10   CULTURE

 

Learning about culture through foreign languages

·        Thanks to e-mail and the internet, pop music, satellite and cable TV, many young learners can experience the real value of English in their daily lives. (eskiden kimse başka kültürler hakkında bilgi sahibi değildi)

·        On a wider level an increasing number of countries, such as those within the European Union, include cultural awareness and inter-cultural learning as part of their educational and language teaching poli­cies to promote international understanding and world peace. (kültür açısından ulusların birbirini daha iyi anlayabilmesi)

 

Why teach culture within a foreign language program?

·        Cultural awareness and intercultural learning, provided by Kubanek-German.

o       The first refers to “an awareness that we are affected in our actions by culture”.

o       The second refers to “the ability to see oneself as part of a larger community, to contrast cultures, to be aware that a different lan­guage is embodying different cultural beliefs, behaviors and meanings”.

·        According to Jones, 'awareness of others' helps to develop an understanding of a wide range of cultural issues which include the following:

o       similarities and differences between groups of different language communities

o       social conventions (gelenek, görenek)

o       things which are unfamiliar within a target language community

o       stereotypes, as perceived by one linguistic group about another

o       language as culture (kültürde kullanılan dil)

·        Cross-cultural understanding (kültürler arası bağ kurma) and tol­erance tends to have the effect of making young people more aware of their own culture.

·        Kubanek-German dil ve kültür arasında çok büyük bir etkileşim olduğunu savunurlar.

·        Until recently the cultural dimension of language teaching programs was rather neglected. (insanların daha çok iletişim kurması kültürü olumsuz etkiler.)

·        Literature-based foreign language study for older students often emphasized culture, sometimes to the detriment of lan­guage. (Öğrencilere edebiyat ve kültür dersleri verilmesi dili olumsuz etkiler.)

·        On the one hand we have the views of people like Maley (1999) who suggest that many international coursebooks are 'bland' (sönük) and 'uncontroversial' (tartışmasız). (Marley kitaplar tek düze ve öğrencilerin bir okuyuşta anlayacağı şekilde olması gerektiğini savunur.)

·        Freebairn (primary and secondary coursebook writer) refers to writers' difficulties in finding topics which are at the same time suitable for language teaching and culturally appro­priate for a wide range of contexts. (konu bulmanın zorluklarından bahsediyor, dersin konusu zamana göre güzel ve doğru hazırlanmalı)

o       (Freebairn, öğrencilerin bir şey okuduğunda tahmin yeteneklerini geliştirecek tartışmalı konular olmasını savunur.)

 

Teaching culture through language

·        In the past there was little sys­tematic or explicit focus on how far to link culture and language and perhaps an uncertainty about how to teach it. (kültür ve dil bir arada nasıl verilmeli)

·        More recently many materials have included an explicit focus on culture in the form of concrete activities which are carefully integrated into the language objec­tives of the materials. (dersten çıkıldığında gramer yapılarının iyi bilmesi)

·        In this kind of material there is a clear focus on language and culture to produce both linguistic and cultural outcomes (toplumun kültürü hakkında öğrendiği şeyler). Kültür ve dili bir arada verecek somut materyaller sunulmalı)

 

What to teach

·        Provided it is motivating and not too abstract, early FLL has a good chance of encouraging children to take an interest and develop a positive attitude towards foreign countries and their culture. (diğer toplumların kültürlerini vermeliyiz)

·        In their contact with the L2, both in and out of school, primary pupils will often learn a range of details about the target culture, especially everyday life, traditional elements of children's lore, such as songs, rhymes, games, stories, special festivals and celebrations.

·        If the pupils are very young, teachers can try to collect and use realia, such as typical food, toys or clothes. (öğrenciler çok küçükse derste somut nesneler kullanmalıyız)

·        Kubanek-German writes that striving for authenticity at all costs is rather naive, as there is now so much cultural cross-over. (kültürler iç içe o kadar çok geçmiştir ki bir kelimenin hangi dile ait olduğu bazen bilinemez örn: Hamburger)

 

How to teach culture

·        Present aspects of culture from a child's perspective. (öğrencinin bakış açısından o kültürün kurallarını vermek)

·        Use authentic materials where possible, but do not worry too much if you do not have any. (kültüre has şeyleri vermek. Materyal yeterli değilse plan yapmak)

·        Try to create or exploit authentic situations e.g. how an English girl celebrates her birthday (a birthday cake, candles, presents, etc.). (o kültüre özgü olaylar örn: İngiliz bir kızın doğum gününü kutladığı gibi sınıftaki bir kızın doğum gününü kutlamak.)

·        Encourage the use of skills such as observing, questioning, compar­ing, reflecting, discussing, researching information. (karşılaştırarak, tartışarak, gözlemleyerek öğretmeliyiz)

·        Think of the ways you can exploit the materials by focusing on spe­cific language, simplifying and limiting the range of language. (materyalleri kullanarak dil üstünde yoğunlaşıp o dili öğretmeliyiz)

·        Think of the kinds of skills work - listening, speaking, reading and writing - which link up to the topic or activity. (konuya uygun aktivite yapılmalı)

 

Observing and comparing

·        From the first year onwards, pupils may be introduced to fictional char­acters - boys and girls of their own age, their families, and their friends - who feature in the sketches, stories and anecdotes contained in the teaching materials.

·        One of the most common activities in developing cross-cul­tural understanding is observing and comparing life in the pupils' home country with life in English-speaking countries.

·        When discussing differences, teachers should be careful that they and the pupils emphasize positive opinions rather than what appears very bizarre or unpleasant.

 

Starting points for teaching culture

The main starting points for teaching culture include:

·        Songs and rhymes These are useful for younger children and allow them to compare these English rhymes with their own. (kendi şarkılarıyla kıyaslama yaparlar)

·        Drawings you can ask them to make large drawings of some very simple things, but which tend to be strongly influ­enced by culture. (o kültürü çok fazla etkileyen bir eşya çizdirilebilir)

·        Artefacts (el ürünleri). You may be lucky enough to have an example of the latest toy which is popular in English-speaking countries. (Türk kültürü anlatılırken patik gösterile bilir)

·        Stories are a very appropriate way to introduce culture

·        Making contact with real people Slightly older pupils can be encouraged to carry out a range of activities, such as interviewing any native speakers available, writing requests for information, asking native speakers to pro­vide written information, making class links with target language speak­ers by letter, internet, or e-mail. (o dili konuşan biriyle birebir bağlantı kurmak)

·        Projects or topics Many of the topic-based magazines available from cer­tain publishers make this task much easier. There is also a small but growing number of 'stand-alone' videos which describe life in English-speaking countries.

·         

www.iolpgalerisi.com  by Mustafa Baran

 

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