MCMC Meeting Lagos 26 May 2012 Intercultural Understanding and Languages teaching

2. MCMC Meeting Lagos 26 May 2012 Intercultural Understanding and Languages teaching Vicky Grammatikopoulou Goldsmiths University of London v.grammatikopoulou@gold.ac.uk

3. “Many opportunities for education and sustainable human development are being undermined by the lack of tolerance and intercultural understanding, upon which peace is founded. ”

4. “In the knowledge society of the 21st Century language competence and intercultural understanding are not optional extras, they are an essential part of being a citizen.” – Languages for All: Languages for Life (2002) 4

5. IU in the UK 5 Key Stage 2 (ages 7-11) Framework for Languages & Citizenship curriculum Key Stage 3 (ages 11-14)- National Curriculum – Languages and Citizenship Key Stage 4 (ages 14 – 16) – GCSE syllabus and Citizenship curriculum Key Stage 5 (ages 16-18) – A level syllabus

6. Key findings 6 Cultural awareness is more common than intercultural understanding or competence There is little evidence of progression The ‘inter’ cultural component is not clear The Citizenship curriculum offers ideas for content for the languages curriculum There are more opportunities for Intercultural Understanding that are not obviously included in the Languages curriculum In Languages classrooms there is a predominance of linguistic objectives and superficial inclusion of cultural themes.

7. Why is there a focus on culture? Change in the focus of language learning: from linguistic to communicative to intercultural competence Communicative competence (Canale, 1983): grammatical competence (knowledge of morphology, syntax, semantics, lexis and phonology) discourse competence (knowledge of the rules governing the structure of texts) sociolinguistic competence (knowledge of the sociocultural rules of language and styles governing speech; e.g. knowing when to say ‘tu’ or ‘vous’) strategic component (knowledge of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies to manage social interactions in the target language and culture). 7

8. What is ‘culture’? Jenks (1993) provides four different definitions of ‘culture’. A culture can be synonymous with a particular country, region, religion, civilisation or nationality or can correspond to several of these. In that sense, it is an ‘embodied and collective category’ and invokes a state of intellectual or moral development. An example is the early Mayan civilization. Culture can be understood as a person’s cognitive state of mind (e.g. ‘the cultured person’). Culture can be interpreted as a descriptive category relating to the collection of arts and intellectual work (e.g. literature) within any one society. Culture, understood as a ‘social category’, describes the way of life and a set of social practices shared by the members of a group. These members shape and are shaped by particular habits, attitudes, beliefs, values and behaviours. 8

9. What is ‘culture’? Culture: civilisation, collection of Art (Jenk’s first three definitions) culture: ways of life, traditions (Jenk’s fourth definition). Traditions have been created recently but give the illusion of longstanding traditions which have bound people or a group together. 9

10. Inter – between…who? cultural Culture or culture … whose? Understanding not ‘awareness’ or ‘knowledge’… 10

11. Iceberg theory of culture Above: visible, taught, obvious, recognised Below: assumed, not conscious, not explicitly taught 11

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13. Intercultural competence (Byram) savoir être – attitudes: abandoning ethnocentric attitudes towards other cultures; being interested in the target language and culture; developing curiosity and openness. savoir – knowledge: being familiar with different cultural products, practices and processes savoir comprendre – skills: observing, enquiring, analysing and interpreting. These skills are required to understand events (or documents). savoir apprendre/ faire – skills of discovery and interaction: ability to draw on the other three ‘savoirs’ and to use them in authentic interactions with people of other languages and cultures. 13

14. Intercultural competence (Byram) Byram & Doyé (1999): developing ‘savoir être’ ‘savoir’ and ‘savoir faire’ requires pupils to distance themselves from their own culture to reflect on it to share their interpretations with people of other cultures to define appropriate means of acting. Intercultural competence is constructed in interactions with people of other communities and through reflection on experienced similarities and differences. 14

15. Intercultural Raise consciousness Develop knowledge Understand self Understand others Show empathy / understanding 15

