LESSON PLAN

Lesson Plan Title Culture

Teachers Nerma Dobričanin, Armina Korać
Date November 14th, 2017
Theme Let’s talk about culture
Students’ preparation for No preparation
today’s class
Homework assigned for No homework
the next class

Lesson Objectives:
By the end of this lesson, participating in different activities and discussions, students will be able to:
- Conclude/explain what culture is.
- Develop their own definition of culture.
- Overcome and break stereotypes about people and countries.
- Appreciate cultural variety and get to know American and their own culture better.

Materials, Supplies and Technology:

PC, TV for videos and photo
 Handout 1 – What is culture? (adopted from American ways, Maryanne Kearny Datesman,
JoAnn Crandal and Edvard N. Kearny, iv, adapted by teachers.)
 Handout 2 – Breaking stereotypes (Retrieved from: http://stemfest.us/map-of-europe-with-
country-names-black-and-white/)
 Handout 3 – Pop Culture versus Real America – made by teachers
 Handout 4 – Role play tasks – made by teachers
 Photo in Handout 2 retrieved from:
 http://oneeurope.net/user/files/Hanna/Stereotypes%20in%20Europe.jpg
 Video What is culture? retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me2HlTQPS40

Lesson Sequence (150 minutes)

Warm-up activity – Popcorn Grouping (10-15 minutes)

Students are divided into four groups, three groups of five and one group of six students (since there
are 21 students). Teacher throws folded papers on the floor with parts of the words related to culture.
The papers are blue with red letters, red with blue letters (later, these groups are supposed to represent
the USA because of the flag colors) and red with yellow letters and yellow with red letters (these
groups will represent Montenegro). Students have to match word beginning with the word ending, for
example, they get “holi-“ on one piece of paper and they look for the word ending comparing it with
the other students’ papers with “-day” ending. In this way, four groups are formed, two Montenegrin
and two American groups. Students remain in these groups until the end of the class, although there
will also be individual work and group integration.

Words on the papers are:

Group 1, blue with red letters: Trad-ition, lit-era-ture

Group 2, red with blue letters: Cult-ure, geo-gra-phy

Group 3, red with yellow letters: Cus-toms, gov-ern-ment

Group 4 yellow with red letters: Bel-iefs, his-tory, holi-days

Activity 2 – What is culture? (45 minutes)

Students work in groups. They are told to give the most appropriate definition of culture and after each
group has presented their concept of culture they are supposed to decide which one has included the
most aspects of culture and is the most appropriate, but also which cultural elements they think are
visible (what they can see, hear, touch) and which are invisible (beliefs, thoughts, thought patterns).
After they have discussed their thoughts on this matter in the group, one representative from each
group stands up and share the ideas and their thoughts with the rest of the class. Students are now
given Handout 1, where they can read about culture and globally accepted definitions of culture
defined by sociologists. They read the text individually and after reading it, they discuss it with each
other and with teachers. They also decide which definition that they gave was the closest to those
given by sociologists. Students discuss the quotation by Edward T. Hall and say whether they agree
that we should get to know our own culture better in order to explore and learn about someone else's.

Break (5 minutes)

Activity 3 – breaking stereotypes (20 minutes)

Students watch a video about culture and risks that may come from stereotyping. Students and
teachers discuss stereotypes and generalizations which sometimes lead to prejudices and jumping to
conclusions. Students are then given Handout 2, a map of Europe with blank spaces below where they
are supposed to write some stereotype or opinion about the certain country or people. After they give
their opinion, they are shown a map with stereotypes which are accepted worldwide and they compare
their opinion and see if there are any congruences. At this stage, it is expected that from the text they
read and video they saw they should be able to go beyond these generalizations and realize them that
way, as mere generalizations. Special attention is dedicated to our country, students discuss
stereotypes, generalizations, and prejudices that apply to our country, for example Montenegrin people
are lazy and so on.

Activity 4 – Pop Culture versus Real America (20 minutes)

Students are asked questions about how they know things or facts associated with Americans and their
culture. Is that something they have read as facts in the papers or books, or they have concluded and
gathered that information from watching different types of tv-shows, movies or reality shows. They
are given Handout 3 and asked to discuss the quotation by Barack Obama and write about what they
think is the stereotyping of Americans. Is that what they see on various shows and what they think
where the Americans are actually represented as they really are.

