misjudged also many people believe that because a person seems wealthy or successful is a person educated and happy and not always so.
EliminarI am totally agree with her idea, because we make an error to judge some people just for their simple appearance. Astrid’s examples are very similar to my comment.
EliminarI think that in Costa Rica the first impression is almost always unfair because people do not take the time to really get to know other people and are always carried away by appearances, for example:
ResponderEliminarWhen a person is always smiling does not mean that he has no problems
When a person wears black and has long hair does not mean that it is
When a person has tattoos they think that he is a criminal and it is not always
That´s right, most in the time people are wrong making the personality of other person only by the physical appearance, and rarely people give the change to know them. And, I gree with the examples that Rachell Aguero gave, that all that we see isn’t all that really is.
EliminarI am agree with Rachell, as for many it is important to know a person a well, I think for the majority he prefers to stay with his first impression. It is obvious that just seeing a person is not know, we are all more than we look.
EliminarRachel´s comment is true, because sometimes the appearance here in Costa Rica is very important for people. Many of the population only make their own judgments and that´s it. They don´t take the time to get to know others better.
EliminarProbably Costa Rican people judge others way too much based only in their first impressions, which actually is really unfair because it is almost imposible to know someone based only in the first time you listen or see them.
ResponderEliminarSome examples of how we, as Costa Rican people, tend to judge by first impressions can be:
1. A really popular one is by the nacionality of people, it is assume that if you see someone who is from Nicaragua they are bad people that can mean harm to you, but if they look like a tourist either from Europe or USA they are rich people who mean no harm.
2. If you are walking down the street and see someone with baggy clothes and tattos probably you are gonna cross the street because the first impression Costa Rican's have on people dress that way is that they are going to rob you.
3. Costa Rican people sometimes judge others by the way the behave on their first encounter, for example you see a teenage girl or boy almost screaming at their parents and it is almost immediately assume that they are spoiled and that's the reason why they are treating them that way. Another assumption made by this situation can be that the teenager or child may treat everyone badly bacause of how they treat their parents.
I totally agree with Maria's comment and I find her examples very correct since it is a tendency of people in Costa Rica to judge Nicaraguan people or even many adult people criticizing people with tattoos and baggy clothes, however just by their physical appearance or their place of origin does not mean that we should create an incorrect first impression
EliminarI'm agree with you. The people tend to generalize and make wrong judgments about other people just for their place of birth or their economic situation.
EliminarI´m agree with María, in this country the population are xenophobic, because they look "different" and they work in a job that no body else wants to do.
EliminarI am completly agree on what Maria is saying, because we always tent to judge people even if it is someone that we don´t know. It is also true that most of the people (it doesn´t matter where they come from) tent to judge someone who isn´t from their country. Here in Costa Rica we have a clear example with Nicaraguan ones, because most of the time we think that they are bad people or are going to make something dangerous to us even if we don´t meet them yet.
EliminarI think that the first impressions many times are the incorrect. Things are not always what they seem. The Costa Ricans and in other countries in the first impressions judge the people and the stay with that opinion without before knowing it well.
ResponderEliminarExamples:
1. The people jugde if look to someone with clothes black.
2. If a man has a earrings in the face this is unpleasant.
3. The tattoos they are cause of disapproval most of all in a job interview.
4. Also we see to well-dressed people, but can be some criminal or worse.
I agree with this, because it is usual to see the physical appearance of someone and determine their life and situations that person happens but are not always correct. Many of these examples of Tiffany are assimilated to as I think,
EliminarI'm totally agree, people almost always look the cloth and that is the only determiner for judge. Actually, your examples are so good and so realistic because this is what we often see on the streets of Costa Rica.
EliminarI agree with Tiff and Rachell because is easier make a snap judgement and try to know what could be the life style of this person just looking what are they wearing.
EliminarI agree, as you mentioned there is always people that do not care about knowing a person, so becomes easier to have a bad perception of someone based on the way he or she looks.
EliminarIn my opinion people in Costa Rica judge a lot based on a first impression and they are carried very much by their appearances, generally the older adults to see people with tattoos and disheveled believe that they are young rude but this is not always true, for Other side also believe that if a person has a lot of money and clothes branded and has luxuries will be an educated person and on the contrary many times is not so and this way they give many cases of people who judge badly so Is seen at first sight or first impression.
ResponderEliminarOther examples:
1. That all people who have money are polite.
2. That all people who are serious are unfriendly.
3. A person who dresses scruffy does not mean that he is not worshiped.
*I agree with your comment because people judge according to how they think things should be or what society has established.
EliminarAccording to the task #1, I think that a very important number of Costa Rica’s people consider their first impressions as accurate, but almost always they are wrong. The snap judgments to meet a person at first time are usually unfair because we should not assume the personality of someone based on their appearance. For examples:
ResponderEliminar- Albert Einstein, he looked very messy, but his mind was really awesome.
- Nelson Mandela was judged by his skin color, and then he became president.
