Week 3: Exploring Culture

It is easier to learn a second language than to learn a whole new culture. Learning a second culture is more complex. Getting used to another culture while at the same time maintaining the first culture is not an easy task. It is interesting how there has been various researchers and studies on the concept of culture, but it is still challenging to come up with a set definition for it. I enjoyed the readings, especially the one by Wintergerst because he gave some tips on how to explore culture in the classroom. The tips give me an idea on how to help students be aware of their own culture and of others. It is also helpful to see some sample lesson plans to start using the tips within the classroom. I will probably use them in my bilingual or ESL classroom in the future. Also, the Big C culture (grand themes) and Little C culture (minor themes) are interesting ways to teach the concept of culture. I liked how Wintergerst uses each to organize the concept of culture that can be used in the classroom. As a future language educator, I will create a multicultural community in my classroom where students accept other cultures and are aware of their own and others' culture. As Kumar mentions, teaching culture is both rewarding and challenging for language teachers, but at the end it is rewarding to be able to help students develop their own cultural identity. It is not easy to teach culture, but we can help them be aware of cultural differences and similarities that will help them understand various cultures. I like how hinkel brings up the idea of second culture acquisition and how the minds, selves and worlds are organized. He discusses lexical networks, metaphors and mediational tools between a variety of cultures. As a second language learner myself, I have seen myself struggling with cultural differences, between Peruvian and American. At the beginning, it was more difficult to assimilate to the new culture, but after years of observing, practicing and living within the American culture, I have been able to avoid less cross-cultural and intercultural misunderstandings. I have tried not to forget my own culture and its beliefs while adding the aspects of the new culture to my life.

Week 2: Defining Culture in Morgan's Article

After reading the article I realized the definition of culture was more complex than I thought. When we were asked to define culture in class, I came up with "culture is a variety of traditions and customs that have been passed throughout generations". I was just looking at culture as traditions passed from different ethnic groups. Even the author Morgan had trouble figuring out the definition of culture because it is pretty broad. He defines it as "the evolving way of life of a group of persons, consisting of a shared set of practices associated with a shared set of products, based upon a shared set of perspectives on the world, and set within specific social contexts" (24). The definition is pretty lengthy but it taps into everything that culture consists of. It is interesting to read about culture and how it encompasses everything around us. I didn't realize culture entailed everything around us from practices to people and specific communities to products and perspectives. I like how Morgan uses the drive-through restaurants as an example to explain the 5 dimensions of culture. Products are like the napkins or uniforms, practices are like learning how to drive a car before ordering the meal, communities are the members of the town, patrons or employees, persons encompass factors such as race, ethnicity, social class and others, and lastly is perspectives which are the different attitudes towards the meal, positive or negative, or different meanings for different members of a culture.

Morgan also defines culture as an iceberg because there are explicit and tacit cultures, where perspectives are usually placed under the tacit part because many other perspectives remain unseen by a certain culture. Usually the rest of the dimensions are seen and some perspectives as well, but most perspectives lie outside our awareness. Morgan also discusses how language cannot be separated from culture, "language-and-culture". It is a product of culture and these are both intertwined. People need language to transmit information in their everyday life. Every ethnic group has its own language that represents their own culture. It is needed to maintain relationship as well as to communicate a message to others and organize our life. Also, I like how Morgan comes up with 4 language functions useful when using language to learn culture: "language to participate in the culture, language to describe the culture, language to interpret the culture, and language to respond to the culture" (39). These are useful in language classrooms because as language teachers we will have to separate language from culture. I have had to define "culture" many times in the past for classes and now I found a definition that fits the characteristics of culture. And lets not forget about language!, these two go along with each other. Both of these are needed to carry out actions and share opinions with others in the world we live in. As a future language teacher, this topic will definitely come up, probably everyday in my classroom. I agree with Morgan and the 5 dimensions of culture. I have finally understood what culture really means and how the language functions can be very useful for future lessons. My future students will bring their own culture into the classroom as well as I will, and together we will be able to create our own little culture in our classroom.

Hello, first post of the semester!

My name is Melissa Shinke. I am majoring in bilingual elementary education with minors in Spanish and TESOL. I am interested in learning about the cultural issues surrounding TESOL. It is important to create a classroom environment that accommodates the students' unique cultural backgrounds.