Background
I have decided to focus on the aspect of culture in this description of a focus area and how to include intercultural relations into language teaching. We are going more and more global in the world today and due to this development of globalization in the world, culture becomes an important thing in our life.
Research question
Why is intercultural competence so important to include into teaching?
- How can you teach culture?
- Which teaching materials can you use?
Theory
If we look into the national curriculum for intercultural competence we can see that it states that the aim of the teaching, after grade 9 is: “To give the students a general knowledge and understanding of different cultures from English speaking cultures (Fælles mål 2009).
Intercultural competence is an active and productive ability, because when we use it, we create culture, in the classroom as well. When communicating we create or confirm our identity and understanding is an active process where you create an understanding of what is said from your own perspective and your own horizons (Karen Risager). Karen Risager states: “I think it's very rewarding to have such a social constructivist approach to intercultural communicative competence.”
A person who has a degree of intercultural competence, is capable of noticing relations between cultures – both inside the same society and between different societies – and is capable of mediate between them, i.e. interpret each of them in the light of the other. There is also another person who has a critical or analytical understanding of (parts of) their own and other cultures, one who is conscious about their own perspective, conscious about how their own way of thinking is culturally decided, one who doesn't believe that their own understanding and their own perspective just is naturally (Michael Byram).
Discussion
When we talk about culture it is important to notice that one can look at cultures either from a static or dynamic aspect (Globalization course, challenge 4). So when a teacher needs to teach about intercultural competence, the teacher needs to be sure that the pupils are aware of the differences.
When they know these differences they start to develop their intercultural competence as they learn about it. In this development the pupils are also in the process of creating a 3rd place (globalization course). This helps the pupil understand the connection, and communication between, different cultures and languages.
Practical examples
My example is from the saalam teaching material we made. I was in the group who worked with “Slumdog Millionaire”.
Waseem and Sami from the group made a good teaching material about religious and cultural diversity, where there was all the information about India the children needed to know. A good focus point in this teaching material was to work with movie in a cultural perspective by using this teaching material.
The teaching material is to be found on http://www.salaam.dk/side.asp?lang=1&side=3&id=26&uv=85.
List of references
Fælles mål 2009
Culture in Language Learning, Hanne Leth Andersen, Karen Lund and Karen Risager.
Globalization Course Hæfte.
