Celebrations & Cultural Diversity
Indeed, it's December !
Suddenly it seems that all over the world everybody is decorating their homes,
streets, buying gifts and organizing trips and parties... Think again.
Of course people everywhere try
harder, for a number of reasons, to have a better end of the year, despite
everyone's personal struggles.
In such globalized world though, foreign language educators had better be concerned with the
cultural diversity and distinct traditions when teaching.
The reflection I propose does not have to be dull. From my experience, I have learned that the
element of entertainment can even enhance the students' aptitude to
focus on the issues brought to the table by each tv serie along with the chance of learning discourse features such as sayings, slang words, intonation
purpose...which are precisely what the majority of learners look for.
The idea in this article is to use the following combination as a class per se or as a complement. Simply putting it:
sitcom snippet + cultural diversity issues that will
surface+ a listening exercise focusing on current language expressions.
The snippets are just the entrance door to the issues. Playing the video second time and pause at some parts so that students themselves notice them and the language features, chorus repetition and work on intonation and the meaning each chunk conveys can be a follow up approach.
These are some suggestions. Lots of other approaches and activities can surface with your perception and creativity!
Below the sitcoms, season, episode title and counter or link when available:
Glee
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The Big Bang Theory
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Friends
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The Nanny
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s_01 "The Christmas show"
01:23 - 02:55 gifts, believing in Santa, payment bonus expectations 07:03 - 13:14 gift distribution , father can't be present
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Bewitched
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s_07 "Sisters at heart"
This episode from 1970 shows racial segregation, friendship, equality ,
Christmas office & family gatherings
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The way I see it, note-taking should be encouraged.
If you study English on your own, try out the proposed activities too! Maybe you have stopped for a while and consider going back to classes, or just want a challenge. ;-)
Do you know of any other sitcom passages such as the ones above? Share in the comments space below.
Gonna use it tomorrow Rach! Tks for the tips.
ReplyDeleteCool ;) Rosângela !
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