Developing Intercultural Understanding: An Introduction for Teachers

Purposes:

• To enable participants to reflect on their own views of culture
• To explore a definition of culture and introduce models of culture
• To enable participants to reflect on their own and others' cultural identities
• To explore the interrelationship between culture and language

1 Understanding culture

Resources:
Range of authentic materials/text/realia such as brochures, commercial magazines, photographs, music, literature

Ask participants to write a phrase or sentence to describe their understanding or definition of 'culture'. Use a think-pair-share strategy to allow sharing.

Facilitate a whole group discussion about the variety of understandings and definitions of culture.

Ask participants to identify any authentic materials/text/realia that would help support their description and understanding of 'culture'. Suggest authentic materials such as visual aides (brochures, commercial magazines, photographs), auditory aides (music) and textual aides (definitions from literature). Participants identify any item that supports their description and share with one other person.

Now select a small number of participants to explain how the authentic material supports their understanding of culture. Participants will have to outline their understanding or definition as part of the process.

Refer to Slide 3: Understandings of culture. Explore the differing understandings of culture and ask participants to identify which understanding of 'culture' most closely reflects their understanding.

Point out that different understandings of culture can be used within the same context, particularly when a person is talking about his/her own culture and then talking about the culture of another person.

Illustrate this point by identifying that when individuals are trying to describe an understanding of 'culture', they can often use quite sophisticated and/or complex examples from their own culture. In particular, examples of 'culture as behaviour', (eg acceptable behaviour in a given situation or 'culture as thinking', such as the importance level of societal institutions like family), may be used.

Contrast with the point that similar levels of sophistication and/or complexity are often not evident when discussing the 'culture' of another person as an example to illustrate meaning. In this case, examples from 'high culture' may be given, such as origami or wayang puppetry.

2 Definitions of culture

Provide Resource 1: Definition of culture and intercultural understanding.

Explain that the program is built on the understanding of culture described in Resource 1. Reinforce that it is important to understand 'culture', one's own culture and another's culture in order to promote and develop skills in intercultural understanding.

Enlarge Resource 1 to maximum possible size on paper. Consider having a definition of culture on an A3 sheet and a definition of intercultural understanding on a second A3 sheet. Display prominently throughout this activity. Reference can be made back to the definitions to ensure that participants are able to see the relationship between the various activities and developing intercultural understanding.

Explain that there is a significant relationship between 'culture' and how understanding is expressed, and language. Refer back to previous discussion that we understand and communicate our understanding of own culture in complex ways that are not evident when describing the culture of another person.

Now explore the idea of complex understandings of own culture and surface understandings of another culture by asking participants to:

• Think of a specific example from your own experience that supports your description of culture
• Now identify another culture and a specific example from that culture that supports your original understanding of culture
• Compare the complexity and sophistication of understanding.

Engage participants in a discussion that facilitates understanding that the ability to describe complex understandings about culture, particularly one's own culture relate to language. This discussion needs to highlight the importance or otherwise of an artefact, a concept or a relationship to a culture that comes with the ability to use the language of the culture competently. Use examples such 'mateship' from an Australian context or 'bushidoo' from Japan or other appropriate example.

Explore with participants notions of culture being broader than notions of ethnicity and can include other notions, such as socioeconomic perspectives, gender, age, and locale. Examples can be drawn from a range of cultures such as:

• Indigenous Australians may be ethnically the same but they are culturally diverse
• Youth culture and response to body piercing or tattooing.

3 Models of culture

Suggested time allocation: 10 mins.

Identify that there are many models of culture. Three models are:

• The iceberg model (Resource 2)
• The layer model (Resource 3)
• The onion model (Resource 4)

Presenters can choose to present all three models to participants or only one model.

Option 1 – Working with all three models

Option 2 – Working with one model

4 Understanding own and other cultural identities

Suggested time allocation: 20 mins.

If all three models are used in the previous session, ask participants to select one model of culture. Suggest that participants choose a model that they can engage with or that resonates with their personal views.

Participants should be grouped according to the model they have chosen. This allows for participant movement and can assist with discussions about engaging with different groups and the culture of different groups.

Within each small group, ask participants to identify a teaching situation in which they were explicitly engaging learners with another culture. Participants describe the context and nature of the teaching and what kinds of tasks the learners were engaged in.

Ask participants to identify where the teaching and learning was focused in terms of the model they have chosen. Identify whether teaching focused on surface features or deep features.

Ask participants to identify a teaching situation in which they were explicitly engaging learners with their own culture. Describe the context and nature of the teaching and what kinds of tasks the learners were engaged in.

Ask participants to identify where the learning was focused in terms of the model they have chosen. Identify whether teaching focused on surface features or deep features.

Share one description and analysis from each small group with the whole group.

5 Linking language with culture

Suggested time allocation: 10 mins.

Within a whole group discussion it is important to draw attention to a number of key points, including:

Identify that one way of being able to engage with the deep features of another's culture is to be able to use the language. Use youth culture and SMSing (mobile phone texting) asexamples. The ability to use the language is a way of engaging with another. If possible use examples derived from other (more traditional) language and culture situations.

Identify that most participants are likely to share examples of teaching 'another culture' that involve teaching surface features

When responding to teaching 'own culture' participants may have difficulty identifying surface features but can respond more to the explicit teaching of deep features, such as changing gender roles or audience perspective

Identify that 'usual' has many different aspects

Identify that an ability to analyse 'culture' depends upon seeing that one's own usual behaviour is culturally constructed

Identify that in order to teach for intercultural understanding it is important to be able to identify surface and deep features of one's own culture, and to be able to identify surface and deep features of another's culture.

Return to the range of authentic materials/text/realia provided. Reflect on the fact that through the range of authentic materials/text/realia provided it is the facilitator's view of culture to which participants have been confined.

Further reflect on the similarity to other learning situations, such as classrooms, in which learners have been limited to the teachers understanding of what is animportant aspect of culture. It is important to acknowledge that teaching often occurs through the lens of our own cultural background.

Ask participants to identify any situations in which learning was impacted upon as a result of the differing cultures of participants. Encourage participants to share their experiences.

Provide Resource 5: Linking 'language' and 'culture'.

Ask participants to read Resource 5. In small groups discuss the stimulus questions:

Report one major discussion point from each group.

Resources: Range of authentic materials/text/realia such as brochures, commercial magazines, photographs, music, literature

• What are the implications for learning in general of linking 'language' and 'culture' in the way outlined above?
• What are the implications for language learning of linking 'language' and 'culture' asoutlined above?