16.12.16
Intercultural Competence
1. Describe an example of exercise, or unit, from a book, dealing with intercultural competence.
We found two exercises in two different secondary books. These activities are included in the reading skills and they belong to the culture section.
The first reading is about two teenagers describing their routines and their culture traditions. After the reading, there is one activity when the student has to compare the different cultures answering questions about the text.
The second reading is about three teennagers who belong to different countries. The title is: 'Have you ever...?' and they answer questions about their countries and their experiences there. Below the activity, there is an activity where the students have to fill the gaps using participles using the vocabulary of the text.
Book: McBeth, C. and Quintana, J. English Alive! Student´s book 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
2. In your opinion, has the subject been dealt with appropiately? Explain why it has or why it has not.
Regarding the first activity, We think that the subject has not been dealt appropiately. This is because both teenagers are from Great Britain, so the culture is not so much distinct among them. In our opinion, it would have been better to include teenagers from countries totally distinct between them. For example, a teenager from China and a teenager from Britain. In this case, students would be able to understand in a better way the intercultural competence present in the unit.
Concerning the second activity, this reading is more suitable according to the topic. The teenagers belong to countries with different characteristics. They are from Japan, USA, and Spain. Students can benefit from their experiences learning the important facts of their countries. Therefore, we think this activity is appropiate because they can compare their traditions and believes.
3. How would present/include it in your teaching?
If we were secondary English teachers, we would present the topic of Intercultural competence in several lessons. We would ask our students to create a project choosing a country (it´s best if they are English-speaking countries) and they would have to learn the traditions of the country as well as the culture, the variety of the language spoken there and the most important historical facts. Once the project has been completed, it would be beneficial to present their projects in front of the class. In that way, they can learn from each other.
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