Activities for improving cross-culture teaching me- 123docz.net

Chapter 3: Suggestions for treatment cross-cultural characteristics into teaching of

3.2. Suggestions for treatment cross- cultural characteristics into teaching of speaking in

3.2.2. Activities for improving cross-culture teaching methods in NDI high school

A teacher who teaches a foreign language well should only have good knowledge but also the ability to master the teaching method. Teaching the foreign language is very difficult, but inserting culture into language to motivate student' interest in learning this language is more difficult. Therefore, in order to help teacher to orient the culture teaching. Patrick Moran (2001) suggests A Framework for Learning/Teaching Culture, we can base on his suggestion to improve our teaching method.

A)Knowing about (getting information). 1) 1) Nature of content -- getting information

Eg: The teacher can supply information for students by many ways such as: giving questions, giving information directly.

- What is the capital of the US?

- Sports play an important role in American life.

2) Learning objectives - demonstrate a mastery of the information.

3) Techniques/activities - cultural readings; films/videotapes; recordings; realia (cultural artifacts); personal anecdotes.

Eg: The teacher give students a passage related to cross-cultural knowledge and ask students find cross-cultural information in it.

4) Note: - How culture is traditionally taught -- giving students information and asking them to show that they know it;

Eg: The teacher can ask sts to present the information which they have been provided by the teacher.

- Teacher role: informant.

B) Knowing how (developing behaviors) 1) Nature of content -- skills

Teacher gives students some situation.

Eg: - Buying tickets to a sports event,

- Cheering for your team at a football game, - Acting and speaking like American sports fans.

2) Learning objectives: demonstrate an ability -- a fluency, an expertise, confidence, ease.

3) Techniques/activities: dialogs, role plays, simulations, field experiences.

Eg: Using on above topics, students work in group to make dialogues and then, present in front of the whole class.

4) Note: - Where communicative competence in the language and culture occurs. Students know both what to say and how to do it in a culturally appropriate manner.

- Teacher role: coach or model.

C) Knowing why (discovering explanations) 1) Nature of content -- values and assumptions Teacher gives some questions in turn.

Eg: - Why are sports so important to Americans?

- Are you making an observation or an interpretation?

(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Treatment.of.cross.cultural.characteristics.in.the.teaching.of.speaking.to.grade.12A1.students.of.English.in.Nam.Dan.1.High.school.in.Nghe.An.province(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Treatment.of.cross.cultural.characteristics.in.the.teaching.of.speaking.to.grade.12A1.students.of.English.in.Nam.Dan.1.High.school.in.Nghe.An.province(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Treatment.of.cross.cultural.characteristics.in.the.teaching.of.speaking.to.grade.12A1.students.of.English.in.Nam.Dan.1.High.school.in.Nghe.An.province(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).Treatment.of.cross.cultural.characteristics.in.the.teaching.of.speaking.to.grade.12A1.students.of.English.in.Nam.Dan.1.High.school.in.Nghe.An.province

- Why do Americans have such sports rituals?

- How does this compare with your culture?

2) Learning objectives: - Demonstrate an ability: to infer; to generalize;

- Curiosity; tolerance; sensitivity; empathy.

3) Techniques/activities

- Learners interpret and make explanations based on above activities, - Comparisons with their own culture,

- Reflective writing.

4) Note : - Learners engage in actively using their powers of induction, analysis and intuition to draw conclusions about cultural information or experiences -- like anthropologists.

- Teacher role: co-researcher or guide.

D) Knowing oneself (personalizing knowledge) (applying for students with high level) 1) Nature of content -- self-awareness

Eg: Teacher gives students some questions:

- What importance do sports have in your life?

- How did it feel to act like Americans do at a football game? Why?

- Would you choose to act like this? Why?

2) Learning objectives: by behavior/statements demonstrate understanding of ones' feelings, values, opinions, attitudes, and act upon them.

3) Techniques/activities: - Learners examine and make statements about themselves, - Reflective writing,

- Feedback on above activities.

They answers above questions means that they are making reflective writing or statements about themselves.

