1 A PROMISE IS A

PROMISE

Reading

Wedding ceremonies

1. - What are the people in this pictures doing?

2. - Are they religious weddings or a non-religious weddings?

3. - What differences can you find from the pictures?

4. - Can you tell some differences with weddings in your country?

SPEECH ACTS OF COMMITMENT

A commitment is basically the binding of oneself to a certain course of action. This binding is usually of a moral nature that is one sees it as one´s moral responsibility to fulfill that to which one has committed oneself.

It can however also be a legal responsibility.

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Our Wedding Was Perfect... For Us

I recently married my live in boyfriend of five years. We had both been married before, (I had been married more than once) and we each had two children. I had a daughter who is 20 and a son who is 17, my husband had a son who is turning 19 next week, and a daughter who is 16. We had been living under one roof for four years, pretty happily actually. We had even gotten to the point (mostly) of just raising the kids as one family, not his or mine.

I'm not sure why we decided to get married instead of just continuing to raise our family. The kids really wanted us to, and I guess we wanted to seem as legitimate to the rest of the world as we already did to each other. I kind of thought we'd go to Vegas, but my husband really wanted to throw a party. He loves a party. He felt we should have a wedding. A real wedding, with music, and a ceremony, and the people we love.

A "real" wedding made me nervous. I was self-conscious about getting married again. What would people say? Would they talk behind my back? Would they say mean things about me? Would they criticize me for having another wedding? Should I wear a gown? Was it appropriate? Yikes! So instead of focusing on having a "wedding," we decided instead to focus on celebrating the family we had built together.

We began by deciding to have the wedding in our back yard. We rented a tent and all of the other stuff you need, but were careful to choose things that looked like we might own them. The florist, a good friend, used vases and framed photos from our house to add to the decorations. We stayed away from anything to "weddingy." We chose things that made us happy. We

Our kids were our "wedding party." We let them shop for clothes that made them feel good. No one matched. They were not color coordinated. My oldest daughter actually wore white, it looked beautiful on her. I did wear a wedding dress. I went back and forth about it, but I found a dress I loved that made me feel beautiful so I went for it, but I didn't carry a bouquet, that seemed like something for a young person.

Another one of our best friends is a judge, and we asked her to officiate. We wanted someone we loved up there with us and our kids. My husband walked down the aisle with the girls, and I walked with the boys. We wrote the ceremony together, and included vowing to love one another's children, and to take each other and each other's children as our family. We all held hands and laughed the whole time. There was a group hug at the end of the ceremony, right after the kiss.

The caterer (who is also a friend) made a few of our families’ favorite recipes, the empanadas my grandmother made, the Cuban sandwiches the boys are crazy about, the salmon our daughters love. We ordered my husband’s all-time favorite cookies from the bakery

in the town he grew up in. The food was not about impressing people, it was about who we are.

We decided to skip most of the wedding traditions, the first dance, the garter thing, the cake cutting. Our kids who all sing and play instruments played two of our favorite songs, my stepson the oldest boy, toasted us. It was the best moment of my life.

It was a wonderful night. It was filled with love and happiness, and everyone seemed to have a really good time. No one seemed to miss any of the usual traditions, no one scoffed at my wedding dress, and everyone loved the

After reading the story answer the following questions:

1. What you think about this short story?2. In your opinion, when is the right time to get married?3. At what age would you like to get married? And what promises would you make?4. Would you make a big fancy wedding or a simple one?5. What is the most important thing a wedding should have?

Writing

Think about the following questions and write a short paragraph about a promise you would do to a boyfriend or girlfriend, to your parents, to a teacher, to a police officer and to a judge. Then in pairs discuss how would you make those promises and why.

We often use will in these situations:

Promising to do something

Thanks for lending me the money. I´ll pay you back on Friday.

I won´t tell anyone what happened. I promise.

What is a promise?

‘Promising’ is universally understood as a commitment

to do or not to do something.

A promise can be a word said or written.

How to make a promise?

1. When the interlocutor issues any kind of promises, he or she should fulfill it.2. Must be a future act of the speaker. 3. The promise must be something the hearer wants done or at least would

prefer to have done rather than not done. 4. The speaker will not do the act in the normal course of events.5. The speaker intends to do the act.6. The speaker intends that the utterance will place him under an obligation to do the act.

-What is a promise?

-How to make a Promise.

-Different types of promises

-Abstract and concrete promises

-Promise vs swear.

A pinky promise or pinky swear is a gesture in which two parties interlock little fingers in a symbolic gesture of agreement. This promise is usually made between children.

Marriage vows are promises each partner in a couple makes to the other during a wedding ceremony. It is permissible for couples to write their own vows, provided some mention is made of lifelong commitment to each other.

Listening and speaking

1. Look at following pictures of people making commitments and guess which promises are going to be made.

SITUATION A SITUATION B

SITUATION C SITUATION D

SITUATION B

HOW PROMISES ARE MADE BETWEEN A YOUNG GIRL AND HIS FATHER.

Pinky PromiseDespicable me Pinky Promise! Agnes & Gruhttps://youtu.be/qRCzKEMCGZ8

2. Watch the videos and study the following situations. Describe the characteristics of each participant in the different situations and the context in which they are involved, what does each situation imply? , what are their roles? Discuss with your classmates and then choose one of the four situations and make a little role play.

3.

Are political promises false? Give your opinion and discuss with a partner the following pictures.

SITUATION A

HOW PROMISES ARE MADE BETWEEN FRIENDs. (YOUNG ADULTS)

I double promise‘Friendshttps://youtu.be/Hp0bhTi4y0o

SITUATION C

HOW PROMISES ARE MADE BETWEEN

COUPLES. (WEDDING VOWS)

Wedding vowsThe Vowhttps://youtu.be/F1IL6aH-GIA

SITUATION D

HOW PROMISES ARE MADE IN POLITICAL DEBATES.

US presidential debatehttp://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2015/sep/16/republican-presidential-debate-cnn