Education Commons^™

The Culture Boundary: How Awareness Informs Teaching Practice, Angela Richardson

MA TESOL Collection

In this paper I discuss the value of exploring student culture through ongoing reflective processes for effective and responsible language teaching. I reflect on my own experience of teaching in a foreign language context for the first time, and discuss how developing cultural awareness helped me move from a place of frustration to understanding, and how a change in attitude and teaching approach impacted my relationships and significantly improved the quality of teaching and learning in my classroom. Using Pat Moran’s ‘Cultural Knowings’ framework as a guide, I reflect on my personal transformation while working in South Korea and report …

Designing And Teaching A Culture Course In Korea: Developing Cultural Awareness In The Korean University Classroom, Melanie Van Den Hoven

MA TESOL Collection

This Independent Professional Project outlines my process of becoming aware of the interrelationship of language and culture in the Korean University language classroom and the issues surrounding teaching culture in Korea at the turn of the millenium. My decisions, reflections and realizations made as an expatriate EFL teacher based in Seoul, Korea, which helped to address these concerns, are fully presented. This paper reflects on the “culture bumps” inherent in my living and teaching context, and the cultural adjustments made both in the classroom and out. It also explores the major theoretical influences that have been helpful in designing a …

Their Own Best Resources: Students And Real-World Interaction, Observation, And Reflection, Brenda Ferreira

MA TESOL Collection

Students can use their experiences outside the ESL classroom to facilitate their own learning of culture and communicative competency. In a course I continue to design, students prepare for real-world interactions and learning. They practice communication strategies and discuss topics largely of their own choosing in a multi-cultural context. They then go out into the community to make cultural and communicative observations, and interact with native- and non-native speakers of English. This IPP presents various definitions of culture and communicative competency and gives suggestions for in-class and real-world activities, including communication tasks, observations, and reflections through journal writing.

Increasing Cultural Awareness Through Effective Classroom Dynamics, Maria Cristina Enriquez Y Arcaraz

MA TESOL Collection

No abstract provided.

American Cultural Values : A Look At One's Own Cultural Identity, Judith Day, Jane Farrell

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is presented in two sections. Part A sets out a 16-lesson course for American ESL teachers in which people will look at personal and cultural values, with the goal of achieving an objective insight into the values of their culture and developing ways of incorporating this awareness in the ESL classroom. Should this course be used by non-American teachers there is another course outline (see Alternative Course Outline for Non-native Speakers of English) that has been developed. Part B is an articulation of some major values pertinent to American society. Areas covered are success, time, work, individualism, equality, …

Language And Culture In Two Worlds: Teaching English To Hmong Refugees, Sherry Lieberman Preiss, Cammille Smith

MA TESOL Collection

This project is a presentation of two curricula, one for teaching Hmong children and the other for teaching Hmong adults. The curricula provide the necessary guidelines to implement bicultural ESL instruction in a monolingual setting. Included are theoretical discussions that explain the rationale behind the format and content of each of the curricula. The curricula themselves are divided into situational units containing various linguistic and cultural components. The project stemmed from a student teaching internship in Rutland, Vermont, where the authors instructed several families (adults and children) of Hmong refugees. Although the project was primarily aimed towards teaching Hmong refugees, …

Units Of Study On Eight American Patriotic Holidays, Nina Pearson

MA TESOL Collection

This materials development project consists of information and lesson plans related to eight patriotic holidays in the United States. It is intended to be used by English as a Second Language teachers in intermediate classes. Each unit consists of background information on a specific holiday, a lesson plan which included culture and grammar points, and follow-up activities. Each lesson includes three objectives: a sociolinguistic/cultural objective, a linguistic objective, and an interpersonal objective, which deals with the atmosphere in which the learning takes place. Similar interpersonal objectives are stated in each lesson and emphasize the importance of a supportive, no-threatening learning …

An Esl Program With Laotian Refugees, Patricia A. Ryan-Croes

MA TESOL Collection

This project is a report on an ESL program developed for and taught to a Laotian couple who arrived in Brattleboro, Vermont in December 1979. The program took place from January to March 1980. The purpose of this report is to present and discuss issues, incidents, suggestions and conclusions regarding the teaching of ESL to Laotian refugees which may be helpful to program organizers and teachers.

