8/12/2019 Culture Portfolio Russian

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Culture Activity

Overview:

Learner Audience & Level:

UT Russian studentsIntermediate to Advanced class

Activity Type: Culture exploration project

Activity Goals: Teach students be active observers and be able to as native spea ers about thin!sthat 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( loo in! "or )Russian Ads* or )RussianCommercials* on +ou Tube that are culturally( uni,uely Russian -not .n!lish ads translated intoRussian/#

.xamples:

http:'' #youtube#com' atch0v1pd23p34yd5o&"eature1related

http:'' #youtube#com' atch0v1t6h78e9 +; &"eature1related

http:'' #youtube#com' atch0v188l8x ;5h+ &"eature1related

http:'' #youtube#com' atch0v1

8/12/2019 Culture Portfolio Russian

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Russian# I" students have di""iculty translatin!( they can post the .n!lish ,uestions online and consulta native spea er or run it by the teacher# The students ho !ave the presentation lead the discussionand document the ,uestions posed by classmates#

5# In Russian( student !roups post the video( the cultural exploration ritin! assi!nment( and theRussian ,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 sameproject "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 processo" "orei!n lan!ua!e teachin!# Lan!ua!e is a culture( and no in! a "orei!n lan!ua!e is no in! hoto 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 culturaldi""erences and become active observers# ur belie" is that by observin! cultural norms( students atthe same time pay closer attention to the lan!ua!e used# They expand their vocabulary( improvelistenin! s ills#

The activity presented above addresses the BLittle cB culture# It is aimed at ma in! students a are o"cultural di""erences existin! bet een the t o countries# ot 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 s its ith real?li"e situations -at the store( in a restaurant/( and as in! "or a "eedbac"rom their pen?pals#

Foreign Language Teaching Methods http://tltc.la.utexas.edu/methods