L. 4-5: Intercultural Competence

 You have organised an exchange with a school in another country. During their visit, the students attend each other's school and stay at each other's homes.

1- Describe the general terms of the arrengement, i.e.: country, age and academic level of students, length of the stay, who is visiting who this time, and any other detail you may consider relevant.

2- How would you prepare your students prior to the visit, bearing in mind the above set of conditions.

Trip to Brighton (UK)

Age: 15/ 16 years old

Level: 4th ESO, A2

Group: It will be a group of 20 students, and two teachers (each teacher will be in charge of ten students)

Cities: We will be staying in Brighton, since it is not the big city, and the students will be able to move around on their own. We want them to be autonomous, yet a big city, such as London, may be too big and crowded for our teenagers, who are underage.  However, Brighton is a town full of young people like them, since almost half the population is formed by students. This way, they will be able to meet their English partners, who are the same age, and thus it will be easier to establish bonds with the English culture, which is undoubtedly part of the English language.

Moreover, Brighton is definitely cheaper than the capital. Our students will be staying with the families of their peers. This way we will be able to overcome two problems: students with different economic levels will be able to come, and they will be directly in touch with English people: caring families, who will take care of them like their own family.

When? How long? The trip will take place during the Easter holidays, when our students will enjoy a break from homework and the exams period. It will last for a week. Since our students will be staying in host-families, the cost of the trip will be much cheaper than if they stayed in hotels. Thus, we will be able to enjoy England for a whole week!

What's more! The trip will include a one-day trip to London,  and another day trip to Oxford, where teachers and the local students will be the guides. During the rest of the week, in the mornings, activities will be held for our students to get to know students from  the high school in Brighton, with which we have an agreement.  And in the afternoon, our students will get to know international students from St. Giles College, which holds lectures for students who come from all over the world so as to learn English.

How to prepare the students prior to the visit: as it will be the first time many of them travel abroad, we will make sure in advance they have all the necessary documents, such as passport or European sanitary card. As for the language, the lessons before the trip will be devoted to introducing vocabulary and expressions (such as asking for directions or ordering a coffee) to ensure they are able to make themselves understood in any kind of contexts they might encounter during their visit to Brighton. Teachers will also encourage them to prepare a small notebook with useful tips, plans or ideas to share with their English peers.  

We will need: A coat and an umbrella (it’s England.. and you never know when it’s going to pour!). A pair of comfortable shoes and trainers (we won’t stop walking and running and playing!). And a lot of hope and wish to laugh and enjoy meeting a new culture!!!

On bilingualism, global language and mixed identities (9/12/16)

What do we understand by being bilingual? Is it an advantage or a disadvantage? This was the topic of today's class, in which we all have shared our personal vision about the notion of bilingualism. The discussion started after watching a very short and fun clip called "The importance of being bilingual", which tells the story of a golden fish who escapes from being devoured by a cat because he is able to speak 'dog'. Silly as it may seem, most of us have felt identified with the anecdote, as long as the fact of mastering a second language has saved our lives in more than one occasion -not literally, of course! Indeed, this topic is part of our nature, since the vast majority of the class are innate bilinguals able to switch from Catalan to Spanish without hesitation.

After this group discussion, we've moved to a quiz about English varieties in which the teacher has checked our knowledge of the different Englishes spoken around the world. Quite an amusing exercise, though, since it has served to dismantle many stereotypes - as the idea of the English as a 'fixed' language only spoken in the global powers such as the United States and the United Kingdom. The quiz provided information about the different English varieties and particularities of each region, as well as the number of speakers. 

Finally, we've watched a video in which David Crystal argued about the importance of teaching English as a global language.. In fact, we agree with him that there is a real need to expose learners to as many different pronunciations as possible, so they can be able to understand a message and interact with natives of the most varied origins. Even though course books are usually based on RP or American accent, it is our duty as teachers to create a huge variety of activities in which students can get in touch with a wider perspective of the English world, in terms of spelling, content and culture. As always, the more the merrier! 

P.S. If you are interested in the topic, here are some extra links! 

Why bilinguals are smarter

Learn British accanets and dialects

Discover the History of English

English as a global language

Food for thought! 

