Cultural rules modals pairwork

Student A

Read the description of one of the countries below one line at a time. Your partner can guess once per sentence. If you run out of sentences, make more clues yourself until your partner guesses correctly.

Saudi Arabia

Women can’t drive

Unmarried women can’t get a visa to visit there

Even foreign women have to cover their whole body and hair to go out

Foreign women can dress how they like inside special foreign compounds

Singapore

You can’t buy or chew gum

You can’t get through passport control if you are dressed really messily

You can’t feed wild birds or cats.

You can’t buy fireworks.

Germany

You can drive at any speed on the highway

You should call your colleagues by their family name

You can’t play loud music or hammer nails between noon and 3pm.

You can’t wash your car on a Thursday.

Anyone can use the toilet of any bar

UK

You shouldn’t make a noise when eating soup.

Adults can’t ride a bicycle on the pavement (= sidewalk).

You don’t have to take your shoes off inside most houses.

You don’t have to tip, but it is normal to leave the change.

You should clean the youth hostel room before you leave.

You can’t smoke in any restaurants or bars.

In many families you shouldn’t flush the toilet after people have gone to sleep.

You can drink the tap water.

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Student B

Read the description of one of the countries below one line at a time. Your partner can guess once per sentence. If you run out of sentences, make more clues yourself until your partner guesses correctly.

Korea

You shouldn’t write someone’s name with red ink.

You shouldn’t eat your rice with chopsticks.

You can’t wear your shoes in most houses.

You don’t have to tip.

You shouldn’t eat while you are walking.

You shouldn’t pick up your bowl while you are eating.

You should drink your soup with a spoon.

You shouldn’t make a noise when you are eating noodles.

Australia

You can’t stay on the beach if you have sunburn.

You have to put on a T-shirt if a lifeguard tells you to.

You can sunbathe with no clothes on but only on special beaches.

You have to vote.

France

Men can’t wear trunks in a public swimming pool (they have to wear Speedos)

70% of the music on the radio has to be from this country.

New Zealand

You can’t take your personal seal (Japanese hanko) into this country if it is made of ivory.

You have to make a reservation if you want to go hiking in popular areas.

You can’t bring honey into the country.

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PDF for easy saving and printing: Cultural rules pairwork

Related pages

Cultural training page

Modals of obligation, permission and prohibition page

Cutting Edge Pre-Intermediate page

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