Hola Clase,
I just wanted to get you thinking about the "course project" as it's defined int the syllabus. The assignment as outlined there says,
"This is your opportunity to create/do something that you feel would most help you to learn to teach culture in an engaging effective way, just make it good and worthwhile. We will spend some time in class brainstorming options. Everyone can scream freedom."
Here's some ideas that I had, take them or leave them;
--Take a syllabus from a Spanish or Portuguese course and add or revise the cultural aspects,
--Do in depth analysis of the culture teaching aspects of a couple of textbooks and make suggestions about what you think they did well and/or should have done
--Write a synthesis of some research on a specific topic related to teaching culture
--Make and eat alot of homemade chicken enchiladas
--Analyze a certain type of cultural test for validity and utility and see how/if it could be useful for teaching.
--Make and eat alot of homemade salsa
--Create a lesson plan/unit around a specific cultural event or place your students could visit.
--Create a really spiffy assignment or unit where students test a hypothesis that they have about a product, perspective or practice of the target culture.
--Go surfing or snorkeling for a week in Costa Rica
--Do an ethnographic interview of a native speaker and then write a reflection both on your interview and new insights on how you would ask students to go about such an assignment.
--Listen to Maná for three hours straight, alone in a dark room, then report on how it affected your world view, would this be a good activity for your students?
--Some of these are better than others.
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6 comments:
Umm...can the surfing and snorkeling I did in Costa Rica last summer count?
Can I really make and eat a lot of homemade enchiladas? My husband likes that idea the best. :) I'm not kidding, I'd totally do it.
Well, I think Dr. M's 1st suggestion to me has the most appeal, not necessarily for the fun aspect, but because for me I think this has the most practical application, especially with Fuentes. I feel that the 105-6 courses are so book-oriented that having some built-in culture-teaching activities would be extremely beneficial. Of course, Costa Rica and Mana sound good, too.
I think a textbook analysis would be interesting. I would like to analyze the cultural elements in textbooks used for dual immersion programs. In immersion programs, Spanish is the medium through which other subjects are taught, rather than Spanish being the actual content. I would be looking at math, science or history books in Spanish.
Another thing that I might do is create a cultural activity around Cinco de mayo. I would title it something like, "Cinco de mayo: truth or lies?"
I really think what I want to do is get my hands wrapped around the culture better through doing an ethnographic interview. Or maybe I would like to create/collect lesson plans that I would want to use. I mean, it would be so cool to have a bunch of excellent lesson plans prepared that could be used when I teach. I could do some creating, but would it be appropriate to also collect some really good ones that I find out there for my own personal use?
I'm thinking about creating a survey that students would take at the beginning of the semester/term, asking them questions like: From 1-5 (5 being extremely tolerant), do you tolerate the invasion of personal space? (In other words, 5 would mean you are what some consider a "huggy" person).
This survey would cover various topics, including firm handshakes, punctuality, reactions to rebukes (i.e. not looking a parent in the eyes when they yell at you, etc.).
I was thinking that I could give this same survey to people who grew up in a Spanish-speaking culture and see how it compares to the class's results.
With this, we could discuss cultural similarities and differences. Another good thing is that there would be a list of Little "c" topics to possibly discuss. What do you guys think?
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