child_teacherguide.pdf

Thurston Whitaker Information Services The Charming Child: Etiquette for Boys Girls 40 This is the Polite Words week of the teacher’s lesson guide. There are three days of lessons plus activities. The Social Graces: POLITE WORDS Day 1 Introduction to Polite Words Discussion Points Polite words are the mannerly persons stock in trade. Polite words will take you farther than smarts, and will certainly get you farther than the smart-aleck. Polite words are better than the finest clothes and the most expensive car. No matter your background or neighborhood, you are the admired young lady of good breeding if you have these words of general exchange in your speaking and writing vocabulary: Please Thank you May I? Im sorry Pardon Me ‘Please’ is the most basic word of civility. Please sugarcoats requests and softens commands. It is oil in the machinery of give-and-take between people. It gets things done. And when it doesnt, we all walk away from one another without stress or rancor. ‘Thank you’ recognizes a persons kindness or consideration. It says I appreciate your effort at making me breakfast; I appreciate your consideration in holding open the door for me, especially since I am weighed down with books. A thank you will get you a second consideration after you’ve been rejected. ‘May I?’ asks permission, because no one is entitled to someone else’s time, or genius, or money, or place on the bus. ‘I’m sorry’ lets the person against whom you have transgressed know that you are aware of your transgression, and you regret it. An “I’m sorry” goes a long way. Most of the time, saying I’m sorry immediately defuses arguments, deflates rage, and inspires reconciliation. ‘Pardon me’ is a polite way of excusing yourself. At times, using ‘excuse me’ can be mistaken as sarcastic, but with ‘pardon me’, it is always clear that the speaker would like to be pardoned, or excused, for accidentally bumping someone,