Transcript Making the leap from grammar to lexis

Bridging the culture
gap in the classroom
Hugh Dellar
The University of Westminster /
Heinle Cengage
Work in groups. Discuss these questions.
1What does British culture mean to you?
2Do you try to teach ‘British culture’ in your classes? In
what way?
3Is culture important in class in any broader sense~?
4Do you think language and culture are connected?
If so, how?
Culture is everywhere
Such communication helps avoid unnecessary inconveniences and protects the arts and culture sector
Evolver is now firmly established as the region's most popular arts and culture guide
The Department for Culture, Media & Sport has announced that funding for free swims ends this summer
We have always placed great emphasis on company culture and core values
Our fixation on youth culture has left the elderly out in the cold
The subculture is poised to move above ground, with its impact on films, music, comics and fashion
The use of tobacco has long been a central part of French culture
You may find Polish women to be very frank and open because this is part of Polish culture
Some low culture of the past, such as jazz, through time and social change becomes high culture
Celebrity culture is fuelling sex and violence among children, it was claimed this week
Schools have to tackle a culture of yobbishness if teachers are to be kept in the profession
Spoilt footballers are breeding a culture of greed
It’s not that I don’t enjoy wine when I drink it. It’s just that it’s not part of my culture
It is overstating the case to suggest that cultural values allow us to predict individuals' moral attitudes
We are witnessing a profound cultural shift from mass communication to interactive digital media
Atwood, an ardent Canadian nationalist, has often spoken out against the cultural dominance of the USA
Culture at conferences
Language without culture is like a finger without a body.
Culture and language are intimately related. They go
hand in hand during the teaching-learning process.
Language and culture are not separate, but are acquired
together, with each providing support for the
development of the other.
The person who learns language without learning
culture risks becoming a fluent fool.
Culture as product
Culture as process
Some key points
1
Culture is NOT static. It’s changing all the time.
2
Culture is all-embracing.
3
Unified national cultures are a myth.
4
As English is a global language, this is all even more complicated.
Does English mean English culture?
Work with a partner. Discuss to what degree each of these items is culturally rooted. By this,
I mean the degree to which you would need to mention UK / US culture when explaining each.
She wanted the ground to open up and swallow her.
I can't stand being the centre of attention.
I think I'm quite a level-headed sort of person.
Compulsory military service should be abolished.
I spent a lot of the holidays just roaming around the countryside, exploring.
She has no qualms about giving her child a head start.
That film has had a lot of hype.
They fell on hard times.
The kidnappers released him after his family agreed to pay a ransom of $100,000.
He swore under oath that he'd spent the evening at home.
Hold your breath and count to ten.
I had an interview for the job, but I blew it.
Does English mean English culture?
Shoom span a Balearic mix of Detroit techno, New York garage and Chicago
house.
Nationalist murals started springing up in areas like the Falls Road when IRA
inmates of the Maze prison began a hunger strike.
The NUT has long been run by hardcore members of the Loony Left.
It was a pretty good talk, even if I say so myself!
Classroom implications
1 The days of facts and figures about the UK – the tourist board approach –
are over.
2
Culture in the classroom has to be a two-way process.
3
It has to be global in perspective.
4
It has to be language focused.
5
It has to allow space for the personal.
Just because . . . it doesn’t mean . . .
Just because I’m English, it doesn’t mean I’m an alcoholic or a football hooligan.
Just because I’m a teacher, it doesn’t mean I’ve failed at everything else!
Just because I’m a man, it doesn’t mean I can’t cook cook or sew.
REAL ENGLISH FOR THE REAL WORLD
Work in groups. Discuss these questions.
1Has this session made you rethink any of your attitudes
towards culture?
2Were there things mentioned that you already knew?
3Were there things mentioned that you disagreed with?
If so, what? Why?
4What else would you still like to know about this topic?
Lexis, speaking and
non-native speaker teachers
Hugh
Hugh Dellar
Dellar
Lexis is the key to fluency.
Lower levels:
Verb + noun collocations
I’m going shopping.
You’ve made a mistake.
Do you want to get something to eat?
Adjective + noun collocations
The traffic was really heavy.
That’s a difficult question.
Fixed expressions
How’s it going?
Not too bad
Not very often
Higher levels.
Idioms
It’s on the tip of my tongue.
It completely slipped my mind.
Metaphors
Sorry. We’ve got a bit sidetracked.
We’re wasting precious time here.
I reached a bit of a crossroads in my life.
Fluent speakers don’t put their ideas together word by word.
Instead, they remember and re-use.