- Nick Vujicic has not limbs, but right now he is a successful writer, actor and even films director.
I´m agree with you because the first impressions only show a physical appereances, the mind and the abilities of the people stay out.
EliminarI think that the comment's Karla is true. People usually judge to other persons because they decide to see only the negative things or behaviors and I believe that it is completely unfair.
EliminarThat's true we usually underestimate people by they appearance, but I think snap judgements aren't wrong at all they could be accurate but not all the times , by the way I'm completely agree with your examples.
EliminarI think that Karla´s comments are right, because as the examples she wrote, we tend to judge in a wrong way people for their physical appearance or for the color of their skin and not because we take time to really meet how they and what positive things they can bring to our lives.
EliminarThat's true we usually underestimate people by they appearance, but I think snap judgements aren't wrong at all they could be accurate but not all the times , by the way I'm completely agree with your examples.
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ResponderEliminarThe tendency of the most of Costa Ricans is to pretend to know everything about the people with just a quick look. They only think in their snap judgments and refuse to give a chance to people for show their likes dislikes and goals for life.
ResponderEliminarSome examples of this situations might be:
1) If you have tattoos, probably people judge you like a bad person that doesn´t have respect for their own body of for anything else.
2) The people tend to think that the peolple who had study in the university are very polite and kind, but sometimes that people are not friendly.
3) Almost always, the clothes is the most important think that people use for make judgments. If you like to wear black clothes, peolple can think that you are a depressive person or something like that.
I am agree with Jessica’s opinion, because we need to give us the opportunity to meet better a person before make our own opinion.
EliminarI agree with you, a lot of persons judge the people who has tattoos in their body, and they say things like “maybe he or she is a thief” or something like that just for has tattoos or piercings.
EliminarI agree with jesse because everybody are different and we can't judge by their preferences.
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ResponderEliminar*Sometimes the first impression is not better, because, the people thinks that she or he is uppity, serious or embittered, but I don´t imagine that somebody walks on the street with a big smile painted on his or her face, so we must talk with the person and then issue a criterion.
ResponderEliminar*People who wear diferent, have many piercing or tattoos, someone can think that she or he ain´t a good person.
*Also happen that you know someone, but that person was friendly and you think that, he or she is like that. It´s not real.
We could say that Costa Ricans are usually quick to make prejudices about people that walk on the streets, based on their physical characteristics or the clothes they are wearing at the time. I say this because I have had negative thoughts about someone I do not know at all. All of the above is reduced to the type of culture we belong to, and the stereotypes and paradigms that have been established. I think they are unfair judgements.
ResponderEliminarExamples:
1. When we see someone who is wearing black clothes, we think that they only use those types of clothes or that their closet should be full of those clothes.
2. Sometimes we relate someone's clothes to a profession or occupation and if we ask them we would be surprised by their answers.
3. Sometimes, people have had a bad day and can not hide the way they feel, then demonstrate the way they feel, regardless of where they are
I agree with María, because I have also had thoughts about someone without know how are they at all, and it´s very true we judge people by the way of dressing of them.
EliminarI also agree with Maria, because most of the opinions or prejudices that we make are based on physical appearance, which does no define a person in a way that you can "know" that person just by the way he or she dresses, for example.
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ResponderEliminarPeople in Costa Rica many times make snap judgements when meet someone else, without let him to introduce or at least, say something. Maybe the person who people think is bad or asocial, is good and kind, but others don´t give the opportunity to know more about him. Sometimes you are not too close to someone to see the way he really is. In my experience, I can say that first impressions are inaccurate a lot, in negative and positive ways. We can see it in many examples, such as:
ResponderEliminar1. Sometimes you can see in stores how sellers don´t want to attend people who looks like homeless person, when that one could have money to buy whatever he or she wants to.
2. In many cases, when someone has tattoos, people can say that he or she is bad or dangerous and, he will steal them, without knowing that some tattoos are very expensive and an art work.
3. Finally, in our country live many people from other places and here we have stereotypes about them, for example if the person is from one country in special he can be drug trafficker, a killer, aggressor or something as these ones.
I agree with Laura in the fact that sometimes people, and also including ourselves, precipitates when giving a judgement about someone, not letting that person to unwind.
EliminarI’m agree with this comment, especially with the example of the nationality because the people judge the persons of the others country just for the news or the things that people say in internet about them and they say “his a thief or a drug dealer” because he’s from this country and this thinking has to change.
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ResponderEliminarI think that people independent on the place they live always used to make judgements about others when they don´t know who others are and persons from Costa Rica are not the exception. In my opinion, sometimes we used to make unfair judgements just because we think that we know how others are just for looking at them. We don´t take time to really meet different people without thinking if they are making an accurate or inaccurate impression to us. For Example:
ResponderEliminar•Most of the time we don’t trust at the first time on people who wear black and loose clothes because we think that they are danger, and not in all the cases people who used to dressed in this way are like this.
