Week 14 -- Microteaching

Feel free to ask me if you have any questions/issues while preparing your lesson plans and microteaching.

Week 13 -- No class

No ICC this week. SLA will take up the entire time.

Week 12 -- Identity and Course Wrap-up

This will be our last content class for ICC. Next week there is no class and you will do your Microteaching in Week 14. Please refer to your Microteaching assignment and lesson plan template.


Because this is the last week of content, we are going to do something a little different. In an attempt to provide a closure-style class and to flip the classroom, you will play a major role in deciding our last class' content.

Please read Duff and Uchida's article about negotiating a teacher's identity in the EFL classroom. This ties in a lot of ICC ideas and focuses on what we are -- teachers.

As you read, I want you to create questions using this table. Questioning is a very important strategy for those of you wanting to move on to a graduate program, and being critical shows a very high-level of understanding.

Please create at least 5 questions following the Question Table guidelines. You are welcome to create more. Do not post anything. Bring them to class. We'll use them in a round table discussion. Each of you will have several turns to pose questions to me, and much more importantly, to each other.

Please come to class ready to talk (as if I even need to type this).

Week 11 -- Teaching English as an EIL

Continuing ideas from last week, this week we'll look more closely at what it means to consider English as an EIL. Also, we'll look at a very practical, easy, and kid-friendly approach to including culture in the classroom.

1. First, please read McKay's Teaching English as an International Language.
2. Next, read this article about Moran's Cultural Knowings Framework.


Blog Question 1: Briefly reflect on your own classrooms. Have you been including EIL ideas either consciously or subconsciously? If so, how? If you have not, how could you include some EIL ideas? Or, if you reject the idea of EIL, why do you feel that way?

Blog Question 2: What part of your own culture could you teach following Moran's framework? Briefly explain how would you do it?

Week 10 -- English as an International Language (EIL)

For the next two weeks we will consider the issues raised by English being considered a global language. What does it mean for us, our students, and the content we teach?

1. First please read Graddol_Why global English may mean the end of English as Foreign Language.
2. Next read Graddol The Native Speaker Problem.
3. Then read Whose English Should We Teach.
4. Finally, read EIL Pronunciation, an argument regarding EIL and pronunciation.

Blog Question 1: How do you define "standard English?" Please justify your response.

Blog Question 2: What do you think about the phonological core?

Week 9 -- Stereotypes, Descriptions/Judgments, and Textbook Evaluations.

This week we're going to look at our own teaching material to determine if there are any hidden messages that we are sending to students. Sometimes these are quite obvious, and sometimes they are more subtle. We'll examine our own use of descriptive/judgmental language by modeling a couple activities you can do with your students. Finally, we'll take a closer look at our textbooks to see how effective the cultural content is.

1. First please read DeCapua and Wintergerst, pages 64-67, for a brief overview of stereotypes.
2. Read Cortazzi and Jin's Cultural Mirrors: Materials and Methods in the EFL classroom. This will get you thinking about how best to analyze a textbook. This chapter looks longer than it is -- plenty of diagrams and 24 pages of references.
3. Look over the picturebook My Name Is Yoon.


Blog question 1: As you read My Name is Yoon, consider the good and bad points of the cultural content in terms of images, stereotyping, power, etc. Post your thoughts below. Please include page numbers when you refer to specific scene (page numbers in the .jpg title). Also, please do not waste the paper/ink to print this out for class. I'll put it on the screen and we can all talk about it together.

Blog question 2: Look through your own current textbook. Be prepared to discuss the good/bad points of the cultural content. Don't post this; we'll talk about it in class.

Week 8 -- Lesson Plan Workshop

No reading.

Please bring your Discourse Analysis Lesson Plan to class. It should be ready to be handed in. Be prepared to explain it in detail. You'll have up to 10 minutes to explain it. Also bring your Discourse sources (video,ad, etc). After your explanation of the lesson, we'll have a few minutes to give you feedback. Also, if you have already taught it, you can share some good/weak points.

Week 7

No ICC class this week. Please continue working on your lesson plan, which will be presented (not a microteaching) next week in class.

John's Discourse Analysis

These are adds for the same beauty salon toy set, but from different christmas catalogs. The top is what you would typically be depicted, only girls, for a beauty salon kit from a standard traditional toy catalog in most countries. It was taken from a Denmark catalog. 

Then below there is the same ad, but instead of a girl with a hair dryer, there is a boy and also, he is wearing a hair dresser belt. This was the first time that this company had a change to gender neutral ads. The catalog is from Sweden, where the country has recently made a big shift to making things gender neutral. 

I believe if the bottom ad were to be shown in America, that it would become a giant controversy, especially for Tea Partiers and Right Winged Republicans. I feel that they would say it is promoting children to be "gay" and since they view that as something negative, they might view it as an attack on their morals, that it goes against the norms set by the Bible... This a would have a hard time being printed in America. 

