Languages Kristen Race ED 301 Diversity Lesson

Language Diversity 11 th to 12 th grade lesson This is to raise awareness of linguistic diversity in your school and community. Come with us to explore how we can better ourselves by learning to communicate with people of other languages and cultures!

Lesson Plan This lesson will use a wide variety of materials and methods to educate students on the difficulties as well of the joys of speaking a foreign language. Students will compile a portfolio over the course of two weeks as a supplement to the diversity unit The web sites will be presented for students to visit and use in other activities.

Portfolio Requirements Students name in multiple languages Journaling on “Monsoon Wedding” Body Language Report Lexical Origin Report Notation on an interview with a speaker of another language

Objectives! Increase knowledge of other cultures Invite students to explore the world outside their town Have fun learning ways to communicate with people of other linguistic backgrounds Delve into food, relationships and media by people of different cultures Further explore our own language and how it differs from and relates to others.

Materials VCR and TV, copy of “Monsoon Wedding” Computers Journal kept for body language experiment Dictionary and supplemented PC dictionary Notebooks Calligraphy markers

Check out these sites! Scroll down, select which language you want to learn!

Body Language Dictionary Find out what body language is universal and what leads to global confusion!

Translate Anything! / /

If you thought other languages were strange and hard… Read why English is such a funny language!Read why English is such a funny language!

It’s not all fun! Speakers of other languages have great difficulty in the USA. Trouble getting an apartmentTrouble getting an apartment English-Only hate groupsEnglish-Only hate groups

Activities!!!!! As a class, we will view the movie “Monsoon Wedding” Students will journal on the phenomenon of code-switching as presented in the film As a class we will discuss the cultural differences between India and America

Code-switching lesson Code switching result when one person knows two languages very well and switches from one to the other without noticing This is very common in India where Hindi and English are both the national language Code-switchers will often do it in mid- sentence!

Called by any other name Students will use the following websites to find their name in 3 different languages They will use calligraphy pens to write them and use as the title page of their portfolio

Body Language Students will observe fellow classmates throughout the week They will journal on what body language is used, what it means, and if it would mean the same to others

English Words?????? Students will find a word in the dictionary with a foreign origin. They will research using a PC interactive dictionary where this word came from and how we came to use it today

Interview! Interview a speaker of a foreign language –Ask them how that language helps them –Ask if it was difficult to learn another language –Ask them to teach you one significant phrase Jot down your notes, as well as a comment on your overall impressions What did you learn?

Culture Day and Buffet For extra credit, students may bring in food from a foreign country to share with the class If enough students are interested, we will dedicate a Friday to eating food and listening to foreign music

Final Product Students will write a short (1 page) letter explaining what they’ve learned from their activities Students will now compile a portfolio to illustrate what they’ve learned

The world’s not so small after all!