The Body — B1 Vocabulary

B1 VOCABULARY · THE BODY

Mind Your Body

PICTURE

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"Your tongue will always have an accent. Your body doesn't have to."

Parts of the body · verbs (*bite, clap, nod, point, stare, whistle*) · possessives with body parts

Reading

Speaking

LEAD-IN

Body quiz, fast

Answer as quickly as you can.

1. What do you have twenty of, ten on each side?

2. What do you have thirty-two of, if you're lucky?

3. What connects your head to your shoulders?

4. Which two body parts have irregular plurals?

PICTURE

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VOCABULARY · B1 & B3

Order, then match the verbs.

1. Top to toe. Order these from the top of the body down:

knees · shoulders · toes · neck · stomach · head · feet · legs

2. Which body part do you mainly use to...

clap ________ · kick ________ · nod ________ · stare ________ · whistle ________ · bite ________ · point ________ · throw ________ · smell _______

4. Irregular pasts. Two of these verbs are irregular (maybe three): ________ → ________ · ________ → ________ · ________ → ________

VOCABULARY · B2

What do you use it for? Match the body part to its jobs.

1. tongue

2. teeth

3. fingers

4. knees

5. lips

6. ears

a) typing, pointing, counting to ten

b) tasting, and getting you into trouble

c) biting and chewing

d) kissing, whistling

e) bending your legs; complaining in cold weather

f) hearing, and holding your glasses up

BEFORE YOU READ

A traveller's guide

You have learned the polite phrases. You have practised the greetings. And then you ruin everything with your hands.

READ ONCE AND ANSWER

PICTURE

1. Which three gestures does the article warn travellers about?

2. Why?

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READING

Mind your body language: a traveller's guide

You've learned the polite phrases. You've practised the greetings. And then you ruin everything with your hands.

Body language feels natural — that's the trap. We assume a smile is a smile and a nod is a nod everywhere on Earth. Mostly, yes. Sometimes, expensively, no.

The nod. In most countries, nodding your head means yes and shaking it means no. In Bulgaria, famously, the tradition runs the other way round — visitors have cheerfully agreed to things they were refusing with their whole face. If in doubt, use words, not your neck.

Pointing. In many cultures, pointing at a person with one finger is rude — you point at objects, not humans. In parts of Asia, people gesture towards a person with the whole hand, fingers together; in others, pointing with your foot is the real offence, because the feet are considered the lowest part of the body in every sense. Sitting with the bottom of your foot facing your host can silently insult someone while your mouth is saying thank you.

Eye contact and staring. Here the world truly divides. In much of Europe and the Americas, looking someone in the eyes shows honesty; hiding your eyes looks suspicious. In other regions, long direct eye contact — especially with someone older or senior — reads as aggressive, and lowering your eyes is respect, not weakness. The traveller's smile-and-stare combination, meant as friendliness, can feel like a challenge.

Two gestures, happily, travel well. A genuine smile — the kind that reaches the eyes, not just the lips — is understood almost everywhere. And when words fail completely, gently touching your hand to your chest while smiling says thank you, I mean well on every continent.

One last tip from a lifetime of getting it wrong: watch what local people do with their hands, feet and eyes — and do that. Your tongue will always have an accent. Your body doesn't have to.

COMPREHENSION

Answer briefly.

1. What surprising thing does the article say about nodding in Bulgaria?

2. Why can pointing with your foot cause offence in some places?

3. In cultures where staring is aggressive, what does lowering your eyes mean?

4. Which two gestures does the article say work almost everywhere?

5. What is the final piece of advice?

LANGUAGE FOCUS

Plurals, possessives and verb precision.

1. Find every body part in the text — there are at least ten. Which two appear as irregular plurals? foot → ________ · tooth → ________

2. Possessives. The text says nodding your head, lowering your eyes — never the head. Complete:

Give me ________ hand.

He broke ________ leg skiing.

She closed ________ eyes.

3. What's the difference between look at and stare at?

4. Smell the flowers vs something smells delicious — who is doing the action in each? Same question for taste the soup vs the soup tastes salty.

PRACTICE · F1

Complete with a body part.

1. He carried the sleeping child on his ________ through the whole airport.

2. I bit my ________ trying to eat and talk at the same time. Again.

3. She has a runner's ________ — strong, and permanently complaining.

4. The dentist says I have excellent ________ and terrible habits.

5. Shrug your ________ if you don't know the answer.

6. My ________ are freezing — I need thicker socks, or better decisions.

7. Don't talk with your ________ full.

8. He went pale — you could see it in his ________ .

PRACTICE · F2

Complete with the correct verb in the correct form.

1. The audience ________ for five minutes at the end of the concert.

2. Something ________ amazing — is that fresh bread?

3. Don't ________ at strangers; in some countries it means you're mad.

4. Can you ________ this sauce? I think it needs lemon.

5. He ________ the ball so hard it cleared the wall, the garden and the neighbour's greenhouse.

6. She ________ in agreement but her eyes said absolutely not.

7. The dog won't ________ — he's all noise.

8. Please don't ________ the paintings. Yes, madam, that includes with one finger.

9. He ________ me the keys from the balcony. I caught them. Nobody was more surprised than me.

10. The builders ________ at her as she walked past, and she gave them a look that ended the tradition forever.

SPEAKING

Body idioms

Take a look at the idioms below. With a partner, say what you think each one means. Then look them up and see if you were right.

cost an arm and a leg

pull someone's leg

keep an eye on smth

learn smth by heart

give someone a hand

• Does your language have the same idiom with the same body part, a different body part, or a completely different image?

• Then: what body-language rules should a visitor to your country know? Agree on a top three in groups.

PICTURE

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TEACHER'S REFERENCE · HIDE OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key

LEAD-IN toes (and fingers) · teeth · the neck · foot/feet and tooth/teeth

B1 head → neck → shoulders → stomach → legs → knees → feet → toes

B2 1 b · 2 c · 3 a · 4 e · 5 d · 6 f

B3 clap — hands · kick — feet/legs · nod — head · stare — eyes · whistle — lips/mouth · bite — teeth · point — finger · throw — arm/hand. Irregular: bite → bit · throw → threw · smell → smelt (British English; smelled in American English).

GIST The nod (reversed in Bulgaria), pointing (with a finger at people, or with the foot), and staring / eye contact (aggressive in some cultures, honest in others).

COMPREHENSION 1 Nodding traditionally means no — the gestures run the other way round. 2 The feet are considered the lowest part of the body. 3 Respect, not weakness. 4 A genuine smile, and a hand touched to the chest. 5 Watch what local people do and copy it.

LANGUAGE FOCUS 1 In the text: hands, head, neck, face, finger(s), foot/feet, eyes, lips, mouth, chest, tongue. Plurals: feet, teeth. 2 your hand · his leg · her eyes. 3 stare = look long and fixedly. 4 smell the flowers — you act; smells delicious — the thing has the quality. Same split for taste.

F1 1 shoulders (accept back) · 2 tongue · 3 legs (knees) · 4 teeth · 5 shoulders · 6 toes (feet) · 7 mouth · 8 face

F2 1 clapped · 2 smells · 3 stare · 4 taste · 5 kicked · 6 nodded · 7 bite · 8 touch · 9 threw · 10 whistled

IDIOMS cost an arm and a leg = be very expensive · pull someone's leg = tease · keep an eye on = watch · learn by heart = memorise · give someone a hand = help

HOMEWORK Write a five-line body-language guide to your country or family for a foreign visitor — hands, eyes, head, feet, and one thing never to do.