HOW to TEACH CULTURES ?

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HOW to TEACH CULTURES ?
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Gulnara Janova Vasil MosiashviliSamtsk
he-Javakheti State University Georgia 2013
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What to read 1.Brooks, N
1964. Language and Language Learning. 2nd
edition 2. Brooks, N 1986 Culture in the
Classroom In JgtM. Valdes (ed)Culture Bound.
Bridging the cultural gap in language Teaching
Cambridge University Press 3. Chastain , K.
1988. Developing Second Language Skills . Theory
and Practice Orlando Florida , Harcourt Brace
Janovich Publishers4. Galloway, D. 1985
Motivating the difficult to teach . Addison
_Wesley Publication5. Seelye ,H.N.
Teaching culture. Strategies for inter-cultural
communication 3rd edition Lincolnwood , II
National Textbook Company 6. www.slideshare.net/J
oe.../ten-techniques-for-teaching-culture-tesol-20
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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 -------------------------------------
  ---- .

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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) .

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• 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).

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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

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1. Jourdains (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 cultures values with respect to
  the information collected.

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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 communitys
  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 mans
  relation to nature.

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

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3. Storme and Derakhshani (2002)s model

• involves three steps
• a preparatory stage,.
• a teaching stage
• evaluation.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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II. Activity Types

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

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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.

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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).

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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).

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Critical Incidents

• Steps
• 1. Prepare copies of the critical incident.
• 2. Divide students into small group of 3-4.
• 3. 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.

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A Brief Story

• Mikas Homestay in London
• (Select Readings by Linda Lee Erik Gunderson
  Oxford University Press pp.13-14).
• Questions.
• Discussion ( a group work).

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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.

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6. Nonverbal Communication

• Students should say what these signs mean in
  different cultures

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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?

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8. Activity- KWL

• KWL
• What I Know
• What I Want to know
• What I Learnt

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Steps

1. Ask students what they know about ones 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.

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

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• 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

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THANK YOU !( in Georgian culture it
means- its cool) Samtskhe-Javakheti State
university, Georgia Landau team 1.
tinikogel_at_gmail.com2.meskheti_at_mail.ru3.
vasomosiashvili _at_rambler.ru