Cultural Awereness in the ESL Classroom 2010

Cultural Awareness in the EFL Classroom

APRIL 23thProf. Consuelo Páez

conspaez@yahoo.com.mx

O U T L I N E• CULTURAL ELEMENTS OF THE TARGET

LANGUAGE• STUDENTS’ OWN CULTURAL

BACKGROUND• INTERCULTURAL AWARENESS• RESOURCES• WORKSHOP

DEFINITION OF CULTURE Culture is the set of values and assumptions that people learn

as they grow up. These come from parents, relatives, their teachers, their books, newspapers and television programs.

Values include ideas about what is right and wrong, desirable

and undesirable, normal and abnormal, proper and improper.

Assumptions include unquestioned givens about people, life

and the “way things are.”

By Gary Althen

ELEMENTS OF CULTURE

CULTURAL COMMON DENOMATORS• Numerals• Greetings• Etiquette• Kinship• Music• Feasting• Family• Kin-groups• Dating• Mourning• Education• Land use• Trade / economy• Goverment

• Calendars• Gestures• Mealtimes• Games• Dancing• Folklore• Marriage• Housing• Joking• Medicine• Law• Mobility• Residence rules• Religious practices

• Hospitality / visiting• Personal names• Friendship customs• Athletic sports• Leisure activities• Bodily adornment• Luck / supertitions• Cooking and food• Gift-giving• Funeral customs• Attitude toward animals• Community organization• Racial and ethnic groups• Patriotism / nationalism

CULTURAL ELEMENTS OF THE TARGET LANGUAGE

POP CULTURE

TEFL EVOLUTION1 Up until the 1950s

Literature gave insight to culture of the target language. (Translation Method)

1. Based on Michael Lessard-Clouston: Towards an Understanding of Culture in L2/FL Education)

The 1960sDevelopment of social

sciences created concern for understanding culture.

Importance of the spoken rather than written language. (Audiolingual method)

The 1970sEmphasis on

sociolinguistics resulted in greater emphasis on the context and situation.

(Communicative Approach)

The 1980sA “cultural syllabus” is included to the FL curriculum.Subjects like “Cultural Studies” appear.

The 1990s onCulture education leads to linguistic competence.“Globalization” demands intercultural competence.Develop knowledge of and about the target culture.Master skills in culturally appropriate communication and

behavior of the target culture.Awareness of own culture to understand the dynamics of

the target culture.

GLOBALIZATIONBUSINESS

POLITICSPOLITICS

TECHNOLOGY

COMMUNICATION

SCIENCE

AVIATION

ENTERTAINMENT

DIPLOMACY

ENGLISHLANGUAGE

Prof. Consuelo Páez Salvador de Campuzano

Teachers' Role“Teachers should make the learners learn about the cultures and why certain things happen in other cultures. They should not try to make their learners think or become like people in the cultures presented. They should not give the idea that one's own culture is better than the target culture or vice versa. They should point out that cultures differ. “ 2

2. By Prof. Ferit Kilickaya: “Guidelines to Evaluate Cultural Content in Textbooks”

“Culture is not a question of Disneyfication or McDonaldization” 3

3. “The ESL Culture Issue Again” by Brenda Townsend Hall, PhD (www.esl-school.com)

STUDENTS’ OWN CULTURAL AWARENESS

ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE 5

Now that English is the language of globalization, English is no longer viewed as the property of the English-speaking world but as an international commodity.The aim of intercultural training is to study the language first but then to identify points of cultural interest that illustrate differences in what people think, what they do and what they say.This approach raises cultural awareness but cultural personal development comes from another sequence of questions. They are, “What have I learned about the target culture?

5. By Prof. Jack Richards 30 Years of TEFL/TESL: A Personal Reflection

INTERCULTURAL AWARENESS

Cultural Awareness is consciousness of one's personal cultural background.

Intercultural Awareness is the consciousness of relating one’s culture with another culture or other cultures.

Cultural Awareness is the foundation of communication and it involves the ability of standing back from ourselves and becoming aware of our cultural values, beliefs and perceptions. Why do we do things in that way? How do we see the world? Why do we react in that particular way?Cultural awareness becomes central when we have to interact with people from other cultures. People see, interpret and evaluate things in a different ways. 6

6. By Stephanie Quappe and Giovanna Cantatore

INTERCULTURAL AWARENESSProfessor Alvino Fantini proposes four principles to develop Intercultural Awareness: awareness, attitude, skill and knowledge. Here is THE KASA PARADIGM whose central part is “awareness of oneself, awareness of one’s culture, and the target language. The four dimensions are interrelated and indispensable for intercultural competence.

