Transcript tips-for-teaching-cu..

Tips for Teaching
Culture
Ann Wintergerst
Joe McVeigh
Joe
Ann
McVeigh Wintergerst
Tip 1: Show how cultures may
value the same thing differently
Ethnocentrism
• I’m normal – you’re different =
ethnocentrism
• “our tendency to consider our own cultural
practices as superior and consider other
cultural practices as inferior” (Ting-Toomey
1994)
– Entrepreneurs
– Religion
Beliefs
• Convictions about truth or reality
– Power of prayer
– Alternative medicine
– Possibility of humans to improve or change
lives by taking action
Values
• Our feelings about the worth, usefulness,
or importance of something. Our
standards or principles of what is good or
right.
– Constitutionally guaranteed rights
– Work ethic
– Importance of group membership
Attitudes
• Mental stance we take in regard to
something. Also feelings or emotions.
– Dislike of foreigners
– Positive identification with the target language
that can increase motivation and enhance
language proficiency.
Activity:
Teaching culture
examples
Activity 1: Cultural
values clarification
Tip 2: Understand
the meaning of
language in context
Understand the meaning of
language in context
• Language is used differently in different
contexts
• Pragmatics examines how language is
used in social situations
• Intended meaning can be interpreted
correctly or incorrectly in different cultural
contexts.
• Context especially important part in
speaking: helps identify intent of speaker
Understand the meaning of
language in context
• Create an awareness of the role of pragmatics in
language use.
• Take an expression that is thoughtful, polite, and
courteous and then gradually make it stronger
and more intense.
• Then discuss with the students under what
circumstances each of these expressions might
be uttered and its appropriateness.
Activity 2: Critical
incidents
Critical Incidents
A critical incident offers students a brief
story or vignette in which some type of
cultural miscommunication takes place.
Students read and discuss the incident to
try to understand why the
miscommunication took place and how it
could have been prevented.
Critical Incidents
Steps:
• Prepare copies of the critical incidents.
• Divide students in small groups.
• Distribute the handouts to the students. Tell them how
many incidents you want them to discuss.
• Direct the students to read the incidents one at a time
and to work together to answer the questions at the top
of the handout.
• As a class, discuss the critical incidents, the solutions
from each group, and the area of cultural conflict
described.
Critical Incidents
Take two minutes to read one of the critical
incidents on page 3 of the handout. With
the person next to you, discuss how the
misunderstanding could have been
prevented.
Critical Incidents
• Possible interpretations:
• Critical Incident 1 Appropriate forms of address
in one culture may not be considered acceptable
in another.
• Critical Incident 2 In English, some expressions
are not to be taken literally. Antonella made the
mistake of thinking that her professor had issued
an invitation when he had not.
Tip 3: Surround students with
stimuli from the target culture
Surround students with stimuli from
the target culture
• Consider the needs of students with
different learning styles and multiple
intelligences
• Use posters, paintings, drawings,
photographs, bulletin boards, or realia
• Newspapers, magazines, TV shows, films,
songs, food
• Decorate your classroom
Activity 3: A picture
is worth a
thousand words
A picture is worth a thousand words
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Bring to class a large set of pictures or posters
Ask simple questions. Have students answer.
Direct students to ask questions of each other.
Focus attention on elements of cultural
significance.
• Ask students to write a brief descriptive essay
about their favorite.
• Alternative: bring in smaller pictures and have
students discuss them.
Tip 4: Build awareness
of social identity
and roles
Build awareness of
social identity and roles
• Social identity: the things we have in common with
others in our cultural group and how others see us.
• Social roles are the cultural expectations of how
people in a social position are to behave
• Social identity is linked to
– roles
– physical features
– memberships
• We add to social identity by learning about our
traditions, language, religion, genealogy, and
social structures.
Build awareness of
social identity and roles
• Social identity is complex because we
belong to multiple groups
• Teachers use role play to help students
analyze and recognize what social identity
is.