Talking about bilingualism, we reflected upon the fact that speaking a language meant having a given identity, and thus speaking more than one languages involved having many identities, and being more likely to empathise and understand people with different backgrounds. We were talking about this when the class finished and we remembered a teacher at University telling us about The Quijote being written in Spanglish, and we decided to do some research. 

Ian Stavans, who adapted El Quijote to Spanglish, is considered to be the father of Spanglish himself. This synthesis of Latin-American Spanish and English is wildely spoken in the US, and it is vindicated by many as “the language of the future”. By adapting El Quijote to Spanglish, Stavans brought the Spanish language and culture closer to their own. He wrote the Chicano culture into being through this new approach to the most famous Spanish Novel. He managed to assert the Chicano Identity through this linguistic hybridisation. Isn’t it amazing what we can create through language? 

Here is the beginning of Stavans translation, hope you enjoy it! 

“In un placete de La Mancha of which nombre no quiero remembrearme, vivía, not so long ago, uno de esos gentlemen who always tienen una lanza in the rack, una buckler antigua, a skinny caballo y un grayhound para el chase. A cazuela with más beef than mutón, carne choppeada para la dinner, un omelet pa’ los Sábados, lentil pa’ los Viernes, y algún pigeon como delicacy especial pa’ los Domingos, consumían tres cuarers de su income. El resto lo employaba en una coat de broadcloth y en soketes de velvetín pa’ los holidays, with sus slippers pa’ combinar, while los otros días de la semana él cut a figura de los más finos cloths. Livin with él eran una housekeeper en sus forties, una sobrina not yet twenty y un ladino del field y la marketa que le saddleaba el caballo al gentleman y wieldeaba un hookete pa’ podear. El gentleman andaba por allí por los fifty. Era de complexión robusta pero un poco fresco en los bones y una cara leaneada y gaunteada. La gente sabía that él era un early riser y que gustaba mucho huntear. La gente say que su apellido was Quijada or Quesada –hay diferencia de opinión entre aquellos que han escrito sobre el sujeto– but acordando with las muchas conjecturas se entiende que era really Quejada. But all this no tiene mucha importancia pa’ nuestro cuento, providiendo que al cuentarlo no nos separemos pa’ nada de las verdá.” 

On smarties, linguistics and understanding each other (25/11/16)

25/11/2016

On smarties, linguistics, and learning to work with each other

SCENE ONE

(A big, classroom. High ceiling. Walls painted a faded white. Windows can’t be opened, neither can shades. Students sit around hexagonal tables. They look worried and their conversation creates an agitated background murmur) 

(The spotlight focuses on five students at the table in the middle, next to the “windows”)

Alba: Do you have the pptx. presentation?

Maria: Yeah, of course I do.

Andrea: Ok. Anyway, I uploaded it to Drive, just in case”. (They all nod in agreement). And, Kike, you’ll be doing Maria’s part, right? (Maria looks up, questioning). The other Maria.

(Maria, the teacher, enters the scene)

Maria T: Hello, guys. Thank you all so much for the wonderful presentations you’ve sent me. They were great. However, they weren’t quite what I asked for: they were too long. I think you worked too much.

All: (An astonished murmur) Worked too much?

(End of scene one)

SCENE TWO

(The same table, but the teacher is sat in it too. Two laptops on it. Kike’s eating handful of smarties Maria the teacher has given them)

Alba: So, do we have to redo it all over again?

Maria T: No, no. It is very good, just try to make it shorter so that it can be explained and understood in around five minutes.

Kike: But, it’d be a pity for all that work to not be shown. Besides, I can’t really decide on the slides. I like the cat one. (He looks at his hand, where the smarties had been. He then looks expectantly at Andrea’s. She hands him a couple).

Maria T: And so do I. It’s funny, but the video is too long. Try to summarise it, please.

Maria: We could put the first two slides together. You know, the ones in which we talk about his life and all that.

Andrea: Yes, and maybe also the ones where we talk about his predecessors and the people he influenced.

Maria T: Aha. That’s what I meant. You’ll see, we’ll get used to working with each other in no time. Things will go more smoothly then.

Kike: Yes, it’s that we didn’t really understand what we had to do, so we did what we are used to doing.

Maria T: I understand. It’s alright. We’ll just go with it and see what happens.

(End of scene two)