Teaching Culture

"Teaching culture is not an easy task, and many teachers feel that they do not know the culture they need to teach well enough to be an expert in the classroom." Sabine Levet, FLTMAG, July 2013.

I agree that teaching culture is a challenge in many respects. However, given the inherent need for our students to be inter-culturally competent it is even more important that we commit to moving beyond teaching surface culture. 

The biggest challenge that I am experiencing when it comes to teaching culture is one of a mindset change in how I approach teaching and learning experiences. At a recent professional development session our presenter, Kara Parker started the workshop with "Lead with culture and language will follow!" She then proceeded to show us over the course of two days that through the use of culturally authentic resources we can create student-centered language learning experiences. But this is more difficult than just finding some good stuff on the internet and introducing it into the classroom. This requires time, cultural knowledge on the part of the educator, resourcefulness, connections, and creativity. 

In fact, this philosophical switch from language being the driving force to culture is very dramatic. Traditionally, I would teach a topic and weave in cultural tidbits, products, practices, and perspectives based upon my own experiences and education. I recognize now that this approach will only result in a cultural competency level of novice. Previously, students weren't asked to analyze their own culture in relation to others. They were not asked to evaluate their perspectives and those of others on a broad range of issues. The challenge of creating these experiences is great but exhilarating.

This leads me back to Sabine Levet's quote in which she points out that some teachers don't feel they have the requisite expertise to teach culture. I understand why teachers feel that way. I teach Spanish and there are 21 Spanish-speaking countries each with their own products, practices, and perspectives. It is impossible to be culturally connected to all the societies where our languages are spoken. In our classrooms we share what we have studied and experienced personally and for some teachers that is more than others. Even a native speaker of a particular country is not versed in the entire community. This is yet another challenge but one that can be managed through the use of technology. We are now able to connect with native speakers through a multitude of networked sites, conversation exchanges, and social media.   

The technology of today affords us the opportunity to easily connect with people of other cultures. 

By applying the strategies that make up models like Cultura our students can move beyond the superficial understanding of others to being culturally informed and competent citizens. 

Another challenge we face as a profession in relation to teaching culture is the assessment component. Many if not most educational institutions and their constituents expect learning to be assessed. We are expected to prove that our students have learned what they were taught. Capturing cultural knowledge for purposes of assessment has often resulted in the meaningless regurgitation of facts rather than deep cultural understanding. 

This question of 'how to assess culture' resulted in a bit of a personal transformation. I was inspired by yet another presenter, Pablo Muirhead, to rethink how what culture is taught and how the learnign is assessed. Pablo shared the Iceberg Concept of Culture and a culture project he designed that was in large part experiential. Students actually go into the community, interact with Spanish-speakers, and explore the culture. The required reflection serves as an indicator of how far along the ICC continuum a student has traveled through these experiences. These projects replaced the ten culture questions on the final exam and my students are better for it. They have expressed deeper interest and enthusiasm for the community and culture. In this respect I believe we are on the right path, but I recognize that our students need even more intensive exploratory experiences  and the challenge for me is to create them.