Culture and SLA - Week 2 -  The Cultural Experience

Introduction: Hello and welcome to Week 2 of the course Culture and Second Language Acquisition for the master's in English teaching at ULACIT term IIC0 2023. This week we will attempt to define culture and its elements and we will consider a model for understanding how culture is learned.

Today's Goals:

• Contribute to a group definition of culture.
• Describe the four cultural knowings that make up the culture learning experience.
• Use Moran's Dimensions of Culture model to explore an aspect of everyday Costa Rican culture.

Guiding Questions:

• How can culture be defined?
• What are the four cultural knowings and how can they help me better understand the cultural experience?
• How can the Dimensions of Culture model help me analyze a cultural phenomenon in a systematic way?

Warm Up: Metaphors for Understanding Culture

Click the link below and go to your group's section of the document.

• Presentation: CLICK HERE

Task 1: Defining Culture

Now work with your partners to discuss some of the ideas from the chapter you read in Moran (2001) called "Defining Culture". 

• Group 1: CLICK HERE
• Group 2: CLICK HERE
• Group 3: CLICK HERE

Theory Break: The Iceberg of Culture

• "Seen in broad terms, culture consists of artifacts, actions, and meanings. The three components of culture - products, practices, perspectives - reflect a triangular concept. This view of culture is understandable and relatively easy to apply, with two important exceptions. Cultural artifacts, actions, and meanings do not exist apart from the people of the culture. People - alone and with others - make and use artifacts, carry out actions, and hold meanings. To capture the active role of people in their culture, I have added two dimensions to this definition: communities and persons (Moran, p. 23-24)."

Task 2: The 5 Dimensions of Culture

Let's explore the 5 Dimensions of Culture by using them to describe an aspect of Costa Rican culture.
Click the group link and follow your teacher's instructions.

• Group Link: CLICK HERE

Task 3: The Culture Learning Experience

Think about the language courses you have participated in as a student. 

• Were aspects of culture ever taught in your courses? If so, which ones? 
• Were they taught explicitly by the teacher or were they taught more indirectly? 
• Are there any really important cultural elements that were never mentioned in your courses but you think would be important for students to know?

Let's read two quotes from our assigned reading for today:

• “As language teachers, our challenge is to bring some order to the apparent randomness of culture, both for ourselves and for the students in our classes, as a first step in making culture accessible”.

• “Regardless of variables, language learners are engaged in an experiential cycle of gathering cultural information, developing cultural behaviors, discovering cultural explanations, and developing self-awareness. These are the keys to the cultural experience."

Click your group link below to explore what you understood about the culture learning experience. Feel free to refer to you study guide if you need help to complete any of these tasks.

• Group 1: CLICK HERE
• Group 2: CLICK HERE
• Group 3: CLICK HERE

Theory Break: The Cultural Experience

• "As teachers, we have little difficulty listing cultural topics, but organizing them is another matter entirely. For good reasons. Culture is multifaceted and complex, and there is no consensus on what culture is (Moran, p. 13)."

• "Culture has many definitions... For the most part, these definitions present culture as an abstract entity that can be separated from the experience of participating in it. While they do help us understand the nature of culture, these definitions remain abstract, disconnected from the people who live in that culture, and more importantly, from the experience of participating in that culture (Moran, p. 13)."  

Theory Break: The Cultural Knowings

• "The cultural knowings framework offers a means for describing culture in terms of what students need to do in order to learn it - their encounters with another way of life. Once these interactions are specified, the learning objectives follow, as do the choice of teaching and learning activities and the appropriate means of evaluation (Moran, p. 15)."

• Reflection: Moran gives the example of a female college student from the US studying abroad in the Dominican Republic. What were some of her initial confusing experiences? How did she interpret them? How did she come to greater levels of self-awareness as she also learned the other knowings (about, how, and why)? 

• "The cultural experience is highly personal, and therefore idiosynchratic. Individual learners need to understand themselves and their own culture as a means to comprehending, adapting to, or integrating into the [target] culture (Moran, p. 17)."

• "In the end, individual learners set the limits of knowing about, how, and why. They decide. For this reason, knowing oneself is the organizing dimension of the cultural knowings. Learners' abilities to make such decisions depend on their awareness of themselves, their situation, and their intentions. The more aware they are, the more focused their work becomes in the acquisition of cultural information, skills, and understanding (Moran, p. 17)."

Learn the Rules of Trash Collection in Vermont

• Knowing How: The landlord told us to be careful and pointed us to a sign with rules. We tried and failed. And tried again and failed again.

• Knowing About: We read the rules. We discussed it with our neighbors and professors and even with our landlord again.

• Knowing Why: We understood the importance of helping the environment for the people of Brattleboro.

• Knowing Myself: We rejected this cultural practice after several attempts to participate.

• Task: Describe a time when you had an experience with another culture. Use the language of the experiential learning cycle and the Cultural Knowings framework to illustrate your learning process and your own reactions to it.