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multi-word units
collocations
expressions
whole sentences
whole conversations
If we want our students to do this, we need to make sure
they spend plenty of time studying lexis, processing lexis
and practising using lexis.
Work in groups. Discuss these questions.
•
What worries do you have about being a nonnative teacher?
• How valid do you think these worries are?
• Do you think there are any advantages to being
non-native? If so, what?
The first fear
Lexis is more culturally-rooted than grammar.
Do any of the lexical items below seem culturally-rooted
to you? By this, I mean do they have to be explained
by reference to specifically British cultural phenomenon.
• I woke up late.
• She’s had her nose pierced.
• I can’t stand this song.
• I’ve lost my appetite.
• I’ll give you a lift there.
• I’d give it a miss if I were you.
• This place is a tip!
• You shouldn’t have said that.
• I felt like a fish out of water.
• Beggars can’t be choosers.
• They gave the plan the thumbs-up.
• It’s all part of the Nick Hornbyisation of Lad-Lit.
• It’s like the Shankill Road round there.
• He was part of the old Loony Left.
The second fear
My English isn’t as good as a native speaker’s.
The third fear
I might get caught out!
The fourth fear
I’m not sure I can trust my intuition.
It’s w
of my time.
The final fear
Monolingual classes are really different from multilingual ones.
Tell the person next to you about . . .
• a song that means a lot to you.
• a film that means a lot to you.a public figure you respect.
• a public figure you DON’T respect.
• a dish you love.
• a place you love.
• something you worry about.
• something you’re really looking forward to.
Don’t worry!
• The more culturally-rooted a piece of lexis is, the less useful it is
to EFL students.
• The vast majority of your English is the same as mine.
• The language I know that maybe you don’t has no place in the
EFL classroom.
• You are better and more realistic role-models for your students.
They can aspire to become as good as you.
• The fact you’ve learned English and also speak Russian means
you’re more aware of potential pitfalls than a native speaker
would be with your classes.
• Being caught out is part of being a teacher! It happens to all of
us!
• Developing language awareness and thinking about how
language works is also part of being a teacher.
• There’s no native speaker spying on your classes! You speak
the best English in your class! Getting students closer to your
English should be the goal.
• Lexis allows students to express their lives and personalities
far more than a heavily grammar-dominated syllabus. This
means the monolingual classroom is still allowed to be
multicultural!
• You know loads about the cultural worlds your students live in.
You can use this knowledge to hang English onto.
The many advantages of being a non-native speaker teacher.
1. You’re better role models for your students
• you are the model of a good language learner
• your students can aspire to become you
• you share an L1 with your students
• you know in your DNA the problems your learners will have
• you can teach not only language, but also learning skills
The many advantages of being a non-native speaker teacher.
2. You can localise new lexis for students
The food still leaves a bit to be desired – it tended to be quite stodgy and
there wasn’t a huge amount of choice, but otherwise, I certainly had
nothing to complain about.
The food there
The weather here
Your writing
leaves
a bit
something
a lot
to be desired.
What else leaves a bit to be desired?
Public transport here leaves a lot to be desired. The trains are a……….! Half of
them are falling to ………… . Plus, it’s a r…..-…..! The cheapest tube
……… is four pounds!
The many advantages of being a non-native speaker teacher.
3. You can model – and root models in local culture
The CUTTING EDGE exercise called Life Stories:
leave home, start work, retire, move house, settle down, etc.
OK. For example, for me . . . I went to university between 1988 and 1991. I
did my degree IN English Literature At Goldsmiths College in New Cross,
in south London. It’s part of the University of London. Believe it or not, I
graduated with a first-class degree, but to be honest, once I’d got my
degree, I didn’t really have much idea about what I wanted to do. I never
went to university with a career plan in mind. I just did a degree that I
found interesting. In fact, after I graduated, I started working – and my first
job was making sandwiches in a factory in Plumstead, right out in Zone 5
in south-east London: I worked a twelve-hour day, doing really dull and
monotonous work! The money was awful . . . and all the other people there
made fun of me and called me The Professor!
The many advantages of being a non-native speaker teacher.
4
You can translate back and forth
It’s hardly the same thing!
Hardly an instant solution then!
It’s hardly surprising people are concerned about it.
Hardly a day goes by without hearing one of these stories.
I hardly know anyone who agrees with it.
There’s hardly any funding available for research into it.
The many advantages of being a non-native speaker teacher.
5. You can help students localise texts
– What do you think is the same and what’s different here?
– Does anything in the text remind you of any stories you have heard
about?