{"id":1041,"date":"2015-11-30T20:15:40","date_gmt":"2015-12-01T01:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/?p=1041"},"modified":"2015-12-09T15:53:56","modified_gmt":"2015-12-09T20:53:56","slug":"integrating-culture-in-all-modes-a-noel-unit-for-novices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/?p=1041","title":{"rendered":"Integrating Culture in All Modes: A No\u00ebl Unit for Novices"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"noel\"<\/a>As a result of a recent #langchat discussion, I\u2019ve been reflecting a lot about how to more fully integrate culture into my instructional practices.\u00a0 In an earlier post, I shared the essential questions I developed based on my current units that I will use as a baseline for increasing the focus on cultural competency in my classroom.\u00a0 A greater challenge that I identified as a result of the #langchat conversation, however, is the importance of integrating culture across all <\/u>communicative modes. While my first thought was that I was that was providing my students with ample opportunities to develop their cultural competence by interpreting authentic materials, this is clearly not enough.\u00a0 Encouraging students to identify the cultural products, practices and perspectives reflected in these authentic resources is only a first step. The cultural knowledge which is gleaned from these interpretive tasks must be carried over into the other modes to maximize student learning.\u00a0 With this goal in mind I\u2019ve begun modifying my Christmas units to provide a greater emphasis on cultural integration in each mode.<\/p>\n

My French 1 class, with a targeted proficiency level of Novice Mid, provides the greatest difficulty when it comes to fully integrating culture, especially in the interpersonal mode.\u00a0 The NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do\u2019s for this level (which I use to guide my instructional design) are very speaker-centered.\u00a0 Students are expected to communicate basic information about themselves<\/em> and people they know<\/em> and communicate basic information about their<\/em> everyday life. \u00a0These objectives clearly aren\u2019t appropriate for this cultural unit.\u00a0 As I explained in last year\u2019s post regarding my Christmas lessons, my students come from varied cultural and religious backgrounds and I consider it vital to honor this diversity. Therefore, it clearly wouldn\u2019t be appropriate to design interpersonal activities that require students to interview classmates about their Christmas traditions (and then make comparisons), as I do in units on family, leisure activities, school, etc.\u00a0 In the past, I assigned interpersonal tasks that required students to describe holiday-themed pictures in order to avoid personalized questions in this unit.\u00a0 While these activities helped the students to acquire the new vocabulary, they did nothing to develop the students\u2019 cultural competence regarding Francophone Christmas celebrations. Therefore, this year I\u2019ve decided to use some role-play activities to integrate more culture while at the same time respecting both the cultural diversity and the proficiency level of these learners. While I think that we must ensure that our students are able to express their actual preferences, surroundings, and experiences in the target language, the same memorized phrases which enable communication at this level can be used to play the role of a speaker in another culture.\u00a0 In these role-plays, in which pairs of students play the roles of French-speakers in Quebec and Paris, the students will not only integrate their understandings of the cultural practices of these regions as they relate to Christmas, they will also learn vocabulary and structures that will enable them to participate in authentic conversations in the future.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the unit plan I\u2019ve developed for this year. Click here<\/a> for the student activity packet.<\/p>\n

Lesson 1:<\/strong> I\u2019ll play this video<\/a> to introduce the students to some French Christmas traditions and corresponding vocabulary. Then they\u2019ll complete this pair role play <\/a>activity to practice talking about cultural traditions associated with Christmas. This resource guid<\/a>e will help them interpret the pictures in the role play.<\/p>\n

Lesson 2:<\/strong> I\u2019ll start this lesson with the short video<\/a> about Christmas traditions in Quebec, pausing frequently to discuss.\u00a0 Then I\u2019ll assign this guided role-play<\/a>. As a follow up presentational writing activity, the students will write a message from the person belonging to the culture they played in the role play to a person from the culture that their partner played. In the message, they will demonstrate their new cultural competence by including appropriate facts and asking relevant questions.<\/p>\n

Lesson 3: <\/strong>The students will watch and video and read an article about decorating a Christmas tree.\u00a0 Next they\u2019ll draw pictures showing the steps given in the article, and then present the steps to their partner using their pictures.<\/p>\n

Day 4:<\/strong> The students will read an infographic about French holiday eating habits and then interview a partner. Afterwards they\u2019ll complete a Venn diagram comparing French Christmas eating habits to those of their own family during any special celebration.<\/p>\n

Day 5-8:<\/strong> The students will spend one day each at these learning stations<\/a>:<\/p>\n