References:

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

 Teaching Writing - Week 2 - Attitudes that Foster Writing

Introduction: Hello and welcome to Week 2 of the course Teaching Writing for the Bachelor's in English Teaching at ULACIT in term IIC 2023. In this class we will talk about the role of teachers in terms of the attitudes the bring to the writing classroom, the ways they influence students' attitudes, and the roles they have in order to help students develop their abilities.

Today's Goals:

• Answer any final questions or doubts regarding the syllabus content and course assessment tasks.
• Explore the teacher and student attitudes about writing that are important to cultivate.
• Classify types of classroom writing tasks to gain a broad perspective of the roles and responsibilities of a L2 writing teacher.

Guiding Questions:

• What teacher and student attitudes are conducive to writing? 
• How can I cultivate a healthy classroom environment for writing?
• What are the roles and responsibilities of the teacher in a writing class?

Task 1: Reading Exploration - Attitudes that Foster Writing

Let's discuss the following questions regarding the assigned reading for this week.

• Quote: Fletcher starts the chapter with this thought provoking quote. What do you think about it? Do you share his view? Why or why not?

• "Your students need to write every day. Writing should be one of the foundational beams [vigas] of your classroom. Not a decorative beam, but a weight-bearing wall."

• Helpful Attitudes - Yours: Fletcher outlines three healthy attitudes and five healthy expectations for writing teachers. Which attitudes and expectations do you think you have already developed? Why?

• Attitudes: Good writing teachers have...

• Sense of Humor
• Sense of Adventure
• Sense of Curiosity

• Expectations: Good writing teachers expect...

• Imperfection
• Flashes of Brilliance
• Energy Fluctuations
• Diversity, not Conformity
• On-the-Job-Training

• Writing with Students: Fletcher goes on to say the following quote. What do you think about it? Have you ever considere the impact this might have on students? 

• Quote: "What do you do while your kids are writing? The answer is simple: write along with them. By doing so you give them a rare gift: They can look up to see their teacher engaged in the same process (musing, noodling, drafting, crossing out, adding, starting again) that they're wrestling with."

• Benefits: Fletcher mentions several potential benefits of this. Which three benefits do you think are most interesting?

• It will settle the class and set a serious tone.
• It's powerful modeling.
• It will encourage independence. If you're writing, it's less likely that they'll interrupt. This signals to students that they cannot always expect you to solve their problems.
• It will allow you to have authentic writing (yours) to share with the class.
• It lets you sample the vibe of the workshop. Is there a supportive environment, or ar snarking comments commonplace? Writing and sharing your own writing is the best way to know for sure.
• Writing with your students builds sweat equity in the tone/ambience of the workshop. Instead of saying "I want you to be quiet," you earn the write to ask, "What kind of environment do we need so we can all do our best writing?"

• What forms of writing do you do most in your everyday life?
• How important is it for a person to be able to express themselves well through writing?
• What does good writing look like? What does bad writing look like? How do you know?

• Helpful Attitudes - Theirs: Fletcher goes on to mention this quote regard student attitudes. What do you think about it? In what ways can we influence students' attitudes? What attitudes did students in your classes have about writing?

• "You can't control students' attitudes on writing, but you can certainly influence them. And that's important, because how they feel about writing will go a long way toward etermining whether or not they are successful."

• An Environment that Encourages Risk: Fletcher ends the chapter by talking about the importance of risk taking in writing. Why do you think it is important for English language learners to take risks in the classroom? What does taking risks mean in this context? Why is risk taking particularly important in learning to write?

• Final Quotes: Read the two quotes below. What are your thoughts about them?

• Quote: "When we write, and share that writing, we really do make ourselves vulnerable. We put ourselves on the line. But we will continue doing that only if it feels like a safe place. It's up to you to make sure the classroom environment is supportive."

• Quote: Sports team win more games at home than away because of home court advantage. When you play at home, the crowd is really pulling for you and it makes a huge difference. That's the same advantage we want to create in the classroom. When we work together, we are each other's teammates - and each other's fans."

Task 2: Exploring Teacher Roles in Writing Instruction

Let's finish today's class by thinking more specifically about the kinds of roles a writing teacher has. To do this we will analyze different ways of classifying classroom writing tasks. Click the link below.

• Group Link: CLICK HERE

References: 

Fletcher, R. (2017). The Writing Teacher's Companion. Scholastic.

Minhai, F. & Purmensky, K. (2016). Course Design for TESOL: A Guide to Integrating Curriculum and Teaching. University of Michigan Press.

Scrivener, J. (2005). Learning Teaching. MacMillan.
 

 Culture and SLA - Week 1 -  Ethnocentrism

Introduction: Hello and welcome to Week 1 of the course Culture and Second Language Acquisition for the master's in English teaching at ULACIT term IIC0 2023. This week we will review the course syllabus, articulate our starting point ideas about culture, and discuss the ideas of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.

Today's Goals:

• Review the course syllabus, evaluation structure, and calendar of important dates.
• Articulate your starting point ideas and questions about the topics we will explore in the course.
• Discuss the phenomena of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.

Guiding Questions:

• How can I become sensitive to the invisible dynamics of culture?
• How does my own culture influence the way I view others?
• What do I hope to learn in this course?

