Culture Activity

Overview:
Learner Audience & Level:
UT Russian students
Intermediate to Advanced class
Activity Type: Culture exploration project
Activity Goals: Teach students be active observers and be able to as native speaers about thin!s
that are culturally determined and there"ore not clear to them#
Activity: Culture
PRE-Activities
$# %ome&or assi!nment'research project:
In pairs( students locate authentic Russian commercials( looin! "or )Russian Ads* or )Russian
Commercials* on +ou Tube that are culturally( uni,uely Russian -not .n!lish ads translated into
Russian/#
.xamples:
http:''&&&#youtube#com'&atch0v1pd23p34yd5o&"eature1related
http:''&&&#youtube#com'&atch0v1t6h78e9:+;&&"eature1related
http:''&&&#youtube#com'&atch0v188l8x:;5h+&&"eature1related
http:''&&&#youtube#com'&atch0v1<hI!$j=5:.I
http:''&&&#youtube#com'&atch0v1t6h78e9:+;&&"eature1related
># 3ritin! assi!nment: students individually conduct a )cultural exploration* or cultural deconstruction
o" the advertisement -in native lan!ua!e or in Russian/( identi"yin! those cultural norms represented in
the ad that are distinctly Russian# Also in their &ritin! assi!nment( they must identi"y ne& vocabulary
or vocabulary speci"ic to the ad#
DURING-Activities:
4# 2rom the &ritin! assi!nment( students !ive an in"ormational presentation to the class in &hich
students sho& their ad to the class and point out the cultural arti"acts revealed in the ad# In class(
students discuss the ad( as a class( then "ormulate ,uestions about the cultural norms that the ad
represents# The class &ors to!ether to "ormulate ,uestions and to translate the ,uestions into
Foreign Language Teaching Methods http://tltc.la.utexas.edu/methods
Russian# I" students have di""iculty translatin!( they can post the .n!lish ,uestions online and consult
a native speaer or run it by the teacher# The students &ho !ave the presentation lead the discussion
and document the ,uestions posed by classmates#
5# In Russian( student !roups post the video( the cultural exploration &ritin! assi!nment( and the
Russian ,uestions onto the class &ebsite#
POST-Activities:
6# The teacher has previously arran!ed a pen?pal class in Russia that -perhaps/ is doin! the same
project "or .n!lish lan!ua!e learnin!# The classes exchan!e their )cultural deconstructions* and
,uestions "or the opposite culture#
Reflective Statement on Culture
The main messa!e o" ;r# Gar8a@s presentation is that culture serves as a basis o" the &hole process
o" "orei!n lan!ua!e teachin!# Lan!ua!e is a culture( and no&in! a "orei!n lan!ua!e is no&in! ho&
to communicate &ithin a "orei!n culture# The instructor@s !oal is to incorporate culture in any ind o"
activity he desi!ns# Gar8a also encoura!ed us( as instructors( to direct students attention to cultural
di""erences and become active observers# Aur belie" is that by observin! cultural norms( students at
the same time pay closer attention to the lan!ua!e used# They expand their vocabulary( improve
listenin! sills#
The activity presented above addresses the BLittle cB culture# It is aimed at main! students a&are o"
cultural di""erences existin! bet&een the t&o countries# Cot less importantly( it starts the dialo!
bet&een students "rom di""erent cultures# Dtudetns are en!a!ed in a real li"e environment# A number o"
other projects can be desi!ned in the "uture# 2or example( &ritin! !reetin! cards to a pen?pal(
videotapin! short sits &ith real?li"e situations -at the store( in a restaurant/( and asin! "or a "eedbac
"rom their pen?pals#
Foreign Language Teaching Methods http://tltc.la.utexas.edu/methods