16. Culture or culture Culture = visible, high value e.g. art, literature, architecture culture = invisible, day to day life, routines, habits 16

17. The importance of citizenship education Citizenship education helps to equip young people to deal with situations of conflict and controversy knowledgeably and tolerantly. It helps to equip them to understand the consequences of their actions, and those of the adults around them. Pupils learn how to recognize bias, evaluate argument, weigh evidence, look for alternative interpretations, viewpoints and sources of evidence; above all to give good reasons for the things they say and do, and to expect good reasons to be given by others. Ted Huddleston, Citizenship Foundation

18. Community Cohesion Since 2007 all schools have a legal duty to promote community cohesion, by: Teaching children to value diversity whilst promoting shared values Working to eliminate variations in educational outcomes Enabling children to interact with people from different backgrounds www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/Communitycohesion

19. How we address intercultural understanding in our Initial Teacher Education Programmes at Goldsmiths: • Primary • Secondary • Continuous Teacher Education

20. Languages For all “Every child should have the opportunity, throughout Key Stage 2, to study a foreign language and develop their interest in the culture of other nations. They should have access to high quality teaching and learning opportunities, making use of native speakers and e-learning. By age 11 they should have the opportunity to reach a recognised level of competence on the Common European Framework and for that achievement to be recognised through a national scheme.” ( DfES , 2002) National Languages Strategy

21. Initial Teacher Education: Developing Intercultural understanding through languages teaching- some examples For Primary Teachers Diversity conference Languages for All Language Specialism Exchange programme with Spain, Germany and France Cross-curricular week- Local Area/Trip abroad Cross-curricular Week- Carnival

22. Bilateral exchange Programme

23. On placements abroad

24. Creating links between schools and classes

26. Some areas covered • Learning a new Language(Greek, Danish, Luxembourgish, Korean etc) • Exploring the potential of links between language teaching and other areas of the curriculum, • Global citizenship • Language and culture/intercultural understanding • Exploiting the potential and richness in the classroom and bringing in children’s backgrounds

27. Languages I use with different people Idea from Raymonde Sneddon

28. Community Cohesion Since 2007 all schools now also have a legal duty to promote community cohesion, by: • Teaching children to value diversity whilst promoting shared values • Working to eliminate variations in educational outcomes • Enabling children to interact with people from different backgrounds www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/Communitycohesion

29. Cross-curricular week: Carnival carnival petalozzi.ppt

30. Cross-curricular week: Local area

32. Trip to Saint Omer

33. trip tourist office

34. A range of outcomes 1- For them as student teachers = to experience a day trip first hand 2- For them as as teachers = to see what kind of activities will benefit pupils 3- To work ‘cross-phase’ = primary and secondary students collaborate 34

35. IU in teacher education - Secondary • Promoting cultural awareness – big C and small c • Global citizenship • Content and Language Integrated Learning • Links with other countries

36. Cultural diversity • What names and images are you using? Are you showing the diversity in the target language communities? • Are you making references to the wider French/Spanish/ German speaking world? • Are you making links with pupils’ backgrounds?

37. Developing intercultural understanding Teachers can develop children’s intercultural understanding at different levels: • Discovering linguistic and cultural diversity • Discovering cultural artefacts • Learning about routines and daily life • Learning about traditions • Rhymes, poems and songs • Tales, fables and stories

38. Stereotyping…

39. Stereotyping…

40. Representing themselves • Own identity – family, pastimes, favourite food, music, TV programmes = collage • What would they use to illustrate this for a pen pal abroad? Just with images…

41. Avoiding stereotypes • Personalise- case studies, own experiences, give context • Regionalise- focus on the area rather than the country

42. Global citizenship

43. Content and Language Integrated Learning • Focus on Art and Languages • Work with Partnership school • Links with partner schools

44. SoW: NCL4MFL/NCL5/6 A&D • Explore Frida Kalho/ more risk taking techniques/ explore self and personality/ include banner with a longer description of self, using adjectives and opinion sentences.