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ESL forum >
Teaching material > Race in physical descriptions
Race in physical descriptions
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spinney
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Race in physical descriptions
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I �m currently updating a worksheet we have always used at our school for physical descriptions but I really don �t like the lack of words denoting skin colour in the complexion box. And all the people in the illustrations are just white. That doesn �t strike me as very representative of Europe in 2014. Anyway, I don �t want to cause offence by putting in the wrong vocab. I �ve heard my black friends refer to themselves as black and Afrocarribean so, I think I �ll be OK to put both but I noticed the online definition for Afrocarribean refers to people of African descent from the Carribean. Is that right? Isn �t that a little restrictive? Also, What about Asian? It �s the most populated part of the planet with all kinds of complexions and races but I �ve noticed the English language seems to be a little too general on this. After all, calling somebody "Asian" could mean they are from Japan or from India. Any sugestions? |
19 Apr 2014
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ascincoquinas
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Hi Dale!
I came across with this definition online (LONGMAN DICTIONARY)
people also Blacka) belonging to the race of people who originally came from Africa and who have dark brown skin [↪ white]:  Over half the students are black. b) [only before noun] relating to black people: politics from a black perspective Black and Asian music http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/black_1
Anyway, it �s just a definition. I suppose words have a negative or a positive meaning depending on who says what.... Of course, history has an important influence on words, expressions... Best ask people from different origins whether they find it offensive or otherwise.
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19 Apr 2014
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ueslteacher
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Maybe not what you �re looking for but a rather extensive list of adjectives to describe skin tones http://joshroby.com/downloads/skintonewords-alpha.pdf http://joshroby.com/downloads/skintonewords-gradient.pdf Edit: the documents are not mine, I just found them on the net.
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19 Apr 2014
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cunliffe
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You make a good point Spinney. Black and Asian are fine to describe appearance - �of Asian appearance � crops up in the news, but it meansfrom the subcontinent - India, Pakistan, Bangladesh. But what about a Japanese or Chinese complexion? I �m not sure. |
19 Apr 2014
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falco
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You can say " a man / woman of colour ".
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19 Apr 2014
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Tus Patel
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we Indians are thumbnail different from Chinese or Japanese. so better we discriminated them on the basis of their complexion, eyes shape, nose shape etc. Indian + Pakistani + Shri Lankans can be labelled as �Caucasoid � . Chinese + Japanese + Indonesians and others with similar complexion can be labelled as �Mongoloid �; Africans with their typical hair and nose can be said �Negroid �.
You can make amendments ...
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20 Apr 2014
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spinney
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Thanks people! Oh, and nice little skin shade thingy there from Sophia. Could be useful for more advanced groups when talking about race and identity.
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20 Apr 2014
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cheezels
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Just a quick point.... In NZ we call people from India - Indians and people from Japan/Korea/China etc -Asian.
It was one of the things I quickly found out when I lived in London and worked in schools with "Asian" children who were from India, Pakistan etc
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20 Apr 2014
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spinney
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Thanks Cheezels. I think when we start looking at stuff like this, it starts getting very culture specific. Never knew that about New Zealand.. |
20 Apr 2014
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cunliffe
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Spinney - don �t forget �freckled � to describe complexion.  |
20 Apr 2014
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spinney
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Or just plain ginger. I think we used to be considered a race, once upon a time. |
20 Apr 2014
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