Icebergs, culture and learning a second language

Today we worked with culture. At first we read aloud some of the text "Cultural Awareness" by Barry Tomalin & Susan Stempleski. Then our teacher explained some theory, especially "The Iceberg Concept". Then we worked with some tasks about culture, which we could use as teachers in the Danish Folk School. After that, we worked in pairs with a bit of text from our book "How Languages are Learned" by Patsy M. Lightbrown & Nina Spada. We had to present to the class what we worked with.

Cultural Awareness

"Big C"

Achievement culture

"Small c"

Behavior culture

 This is a figure showing the "small c".

Seven goals of cultural instruction

1. To help students develop an understanding of the fact that all people exhibit culturally-conditioned behaviors

2. To help students develop an understanding that social variables such as age, sex, social class, and place of residence influence the ways in which people speak and behave

3. To help students to become more aware of conventional behavior in common situations in the target culture

4. To help students to increase their awareness of the cultural connotations of words and phrases in the target language

5. To help students to develop the ability to evaluate and refine generalizations about the target culture, in terms of supporting evidence

6. To help students to develop the necessary skills to locate and organize information about the target culture

7. To stimulate students' intellectual curiosity about the target culture, and to encourage empathy towards its people

Practical teaching principles

1. Access the culture through the language being taught

2. Make the study of cultural behaviors an integral part of each lesson

3. Aim for students to achieve the socio-economic competence which they feel the need

4. Aim for all levels to achieve cross-cultural understanding - awareness of their own culture, as well as that of the target language

5. Recognize that not all teaching about culture implies behavior change, but merely an awareness and tolerance of the cultural influences affecting one's own and others' behavior

ELT = English Language Teaching

The Iceberg Concept

Like an iceberg, the majority of culture is below the surface.


Surface culture:
1. Food
2. Dress
3. Music
4. Visual arts
5. Drama
6. Crafts
7. Dance
8. Literature
9. Language
10. Celebrations
11. Games
    
    Below surface culture:
12. Courtesy
13. Personal space
14. Rules of conduct
15. Facial expressions
16. Nonverbal communication
17. Tempo of work
18. Tone of voice
19. Emotions
20. Tolerance
21. Attitudes (towards elders)
22. Nature
23. Ideals of childhood
24. Notions of modesty/adolescence
25. Body language
26. Eye contact
27. Touching
28. Problem solving
29. Sex
30. Concept of beauty
31. Relationships towards animals

How to work with culture in class

1. Explain to the class that there are many definitions of the word "culture", and that they are going to carry out an activity to find out what the members of the class think of when the word "culture" is mentioned.


2. Ask the class to name as many cultural groups as they can. As the students call them out, write them up on the board.


Immigrants
Students
Footballers
Teenagers
Musicians
Gays
Celebrities
"Beliebers"
Gypsies
Alcoholics
Politicians
Punks
Homeless people


3. When you have 15-20 names of cultural groups, divide the class into groups of three or four. Explain that each group is to work together to draw up a list of characteristics that make each of the cultural groups different from all the others. Allow ten minutes for the groups to make up their lists. Here is a sample of the kind of list they might produce:

Immigrants	Students
Language Attitude - not well behaved Beliefs - religion National origin Music Food Social Life Family Boats - Sea -Danger Boarders	Young Poor Hungry - weird food habits Drunk Social Life Friends Family - living at home to save money Party Home-work Sleep-deprived



4. Ask a volunteer from each group to read out their list, while you write up the characteristics.


5. When the students have reached the end of their lists, ask them which characteristics apply to all of the cultural groups they mentioned. For example, can all groups be identified by different languages or by different religions? The students will realize that very few, if any, of the characteristics apply to all the groups.


6. Conduct a whole-class discussion on the basus of the following questions:
• Why is it difficult to define the word "culture"?
• Why do people identify with cultures and cultural groups?
 

We had to work in pair with some pages from "How languages are learned", and present it in class. I worked with pp. 29-34 (chapter 2),concerning Learning a second language.

Very different to learn first language or second language, and why.

Context for language learning

Different context for why you learn a second language

1. Language class in own country
2. Move to new country
3. A child growing up learning 2 languages

There's a list you have to think about when teaching a foreign language.

1. Do they know a first language
2. How old are they?
3. How are the mental state?
4. Do they know the grammar of another language?
5. How are their personalities? (Self-consciousness?)
6. Do they need the language now or "later"?
7. Do they receive corrective feedback from the environment ? (Both grammar and the basic meaning)

Learner characteristics

Cognitive maturity - "erkendelsesmæssig modenhed".

Metalinguistic awareness - awareness of what lies beyond the language - for instance describing the grammar. Can look at the language with "analyzing eyes". How to describe language.

Often, when you learn a second language, you compare it to your first language, and will make a lot of mistakes.

When you're older you will be better at understanding the grammatical differences in languages, and you know how to solve problems with the grammar rules.

When a younger child learns a second language, it's easier because they don't find it stressful to make mistakes. If you're afraid of making mistakes, you talk less, thus making less mistakes and won't learn from them.

Learning conditions

Younger children can "blend in" - songs, games and are allowed to be silent if they want.

Students have to speak some, but often the teacher talks in the first language for instance when disciplining, thus depriving the students the experience of the second language used in communication.

They will only be limited to talk the second language in class, therefore won't get much practice.

Its easier to correct the meaning (what do you mean?), but correcting the grammar, for instance at workplaces, is considered impolite. Therefore, grammar will often not be corrected by adults.

One condition is common to all learners: "Foreigner talk/Teacher talk" => exposure to modified or adapted input.

How the teacher talk - adjustments they need to make to help learners understand.

BUT it doesn't help learning if you just talk louder! :)

I think our presentation went quite well, and we did get credit from our teacher. :)
The other pairs did well too, I think it was a very good way to do it, and everybody had a chance to get something out of the chapters, without having to read it really well and making a ton of notes. Instead we worked in pairs in perhaps ½ an hour with some paragraphs, and then everybody would hear about it in details. That means, every page has been read and thought about and everybody got to hear the points, and also, it's always nice to discuss the homework, because we, as humans, are different, and we all get something different out of the homework.