Sweden has added the pronoun, 'hen', which is a combination of their 'he' and 'she', to its country's national encyclopedia and will also spend close to $340 million this year on promoting the equality of gender in the workforce. So, Sweden is definitely pushing in the direction of snuffing out gender stereotyping, wether it's a push in the right direction is up to you. 

Laura's Starbuck's Ads

Starbuck's is a worldwide brand. I randomly chose the UK and the US because I knew both adverts would be in English. What I found surprised me. The first ad is from the UK. The image is of many cups with the word latte being put down. Suddenly, it turns into a friendly, cool cartoon. The voice over says they will start using the customer's name instead of the drink name. Finally, if you come in by noon on a certain day, you'll get a free latte. The catchphrase is, "We're Starbucks. Nice to meet you." The focus of the ad is on personalizing the customer and you get a real sense of the individual. The announcer sounds polite and kind. They're giving away the coffee as a token of goodwill. There's no catch. The second ad is from the US. Starbuck's green letters ask questions about the community and the country. The message is that we should all vote. The promise is that if you vote, you'll get a free drink. The idea behind this is that the group is more important than the individual and that you earn what you get. The final statement is, "It's bigger than coffee." The reason I was surprised by this ad was that it seemed like the American ad was more formal while the British ad was more fun, which is the opposite of the stereotype. If I were to use this in my classroom, I would play the videos without sound first, making sure to cut the video before it showed the .co.uk and ask the students to give me the main idea of the two ads. Then I would have the students discuss which country they thought the two adverts were from. Then the class could vote on it.

Amy's Discourse Analysis Homework Assignment - WK 6

This BMW North America print advert formed part of the “Joy Campaign” which aimed to focus viewers on the joy which owning a BMW could bring.  I think the word ‘Joy’ has become linked with the idea of having a healthy ‘spirit.’  When I think of ‘joy’ I imagine Oprah Winfrey and the way she encourages women to empower themselves, and take time to nurture their spirits.  It feels like an advert geared to ‘strong women’ who value their role as mothers as much as they value their careers (in a sense – for the woman who has both.)  Also – using the word ‘maternal’ strengthens the idea of women being the ‘driving force’ of a family (excuse the pun).

The image of the baby is a strong motivator for parents, who value family, and their role of protecting their family.  The image sets out to show how the car will protect our most precious ‘possession.’  In this way, it suggests that we would have no choice other than to ‘buy this car’ if we wanted to keep our families safe,

To summarize, I think the advert works to motivate women to value their roles as mothers and protectors.  Considering the product, I would go further to say that this advert would speak to more affluent women, especially those who may be part of the workforce – and who are able to buy luxury cars.  In this sense – the advert opens the market up for women, whereas before, it may have been dominated by male consumers.

The below BMW advert was designed by a South African company.  At first I didn’t think the image was that striking, but when I read the text, I got a much stronger sense of its meaning.  The message behind the advert is definitely about wealth, and the status which comes from owning a BMW. The wording reminded me of an ‘involvement’ strategy - by using the word “your” the tone is set more as though a friend is speaking to the viewer.   The text is cocky and cavalier in its assumption that viewers would be able to purchase both the BMW and the penthouse without having to consider their financial situation.  From a South African context, the advert is definitely aimed at young, professionals who are materialistic and who are very much a part of a system of “work hard, play hard.” The message also lends itself to the idea of people being able to ‘have it all,’ a message that is at the core of success for many young professionals.  Even the choice of using a ‘penthouse’ is emphasising the cultural need for status, wealth and success.

When introducing these two images to a class, I would definitely ask them to brainstorm key words that come to them when seeing the images and the text.  I think the ‘gut reactions’ would be valuable and possibly more telling of the values that lay behind the adverts, as well as what cultural values the students themselves hold.  Following on from Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, I would probably guide a discussion around which image would be found in Feminine cultures, and which in Masculine cultures, and why.  Also – I would raise the idea of family and its importance as raised by the North American advert.  Considering that BMW is a luxury brand – I would also open a discussion of wealth, and what it means in different cultures.

Dee Dee's Discourse Analysis homework

Hi all,

I'm posting this for Dee Dee because she was having some tech issues. If you have similar issues, let me know and I'll be happy to help. --Adam

The print advertisement from the USA featuring Maria Sharapova is somewhat depicting women as objects of desire.  I suppose that the point Nike is trying to make is that women are just as good and tough as men as athletes. However, Maria Sharapova portrayed in full makeup and earrings that she would not be wearing when she is in fact competing all the more makes me question “why?” I would have instead preferred to see her featured training and competing in sweat.

Nike print advertisement from Korea with Yuna Kim is practically showing her more genuine side as an athlete rather than putting an emphasis on her beauty and her physical figure, which had been the norm with other advertising campaigns until this series of advertisements by Nike had come along. The message printed has a deep meaning in its original language, i.e. Korean, and hence is quite difficult to translate while eliciting similar emotions and making a comparable impact. However, with best efforts, roughly translated to English, it says “you didn’t expect it to be this hard?” The underlying messages are: 1) being a figure skater (the big picture being athletes in general) is hard and 2) we (public/others) did not expect it to be so.

