This learning module is designed to help teenaged learners of Chinese partake in a foray under the surface of the sea to look at the under-the-water part of the iceberg, in other words the parts of culture which aren't always immediately perceptible with the five senses. These elements of culture are likely to have more effect on students' success in interacting with Chinese speakers, but are also the most difficult to take on.

In this module they will be simply practicing listening skills (and reading too if they choose to follow by transcript) to learn about how people address each other in work environments. They will also be hearing about how social status or hierarchy influences this.

How do values of hierarchy play out in the everyday work world? This is a topic which is quite distant from my teenaged students' lives and interests. While high schoolers are not poised to immediately enter the professional world, they will be encountering questions of different ways of addressing people based on their status and relationship to oneself, e.g. calling a classmate's parents "Aunt" and "Uncle", or their teacher "Teacher". In many areas of Chinese culture, it is important to keep relationships in mind; one might generalize that it is a relationship-based culture even in the professional world. In relationship-based cultures, it is important to establish cultural relationships and a sense of mutual trust before getting down to business. In the podcast by the non-native speaker he touches on the different ways that he might interact with a superior while out at night than during the day at work.

American learners may also be inclined to act in egalitarian rather than hierarchical ways, as US culture tends towards this, while in Chinese culture there can be distinct limitations about appropriate behavior for certain roles.

1. Learners will demonstrate ability to comprehend explanations about ways of addressing others in a professional environment by participating in small-group discussion, class discussion, roleplays, and producing journal writing at the end of the module on the content in the two podcasts.

2. Learners will be able to make comparisons between their native culture and their understanding of the target culture in class discussions and in their journal.

3. Students will understand that different cultures have different but equally valid ways of assigning authority, defining boundaries, and perceiving hierarchy. They will consider how a non-native speaker can function in a target language environment by deeply understanding and at times choosing to adopt cultural practices.

4. Learners will develop a class questionnaire to send to various native and non-native speakers working in the US and China businessworld to further explore issues on hierarchy as reflected in addressing others, and collaborate on a written summary of results from the questionnaire in order to gather more information than that from the podcasts.

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