Reflection Paper on Visuals: Relationship between Language Classroom & Culture

Overview

From the visuals that classmates presented, I saw a range of themes which I’ll identify here as headlines. In the classroom, culture can be:

• An impediment to communication
• A way to enhance communication
• A means for students to learn about themselves and each other
• A vehicle for teachers to learn about their students
• A foundation for mutual understanding
• A test of the teacher’s patience and creativity
• A tool for grammar and language development

This is a good list.  I like the contrast of ‘impediment vs. enhancement  to communication’  and the connections you note here of students’/teacher’s  learning about each other’s backgrounds.  I also am glad you’re including the ‘grammar and language development’ since many schools have a curriculum with strict standards for grammar/language points.  If the teacher can show how cultural explorations also fit the language needs of the students and the program, then there is more understanding among program administrators/funders about time spent on a cultural unit like yours.

There were, of course, many more, and very rich, lessons to be inferred from my peers. But now I’ll refer to my own visual, to drill deeper with more specificity.

Context

My visual was an excerpt from a video that I produced of my intermediate teenage and adult students in Mexico.

It was a four-hour conversation class and by the end of the second week I felt that the students needed a thread between sessions: a tangible connection from one class to the next. Further, I wanted to make sure that I was meeting their needs. So I assigned them to propose two or three ideas for content they’d like to explore in class.

I got a range of ideas, some for specific short activities that they enjoyed, including ones that didn’t have an immediately identifiable language objective, such as the Spanish game Basta!, which is similar to game show Jeopardy in the US.  Even without a specific language objective, did you do Basta! (although it seems that there could easily be a language objective)?

But as I sorted through the cards, I began to see an opportunity. One person wanted to know more about animals, another about soccer, and a third about obesity. It occurred to me that these could be connected, if seen through the lens of culture: specifically their own.  Excellent connections.

At the next class I wrote on the board all their ideas, and circled ones that I believed were possible material for cultural exploration. I asked them if they saw any relationships between them. They didn’t.

So I explained my thinking, and proposed that we do a class project about Mexico, in which each person chose their favorite topic. They were excited. It unfolded perfectly, with each person taking on a subject that they were excited about.  I like your thoughts behind choosing  this topic.  Teachers (and admin.)  may think that looking at a student’s own culture is not a valid topic (They may think that only looking at English speaking cultures is valid).  However, working with topics that students already know something about and helping them make the connections with a second culture is extremely useful.  It sounds as if you discovered this and worked with it effectively.

Product

During the last class, each student made a final presentation, using PowerPoint for the visual component and a script to which they referred to when necessary for narrative.  Did you have to help the students with powerpoint technology or were they already familiar with it?  How did you logistically arrange this part of the presentation?

Each student learned from the other about aspects of their own culture: cock fighting, Huapango dance, beneficial insects. They were invested in the project as listeners and presenters because it held personal meaning for them. Yes.  The personal meaning is key. As their teacher and a visitor to their country, I was enriched by what I learned about their culture, both explicitly and implicitly. On a surface level I found out about the role of soccer in México and the importance of the ruins at Teotihuacan. But more powerful for me was the deeper content underlying the cultural artifacts: the intangibles of cultural pride; the resourcefulness of realizing an insect can be a source of dye; the effects of the invasion of American fast-food into Mexican life; the cultural emotion of a range of dance and music styles, and much more.  I hope you’ll pursue this more when we talk about using Moran’s Cultural Knowings Framework in the language classroom.  It sounds as if you have many of the key elements and you could probably expand what you did into even more class sessions.

Summary

So the predominate observation I’d like to make for this reflection is that in a language classroom, culture has the potential to (not an all-inclusive list):

• Engage the students
• Cement relationships between students (mine were all of the same culture, but I think it has can function similarly in multicultural classrooms, where differences are explored, acknowledged and ultimately respected)  And, although they are from the same culture,  each student is sharing a particular interest with teacher and classmates, thus adding to their mutual understanding and respect for each other.
• Educate the teacher on surface and deep levels  Yes.  I think it’s very important when the teacher can also be the learner.
• Provide a tool for myriad kinds of language learning

An additional, important note: I also shared relevant aspects of my own culture, both as points of interest and as tools that the students can use when encountering American culture. And looking at Mexican cultural items, allowed you to make connections and contrasts.

Nice visual and good connections.  Thanks.

-Elizabeth