Do you consider it important for an effective cross-cultural communications?
lunes, 25 de abril de 2016
Non verbal communication: Body language
Do you consider it important for an effective cross-cultural communications?
How "diverse " is our school in terms of social - cultural differences?
Respect diversity at school.
What do others think of you? How the brain perceives other people
How do we innteract with other people? What stereotypes we have about the ones we meet or see or know for the first time?
What do others think of you? How the brain perceives other people
Dong Seon-Chang | TEDxStuttgart
How to integrate children of different cultural backgrounds in the classroom.
It's interesting to see how teachers try to integrate children of different cultural backgrounds in the classroom.
Global Digital Culture: Cultural Differences and the Internet
Global Digital Culture: Cultural Differences and the Internet
Language as a Window into Human Nature
Is language only a set of symbols? What make humans identity: linguistic or language knowledge? Can you spot the difference?
David Crystal
Watch this video by David Crystal, a famous linguist.
He gives 5 reasons for studying linguistics.
Noam Chomsky on Language Aquisition
It seems that it is language what makes humans. Amazing how language is acquired.
Travel around the world to broaden our minds!
Do you think our "intercultural education" gets improved by travelling around the World?
You have to read this "The man who ran out of countries! "
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3185929/He-ran-countries-Meet-youngest-person-visit-country-planet-turning-40-s-got-advice-same.html
You have to read this "The man who ran out of countries! "
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3185929/He-ran-countries-Meet-youngest-person-visit-country-planet-turning-40-s-got-advice-same.html
Do you agree? The video has no words, you can put YOUR WORDS ...
Reflection on Language
Task 1 Thinking about Language Diversity
Speaking activity as a brainstorming with a group of 24 students of 4th year of ESO using the PowerPoint slides provided. Their answers surprise me as they basically told me they were monolingual, taking into account that they have English and Frech/German as languages learnt at school. One student shared that, at home, she spoke Portuguese with her mother. Another added that she did speak a mixture of Spanish and English at her village quite close to Portugal, but only in the summer. And one more is half Japanese.
As a whole they thought there were only hundreds of languages spoken in the world. And I did have to explain that there are languages in danger and others dying. They were surprised by the results.
Task 2 Thinking about Language Diversity
The same questions made me think about languages and how strong or fragile their life could be. Spanish is in such good position, for one reason is the second non official language spoken in USA
Task 3 Language Diversity
From my point of view Language Diversity is to appreciate and value all languages spoken in the classroom. My students who speak Portuguese and Japanese did not appreciate the fact that they are able to communicate in several languages. I make them reflect on the value of their heritage language.
And this is what we, teachers, should do and I did not do. I realized that when we did the activity and I shared the languages I speak with my students and make them talk about the languages they spoke and the level of fluency. In very simple terms like very well, good, so-so, a little they shared with each other and they added the value to the languages. I am thinking about making these students teach us some simple words in one teaching session so they can become proud of their competence in these languages.
Task 4 Use Cultural Activities
So why not do it? Next week is the end of term and after exams they are quite tired so I am going to do a teaching session about Learning Languages.
Task 5 Languages Classification
My students and myself enjoyed the language tree, we searched for one for Japanese on the net. I have attached the picture.
Speaking activity as a brainstorming with a group of 24 students of 4th year of ESO using the PowerPoint slides provided. Their answers surprise me as they basically told me they were monolingual, taking into account that they have English and Frech/German as languages learnt at school. One student shared that, at home, she spoke Portuguese with her mother. Another added that she did speak a mixture of Spanish and English at her village quite close to Portugal, but only in the summer. And one more is half Japanese.
As a whole they thought there were only hundreds of languages spoken in the world. And I did have to explain that there are languages in danger and others dying. They were surprised by the results.
Task 2 Thinking about Language Diversity
The same questions made me think about languages and how strong or fragile their life could be. Spanish is in such good position, for one reason is the second non official language spoken in USA
Task 3 Language Diversity
From my point of view Language Diversity is to appreciate and value all languages spoken in the classroom. My students who speak Portuguese and Japanese did not appreciate the fact that they are able to communicate in several languages. I make them reflect on the value of their heritage language.
