Culture of English Speaking Countries - Week 13 - Culture Learning Outcomes

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 week we will hear the analysis of the final folktale presentation. We will also explore the topic of the role of community organizations and institutions in transmitting culture and regulating behavior.

Today's Goals:

• Categorize culture learning outcomes in terms of what they involve, how they are achieved, and why they are significant.
• Contribute to a group manifesto document to articulate your beliefs about your role as a cultural educator.
• Compare family dynamics between US and Costa Rican culture.

Guiding Questions: 

• What are the possible results of the culture learning process and which do I see as most relevant to my work as a language teacher?
• How do I view my role and duties as a cultural educator.
• How is my culture represented in family dynamics and relationships?

Warm Up: Riddles

Click the group link below and follow the instructions in the document. 

• Group 1: CLICK HERE
• Group 2: CLICK HERE

Task 1: Reading Response Exploration - Culture Learning Outcomes

Let's take a moment to discuss some questions related to your assigned reading for this week.

• Reasons Why: Why do you think a course like this one, Cultura de Países Angloparlantes, is a required component of your univeristy curriculum? What's the purpose? Is it just to fill in the plan de estudio? What connection does it have with the more general learning goals of the whole degree program? 

• Learning Contexts: In what circumstances in the real world is it important for people to consciously learn about another culture or to become aware of asepcts of their own culture? Try to list some specific examples.

• Learning Goals: Think about the following contexts. What kind of cultural knowledge would benefit the person? Why?

• A university student from Spain preparing for a 6 month study exchange program at a university in Texas.

• An adult immigrant from Afghanistan who recently relocated to Australia with a refugee visa who is starting a new life in a country he does not know.

• A German corporate executive of an international company who was sent to Costa Rica to mange the operations of a medical devices factory. The staff of the factory are mostly Costa Ricans.

• A Chistian missionary from Mexico is preparing to move to a rural area of Angola in Africa to help lead a church there.

• A Costa Rican tourist in Italy who signed up for a tour of different historical, artistic, and architectural sites of the counry for two weeks.

• A group of recent university graduates from different places in the United States are in Costa Rica receiving training and cultural education lessons in San José before being sent to work as volunteer English teaching assistants in public schools in rural areas of the country for two years as part of the US Peace Corps program.

• Culture Learning Outcomes: Read the chart below carefully. It lists six possible outcomes of the culture learning process. The chart is a little confusing because it is not sequential. It starts by stating the final result of the learning process. Then it lists the general focus of the learning process as well examples of the kind of content included in the learning process. 

Click to View Full Sized Image

• Turning it Around: Let's consider this information in a different order. Click the group link below and go to your section of the document. 

• Group Document: CLICK HERE

Theory Break: Culture Learning Outcomes

• “To generalize … across all these culture learning outcomes, I would say that all intend that learners confront, comprehend, accept, and overcome cultural differences. This process involves an interplay of mind, body, heart, and self - or, in technical terms, cognition, behavior, affect, and identity. As part of mastering the language, learners need to change the way they think, act, feel, and perceive themselves and their roles if they are to function effectively and appropriately in the other culture (p. 119).”

• The particular culture learning outcomes you seek for your students will inform the focus you give your lessons and the model of culture teaching you develop. Moran says, “the key distinction among [culture teaching]... models lies with differing notions of ‘overcoming’ cultural differences. These range from simply changing one’s mind or feelings about a given culture (culture-specific understanding) through recognizing how one’s own culture affects acceptance of other cultures (culture-general understanding), learning to communicate appropriately in a second language/culture (competence), integrating oneself into another language and culture (adaptation), developing a distinct sense of self (identity), to taking action to transform a culture based on one’s own beliefs (social change). Ultimately, the individual learner decides how to respond and develops skills as a culture learner (personal competence) (p. 119)."

Task 2: Culture Learning Outcomes

Your reading this week focuses on the topic of culture learning outcomes; the different possible results of the culture learning process. Moran provides us with a useful way of classifying these outcomes which can help us choose a particular way of focusing our teaching efforts depending on our context. Click the group link below to explore the what, how, and why of the six culture learning outcomes.

• Group Link: CLICK HERE

• Answer Key: CLICK HERE

• Which of these outcomes resonate with you and the way you view yourself as a cultural educator?

• What beliefs about culture form part of your learning philosophy that guides your approach to teaching? CLICK HERE to add to the culture teaching manifesto!

Task 3: Family Life in the USA

Click the link below and follow the instructions in the document. 

• Group 1: CLICK HERE
• Group 2: CLICK HERE

References:

Moran, P. (2001). Teaching Culture: Perspectices in Practice. Heinle, Cengage Learning.