TEACHING CULTURE - TASKS

TASK 1 Teachers’ own preparation for teaching culture

Do you feel sufficiently equipped to teach culture of the target language? Talk about knowledge and experience you have
in this area. What English-speaking countries have you been to (if any)?How long did you stay there? How often do you
visit the countries? Did you have lots of opportunities to get to know the culture well? What kind of visit were they – to
meet friends/family? tourist aim? school trip? business trip? scholarship? language course? other? What aspects of
culture did you learn about during these visits? Do you keep in touch with foreign cultures now?

How well do you assess your knowledge of the following issues connected with culture 2:

-Everyday life, habits, customs, living conditions, cuisine etc. on scale: 0-1-2-3-4 (very well)
-History, geography, political system
-Traditions, folklore, tourist attractions
-Education, work
-Literature
-Values and beliefs
-Youth culture
-Ethnic and social groups
-Other aspects of culture (music, theatre, art)
-Polish-English (American/Canadian/Australian/Irish etc.) relations (political/economic/cultural etc.)

TASK 2 Discuss the following questions connected with teaching and/or learning culture.

1. What is culture? We often distinguish between small c culture and large C culture –what’s the difference? What are
your opinions about incorporating small c or large C culture into foreign language classes? Would you choose either
one or the other or a combination?
2. What are the goals of teaching culture? Why should culture be, or not be, included in foreign language classes?
3. One of the main and most demanding goals of foreign language teaching is ‘intercultural competence’. It is defined by
Guilherme (2000:297-300) as the “ability to interact effectively with people from cultures that we recognise as
different from our own”. As a result, foreign language teachers are expected today to teach intercultural competence
and act as cultural mediators. How do you understand this role assigned to teachers?
4. What difficulties / dangers are associated with teaching culture?

TASK 3 What do you think students should know about foreign culture before going abroad? What culture points
do you consider important to teach students? Discuss them with your partner.

TASK 4 Discuss the following modes of presenting culture in the EFL classroom. Compare and contrast the
various techniques for teaching culture.

- The cultural aside dygresja kulturowa (the T makes unplanned, brief culture comments)
- Lecture presentations wykład (e.g. the T presents a lecture on Christmas traditions in the target country and his/her
native country)
- Slice-of-life technique “Kawałek życia”(the T chooses a small segment of life (L2) and presents it at the beg./or end of
the class period, pointing out the characteristic features/differences e.g. an English ticket, American calendar etc.)
- Culture-assimilator asymilator kulturowy [(1)presenting a short passage demonstrating an intercultural exchange in
which a misunderstanding occurs,2)4 interpretations of what transpired, 3) feedback for the Ss as to the correct answer.]
- Cultoon kultomiks (the T presents Ss with a cartoon or cartoon strip in which some cultural misunderstanding occurs,
students discuss the potential clues and interpret the ideas)
- Culture capsule kapsuła kulturowa ( brief description of 1 aspect of culture2 followed by a discussion of the contrasts
between cultures1&2. e.g. education)
- Minidramas (miniskits) minidrama (Ss act out dialogues or role playing, visualizing culture content)
- Critical incident incident krytyczny (SS consider situation – problem – and the reactions of the people involved and
comment on the cultural values represented by the actions of each)
- Self-awareness techniques (sensitivity exercises, self-assessment questionnaires, problem-solving, listening to the
opinions of others etc.)
- Newspapers/magazines/Internet forums/blogs/ TV programmes / films/ filmstrips/ slides/ photographs /songs /music

TASK 5 How can the English teacher help his/her students learn the target culture out of class? Write down as
many ideas as possible.

Idea 1: Encouraging students to participate in the English language summer camps.