Welcome to my blog. I use it to share activities with my English students and with teachers in different training workshops. If you like what you see, why not leave a comment?
Take a few minutes to reflect on your expereinces in the course with your partners.
Highlights: Think back about our classes and asynchronous assignments this term. What are some aspects of the course that you found enjoyable or useful? Why?
Goals: What were your goals when you signed up for this course? In what ways have your made progress toward acheiving your goals?
Challenges: What aspects of the TOEIC exam do you still find challenging? What is particularly difficult about these aspects?
Plans: What are two specific actions you can take in order to continue preparing for success in the TOEIC now that the course is over?
Feedback: Imagine your could make changes to the structure of the course, its focus, or any of the tasks in order to make the best experience for future students. What would you change and why? What would you keep the same and why?
Introduction: Hello, and welcome to Week 14 of English III at Universidad Castro Carazo. In today's class we will discuss the topics of coming of age traditions in different cultures and we will also continue planning you final group project that you will present in Week 15.
Warm Up: Making a Plan
Click the group link below and follow the teacher's instructions.
Work with your partners to complete the Teacher Sudoku puzzle. The idea of the puzzle is to put pictures in all the squares so that each row, column, and 2x3 rectangle contains ONE and ONLY ONE example of each picture. Can you solve it in time? Click the link below and find the page for your group.
Underline the content words. Pay attention to compound words and phrasal verbs and underline the stressed portion. Circle punctuation and mark intonnation patterns in lists of three or more. When you finish CLICK HERE to check your answer. Then read the text aloud to your partner. Remember to use a physical gesture to remind you to stress the conent words.
Click to see full size.
Task 2: Describe a Photo
Click the three dots to put the presentation in full screen. Search the presentation to find a photo you like. Take 45 seconds to prepare. Then click the video timer and take 30 seconds to describe the photo.
Click the three dots and put the presentation in full screen. Practice answering a set of 3 questions. Use the video timers to help you keep track of your time. Go to the next page and let your partner try.
Take a minute to study the graphic with your partner. It is also located in your anthology on page 45. Then ask your partner questions from the list. The idea is to see how many questions your partner can answer in 1 minute. When you finish, move on to the video practice exercises.
Click to view full image.
Do you know what Mr. Biggs is planning to discuss following the break?
Could you give me information about the activites in the morning?
Can you tell me the length of the sessions?
I am interested in learning from women leaders in the field of graphic design. Will there be any presenters by female speakers?
Where and when will this event be held?
Will there be a chance to ask questions or discuss topics with the speakers?
I'm really interested in learning about 3D graphics. Will that topic be addressed in the conference?
I am going to be a little late for this conference. What will I miss if I arrive at 10:20?
I'm interested in attending the conference but I can't pay right now. What is the last day I can register for the event?
Task 5: Video Practice
Click the three dots and put the presentation in full screen. Practice answering a set of 3 questions. Use the video timers to help you keep track of your time. Go to the next page and let your partner try.
Introduction: In today's class we will finish our study of the topic of mysteries and you will also take time to put the finishing touches on your final group project.
Warm Up: Guess the Mystery Object!
Click your group link below and follow the instructions in the document.
Where in the world can you find pyramids? Why and how do you think they were built?
What do you know about the ancient spheres of Costa Rica? When, why, and how were they built?
There are a lot of "ancient aliens" theories on tv shows to explain impressive ancient structures. Why do you think this is such a popular type of tv show?
Do you think an "extraterrestrial" explanation is an insult to the ancient people that actually built these structures?
One of the most famous ancient mysteries are the massive geoglyphs in Peru called the Nazca Lines. What do you know about them?
Look at some of the most famous Nazca images below. Can you guess what any of them represent?
Task 2: Listening Practice
Click the group link below and follow your teacher's instructions.
Introduction: Hello, and welcome to Week 13 of English III at Universidad Castro Carazo. In today's class we will discuss the topics of celebrations and future forms and we will also begin planning you final group project that you will present in Week 15.
Warm Up: What's the Right Age?
Click the group link below and follow the teacher's instructions.
Culture of English Speaking Countries - Week 13 - The Culture Learning Process
Introduction: Hello and welcome to Week 13 of the course Culture of English Speaking Countries for the bachelor's in English teaching at ULACIT. This is our final regular class of the course. This week you will participate in a culture lesson to explore the practice of tipping in US culture. You will share your reactions to the learning journal article about perspectives in Costa Rica. Finally, you will reflect on the topics and tasks of this course and articulate some of your takeaways.
Today's Goals:
Participate in a culture lesson about the practice of tipping in US culture.
Describe and react to etic descriptions of cultural perspectives in Costa Rica.
Articulate your highlights and learning takeaways from this course.
Guiding Questions:
How can I plan a culture lesson for an EFL class?
How would I describe my culture to an outsider?
What are my takeaways from this course?
Warm Up: What's a Fair Price?
Today we're going to talk about food and prices. Click the Jamboard link below and use the Sticky Note function to add what you would consider to be a fair price for the different items in a restaurant.
Learn the situations in the US in which tipping is expected or considered to be a polite gesture.
