Teaching Culture in the World Language Classroom

  Students explore their own style and preferences, fast fashion, slow fashion and shopping around the world. High School Spanish II Novice Mid Essential Question: How do people choose products to buy around the world? ICC Can-Do Statements: Investigate: In my own and other cultures I can identify locations to buy something, products to buy and descriptions of the product.  Interact: I can use rehearsed behaviors when shopping and choosing products to buy. Hacemos Una Tienda Students were given the assignment to create their own store and any five items they would sell at their store. They were asked to identify the product, what it is made of, where it is from, the company that makes the product, what the product is like and if they love the product. This allows them to focus on their own culture and what products they may use. Next, students were given descriptions of our class mascots and they had to choose a store for them and say why. After choosing a store for the masco...

Home Remedies There are many home remedies for the common ailments that get shared and passed on within cultures. This lesson gives students a peek into different home remedies found in Spanish speaking countries. Level: Intermediate-Mid, Spanish  Essential Questions :  What are home remedies in other cultures? How do other cultures use home remedies?  ICC Goals:  Investigate: I can identify home remedies from different cultures.  Interact: I can create a home remedy for my ailment.  Lesson:    Students will share their own family’s home remedies.  Students will identify and describe symptoms and ailments. The teacher will lead a class discussion about different home remedies within Spanish speaking countries.  Vicks VapoRub- used for ear aches and fever.  A small piece of cotton is covered in VaporRub and placed in the ear for earaches.  VapoRub is placed on the soles of your feet and covered with socks to reduce a fever....

  Photo by  frank mckenna  on  Unsplash Many students, especially those who belong to the dominate culture, do not understand why the U.S. has certain holidays or days off. This lesson was designed to allow students to think about the history of countries and religious affiliations and how those influence observed holidays.  Intercultural Communication Goal :  Investigate:  In my own and other cultures I can make comparisons between products and practices regarding official holidays to help me understand perspectives. Students viewed a document about "les jours fériés" in France that is embedded in  this Google Form  which asked some comprehension questions, as well as asking students to find similarities between French holidays and U.S. holidays.  The next day, we went over the questions as a class and discussed the open ended questions about how Photo by  Dan Kiefer  on  Unsplash history and religion lead to certain holi...

  Next year I will be moving to high school full time next year, gaining upper level sections to my repertoire. This is something I would like to try next year when I have upper levels. Background: Language Level/Proficiency: Intermediate-low - Intermediate-mid German 3 Unit/Lesson goals: I can identify problems and offer solutions. I can think critically about hot topics. Essential Questions:  What is taboo and why? What makes a solution mutually beneficial? How can a community normalize taboo topics? ICC Statements: Investigate In my culture and other cultures, I can identify ‘hot topics’ and offer mutually beneficial solutions. In my cultures and other cultures, I can identify why some topics are considered taboo. Interact I can summarize ‘hot topics’, and offer solutions that are mutually beneficial to all groups involved and justify those solutions. I can sustain respectful conversations about taboo topics How I would set up lessons: Article or video Google Form with the...

Developing intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in novice language learners is a challenge. Their vocabulary is low, they are often younger students, and it is daunting to include anything beyond vocabulary and grammatical structures in our lessons. So, how can we create appropriate ICC goals for our students with basic language knowledge? Photo by Alexi Romano on Unsplash I decided to reexamine my French 1 unit on clothing. As someone not into fashion, I am always tempted to move quickly through this unit. For many students, however, fashion is one of the reasons they chose to study French, and it can be an important tool for travelling and a window into understanding the perspectives of a culture. How can we avoid stereotypes, introduce students to different styles of dress, maintain comprehensible language, and keep up with fashion trends without having to find all new articles every year? We have to speak the language of our students: social media and hashtags. Fashion Uni...

    After focusing on the global challenges of climate change, students prepare to participate in a United Nations simulation, which focuses on climate migrants and refugees. This simulation was prepared for a class of 24 first-year Belgian university students, all of whom were English Learners (the majority spoke French as their first language), of approximately B2-C1 proficiency (Advanced low to Advanced mid, on the ACTFL scale). This particular class was comprised entirely of students studying law.                                                              ICC Goals:      Investigate: I can understand why people may be forced to leave their country of origin, and can identify reasons why integration in a new culture may be difficult.    Interact: I can respectfully play a role representing a dif...

A few years back, I wanted to find a way for my students to actively participate in making the world a better place.  I found Yuda Bands and Pulsera Projects, both service learning projects designed for schools/ classrooms/ clubs. The unit:  Future plans and choices Essential Questions:  What factors determine my future?  How does where I am born affect my choices for the future?  How can I create change for my future and the future of others ? Students: Spanish 3: intermediate low to mid proficiency goal At the beginning of the unit, we watch the documentary “Living on One Dollar” which follows 2 students from the U.S. who try to live in rural Guatemala on $1/day for 2 months.  The movie is in English, but is very powerful.  Using this as our background information, we then learn how to talk about the cycle poverty and its effects, one being young children having to drop out of school to go to work or to care for their younger siblings.  ...