Activity 5 – Role – play (50 minutes)

Students are given Handout 4 with the task and tips. They are supposed to think of and act out a
certain situation. They are divided into four groups; two groups are Montenegrin students (one group
with red papers and yellow letters and the other one with yellow papers and red letters) and two groups
are American students (one group are students with red papers and blue letters and the other one are
students with blue papers and red letters). One Montenegrin and one American group work together.
Montenegrin students are a part of the students’ exchange program and they are meeting their
American classmates for the first time for dinner. It is on students’ imagination to design and think of
details.

Assessment: Teachers monitor the activities and give additional instruction and explanations if
necessary. Students will be encouraged to give their own opinion about culture, and to say everything
they agree or disagree with while talking about it and stereotypes. They will also be asked to give
reasons and explain their opinion. Through every activity, teachers will encourage students to equally
participate and speak English within groups. If there are grammar/vocabulary and other mistakes
during speaking, teachers will not interrupt students’ talking, they will find appropriate time and a
subtle way for correcting them.

Homework: No homework

Lessons learned for future activities: All the activities went smoothly, and students did everything
that was expected. Activities 3 and 5 demanded more time, especially activity 5. Students were
complaining that they had not had enough time to think of the role play.
TRAD- -ITION

LIT- -ERA- -TURE

CULT- -URE Handout 1

GEO- -GRA- -PHY

GOV- -ERN- -MENT

CUS- -TOMS “Culture hides

much more than it

BEL- -IEFS HIS-

HOLI- -DAYS -TORY

reveals, and strangely enough what it hides, it hides most effectively

 from its own participants. Years of study have convinced me that the
real job is not to understand foreign culture but to understand our
own.“
Edward T. Hall (1914 - )

What is ''culture''? There are many definitions. Some would define it as art, literature, and
music of a people, their architecture, history, religion, and traditions. Others might focus more
on the customs and specific behavior of a people. Here, we have chosen to use sociological
definitions of culture as the way of life of a group of people, developed over time and passed
down from generation to generation and another one that says that culture is a shared set of
practices and traditions that characterize a society or group of people. These broad
definitions include almost every aspect of human life and interaction. However, it would be
impossible to cover every facet of culture in one definition, especially culture of a foreign
country and people.

What do we really learn when we study other culture? First and foremost, we learn about our
own. Until we are confronted by a different way of doing things, we assume that everyone
does things the same way we that we do, and thus our own culture – our values, attitudes,
behavior- is largely hidden from our view. When we spend time analyzing another culture,
however, we begin to see our own more clearly and to understand some of the subtleties that
motivate our behavior and our opinions.

The real goal of getting to know other culture is to become more sensitive to cultural
differences, and more accepting of them. However, there will always be aspects of culture that
we may not like, no matter how much we understand it.

facet /ˈfasɪt,ˈfasɛt/- a particular aspect or feature of something, aspect

subtlety / ˈsʌt(ə)lti/ - fineness

Handout 2

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Handout 3

“ I know that the stereotypes of the United States are out there.
And I know that many of them are informed not by direct
exchange or dialogue, but by television shows and movies and
misinformation.”
Barack Obama (1961-)

Pop Culture versus Real America

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Handout 4

S t e r e o t y p e s
a b o u t :

Americans Montenegrins

 Boastful and arrogant  Lazy people

 Extravagant and wasteful  Soccer lovers

 Generous  Romantic

 Informal  Generous

 Insensitive  Helpful
 Loud and obnoxious  They are all over the world
 Rich and wealthy
 Poor
 Rude and immature
 Braggarts
 Snobbish
 Handsome – more handsome –
 Think they know everything Montenegrin

Role-play:
- This is the first time for Montenegrins to
- Americans are hosting a dinner for
come to the U.S.A. They are unaware of
their new classmates from Montenegro.
many differences between their and
They are supposed to meet them for the
American culture and customs.
first time, not knowing their customs
and habits.

TIPS: - Shake hands TIPS: - Kiss on the cheeks

- Split the bill - They are eager to treat and pay the bill

- Reserved and self-contained people - Warm and welcoming people, relaxed

- Respectful and smile a lot, love to touch others on

* obnoxious - /əbˈnɑːk.ʃəs/ very unpleasant or their shoulders and dance

rude

* snobbish - /ˈsnɑː.bɪʃ/ behaving in a way that

shows you think you are better than other * braggarts - /ˈbræɡ.ɚt/ someone who is
people because you are from a higher social always talking too proudly about what they
class or know more than they do own or have done