Intercultural language learning
activities in
the Chinese language classroom
Joanne Chen2015
Objetives
By the end of this presentation we’ll have… Experienced intercultural activities
Identified a framework to introduce intercultural activities in the classroom
1. The rise of international students from countries all over the world.
2. US classrooms are more and more like international schools in 2015.
3. Great opportunity to learn other culture 4. The study of non-verbal aspects of
communication5. Community connection
Why there is a need to take an intercultural
perspective in language teaching?
Artefact -Any construction of the human being
Fact - Elements of a country’s culture (history, art, institutions, music) and way of life.
Nature of the educational effect: behavior, beliefs, perceptions expressed to language and determine the acceptance (sometimes rejection) of a person in the host community.
Intercultural framework:
Who is attending Chinese classes today?
ChineseBackground Speaker
Speakers of other
languagesNative English speaker
Five Principles ofIntercultural Language Learning
Active Construction (thinking skills, solving problems)
Making Connections (of one’s existing conceptions)
Social interaction Reflection ( identity one’s thoughts and
feelings) Responsibility (for better understanding
oneself)
Before we start the activities:
1. Individualism / collaboration 2. Level of students 3. Logical Sequence4. Space and Budget 5. Link to the language lessons 6. Support from others
Crossing culture: example 1, popular terms
Crossing culture: example 2
美國 TAXI 英國 TAXI TAXI 拉丁美洲
出租車 計程車 的士
Crossing culture: example 3, holidays
Easter-USA Korean New YearJapanese New Year
Chinse New YearChinese Moon Festival Japanese Moon Rabbit
Noticing Activity Watch the video: Made in China –Factory
of the World What are the three things you learn from
the video that you did not know before? https://youtu.be/WlSHo61nRWw
Questions you may use:Where is the event taking place?What is happening?Who are the people involved?Why do they do these activities?
If this took place in your country… What would happen? Who would be there? What would they wear? What would people do?
Video Watching
Activity: Acting Greetings
How do people give business cards in Taiwan /Japan/USA?
Practice giving your business cards to your colleagues
Why (do you think) are business cards given in Japan the way that way?
How did you feel giving the business cards the Japanese way?
Activity: Drama / Story Telling
Group students in small group of 3-4 Giving each a reading material – story
from other counties Have each group act out a different story (for example - 嫦娥奔月 和 亞當夏娃 ) Asking students how did they feel being in
a different culture situation
Writing activity:Experiencing “Haiku” ---Create A bilingual poem
Haiku is 17 syllabus which are broken into 3 line, 5, 7, and 5 words per line
中國人吃飯吃很多很多很多喝茶喝很多
Activity: Quiz and Game
Cultural information can be delivered through quiz or game
Formats: Online, Paper, in-class activity A way of assessing student’s learning
outcomes
Activity: Small Group Discussion 1
In you culture, do you have special festivals or holiday? What are they?
What are they tradition?
What are the food associated with these festivals or holidays?
Activity: Small Group Discussion 2
Can you describe one of the Chinese Festivals from the presentation -
What are they?
What are they tradition?
What are the food associated with these festivals or holidays?
Processes Analyzing
What information did you learn?
How are the actions performed?
Why are these information the way they are?
What did you feel/think about practicing these activities?
Raise cultural awarenessWhat? How?
Information of the cultural aspects.Information about the actions.
The actual action, conditions and context
Why? Self
Explanations for the actions.Cultural understanding
FeelingsReasoningAdaptingAssimilatingRejecting
Reflection
How would this activity benefit our students?
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