This post is going to be related to two of the readings of this week, Language and culture learning in higher education via telecollaboration (Chun, 2015) and Emerging Trends and New Directions in Telecollaborative Learning (O'Dowd, 2016), the leader discussion and the connection of them with my field of study which is Second Language Acquisition/ Teaching:
Our classmate John talked about the concept of "coexistence". As John said: "first it is important to recognize yourself and then you will be able to recognize other cultures". This is how students can realize about the diversity. For example, I have seen this in my field presenting this activity in class which is in the textbook Pura vida (Norma López-Burton, Laura Marqués Pascual, Cristina Pardo Ballester, 2013). In this activity the students first have to recognize the culture of the United States to be able to understand other cultures:
Our classmate John talked about the concept of "coexistence". As John said: "first it is important to recognize yourself and then you will be able to recognize other cultures". This is how students can realize about the diversity. For example, I have seen this in my field presenting this activity in class which is in the textbook Pura vida (Norma López-Burton, Laura Marqués Pascual, Cristina Pardo Ballester, 2013). In this activity the students first have to recognize the culture of the United States to be able to understand other cultures:
I have really liked Agar’s (1994) concept of “languaculture” because I believe that language and culture are inseparable. As Chun (2015) mentioned: “It is necessary to develop speakers with a translingual and transcultural competence” because they will develop an effective communication, effective interaction and understanding of culture. John gave an example in class where there is a lack of understanding when in the United Stated sometimes they do not understand the Colombian sense of humor.
I agree with Chun (2015) when she indicated that “culture cannot be “taught” in the traditional sense of teachers imparting knowledge to students, but must be experienced by the learners, as they co-construct cultural knowledge with others.” We are going to experience culture doing an OIE in a few weeks, but we can encounter misunderstandings in the online interaction. In that sense, we will need to think that conflicts are opportunities to learn through interaction and negotiation. If there is a conflict during the OIE we could stop for a moment and think about what kind of feelings are causing that? or what can I reflect on that?
Finally, we will start our exchange in about one week and we will be interacting with our telecollaborative partners for approximately 8 weeks. Do you think this period is enough for an OIE?
I will appreciate any suggestion :)
Best,
Samanta
Dear Samanta,
ReplyDeleteI have decided to comment your post this week because it is indeed very interesting and self explanatory.
For me, it was also something remarkable to mention when our classmate John talked about the concept of "coexistence". He said that "first it is important to recognize yourself and then you will be able to recognize others". This is how students can realize about the diversity, as you say, and, in fact, it is nothing different from how reality works. In life, we need to love ourselves to really know how to love others, we need to help ourselves before we try to help others, etc. Therefore, through technology, we can get to know ourselves better and try to get to know others so that we embrace different cultures and viewpoints.
In addition, the activity that you show on this post is really appealing. I like it because it makes students think about their own culture and compare it with other culture. At the end of the day, there are not that many differences.
It goes without saying that I also agree with Chun (2015) when she defends that “culture cannot be “taught” in the traditional sense of teachers imparting knowledge to students, but must be experienced by the learners, as they co-construct cultural knowledge with others.” In the same way as we teach the Spanish language in a way in which our students learn the language by doing, we cannot pretend that students learn about culture in the traditional way. To learn about culture, they have to experience culture and embrace it. An excellent way to do so is through an exchange! I also look forward to the one that we will have in this class.
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Best,
ALV
Hi Samanta,
ReplyDeleteYour posted activity is quite interesting and a great conversation starter. So complex and it is bound to bring out various ideologies. For instance, with the different perspective, I'm pretty sure most Americans would not be ok with that person's proclamation. I would deem that person from the Americas, but not American.
To make it more complex, I would never identify solely as American here in the states. I'm sure this would be different out of country, but here in the states I always identify as Native American, Indian, or Indigenous first. This is common with other Natives as well. For me, the major purpose of doing so is to simply remind others that yes, we in fact still exist. The government didn't kill us all. Culture is very political for some of us.
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ReplyDeleteDear Sam:
ReplyDeleteTeaching culture is difficult and as Chun (2015) suggests it should be experienced. Of course, there is a pragmatic ability behind it. It is interesting Agar's concept that you mentioned as well. One thing that kept me thinking has to do with the concept of culture of/in America. It's so hard to say there is only a culture in the US for the obvious reasons and I completely agree with Adrienne about this: "Culture is very political for some of us.".
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Hello Samatha,
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you when you—supporting Chun (2015)— mentioned that is not about just "putting" students in an online environment. It is also about creating a proper space to generate experiences of sharing and collaborative exchange for culture learning. A bunch of digital materials (even the coolest ones) are not going to do the "human" work of connecting people and making them reflect on their attitudes towards different cultures. The role of educators is crucial to make technology useful and enhance the learning process.
Very interesting post!