HOW to TEACH CULTURES ?

Gulnara Janova Vasil Mosiashvili Samtskhe-Javakheti State University Georgia 2013

What to read 1. Brooks, N Language and Language Learning. 2 nd edition 2. Brooks, N 1986 Culture in the Classroom In J>M. Valdes (ed) Culture Bound. Bridging the cultural gap in language Teaching Cambridge University Press 3. Chastain, K Developing Second Language Skills. Theory and Practice Orlando Florida, Harcourt Brace Janovich Publishers 4. Galloway, D Motivating the difficult to teach. Addison _Wesley Publication 5. Seelye,H.N. Teaching culture. Strategies for inter-cultural communication 3 rd edition Lincolnwood, II: National Textbook Company ‎

What is a culture? 1. Brainstorming (Definition)  Take a minute to write down your own definition of culture.  Work in pairs and discuss your responses with your partner. Complete the sentence. Culture is

What is culture?  Culture is an integrated system of learnt behaviour patterns that are characteristic of the members of any given society. Culture refers to the total way of life of particular groups of people. It includes everything that a group of people thinks,says does and makes its systems of attituted and feelings. Culture is learned and transmitted from generation to generation (Kohis 1996).

 Culture is the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).  Culture is “humanly created environment for all our thoughts and actions” (Tepperman 1994).

Different approaches to the teaching of culture  No matter what approach is used, it is important that the teaching of culture, “never lose the sight of indivi dual”(Brooks 1064). There are:

1. Jourdain’s (1998) ‘building connections to culture’ model  takes learners from an information gathering stage to a stage where they understand that “different” does not carry the connotation of “aberrant” or “abhorrent”. In this three-step model, learners first research information on a given topic; share this information with their peers through communicative classroom activities; and finally, reflect on the culture’s values with respect to the information collected.

2. The Kluckhohn model  According to the Kluckhohn model, there are a limited number of common problems that all communities face and a limited range of possible solutions to those problems. A community’s value-orientation can be determined based on how it responds to the given problem. As an example, one could look at how a given society views man’s relation to nature.

 Based on the Kluckhohn model, “man may be subject to nature, in harmony with nature, or a master over nature”.

3. Storme and Derakhshani (2002)’s model involves three steps:  a preparatory stage,.  a teaching stage;  evaluation.

4. Barnes-Karol and Broner (2010) product-to-perspectives model  proposes using images as springboards to teach cultural perspectives. In this multistage process, learners first learn to describe and analyze a given image from the target culture. As part of this analysis, learners reflect on their culture as they try to find possible equivalents of the cultural phenomenon represented in the image to their own culture.

5. Critical-thinking Approach. culture can be identified:  evaluating stereotypes in light of additional cultural information;  becoming aware of one’ own cultural framework and how it effects the interpretation of a foreign phenomenon; and  developing the necessary language skills required to describe and analyze the given target culture phenomenon.

6. The Ethnographic Research Model  was developed by anthropologists to ‘study exotic societies’ by living with local inhabitants, and by observing their culture ‘from inside’ (Byram & Feng, 2004).

Creating “Cultural Texture” Oxford (1994) has used the term 'cultural texture' to describe the many aspects of culture that we need to teach to our students. To achieve this texture, we need to vary three different parameters:  Information Sources;  Activity-types;  Selling-points.

I. Information Sources In order to get a comprehensive picture of the target culture from many angles, we need to present our students with different kinds of information. video, CDs, TV, internet, literature, songs, music, newspapers, students own information, interviews, readings, guest speakers, photographs, realia, anecdotes, souvenirs, surveys, illustrations etc.

II. Activity Types 1. Quizzes a. Multiple Choice; b. True/False ; c. Differences /Similarities across cultures (Vienne Diagram). ( Ind. pair work or group work)

2. Noticing  Students are asked to 'notice' particular features of other culture while they are watching a video or reading some other materials. For example: a target-culture wedding or folk dancing or costumes and note all the differences or similarities with their own culture.

3. Research  Students are asked to search the internet or library and find information on any aspect of the target-culture that interests them. In the following class, students explain to their group what they have learned and answer any questions about it (Seelye 1993).

4. CRITICAL INCIDENTS/Problem Solving What is a critical incident? A critical incident offers students a brief story or vignette in which some type of cultural miscommunication takes place. Students read and discuss the incidents to try to understand why the miscommunication took place and how it could have been prevented (Chastain 1988).

Critical Incidents  Steps: 1. Prepare copies of the critical incident. 2. Divide students into small group of Distribute the handouts to the students. 4. Students read them and work together to answer the questions given below. 5. As a class, discuss the critical incidents, the solutions from each group and the area of cultural conflict described.

A Brief Story  Mika’s Homestay in London ( Select Readings by Linda Lee Erik Gunderson Oxford University Press pp ).  Questions.  Discussion ( a group work).

5. The CultureQuest is a web activity. It involves the students in inquiry-based classroom project to explore other people and cultures. Its parts are:  Planning;  Implementing;  Evaluating.

6. Nonverbal Communication  Students should say what these signs mean in different cultures

7. Comparing Cultures  Work in pairs. Discuss these questions: 1. Do people use anecdotes in your country? When? 2.What do people tell anecdotes about in your country? 3. Do people where you live tell anecdotes about other nationalities or regions? Why? Is it fair?

8. Activity- KWL  KWL - What I Know - What I Want to know - What I Learnt

Steps 1. Ask students what they know about one’s culture (or monument or city…). 2. Students write the information in the grid. 3. Ask students what they want to know about it. 4. Students write the answers in the grid. 5. Give students a text to read for checking their knowledge about the given culture. 6. Ask students to write down what they learnt.

Grid -KWL What I know What I want to know What I learnt 1.

III. Selling points  In order to create “cultural texture”, we should use the activities and materials that should portray different aspects of the culture. In other words, we need to 'sell' different views of the culture to our students. Introducing deliberate contrasts within a culture can be useful. Some different 'selling points' are contrasted below.

 Attractive vs. Shocking  Similarities vs. Differences  Dark aspects of culture vs. Bright  Historical vs. Modern  Old people vs. Young people  City life vs. Country life  Stated beliefs vs. Actual behaviour

THANK YOU ! ( in Georgian culture it means- it’s cool) Samtskhe-Javakheti State university, Georgia Landau team