by Sheron Fitzgerald, CISL San Francisco
One Tuesday at lunchtime I was sitting in the Multimedia Lab and overheard two students discussing their plans for the week. Andrea from Italy and Pierre from France (originally from Cameroon) were finalizing their ticket purchases for a live music concert in San Francisco.
Pierre is a Law student at a university in Paris while Andrea is an engineer and drummer in Milan. Throughout his English course, Andrea has enjoyed attending a variety of concerts in San Francisco. This week, the guys were looking forward to hearing “The Tommy Igoe Band” at Yoshi’s SF– a great location for dinner theatre featuring delicious Japanese food and the soothing sounds of internationally acclaimed artists.
The students asked me about appropriate attire for an evening at Yoshi’s and I suggested that they go “Dressy Casual”.
In the United States, a “Black Tie” event suggests classic formal attire like a tuxedo or tailored suit for men and an evening gown (long dress) for women. American “Business Attire” is most often a suit and tie for men, and a dress or blouse with skirt/slacks (dressy pants) for women.“Casual Attire” can include anything from a t-shirt and jeans, tank top and shorts, to a summer dress and sandals for ladies.
My recommendation for the music fans to go “Dressy Casual” encourages a style of dress that is a mixture of the “Business Attire”and “Casual Attire” mentioned above. A simple button-down shirt with (or without) a blazer would be appropriate along with a nice pair of jeans/slacks for the friends’ evening at Yoshi’s.
A few days after the concert, I talked to Pierre and Andrea and they told me that “The Tommy Igoe Band” was amazing. They thoroughly enjoyed the concert and the only language the students spoke at the concert was English! What an excellent opportunity to hear fantastic music and to continue developing their English skills in a social way.