Listen to interviews with US citizens to hear their personal strategies for tipping in restaurants.
Discuss the pros and cons of the practice of tipping in the US and the possible consequences of eliminating it.
Use the quick tip method to mentally calculate the amount to tip depending on the price of the meal.
Task 1: Video Analysis
Watch this short video clip from the 90's sitcom "Third Rock from the Sun". It is about a family of aliens who move to Earth in order to study and live among humans. Their lack of understanding of human culture leads to humorous situations.
What happened in the first scene?
What did the man misunderstand?
What happened in the final scene?
How did the waitress probably feel? How did his partner feel?
The man says that he is making the process honest. Does he have a point?
What happened to the woman's drink? Why? How might this reflect a cultural perspective about tipping?
Task 2: Class Survey
Click the link below to take a brief survey to decide in which situations it is customary to tip somone in the US.
Now you will listen to some audio interviews from cultural insiders who will explain the practice of tipping and their own personal strategies for determining how much to tip. Click your group link below and complete your graphic organizer by watching the corresponding videos. Remember to use the subtitles and you can also slow the play speed to .75 if any part is difficult to understand.
Pay attention to your teacher's presentation about the process of tipping in restaurants.
Task 5: Vocabulary Builder
In a moment you will read an article about an incident that occured in a restaurant where a waitress was not tipped but first, let's lean some important vocabulary.
Not everyone in the US is in favor of the tipping system. Read this quote from former restaurant owner Jay Porter who abolished tipping at his restaurant and raised his servers' wages.
"Studies have shown that tipping is not an effective incentive for performance in servers. It also creates an environment in which people of color, young people, old people, women, and foreigners tend to get worse service than white males. In a tip-based system, nonwhite servers make less than their white peers for equal work. Consider also the power imbalance between tippers, who are typically male, and servers, 70 percent of whom are female, and consider that the restaurant industry generates five times the average number of sexual harassment claims per worker. And that in many instances employers have allegedly misused tip credits, which let owners pay servers less than minimum wage if tipping makes up the difference."
So now that you have learned about the tipping culture in the US, take a moment to express your reflections and reactions.
What did you learn about the practice of tipping in the US that you did not know before?
What is your personal reaction to this practice?
As a Costa Rican, how do perspectives differ about money, abundance, and status?
How do you feel about the underlying wage difference for employees in the service industry?
Do you think that the practice should remain or should it be abolished?
How do you plan to handle this situation if you go to a restaurant in the US?
Task 8: A Quick Tip
You can use the following method to quickly estimate a 20% tip in your head.
Take the total amount of the bill and round up to the nearest whole number.
Double it.
Then move the decimal point one number to the left.
Example: Your bill is $9.60
Round to the nearest whole number. ($10.00)
Double it. ($20.00)
Move the decimal point one number to the left. ($2.00)
Your tip or a $9.60 meal is $2.00 so you pay a total of $11.60.
Lesson Plan: CLICK HERE to view the lesson plan for this class. It was organized following the four cultureal knowings: knowing how (participation/experience), knowing about (description/information), knowing why (interpretation/perspectives), knowing oneself (response/self-awareness).
Theory Break: The Culture Learning Process
Culture Learning Models: They highlight the adjustment process as learners learn about and change to meet the requirements of the culture, while they are immersed in it. If they progress, learners pass through stages, phases, or passages, gradually accumulating knowledge about the culture, appropriate cultural behaviors, fluency in the language, and ultimately changing their attitudes toward the target culture, their own culture, themselves, and cultures in general (Moran, 2001, p. 123)."
Culture Teaching: "The key to teaching this unique experience is self-awareness, knowing one's self. At some point in this process, learners need conscious awareness of themselves. They need to recognize what they are going through and to purposefully take action. As teachers, we can help learners bring their experiences to the surface, to expression and articulation, so that they can decide how to respond to the culture. When learners do name their experiences - what they perceive, think, or feel - we need to be ready to help them situate this within a larger framework (Moran, 2001, p. 123)."
Moran's Framework: The process of culture learning consists of an ongoing series of encounters with cultural differences presented through structured participation in the language and culture curriculum (products, practices, perspectives, communities, persons). these differences can trigger emotional reactions. Guided by the teacher, the learners engage in description, interpretation, and response, consistent with the states of the experiential learning cycle and cultural knowings. Over time, through repeated encounters and explicit reference to models of culture learning, learners acquire more knowledge of the target culture, develop more appropriate linguistic and cultural behaviors, attain greater understanding, and enhance their awareness of their own culture, their intentions, and their competence as culture learners (Moran, 2001, p. 124)."
This model is based on the following assumptions:
Culture learning can be a conscious, purposeful process.
Culture learning requires managing emotions.
Culture learning depends on cultural comparisons.
Culture learning requires making the tacit explicit.
Learner characteristics affect culture learning.
The relationship between the learner's culture and the target culture affect culture learning.
The instructional context affects culture learning.
The teacher-student relationship affects culture learning.
Task 9: Reflecting on Cultural Perspectives in Costa Rica
Click the group link below and follow the instructions in the document.
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