Can you guess what world cities we’ll be studying this semester?
Last semester, I asked my students what content and what language skills they would like for me to teach them. I really wanted to use English to teach towards their interests. (In the TEFL scene, this is nothing unusual. In fact, it’s highly encouraged.) Across the board, I was asked to teach some version of world culture. My background is in International Relations, so I was more than happy to grant their request. On the other hand, I was paralyzed by the fear of teaching into a stereotype or giving them a stereotype, which would be even worse. After a couple of weeks of research, I could not work out how to responsibly teach world cultures. Like an angel providing manna from heaven, a fellow volunteer, Kati Stevens, shared her world culture semester plan at a Peace Corps training session. Her semester plan focused on teaching about the major world CITIES. It took me no time to take it and adapt it for the needs of my freshmen.
In addition to teaching about some of the major world cities, I wanted to learn how to better create an environment where my students felt comfortable sharing their opinions without the fear of being wrong or being an outcast among their peers. I took the time this week to gather more information about their current cultural knowledge base and was quite surprised with what they were willing to express. In my Oral English class, we focused on learning more about how cultures influence each other, specifically what cultures have influenced American culture and what cultures have influenced Chinese culture. To end the week, we focused on exploring what the word “culture” means in my Writing class. In this post, I’d like to share two lessons that went better than any lessons I’ve given thus far, and I’d like to share some of the work my students gave me permission to share. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed being a facilitator and allowing them to explore their own understanding of culture. I have organized student work based on course and activity.
Oral English
In-Class Quick Response: What does the word “diversity” mean to you?*
- Student 1: It makes something or somebody different from others.
- Student 2: Diversity means difference and quantity, everything in the world has diversity, everything is changeable.
- Student 3: Two of our greatest strengths are diversity and community.
- Student 4: The word means difference and multiple, which may include a variety of cultures
- Student 5: It means to learn from others more and more.
- Student 6: Different people have different opinions on the same thing who comes from different places.
*Responses were written on the chalkboard and I cannot remember which student wrote which sentence.
Cocktail Party: Borrowing from Our Neighbors
Question 1: What things have other cultures borrowed from Chinese culture?
- Class 152- tea, fine china dishes, calligraphy writing, kung fu, silk
- Class 153- paper, inventions from ancient China, compass, Chinese-style buildings, Chinese medicine, tea, silk, fine china
- Class 151- food, china dishes, Confucian culture, Chinese music, kung fu, tea, clothes, Beijing opera
Question 2: What things have Chinese culture borrowed from other cultures?
- Class 152- coffee, Christmas, science & technology, architecture, western clothes
- Class 153- festival, fast food, business suits, advanced technology, weddings, music, sports, hairstyles
- Class 151- Christmas, technology, fast food, music, fashion & beauty, tv shows, equipment, hairstyles, education
Question 3: How have people in China learned about people from other cultures?
- Class 152- internet, the silk road, exchange students, travel, books
- Class 153- study abroad/travel, media, education/books, conversations, internet, business/trade, marriages
- Class 151- internet, travel, media, books/magazines, teachers, conversations, trade/business, exchange students
Writing
Week One’s Homework Assignment: Journal Writing
“Write your response to this quote by President Nelson Mandela: “Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and aspirations, grasp their history, appreciate their poetry, or savor their songs.”
“I had read a science fiction before I entered university. It said an awkward journey about two man. One person is a Japanese samurai and another is a Chinese. They all acrossed a time machine and arrived a strange place, and just because they can’t understand what said each other. So, there was a war between them. The reason is simple. They don’t have a common language. Above all, language is important for our daily life. Have a common language can help you to understand people’s think and know their culture. Besides, the language is a good instrument to express our feeling so that someone could understand you. In a word, using language is very important for our life.”
–Oliver, Class 152
“From this quote, we can obviously know that the former South Africa president Nelson Mandela wants to tell us that language is very important in our life. And I completely agree with he. As well all know people from different country or different part will use the same language to communicate with and understand each other. Refer to communication and talk, the first words we must thought was language. There are many nations in the world even the languages are reach to thousands. Different country or nation have there own language, so the problem is that how can they talk how they do business with each other. Therefore the first advantage of language is that people from different part of the world can use the language to communicate with each other and they also can do business with counterpart. Then I want to talk is about some good articals some good music. Only we know about many languages can we learnt about many kinds of knowledge and entertainment. Without language we can hardly travel to other country and hard to know more useful things. Last but not least, language also means body language. People can better know about each other through our body language because if you cannot use any other kind of language. As long as you can perform it very good its also ok. That’s all my opinion of the quote that Nelson Mandela have told. Thank you!”
–Emerald, Class 152
Large Group Discussion: Parts of a Culture Brainstorm List
Question: What are some different parts of a culture?
- language
- food
- architecture
- fashion/clothes
- customs & traditions
- habits
- transportation
- flag
- beliefs
- education
- history
- laws & politics
- art
- handwriting
- literature
- geography
Partner Activity: World Culture & Geography K-W-L Chart
| K – What I Know | W – What I Want to Know | L |
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(To be completed at the end of the semester.) |
Exit Slip
“Answer the question: What city or country are you most excited about studying this semester? Give at least one explanation.”
“New York City attracts me most among the most city. For me, America is an English spoken country and New York City is the main city in America, so if I learn more about it, I would understand English well, then my English will improve. The another reason is my foreign teacher Ms. King is an American, so I think she must have a good command of her hometown, so is also a good way to know New York City in America.” –Emerald
“I most excited studying city is Dubai, because it is very beautiful, fantastic, colourful and ever-changing in everyday. And it has so much oils to transport to all around the world. The Dubai tower is also a pretty scenery. The most important thing is the city is abundant and famous for its oil.” –Francis
“I want to go to Singapore because I want to know more about its cultures. It is a lion city, I wonder how the lions live everyday. What’s more, I would like to learn more about its language and the people’s habits.” –Noel
“I want to study the culture of the Mexico City because I think Mexico City is a beautiful city and I want to travel in Mexico. What I’m very expect for knowing is Mexico’s tradition holidays. I think it’s interesting.” –Melissa
“I want to learn Tokyo most because Tokyo is in the Japan, I know that Japan had so many contact with China in the history. So, I want to learn about culture and development of Japan.” –River
If you are interested in adapting any of these activities to be used in your class, then send me an email at moriahdking@outlook.com and I will email you my lesson plans with the activity explanations.
My Horse, My Home 