And this is what we, teachers, should do and I did not do. I realized that when we did the activity and I shared the languages I speak with my students and make them talk about the languages they spoke and the level of fluency. In very simple terms like very well, good, so-so, a little they shared with each other and they added the value to the languages. I am thinking about making these students teach us some simple words in one teaching session so they can become proud of their competence in these languages.
Task 4 Use Cultural Activities
So why not do it? Next week is the end of term and after exams they are quite tired so I am going to do a teaching session about Learning Languages.
Task 5 Languages Classification
My students and myself enjoyed the language tree, we searched for one for Japanese on the net. I have attached the picture.
lunes, 18 de abril de 2016
Celebrating 400 Cervantes - Shakespeare
How are you celebrating this important event in your classes?
domingo, 17 de abril de 2016
Activities to develop intercultural competence
Different activities should be tailored to help students understand their own cultural traits and those of their peers. Here are some examples.
1. What is culture and how do we approach it?
2. Stereotypes - racism and differences. Where do they come from?
3. Sameness / difference. Exercises in all possible matters.
4. Personal critical incidents and the emotive reaction.
5. Active listening. Positive cultural experiences.
6. Conflict resolution techniques.
7. Non-defensive communication and changing views.
8. Conflict resolution games.
The best way to practise these exercises is through role plays, questions/answers activities, narratives, reports, diaries, videos, pictures, digital materials, posters and conceptual maps.
Intercultural Language Activities by John Corbett (2010) is a recommended book for such activities.
Seeds of Confidence: Self-esteem Activities for EFL classroom by Jane Arnold (2009) is another good resource for teachers.
1. What is culture and how do we approach it?
2. Stereotypes - racism and differences. Where do they come from?
3. Sameness / difference. Exercises in all possible matters.
4. Personal critical incidents and the emotive reaction.
5. Active listening. Positive cultural experiences.
6. Conflict resolution techniques.
7. Non-defensive communication and changing views.
8. Conflict resolution games.
The best way to practise these exercises is through role plays, questions/answers activities, narratives, reports, diaries, videos, pictures, digital materials, posters and conceptual maps.
Intercultural Language Activities by John Corbett (2010) is a recommended book for such activities.
Seeds of Confidence: Self-esteem Activities for EFL classroom by Jane Arnold (2009) is another good resource for teachers.
viernes, 15 de abril de 2016
SHAKESVANTES en la prensa
En el Norte de Castilla de hoy aparece esta noticia en la que se menciona la actividad desarrollada por el CFPI el pasado 6 de abril "4oo years playing (with) Shakespeare and Cervantes", coordinada por nuestra compañera Mariví Rocha.
Os dejo también el enlace al canal YouTube del CFPI donde podeís ver el vídeo del curso
Margarita
viernes, 8 de abril de 2016
martes, 5 de abril de 2016
A Spanish - Finnish telecollaboration
In my
last project, which lasted for six weeks, the thirty-three participants
(sixteen Spaniards and seventeen Finns) were expected to perform their tasks
via the video conferencing Internet tool, Adobe Connect. The tasks assigned comprised introducing themselves,
talking about their university education, hobbies, traditions, gastronomy and
discussing local newspaper issues affecting them as well as a film from their
respective countries. The aim was to examine how students could communicate their
views in groups of three, through real-time discussions about various issues
related to their culture. Both the Spanish and Finnish participants shared the
same levels of English (C1 and C2 on the Common European Framework of
Reference). Facebook (a closed group),
which was the selected additional platform, provided the students not only with
opportunities for further interactions but also for their peers to watch the
videos showing their task completion so
that views could be exchanged on each other’s debate.
This new
application seemed to be well appreciated by all the participants mainly
because communication took place in
real-time due to its synchronous nature, which encouraged them to have a deeper
insight into the issues debated online since peer feedback was instantaneous.
The task
about selecting a newspaper article on a local issue was meaningful because the
students had to negotiate towards an outcome . This led to the development of
collaborative skills, as they attempted to reach an agreement. Last but not
least, the interactions via videoconferencing not only assisted students in practising their
speaking skills, but also increased their knowledge of each other’s culture by
exchanging personal views, asking each other questions to encourage
feedback, and understanding one
another’s needs in order to establish a relationship. Additionally,
it was much easier for them to clarify any ambiguity or misunderstanding
straightaway since they were participating in real-time conversations and could
respond spontaneously to their peers. All in all, it was a rewarding experience for all the
participants as they reported in their interview on completion of the project.
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