Eg: Sports play important role in my life, I nearly saw all football match on TV on Saturday and Sunday. I like the behavior of Americans do at a football game. They show the great interest of the fans. However, I will not choose to act like this because I am Vietnamese and these actions are not suitable with Vietnamese.

4) Note: - Learners themselves are the subject matter in a process of guided self-discovery, as they study their own values and their reactions to those of the culture. They decide whether or not to change.

- Teacher role: counselor or guide.

To apply the teaching method successfully, the English teachers should use EFL activities. Most standard EFL activities can be easily adapted for using in the culture classrooms. The most important point is to ensure that the students are actively engaged in the target culture and language.

In my opinion some of the activities the teachers should care about in teaching culture:

Culture capsules and clusters, cultural quizzes, cultural assimilators, cartoons, problem solving, role-play, mini-drama, reformulation, noticing, prediction, quizzes, and audio-motor, research, celebrating festivities, kinesics and bod, ect. These activities can help improve English culture-teaching and learning methods at Nam Dan I high school and then some lessons during the course, the participants are asked to prepare a favorite topic related to the content of the lesson in the next class. After that will have to present the topic they are responsible for. They can work in groups or work individually to make a comparison between their own country culture and target language's culture. Comparing is an effective activity of teaching culture. Quizzes are also selected as one of the favorite activities to the participants.

Almost cultural lessons are designed with quizzes. The participants work in pairs or in groups to do the task in the form of quizzes.

Culture must be fully incorporated as a vital component of language learning. Students can be successful in speaking a foreign language only if cultural issues are an inherent part of the foreign language curriculum.

Part C: Conclusion

1. Recapitulation

From the research as above it can be seen that teaching culture is very important in improving the language. Most of teachers and students believed that culture plays an important role in their language learning. We can not learn a foreign language well when we have no cultural knowledge of that country. The learners understand that culture and language have inseparable relationship and teaching language is teaching culture. In order to master a language, the linguistic learners need to understand the cultural context where language presides. The students need to learn the correct and culturally acceptable way to address people. Therefore, raising cultural knowledge and awareness by integrating cultures in language learning and teaching is vital. The students will be interested in and have motivation in English learning process. Understanding cross-cultural knowledge has been considered to be of great help to the teaching and learning of speaking skill.

First of all, the study reviewed some theoretical background including the definitions of culture, cross-culture, language, the knowledge of relationship between language and culture, goals and objectives for treatment of cross-cultural characteristics in English teaching, Goals and objectives for treatment cross-cultural characteristics in English teaching. Some considerations in raising students` cross-cultural awareness when teaching English as Foreign language, and the definition of speaking skill, the position of speaking skill in English teaching, what type of culture should be taught in foreign language classes.

Secondly, the researcher has discovered some findings through questionnaires and tests. The results of the survey have pointed out the positive attitudes of both teachers and students towards the important role of culture learning to speaking skill teaching and learning.

The study has already found the teachers and students' attitude of the culture activities applying in English teaching and learning.

Lastly, the author gives some suggestions for treatment cross- cultural characteristics into teaching of speaking in English to grade 12A1 students in Nam Dan I high school.

Through these findings, we know that treating cross-cultural characteristics in a lesson is a performing art subject, the teachers always must be an excellent actor to make the performance successful.

The treatment of cross-cultural information in speaking lessons through cultural activities can fulfil the two purposes of foreign language education at the same time: one is improving reading skills and other is fostering cross-cultural knowledge.

From the finding above, it can be said that culture and language are fundamentally intertwined. Attempting to learn a language without learning its associated culture is to miss out on everything that makes the language unique, exciting and beautiful. Culture is very important when studying a language. Not only is it important for a student to be able to grammatically communicate with people, but also it is important for students to do so in culturally acceptable ways. In order to succeed at a language, a student must have a thorough understanding of the culture. With the help of teachers, culture is incorporated in language learning. This helps students gain the necessary knowledge in order to communicate successfully.

Activities for improving cross-culture teaching methods in NDI high school

Suggested issues for further research