WAYS OF TEACHING CULTURE IN THE EFL CLASSROOM!

“To be teacher is not only to teach, to be teacher is to know to teach”.


I want to share this news with all my colleagues.



Sterling Teacher Dances His Way into Students' Hearts

By Erica Garman
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Some educators teach only the lessons. But Edwin Alberto Escorcia Daza -- Mr. Escorcia, to his students -- has taught his sixth-graders at Sterling Middle School so much more. He was honored at the school Friday as a 2009 International Educator of the Year.
Escorcia came to Loudoun from Colombia three years ago to teach Spanish through the Visiting International Faculty program, an organization with which the Loudoun school district works to recruit qualified teachers from around the world. He was one of 16 educators chosen from among more than 70 nominees in six states to be honored by the organization for demonstrating exceptional talent and dedication.
Sixty-eight teachers are in Loudoun schools through the program, from countries including Australia, Costa Rica, Austria and El Salvador. The educators work as full-time employees of their host school system for up to three years, serving as a cultural ambassador from their homelands.
Suzette Wyhs, the Loudoun district's foreign language supervisor, said she picked Escorcia specifically for Sterling Middle, a school where more than 44 percent of the students are Latino. Escorcia "has a unique touch with kids," she said. "He skirts easily between two cultures, embracing American culture while at the same time helping many of these kids embrace and appreciate their Latino culture."
Eighth-grader Victor Megjia, whose first language is Spanish, said: "When I first came to his class as a sixth-grader, I thought I already knew everything there was to know about Spanish. But [Mr. Escorcia] always brought something new to the classroom."

One of the ways Escorcia engages his students is by focusing on his two passions: teaching and dancing. Check out the YouTube video of his "Macarena de Numeros" lesson, in which he teaches Spanish through popular dance moves.
With help from other staff members, Escorcia has parlayed his love of dance into the development of a dance club at the school.
"In short order, he gave Sterling Middle School staff and kids something we haven't had in a long time," said a teacher attending the award ceremony. "He gave us Latin spirit”

This news was taken from:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/08/AR2009050804174.html?referrer=emailarticle

You can watch the video on this news in this website
http://www.caracoltv.com/noticias/mundo/video138638-un-colombiano-fue-elegido-el-mejor-profesor-extranjero-eeuu

ACTIVITY No. 1

Name: COLOMBIAN FESTIVALS
Students’ number: 25
Kind of students: teenagers

By means of this activity, students will be able to do a presentation on Colombian festivals. They will include main aspects like:
- Date of the festival
- Place
- Main characteristics of the festival
- Why is celebrated that festival?
- Pictures

They will use posters for the presentation; they also will use typical clothes in each festival. This activity will be in groups of four persons. Students will explain to other students their Colombian festival.

This is a simple and practical way of using English language with Colombian culture because is not only to teach American culture, it is important also teach our culture.

ACTIVITY No. 2

Name: ENGLISH DAY
Students’ number: for this activity all school participate
Kind of students: children and teenagers.

For this activity is necessary the collaboration of all teachers and students. For grades all students choose an Anglo-Saxon country. They have to explain the main characteristics from it.
Students could include from country:
- Typical music
- Gastronomy
- Main places
- History
- Map (Localization)
- Singers
- Main characteristics
- Clothing
- Pictures
- Posters
Students will do their presentation in their classroom; they will have to decorate the classroom with all the information from country they choose.
The idea of this activity is that they can learn culture of other countries. They learn culture and can explain other cultures.

ACTIVITY No. 3

Name: COMPARING COLOMBIAN CULTURE WITH AMERICAN CULTURE
Students’ number: 20
Kind of students: teenagers.

Students have to do a comparison using American culture with Colombian culture.
They can include:
- families customs
- gastronomy
- expressions
- verbal and non – verbal patterns
- music
- main products
- behaviors
- customs
- beliefs

By means of activity students recognize their own culture and they can learn another culture, also they will be able to do a comparison between American culture and Colombian culture. They can identify some main aspects of each culture.
Besides students can identify main advantages of their own culture and can do an analysis using the aspects before mention.

VERBAL AND NON-VERBAL PATTERNS

When talking with someone, only a small part of the information we obtain from that person comes from his words.

Researchers have estimated that between 60 and 70% of what we communicate through nonverbal language, are, gestures, appearance, posture, gaze and expression…



IN OUR COUNTRY THERE ARE VERBAL AND NON VERBAL COMMUNICATION LIKE

SOME EXAMPLES:

MAMOLA

Is a common gesture for meaning that you disagreement with something.

HACER PISTOLA

Is an offensive gesture that meaning that you do not want to do anything.

PAILA

Is when something is bad.

This vocabulary and gestures are more common in the young people.

Every culture has rules about their way of life and customs, but sometimes the verbal and non verbal language depend of the context, people’s age and place.