Intercultural Communicative Competence

7. By: Ferit Kilickaya Guidelines to Evaluate Cultural Content in Textbooks

RESOURCES

Material helps the teacher create a productive classroom environment. Authentic material brings immediacy and relevance to the proposed tasks. At the same time, meaningful learning tasks engage students in developing their own learning styles. Projects are ideal scenarios for the class to promote the Intercultural competence.

SUGGESTED COMPLEMENT MATERIAL OF THE REGULAR LANGUAGE TEXTBOOK

TEXTBOOKS • Getting to Know Ecuador• Ecuador InsightDesigned on Ecuador’s Social

StudiesBased on the Multiple Intelligences

and Learning StylesProject-based evaluationPromotes the communicative

competence

COMMENT TO THE NEW EDITION“I must confess that the textbook GETTING TO KNOW ECUADOR, written in English by Lic. Consuelo Páez Salvador, is a most fascinating adventure into the intriguing reality of Ecuador for Ecuadorian Social Studies students and other interested people, both national and foreign. It reflects a modern tendency in which EFL teachers are motivated to express themselves regarding subject matter that they understand extremely well and wish to communicate to others in another language (here, English) for all to enjoy and learn about. Warmest congratulations to Consuelo in her endeavours to motivate us to delve more into this exciting study.” Donald Stewart, M.Sc.,

ORAL TRADITION “GETTING TO KNOW ECUADOR”

A TOUCH OF IDENTITY “ECUADOR

INSIGHT”The Northern Coast: gastronomy “Shrimp Ceviche”The Southern Coast: song “El alma en los labios” The Northern Highlands: art: “Guayasamin’s

Congress Mural” The Central Highlands: folklore: “Mama Negra”The Southern Highlands: athletes: “marching

practice” The Northern Ecuadorian Amazon: legend:

“Jumandi” The Southern Ecuadorian Amazon:

civics: “Oriente’s Hymn” The Insular Region: song “Beautiful Ecuador”

Declaration: “November, month of the Ecuadorian legend and tradition”

SECOND FESTIVAL

MULTIMEDIA • www.consuelopaez.com• www.turismo.gov.ec• www.thissecuador.com• www.wikipedia.org• HCJB’s “Spotlight” radio program

VIDEOS

FINAL PRODUCT8

Competent bilingual students able to interact in a globalized context with a strong sense of identity; true ambassadors of Ecuador’s rich cultural heritage.“Once the students know how to talk about their culture, they are ready to discuss the values, expectations, and traditions of others with a higher degree of intellectual objectivity.”

8. By Hans Straub - College Preparatory Center

CULTURAL PARALELISMS

Ecuador, a Cultural Power

Si no podemos, ni debemos, ser una potencia militar, política, diplomática o económica; podemos ser, en cambio, una potencia cultural nutrida de nuestras más ricas tradiciones. Carrión citaba el ejemplo de naciones pequeñas como Grecia e Israel capaces, no obstante, de figurar entre las más civilizadas y cultas de toda la historia.

Prof. Consuelo Páez Salvador de Campuzano

“If we cannot, and must not, be a power in politics, diplomacy, economy or, much less, in the military; let us

be a cultural power because or history empowers us to.”

Benjamín Carrión, 1945

• “THANKS” • “GRACIAS”• “DIOS PAGARACHU”• “MERCI”• “Dziękuje”

Professor Consuelo Páez SalvadorTelephone numbers: 2509 332

09 2 66 90 61conspaez@yahoo.com.mxwww.consuelopaez.com

Avecilla (albazo)Ya ves canora avecilla

que cogida prisionera; será preciso que sepas

que desde hoy en adelante vas a ser mi compañera.

Cantando como cantabas, perdida entre la maleza, a orillas de un arroyuelo

y en el fondo de una arboleda

Don’t you let oh avecilla....Be distressed by any sadness. (x2)

I will make sure that you never lack anything that you need

You’ll have sparkling pure water and the freshest of all seeds

(Repet everything )

WORKSHOP

“Students own culture should be discussed together with the target culture. In other words, home and target culture should be integrated.”

9. Scarcella & Oxford: The Tapestry of Language LearningApproach