Changing a lesson to raise culltural awareness in the English Classroom

1. TATER TOTS
Addendum: Changing a Lesson Plan

2. TEAM MEMBERS
• PAOLA MAGDALI TORRES MANZANAREZ
• CAROLINA QUEZADA
• MARIA GUADALUPE GÓMEZ GÓMEZ
• SARAHÍ VIDALES FÉLIX

3. Words and Phrases
OBJECTIVES
• To present some adjectives
• To practice using the adjectives presented above in context

4. The Activity in the Book

5. Modification

6. Reason
• The Activity
• Implementing culture that the students could learn in class.
• Selecting interesting aspects of a country and presenting them in a way that will engage
students.
• The modification is on the exercises where we are using cultural facts about different
countries, that way, the students learn vocabulary and cultural facts about different
countries.

7. Listening
OBJECTIVES
• To introduce the topic of the listening text through an oral activity involving
background knowledge.
• To listen for gist.
• To transfer from verbal to visual information
• To listen for specific information

8. The Activity in the Book

9. Modification
• As students listen to a conversation or are engaged with some other materials,
you can ask them to 'notice' particular features.
• While revising the true and false questions, the teacher may elicit some
questions so that the students could mention what is the simmilarity or
difference of the statement in their own culture.

10. Reason
• Noticing
• Asking students to 'notice' gives a focus to the materials by making it into a task, rather
than simply passive viewing or listening

11. Speaking
OBJECTIVES
• Aim: To give students practice in asking and answering questions about a
person they know.

12. The Activity in the Book

13. Modification

14. Reason
• Many books which attempt to teach culture offer only
'discussion' activities.
• Discussion is a valuable form of learning in culture, but we
cannot expect all students to be able to discuss complex
issues at a high level in a foreign language.
• Often, even high-level students need some preparatory
activities with clear goals before they can proceed to
discussion.

15. Reading and Writing
OBJECTIVES
• To read for gist.
• To prepare students for the writing task.
• To relate the topic of the Reading text to
personal opinion

16. The Activity in the Book

17. Modification
• Assign the writing task changing the instructions as follows:
• Imagine that you are from _________.
• Research what a college student normally does in that country.
• Write John an e-mail that includes information about yourself, your country and life in
general there.
• Your e-mail should be between 100 and 120 words.

18. Reason
• The Reading Activity would be left as it is.
• The Reading is about the life of a university student in another country.
• Writing Task would be modified.
• Knowing about culture is a broad topic.
• It consists of all the institutions, all the behaviour, in fact all the man-made
aspects of a very large group of non-homogeneous people.
• All that we can do is provide some pathways to enter into learning more
about the culture.
• Student research is one of the most powerful tools that we can use with
college students because it combines their interests with the classroom.