Culture & SLA - Week 9 - Planning a Culture Lesson

Introduction: Hello and welcome to Week 9 of the course Culture and Second Language Acquisition for the master's in English teaching at ULACIT term IIIC0 2023. This week we will participate in a lesson about a cultural practice in the US as a way of demonstrating how the Four Cultural Knowings and the Experiential Learning Cycle can be used to design a culture lesson. We will also discuss topics related to language necessary to participate, describe, interpret, and reflect on a cultural experience.  

Today's Goals:

• Participate in a demo lesson sequence to experience how the theory from the course can inform your lesson planning.
• Share an aspect of your culture ideas about activities students need to participate, describe, interpret, and reflect on a the experience.

Guiding Questions:

• How can theory influence my approach to lesson planning?
• How can the four cultural knowings help me organize a culture lesson?

Task 3: Film Analysis

Take some time to share the ideas you explored in your film analysis paper. If you want, you can use the following prompts to guide your discussion.

• Reactions: Film and Assignment
• What did you think of the film? Why?
• Do you have a favorite character or scene from the film?
• How did you feel completing the analysis in the format of a podcast? 
• What was easy? What was challenging? Why?

• Cultural Communities: Cultures in Conflict
• What distinct cultural groups or communities were represented in the film?

• What are some of the primary differences between the groups in terms of their products, practices, and perspectives?

• A lot of the film's humor is based on misunderstandings between the different cultural groups. What examples of misunderstandings can you identify?

• Which dimensions from the Hofstede framework did you analyze?

• What was the significance of the Coke bottle to the plot of the story? Why do you think the director chose that product instead of some other "modern" cultural product?

• The introduction of the bottle to the tribe caused a complete disruption in their way of life and a breakdown of their social system. Can you think of current or historical examples of radical cultural changes due to the influence of another culture? Are these changes always negative? Can they be positive? Neutral?

• What do you think about the cultural changes in Costa Rica caused by the influence of the United States in terms of food, spending habits, language, media, tourism, etc.? Are countries like Costa Rica in danger of losing their cultural identity?

• Thinking Critically: Reading Between the Lines
• Although the film is a comedy and meant to be fun, it is over 40 years old and we should also take time to analyze some aspects of the film that are potentially problematic by today's sensibilities. 

• The film's account of the tribe and their lifeways and culture is fictional. However, the Khoisan people are a real ethnic group in countries like Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa that have traditionally lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle in the savanahs and deserts of southern Africa for over 10,000 years. Knowing what you know about the history and current status of traditional hunter-gatherers and indigenous people in countries around the world (and Costa Rica), what do you think the real status and quality of life is like for the Khoisan in modern times compared to the dominant culture in their respective countries? What problems are common to indigenous groups?

• The Khoisan people featured in the film are presented in a documentary style although the information given about them is false. Do you think there are any ethical considerations to explore given the fact that this movie became a worldwide hit and for many people it was the first and only exposure they had to this culture?

• What do you know about the Apartheid system of South Africa or race relations in that country in the past and present? Were there any explicit or implicit examples of issues of racial discrimination, power access, superiority, etc. present in the film?

• One of the major plotlines of the film involve a war between the government and rebels. In what ways does this reinforce stereotypes about political instability and violence in developing countries?

• Have you heard of the terms "the noble savage" or "the myth of the noble savage" (el buen salvaje in Spanish)? CLICK HERE and read the brief description and answer the questions.

• Going Deeper: Thinking More about the Assignment
• In this task you were asked to compare products, practices, and perspectives and describing two of Hofestede's dimensions, If you were the professor of this course, what additional or alternative ways of cultural analysis could you have added to this assignment?

• Imagine you could propose alternative films to watch for the cultural analysis podcast assignment. What films would you recommend and why? How are they rich in cultural content?

Task 4: Films as Cultural Products 

Let's finish by exploring some additional details of the film that help reveal some cultural perspectives of the dominant culture in South Africa at the time the film was produced.

• Apartheid: What? When? Why?
• South Africa's International Reputation in 1980.
• Where was Apartheid it in the film?
• Product of "Botswana"
• Kate's voice dubbed in American accent

• Decolonization:
• South African Empire
• Namibia (South West Africa)

• War:
• Cold War
• Fear of Communism
• Border Wars (1966-1990)
• Cuban Support for Communist Rebels in Angola

• Khoisan: 
• History
• Game Reserve 
• Forced Relocation / Reservation System
• Change to Agriculture and Pastoralism
• Alcoholism, Health Problems, Depression, Poverty
• Loss of Traditional Lands and Lifestyle
• "Discovery" of the Xi
• Trophy Hunting and Diamond Mining
• Lack of Political Representation


• "We have survived for millennia in one of the world's driest areas but they treat us as stupid. We are hunter-gatherers yet we get arrested. We cannot damage the wildlife. If we kill one animal we eat it for a month. We are not allowed to hunt but others can. We are still hunter-gatherers. We want to be recognized as hunter-gatherers. If you say don’t hunt, it means don’t eat. If you are going to ban hunting, you have to consult us. You’re going to turn us into poachers. But hunting for us has never been about poaching. We hunt for food." - Jumanda Gakebone, spokesman for the San in Botswana

• ‘‘The image of the Bushmen given by the Gods films is not really good because it does not show how people are really living. It only shows the past. People should not see this as what is happening now. I find it difficult to believe that people don’t realise it is just acting.’’ -Gcao Tekene Çoma, actor who played Xi

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. 

• Group Jamboard: CLICK HERE

Goals for Today's Lesson

• 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.

• Class Survey: CLICK HERE

Task 3: Learn from the Locals

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.

• Group 1: CLICK HERE
• Group 2: CLICK HERE
• Group 3: CLICK HERE
• Group 4: CLICK HERE
• Group 5: CLICK HERE
• Group 6: CLICK HERE

Emily's Thoughts on Tipping

Josh's Thoughts on Tipping

Jeff's Thoughts on Tipping

Max's Thoughts on Tipping

Task 4: How to Tip

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.

Task 6: React to an Article

Take a moment to read the article as a group.

• Article: CLICK HERE

• What happened to the waitress?
• Why was she upset?
• Are customers obligated to leave a tip?

Task 7: Teacher's Anecdotes

• Dining with Costa Ricans in North Carolina

• Anthony's Big Tip

Why tip? Cultural Perspectives

Alternate Perspectives

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."

Source Article: CLICK HERE

Your Thoughts

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. 

1. Take the total amount of the bill and round up to the nearest whole number.
2. Double it.
3. Then move the decimal point one number to the left.

Example: Your bill is $9.60

1. Round to the nearest whole number. ($10.00)
2. Double it. ($20.00)
3. Move the decimal point one number to the left. ($2.00)
4. Your tip or a $9.60 meal is $2.00 so you pay a total of $11.60.

Demo Lesson Plan: CLICK HERE to view the lesson plan for this class. Later this course you will create your own lesson plan using this template to teach a cultural aspect. 

Culture Lesson Plan Guidelines: CLICK HERE so we can review the instructions and evaluation rubric for your upcoming culture lesson plan project. 

Task 9: Culture Lesson Plan Brainstorm

Take the last minutes of class to share the ideas you brainstormed in your last study guide to to teach an aspect of your culture to a foreigner.

References:

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