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Some of the main questions the "Culture Course" in the MAFLT program is aiming to answer are:
What is language? and What is culture? - Can we and should we teach them together?
I believe, that language and culture are two terms that one cannot separate. Liddicoat & Scarino (2013) talk about the interrelationship between language and culture “culture is a frame in which meanings are conveyed” (p. 25).
Liddicoat & Scarino (2013) point out that there is “a distinction between a cultural perspective and an intercultural perspective” (p.28). Oftentimes we teach knowledge about a culture, but the learner does not internalize it. We don’t challenge learners “existing identity, practices, values, attitudes, beliefs, and worldviews”. When teaching intercultural perspectives the learner needs to engage in an additional culture and it then implies transformation of learners existing beliefs and preconceived assumptions and practices. Taking an intercultural perspective when teaching a L2 means more than teaching about foreign places and people. “A main difference then between a cultural and an intercultural perspective is that a cultural perspective emphasizes the culture of the other and leaves that culture external to the learner, whereas an intercultural perspective emphasizes the learners’ own cultures as a fundamental part of engaging with a new culture” (Liddicoat, 2005)
For the culture course I created the following lesson plan based upon resources found in our textbook - Intercultural Language Activities by John Corbett, 2010.
For this task students compare and contrast their own life and experiences with that of students in Germany. The students are charged to create two poster boards or Google Jamboards to research, compare and contrast a "Day in the Life" of a German student with a "Day in their own Life". The students research authentic sources like newspapers, V-logs, and blogs to obtain information about a German students life, or they will work with a German student in Germany. The latter is possible through the virtual exchange starting in the fall of 2021. This activity combines all three modes of language learning - the interpretive, interpersonal and presentational modes -, while researching, creating, interpreting and presenting their work for this task.
Included with the material and links to the websites, V-logs, newspaper articles for their research, I also provide them with an example write up of "A Day in my own life". This sample provides a template the student can use to write their own sentences. Please find the example below.
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