Activity 4:
Role play
Role play
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Make copies of the handout for the activity for the
class.
Explain the concept of a role play.
Form groups and assign roles. Ask students to imagine
what the character is like based on social identity and
role. They might invent the name and age of the
character, where the person is from, and what the
person looks like.
Give the class time to practice. Walk around and
provide feedback and help as needed.
Have students act out their role plays in front of the
class.
To finish the activity, debrief the class on their
experience.
Role play: Who are you?
ROLE PLAY 1
Character A
You are a doctor and a professional expert in your field. You need to see many
patients each day, so you are in a hurry. You think that your patient just has a
cold.
Character B
You are an elementary school teacher. Your throat has been bothering you for
many days and you think it might be serious. You would like to have a closer
examination. The doctor seems to be in a hurry and doesn’t seem to want to
give you more time.
ROLE PLAY 2
Character A
You are a teenage boy or girl. You have stayed out later than you were supposed
to, and you are a bit afraid that your parents will be upset. You have just
arrived home.
Character B
You are the father. You have been worried about your son or daughter, and you
are upset by his or her disrespect of your rules about what time to come
home.
Tip 5:
Understand the
functions of nonverbal behavior
Types of nonverbal communication
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Vocalics
Kinesics
Oclesics
Space
Time
Gesture
Functions of nonverbal behavior
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Reflect our identity
Expressing emotions and attitudes
Conversation management
Forming impressions and creating
interpersonal attraction
– Ting-Toomey (1999)
Activity 5:
Stop or go?
Stop or go?
• Introduce topic: conversation management
• List possible cues: intent gaze, look past
over shoulder, enthusiastic sounds,
unenthusiastic sounds, tap hand, avoid
eye contact
• Choose volunteer & role play. Get
students to guess cue and meaning.
• Pairs read a dialog while practicing cues
• Debrief
Tip 6:
Investigate how teacher and
learner expectations vary
across cultures
Investigate how teacher and learner
expectations vary across cultures
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What is a “good” student?
Help students understand the cultural assumptions
and norms of the educational setting in which they are
studying.
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appropriate classroom behavior
importance of group vs. individual
behavior of the teacher in international contexts
importance of class attendance
appropriate level of effort for a student
expectations of silence
nonverbal behavior
formality and informality in roles of teachers and students
Academic integrity
Academic integrity
• Explain the reasons for rules regarding academic
integrity. Discuss the reasoning behind citation
conventions
• Include definitions of cheating and plagiarism. Explain
institutional policies and clarify what your own response
will be to infractions.
• Explain what kinds of collaboration are and are not
acceptable in your course.
• Explicitly teach documentation and paraphrasing
conventions in the classroom.
• Ask to see assignments and papers at various stages of
development.
• Use software (for example, Turnitin) that checks for
plagiarism.
Activity 6: Establish
classroom behavior norms
Establish classroom behavior
norms
Expectations for classroom behavior, participation, and
academic integrity
• Consider your educational context and your own ideas
about teaching. These will inform the way in which you
conduct this activity.
• Based on your own experience and values, make a list
of potentially problematic student behaviors.
• Then consider the behaviors that follow and add to the
list. Write down your policy and what you intend to do if
students fail to adhere to your policy.
Expectations for classroom behavior,
participation, and academic integrity
Potential Problem
1. A student consistently arrives late to class
2. A student doesn’t pay attention during class.
3. A student talks to other students and distracts them instead of paying
attention
4. A student fails to complete homework assignments.
5. A student presents written work that is clearly not his or her own
6. A student is consistently quiet and does not participate in spoken
activities in the classroom.
Your Policy and Responses
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During the first weeks of your course, present students with your written
expectations for behavior. Indicate what you will do if students fail to
follow the guidelines. Make it clear if any of these behaviors will have an
impact on student grades for the course or will result in other disciplinary
actions.
Tip 7: Examine your
own cultural style
Examine your own cultural
style
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We possess both a cultural style and a communication
style.