Week 6 -- Discourse Analysis

This we will be looking at Discourse Analysis and how to apply it language classrooms. The purpose of using a Discourse Analysis approach is to help our students develop an awareness of how language and symbols are used differently across cultures.

There's a lot of ICC reading this week (but not much in SLA).

1. Read Discourse analysis as an approach to intercultural competence Norton 2008.
2. Read Cross-Cultural Discourse Analysis and Intercultural Education in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning.
3. Read McConachy Raising Sociocultural Awareness through Contextual Analysis.
4. Answer the blog question/task below.


Blog Question/Task:
Find an advertisement that reflects cultural values, beliefs, attitudes or norms. This can be print or video. It would be ideal to find two advertisements for the same product, but from different cultures. Post the image/video link and briefly explain how you might use this/these in your classroom to raise your students' awareness of cultural differences and otherness.

Week 5 -- Politeness

This week we are getting into some heavier reading. The purpose is for you to reflect on your own language use and consider ideas you may have never considered. Essentially, we'll be asking "why do we say that"? There is a lot of symbols and things that look like math equations. Don't get caught up on that.

1. Read Interpersonal Politeness and Power.
2. Respond to the blog question below:

Blog Question: What is something you found interesting in the reading? What is something you found difficult?


3. Bring in two excerpts from two different interactions. This can be from a personal email correspondence, a transcription of a conversation you had (as best you can from memory), a transcription from talk show/documentary/other live event, or a script from a commercial, movie or TV show.

We will use these to analyze authentic language use. Because we are aiming for authentic use, your own interactions are ideal, but not necessary. If using your own makes you feel uncomfortable, using another source is perfectly acceptable.

Please see my example below from a recent email exchange with a former STG student. Each of your excerpts may be shorter but try not to have them be much longer than my example.

Adam:
Hi XXXX,

I hope your semester is off to a good start. Do you feel a newfound sense of freedom without the reading/lesson planning/writing demands of STG?

How is your family? I know you had some stress about that, but I hope it is all settled now. How about your PhD and research? Any big news?

Anyway, I'd be happy to hear a bit from you. The STG started two week ago, so I've been thinking of last semester's students. And if you ever want to grab a beer, I'd be up for it. 

Good luck and talk to you soon. 

Student:

Hey, good to hear from you. Sorry I'm late getting back to you. I've got a lot going on right now.

Beer sounds good. When are you free this semester? I remember that you are busy on weekends but have free days during the week. You wouldn't be up to coming up to the Hongik area, would you?

Adam:
Monday nights are probably the best for me. How about you? I don't mind coming to Hongdae.

Student:
I might be able to swing that. Let me get back to you. If I can't, I don't suppose lunch on a Tuesday or Thursday would be possible?

Adam:
Monday nights would be ideal, but if it doesn't work, Tuesdays and Thursdays are good for lunch. It doesn't have to be next week or even this month. It seems like you're pretty busy. Just keep me posted. 

Week 4

This week we're looking at what causes cultural differences and how people react to them. 

1.      Skim DeCapua & Wintergerst, pp 108-116 and respond to Blog Question 1

2.      Read Cultural Dimensions and Cultural Differences

3.      Read Bennett’s Developmental Model ofIntercultural Sensitivity

4.      Respond to Blog Question 2

5.      Prepare an interactive presentation on your assigned Cultural Dimension

Cultural Dimensions Presentations Groups:

Power Distance – Jasper, Jeff

Uncertainty Avoidance – Laura, John, Lawrence

Masculinity/Femininity – David, Dee Dee, Amy

Individualism/Collectivism – Liz, Kevan

Presentation Guidelines:

1. Keep it brief (less than 10 minutes)
2. Summarize main points
3. Make it interactive – ask questions that allow your classmates to personalize the content

Blog Question 1) Describe and reflect on your experience playing the "5 Tricks" card game. Some questions to think about: What emotional responses (cultural "attitudes") did you experience? How did you deal with them? Based on the concepts and ideas from last week's reading and our class discussions, why do you think you had those emotional reactions? What did you learn from the experience (if anything)? How might this experience be important to you as a teacher? Might an activity like this be useful for your students? If so, how would you adapt it?

Blog Question 2) Briefly state what stage of the DMIS best describes you  in Korea right now? 

ICC Week 3

Before completing any of the reading for this week, please respond to Q.1 in comments below. 

Read DeCapua & Wintergerst , pp. 7‐28 (Textbook)

After completing the reading, respond to Q.2.

1) Briefly describe an experience you have had in your classroom or workplace (in Korea or elsewhere) in which you had to resolve a cultural conflict or overcome intercultural challenges.What happened? How did you respond? What did you do to try and resolve the situation? How did it turn out?

2) After completing the reading, please skim pp. 30-47 of the DeCapua & Wintergerst textbook. Choose one activity that you might use in the classroom and explain why. Include a brief discussion of any shortcomings of the activity and how you might adapt or change it.