•People should judge people who has tattoos and like in the first example they think that these persons could be dangerous to them.
•Sometimes we think that people who don´t smile, are boring and serious and we don´t talk to them just because we are afraid if they don´t answer to us. But we don´t know if these persons have personal or familiar problems.
I loved your final example. I think we need time to know the person and how they behavior is in their home or out of it. I also think that this example can be interpreted in other way, maybe the person is only shy, but that's what we're talking about: think before judging others.
EliminarCosta Ricans often make commentaries and hard judgments about the people they see around them and believe that their thoughts are correct because of their experiences with similar people but this is so wrong, humans are so different from each other. It is not correct to blame a person just for his/her look or the way they act in a first meet. The first time we see someone on the street or in another place, they are usually not what we think, we don’t know their story, their past, the things they have been through, what they really are. People are so unfair with others. Here are some examples of what I’m trying to explain:
ResponderEliminar-If we see a man with big jeans, a huge shirt, a hat and a silver chain in his neck, we think that is a thief and that we’re going to lose our phone and all our valuable things. But we never think that this man is a graduate student from business administration searching for work. This is his style, that’s his way to dress.
-People often think that a person with good vocabulary and good manners is respectful and honorable, but maybe this person is an aggressor and his/her self-esteem increase with hurting people.
-Finally, one of the most common judgments that Costa Ricans make about people is by their social status and the economic condition. If you’re recognize and a rich figure you probably are a good and trustworthy person with no problems, but if you’re poor and simple you surely are impolite and have problems with drugs.
Well... "Ticos" most of the time tend to judge a book by it's cover , that is ok ... but the trouble begins when we believe in our first impression about others, It's ok to make a snap judgement when we see someone for firstime but is necessary to meet better the people they tend to surprise you when u least expect it, we could see examples of this snap judgementes all the days for example.
ResponderEliminar* We usually classify the people just looking what are they wearing
*We try to avoid the people who looks less smart than the other ones in our teams
*And finally we tend to think if a person have a hard work like in a banana's factory or pineapple companies it's because they don't have study.
I think is really important to know a person before judging but that is something that costaricans need to change with the past of time.
EliminarI think is really important to know a person before judging but that is something that costaricans need to change with the past of time.
EliminarIn my opinion, people in Costa Rica judge a book by its cover really frequently, which I do not think it is a good action, because how can you judge someone that you do not truly know? An example of a bad impression that people built on you, it is when I was on my first year in primary school. I was “the new kid” on the bus. At first the other kids did not talk to me, until one day that I made a comment about some topic, they were really surprised to hear me talking. When I asked why they were surprised, they told me that they did not talk before because they thought that I could only speak English, so They had an inaccurate first impression of me. Another example is when I met my best friend, we were not happy with our first impression. She thought I was kind of a “princess” for her, and I thought that she was too arrogant to be my friend. But with the passing of the time, we both realized how wrongly we judged each other.
ResponderEliminarMost of the times, Costa Ricans unfairly judge people, and also, they are very rude to people by the way they look, dress or even how people talk. A clearly example is how “chatas” are judge by people, like criminals and addicts. I think that we, as Costa Ricans, should change these ways of judging someone, because sometimes our attitude is determined by the first impression we had about somebody, which it is not fair. To conclude this my comment, I would like to say that if you are going to judge someone, you should judge yourself first, and also to be more kind to people.
Many times people in Costa Rica judge the foreigners who have different customs or different ways of thinking, but they also judge people from their same country just for the way a person speaks or looks.
ResponderEliminarFor example:
-Costaricans think that a person is uneducated or bad just for having tattoos or piercings but a person is not bad just for having those preferences.
-Also there are prejudices for the way people dress. If there is a person who always wears black clothe, people think that that person is evil.
-And when foreigners come to our country people think they are rich but that is not true because not all of them have that economical situation.
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ResponderEliminarIn my opinion the people in Costa Rica are get carried away by the first impression. Many people often judge others by the first impression that they give without taking into account that the attitude, the way of dressing or any other aspect doesn’t define who this person really is. I also think that this problem of misjudged people is very common and in our society happens often. So I think that judging or having an idea of just anyone see it is so terrible and worrying.
ResponderEliminarExamples:
•One of the most common mistakes is to think that because a person dresses with a specific type of clothing this can do damage.
•Or many times it happens that people buy something thinking that it will be good but it isn’t so.
•It can also happen when we choose a movie because it seems to be good but ends up being the opposite.
I agree with you because I think that we have to meet the other people for can give our opinion about them.
EliminarSo, I think that in costa rica the most people always make unfair judgements by their first impression of the others and this is a problem of our culture because from our childhood we grow up looking how everybody judge the others by theirs appearance, but we can change this trouble opening our minds and understanding that not everything is what it seems.
ResponderEliminarExamples of inaccurate judgments:
* To think that if someone has money that person is happy.
* To think that if someone doesn't like study that person is fool.
* To think that a indigent doesn't have values.
Great work class! Keep it up!
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