Reading for 2/2

The teaching of culture always seemed like kind of a "duh" topic to me. But I was plesantly surprised with how the concept was presented in MCM's chapter Building Awareness and Practical Skills to Facilitate Cross-Cultural Communication. I think teaching cultural differences should be taught far more in the general education setting of US public schools. Sure we have Black History Month, and are required to read from diverse authors, but I think more needs to be done. The sections on the Invisible Culture and The Importance of Noticing are good examples of this. An appropriate exercise for all students is to look at things that they do and think about why they do them. Why do we say "thank you" even when someone hasn't really helped us with a problem? And why would someone comment on my teaching evaluation from last semester that I seemed "aloof"? Okay, maybe I just have a chip on my shoulder right now. But, what, did this student think I behaved incorrectly compared to how they think a college professor should act? Am I supposed to befriend them and ask how their day has been going? Should I have held an end-of-the-semester get together at the Loose Moose? But I digress...

Seriously, though, I also thought the sections entitled Teacher, Teach Yourself and Making Choices were helpful because they made me think about whether I want to allow students who are uncomfortable speaking up in class to remain silent or if I should pull them out of their comfort zone and force them to engage with the class. In other words, what do I expect from all of my students and how do I plan to make it happen.

I thought the section of ch 17 in HDB about the Episode Hypothesis was interesting, but I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to get from it. The overall topic of the chapter, Integrating the "Four Skills", seemed obvious, but worth the read. Last year I was a reading teacher, but we definitely did a whole lot of listening, speaking, and writing to support the target skill.

The Integrated Lesson that was presented was a fabulious example of how a well planned lesson should go down. I liked how the focus listed three concepts (situational, functional, formal). I always have a hard time picking one goal for my lessons. This showed appropriate options.