Re the Whorfian hypothesis: Are there concepts or ways of saying things in one of the languages that you speak that can not be said or expressed or the meaning changes in another of your languages? How do you address culture in your classrooms? Do you go beyond the "holiday" model of culture?
I agree with Whorfian’s hypothesis, based on my own experience having lived in the United States, Ecuador,Florida, New York, and now in San Antonio. Every state within America has in own culture, norms and slang. There are words even in Spanish that I am not familiar with or that mean one thing to me and another to someone from Mexico. For instance, I grew up calling a“straw” sorbete, I came to San Antonio and SanAntonians call it popoto. I did not know what that word meant; I was not able to relate it to my priorknowledge. There are words and expressions different in every culture and language.
Addressing culture:
Part of my curriculum of speaking and listening class is a presentation. I have the students give a presentation of their country. They have to present orally and bring items or artifacts from their country. They can also present it in power point. Igive them an outline of what to include. In my classesI usually have a big percentage of Mexican students.These students give a presentation on their own regionof Mexico. Last semester my class included students from all overthe world: Brazil, Russia, Morocco, Cuba, and Colombia and Mexico. I made an invitation with their names and invited some other students and teachers to the class. The students were so excited, overall it was a great experience and we learned a lot from each other. Another way I address culture is at the end of the semester we have a pot luck party. Students have to bring a recipe and a plate. I make a recipe book with students recipes, I include their names and home country. (I copy them and bind them. Very busy work)The day of the event/ party we have a taste contest and a small presentation of the student’s plate. We also celebrate holidays of the countries the students come from, each student from that country makes a presentation to explain the importance of that holiday.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Well, I completely agree with you especially coming from two differnt hispanic cultures, it can be confusing. I like that idea about each student presenting about their own culture, I did this one time for a class where we al had to create a brochure about a certain country. It was a fun activity but I thought it would be better if we were from the certain country we picked. I guess the teacher wanted us to learn about another country and also share with the class what we discovered.
Hola, Rosa. I, too have seen the confusion between speakers of two versions (even two "standard versions") of Spanish. It can make teaching to one standard a trick, and perhaps not altogether desirable! It is situational, really. For example, we grew up taking Spanish classes every year, but werwe never taught to use or conjugate the "vosotros" forms of the verbs. Teaching in Texas, our teachers were probably right in assuming we would have way more interactions with a population that didn't use these forms.
It was also a fun language puzzle when I moved to London and started making friends there--sometimes I was a little stuck, and once, when I met a guy with a Cockney dialect, I could not understand even an inkling of the message, nor could his friends from London (when he spoke "that way"). Ah, languages are so cool.
Hey guys, look at my blog for an invitation. Erika
Hey guys, look at my blog for an invitation. Erika
Post a Comment