When considering communication styles, Peterson
(2004) outlines a number of areas that vary from
culture to culture: direct/indirect, level of formality,
vocal indicators, conversation flow, nonverbal
communication, eye contact, and physical distance.
When considering cultural styles, Peterson (2004)
offers eleven traits or competencies that are crucial to
dealing successfully with people from other cultures:
Activity 7: Cultural style
questionnaire
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Cultural self-awareness: Our own experiences with other cultures
Cultural awareness of others: Knowledge about the differences
among people, countries, and cultures
Cultural sensitivity: Respect and acceptance of other cultures
Cross-cultural communication skills: Verbal and nonverbal
behaviors that are necessary to communicate across cultures
Tolerance for ambiguity: The ability to live with uncertainty
Flexibility: The ability to adjust to other ways of doing things based on
the new culture’s practices
Open-mindedness: Understanding that there may be more than one
“right” way of doing things
Humility: The ability to consider the needs of others before our own
Empathy: The ability to put ourselves in the shoes of another to help
us understand the other person’s point of view
An outgoing personality: Someone who likes to talk with and be with
other people
Self-reliance: The ability to depend on ourselves and to act
independently
Examining cultural styles
•List the cultural competencies from Peterson on the board.
•Answer any questions students may have on the vocabulary or
concepts.
•Ask students to fill in the chart on the handout. Make sure students
understand how the rating system works.
•To finish this activity ask volunteers to share some of their answers
with the class.
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Cultural awareness of others: Knowledge about the differences
among people, countries, and cultures
Cultural sensitivity: Respect and acceptance of other cultures
Cross-cultural communication skills: Verbal and nonverbal
behaviors that are necessary to communicate across cultures
Tolerance for ambiguity: The ability to live with uncertainty
Flexibility: The ability to adjust to other ways of doing things based on
the new culture’s practices
Open-mindedness: Understanding that there may be more than one
“right” way of doing things
Humility: The ability to consider the needs of others before our own
Empathy: The ability to put ourselves in the shoes of another to help
us understand the other person’s point of view
An outgoing personality: Someone who likes to talk with and be with
other people
Self-reliance: The ability to depend on ourselves and to act
independently
Tip 8: Introduce concepts of
social responsibility, ethics,
and human rights
• A story from Jamaica and Haiti
• What is the goal of our teaching? More than just
words.
• Connection between language, culture,
ethnic/racial difference.
• Education is not neutral. (Nieto 2002) Questions
about equity and social justice are at the core of
education
• Need to go above and beyond basics of
language and culture to develop respect and
empathy
Activity 8: Thinking peace,
doing peace
Thinking peace / Doing peace
• Select 4-5 photos that depict war and
violence. Ask students: Why? How to
prevent?
• Brainstorm ideas when hearing the word
“peace”
• Discussion: How to define peace? Think of
time you experienced peace. What can
you do to contribute to peace at a local
level?
Questions
&
Discussion
Activities © 2011 Pearson Longman.
Permission granted to copy for classroom
use.
Copies of PowerPoint slides and handout
with bibliography available at:
www.joemcveigh.org/resources
Available online
at Pearson
Longman
or
Amazon
ISBN-13:
978-0-13-245822-1
ISBN-10:
0-13-245822-5
Photo Credits
The following photos used under a Creative Commons
Attribution license and found on flickr
Colorful Indian women
Bracelet
Refrigerator magnets
Woman listening
Picture frame
Shoe shine
Role play on stage
Nonverbal communication
Magnifying glass
Colored lights on floor
Green leaves
Question mark
Thank you flower
“M Copy”
“The Chaine Maille Lady Anderson”
Joshua Barnet
Anton Savara
J. D. Hancock
“carboila”
Nishanth Jois
David Goehring
Casey Fleser
“Ishrona”
Miyuki Utada
Ethan Lofton
Joanne Q. Escober
Thank you !
Ann & Joe
www.joemcveigh.org