The first part of the report details the refugee couple's background before their arrival in Brattleboro. Next is a description of the process of organizing the program and establishing the classroom procedure. This is …

Teaching Culture - A Texas Model: Materials Development For Teaching American Culture, Focusing On Regional Variations, Melanie Anne Dando

MA TESOL Collection

No abstract provided.

A Cultural Observation Project For Outbound Students To France, Fiona Stewart Cook

MA TESOL Collection

This project contains guided question sheets and topics for discussions on cultural values which I developed while leading a summer Outbound group to France. They are designed to help students who are in an immersion or homestay siatuation to focus their attention on the various aspects of everyday life in France, to make careful observations, to share and compare their findings with other group members with the goal of gaining greater understanding of and appreciation for the French culture

Teaching Overseas, Maria Angeles Albarracin Boggs

MA TESOL Collection

The following paper is geared to language teachers planning to work and live abroad. It is an account, in the form of reports, of the life and educational systems of seven non-western countries, based on personal experiences.

This project is intended to serve as a cultural and professional guide to teachers going to any of these seven countries; therefore, I have included pertinent data tho this effect.

The nature of this project is for the most part subjective; therefore, some of the facts and opinions are based on the kind of experiences the persons interviewed had in the countries where …

Some Thoughts On The Effects Esl Teachers Can Have In A World Community, Ann Frentzen, Ann Brooks

MA TESOL Collection

Since Teaching English as a Second Language is a profession involved with the humanity of all nations and cultures, as ESL teachers, we can play an integral part in the inevitable process of the world growing smaller and nations growing more and more interdependent.

This paper looks at ESL teachers in this context. The first part examines the role of ESL teacher and the potential effect those in that role can have in the world. Part two consists of a series of questions that grew out of real teaching situations, and that might provide a springboard for examining our values …

A Guide For Teaching English At Language Schools In Osaka & Kyoto, Japan - A Description And Analysis With Job Hunting Reports, Kimiko Kunii

MA TESOL Collection

This is a report about teaching conditions in the private language schools based on my own direct experience and on information collected from interviews and from a questionnaire sent to schools in Kyoto and Osaka, Japan. The teaching conditions in lower secondary schools are also written in contrast to those of the private language schools. The questionnaries collected from each school are attached in this report.

A Manual Of Self-Instructional Techniques For Learning A Foreign Language, Michael Jerald

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is meant to serve as a handbook for learning a new language without formal instruction. It started from notes perapared for students in the intensive foreign language classes at the School for International Training who wanted to know what they could do, without taking a formal course, to optimize their continued learning once they got overseas. They had had training in the basic grammatical patterns and pronunciation of the language and had been exposed to a limited amount of vocabulary; their question was one of knowing how to use the envorinment (in the countries to which they were …

A Summer's Learning Experience, Arlene Feskanich

MA TESOL Collection

No abstract provided.

On Becoming A Leader, Patricia A. Wall

MA TESOL Collection

No abstract provided.

Teaching Latin American Culture: A Values Oriented Approach, Willis E. Poole

MA TESOL Collection

This is a report on the author's experiences in teaching a course concerning Latin American culture. The approach used concerns itself with value clarification on the part of the students. Specific activities involving attitudes, beliefs and values as they pertain to American and latin American cultures are included.

Creative Teaching Through Cultural Realia, Meg Moloney

MA TESOL Collection

No abstract provided.

Some Cultural And Linguistic Background Information For A Beginning Teacher On The Navajo Reservation, G. Scott Harrison

MA TESOL Collection

No abstract provided.

Teaching Spanish Culture Through Music, Carnetta Peterson

MA TESOL Collection

No abstract provided.