Sociocultural Aspects in TEFL
Introduction
Language and culture are intimately linked in multiple and complex ways. For that reason, a language teacher is also a "culture teacher". In this course not only will you learn about the "culture" of English-speaking countries but also about interculturality and how to integrate culture in language teaching. This is the study programme.
Basic Definitions. The Cultural Competence
Defining Culture is not an easy task. Precisely, your first activity is to read the article at the Wikipedia about Culture and then prepare a poster in which you show the complexity of culture (different definitions, elements, perspectives, etc.)
- Culture, by the Wikipedia
Then, you can read these two definitions; we will assume them as our "working definitions":
Finally, if you could read these two articles concerning Culture and Education as an introduction to the following unit:
- La educación multicultural y el concepto de cultura, por F. J. García Castaño, R. A. Pulido Moyano y A. Montes del Castillo
- Trujillo Sáez, F. 2002. Objetivos en la enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras: de la competencia lingüística a la competencia intercultural. En F. Herrera Clavero, F. Mateos Claros, S. Ramírez Fernández, M. I. Ramírez Salguero y J. M. Roa Venegas (coords.) Inmigración, interculturalidad y convivencia. Ceuta: Instituto de Estudios Ceutíes, pp. 407-418.
The LEA Project (ECML, Council of Europe, Graz) has designed activities to reflect on identity and culture. Have a look at them
Teaching Culture in TEFL
Find here some readings about Teaching Culture in TEFL..
- A guide to culture in the classroom, by Muriel Saville-Troike
- Culture learning in language education: A review of the literature, by R. M. Paige and colleagues
- La enseñanza de la lengua: Un instrumento de unión entre culturas, por J. M. Martín Morillas
- Trujillo Sáez, F. 2002. Towards interculturality through language teaching. Cauce, 25, pp. 103-120, ISSN 0212-0410.
- Trujillo Sáez, F. 2005. En torno a la interculturalidad: reflexiones sobre cultura y comunicación para la didáctica de la lengua. Porta Linguarum, 4, pp. 23-39.
- Trujillo Sáez, F. 2003. Carta abierta sobre la interculturalidad. Carabela, 54, pp. 167-174.
English in the world
Find here some readings about English in the world.
- History of the English language
- Introduction
- Ages of English timeline (¡¡¡)
- A brief history of the English language
- Old English
- Middle English
- Early Modern English
- Late Modern English
- English varieties
- English as a global language
Life in English Speaking Countries
Find here some readings about life in English-speaking countries.
- Halloween
- Thanksgiving day
- Christmas
- Gibraltar: an ethnographic experience
I invite you to choose one of the first three topics, read about them and build a Trivial game using Trivionomy. It can be a funny experience!
Great Britain and Ireland
Find here some readings about Great Britain and Ireland.
- Introduction
- Geography
- The World Fact Book
- Lonely Planet: England, Scotland, Wales & Ireland
- Uk Travel Guide
- Multimap
- Streetmap
- History and Literature
- Education
The United States of America
Find here some readings about the United States of America.
- USA at the Wikipedia
- New American Studies Web Site
- Geography
- The World Fact Book
- Geography of the USA at the Wikipedia
- US and Canada Travel destinations
- Maps made for printing and copying (useful for USA up to state-level)
- History
- Education