Warm Up: What do you see?

Click on your assigned link below and describe your image to your partners with as many details as possible. Try to determine what are the similarities and diffrences between your images.

• Group A: CLICK HERE
• Group B: CLICK HERE
• Group C: CLICK HERE
• Group D: CLICK HERE

Now, let's consider another image (CLICK HERE). Discuss these questions with your partners. 

• What does this new image make you think about?
• What do you think the artist's message could be?
• How might this image serve as a metaphor for teaching?
• How might it serve as a metaphor for culture?

Task 1: Reconstruct the Poem

Click your group link below and work with your partners to reconstruct the poem then discuss it's significance.

• Group 1: CLICK HERE
• Group 2: CLICK HERE
• Group 3: CLICK HERE

Task 2: Cultural Investigation - The Nacirema People

To wrap of this first session, let's analyze a summary of a famous ethnographic case study that is often discussed in most introductory anthropology courses to see what insights it can give us about cultural perspectives. Click your group link, read your text, and discuss the questions. Be ready to summarize the main ideas in your own words when we get back to the main room.

• Part 1: CLICK HERE
• Part 2: CLICK HERE
• Part 3: CLICK HERE

Now let's read some quotes from the introduction to our main textbook, Teaching Culture: Perspectives in Practice. How do these quotes connect with the ideas we just discussed about the Nacirema?

• "Milton Bennett makes the point that ethnocentrism is the natural state for peoples of the world. Our instictive reaction is to assume that our culture, our way of life, is the right one, and that all others are not. Whether we simply tolerate these other ways of life or treat them as enemies, our attitude toward them is essentially the same - ethnocentric."

• "Overcoming these ingrained cultural perspectives, according to Bennett, has to be consciously learned. Developing sensitivity to cultural differences, in other words, does not come naturally (Moran, 2001, p. 7)."

• Cultural Relativism and Ethnocentrism: CLICK HERE

Task 3: Articulating Our Starting Point Ideas and Questions

We are about to spend 15 weeks discussion the topic of culture. Let's finish today's class by articulating what you already know, believe, or wonder about the major questions we will explore in the course. On the last day of class you will disccuss these same questions to see how your thoughts have grown.

• What is culture?
• How can cultures be studied, described, analyzed, or compared?
• How do people learn culture (their 1st and additional ones)?
• How can I teach culture?
• Why is knowledge of culture important for language teachers? In other words, why are we taking a whole course about this?
• What questions do we have about culture, culture learning, and culture teaching?

• Transcription: CLICK HERE

References:

Miner, H. (1956). Body Ritual Among the Nacirema. American Anthropologist. 58(3), 503-507.

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

 Teaching Writing - Week 1 - Course Introduction

Introduction: Hello and welcome to Week 1 of the course Teaching Writing for the Bachelor's in English Teaching at ULACIT in term IIC 2023. In this class we will take time to get to know each other, review the important dates and assignments in the syllabus, and begin our exploration of L2 writing by describing the differences between written and spoken discourse.

Today's Goals:

• Review the course content, evaluation structure, and important dates from the syllabus.
• Express your personal thoughts, preferences, and experiences regarding L1 and L2 writing.
• Compare and contrast the features of written and spoken discourse.

Guiding Questions:

• What are some of the key issues in the area of second language writing instruction?
• How is written production different from spoken production?
• What do I hope to learn in this course?

Task 1: Initial Thoughts about Writing

Let's discuss the following questions regarding our current thoughts about writing.

• Initial Thoughts:
• In general terms, do you like writing? Why or why not?
• How confident are you in your abilities to express yourself well in writing? Why do you say that?
• What specific areas of writing come easy to you? Which are challenging?

• L1 vs L2:
• How would you compare your writing abilities in Spanish versus English?
• How did you learn to write in Spanish? What specific memories do you have? What helped you learn to write better?
• How did you learn to write in English? What specific memories do you have? What helped you learn to write better?

• Real World Writing: 
• What forms of writing do you do most in your everyday life?
• How important is it for a person to be able to express themselves well through writing?
• What does good writing look like? What does bad writing look like? How do you know?

• Teaching Writing:
• How is teaching writing different from teaching speaking?
• How is teaching second language writing different from teaching first language writing?
• Writing is often called the neglected skill in English language teaching. Do you think that is true? Why or why not? 
• How much did your language teachers focus on writing when you were a student? How much do you focus on writing in your own classes that you teach (or will teach in the future)?
• How confident are you in your abilities to diagnose and treat student writing difficulties?
• What are you most curious about exploring in this course?

Task 2: Contrasting Written and Spoken Production

Language is language, right? I can speak fine. Writing is basically the same thing but written down. Not really! Let's take a moment to analyze some of the unique features of written discourse.

• Group Link: CLICK HERE

References: 

Ur, P. (2013). A Course in Language Teaching (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Ur, P. (1991). A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press.

    TOEIC Preparation: Week 15 - Final Diagnostic

Warm Up: Final Thoughts

Click the group link below and follow your teacher's instructions.

• Group Link: CLICK HERE

Task 1: End of Course Reflection

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?