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AIM
To increase awareness of the different meanings which
people ascribe to the word "culture", and the way
the term is used to indicate that people are different from
one another; to stimulate discussion about one’s own culture
and how it differs from others |
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MATERIALS
No special materials needed |
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LEVEL
Intermediate and above |
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TIME
60 minutes |
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PREPARATION
No special preparation is needed |
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IN
CLASS
1. Explain to the class that there are many definitions of
the word "culture", and that they are going to carry
out an activity to find out what the members of the class
think of when the word "culture" is mentioned. |
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2.
Ask the class to name as many cultural groups as they can. As
the students call them out, write them up on the board. |
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3.
When you have 15-20 names of cultural groups, divide the class
into groups of three or four. Explain that each group is to
work together to draw up a list o characteristics that make
each of the cultural groups different from all the others.
Allow ten minutes for the groups to make up their lists. Here
is a sample of the kind of list they might produce: |
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4.
Ask a volunteer from each group to read out their list, while
you write up the characteristics. |
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5.
When the students have reached the end of their list, ask
them, which characteristics apply to all of the cultural
groups they mentioned. For example, can all the groups be
identified by different languages or by different religions?
The students will realise that very few, if any, of the
characteristics apply to all the groups. |
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6. Conduct a
whole-class discussion on the basis of the following questions:
- Why is it difficult
to define the word "culture"?
- Why do people identify with cultures and cultural groups? |
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VARIATION
1
As an extension to this activity, ask the following
questions:
- Is anyone in
the class a member of any of the groups mentioned? If so,
which group? If not, with which cultural group do you
identify?
- How do you
feel about the term "culture" and "cultural
group"? If you like the term, why? If not, why not?
- What other
term would you prefer (national group, ethnic group, or no
term at all)? Why?
Etc…
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VARIATION
2
Another variation,
instead of working through step 3 above, is to ask the
students to brainstorm and draw up a list of cultural images
and symbols they associate with three or four of the cultural
groups identified in step 2. For example, a list of symbols
relating to US culture might include: baseball, the Statue of
Liberty, the American flag, hot dogs, Elvis Presley, cowboys,
the White House, etc… |
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REMARKS
Answers in the
discussion stage (step 6) will vary. The important points to
bring out are:
- The
characteristics which people use to name cultural
differences cannot be applied universally.
- People
identify cultures and cultural groups as a way of
indicating that the groups are different from one another.
In the context of this activity, it does not matter
whether the students formulate a specific definition of
the term "culture". What matters is the way the
term is used to indicate human differences.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This activity is an adoption of "What is culture" in
G. Smith and G. Otero, Teaching About Cultural Awareness
(Denver, Col.: Center for Teaching International Relations,
1977; revised 1988).
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