CARAP teaching and learning materials

Descriptors:

"The proposed series of activities involves learners in 1) observing and recording interactions in a multicultural classroom over the course of a week in a reflective manner on the basis of criteria provided; 2) analyzing cultural variation in judgemental, appreciative and critical behavior, in two stages: in class and as a subsequent written reflection. The initial observation phase is followed by a group discussion in class, with the aim of categorising behaviours that are perceived as pleasant or unpleasant. Learners are asked if they think the behaviours, gestures, tones or expressions that they did not find pleasant stem from personal or cultural attitudes. The notion of culture is also conceptualised during this phase, as is the role of non-verbal communication in exchanges. Then, in an ‘experimental’ phase, the selected behaviours are put into practice in the classroom communication and in the learners’ wider environment. Learners record the effects of shifting from unpleasant to pleasant behaviors in a diary.. They are finally asked to write a text on these experiences and also to formulate their understanding of culture and how it varies. The material can be used in Spanish as a second or foreign language classes (from A2 level with the necessary adjustments)."

Themes: cultural contactscultural/linguistic diversitycustoms/social norms

Source: Author: Lola García Granados, for DidactiRed (Centro Virtual Cervantes).

Descriptors:

The activity in question is the first of the two releases aimed at the familiarization of the Spanish Foreign Language (ELE) students with the time and schedule particularities of the Spanish culture. Its objective is to conceive the time administration in the Spanish culture and to compare it with those of both other European and non-European cultures. In fact, the activity works for debunking of the prejudices and stereotypes about the correlation between the Spaniards and the time, and for discovering (by the students properly) of the true relations Spaniards possess upon the chronological order. The introduction of the activity supposes the teacher to find out, by means of a brief oral inquiry, what stereotypes or ideas the students share about the Spanish time organization in view of some topic issues. The activity requires learners to work reflectively, both in pairs and in groups, on time perception, time management, timetables and, more generally, the experience of time in different cultures, with a focus on the specificities of Spain. This pluralistic perspective can be further extended to discuss time perception and management in other Spanish speaking countries as well as in other cultures. The material also proposes activities based on songs, proverbs, poems and learners’ experiences.The preparation of this activity is facilitated as the author offers the already ready texts, transparencies and songs to work with. Skills as reading comprehension, listening comprehension and oral interaction are to be improved, as the activity´s organization previews the constant participating involvement of the target group. It is advised to use this activity with the grown-up students, young men / women or adults, who desirably have B2 and beyond levels (C1 and C2 levels may also be offered this activity).

Themes: cultural/linguistic diversitydaily lifetime

Source: Activity created by Dolores Soler-Espiauba Conesa for the project DidactiRed (Centro virtual Cervantes)

Descriptors:

This activity is designed for Spanish learners of Spanish, ideally in a multicultural group. It aims to teach cultural aspects of Spanish (ELE) through activities, examples of which are provided via the linked resource. The primary goal is to help learners understand Spanish norms of social behaviour and politeness (e.g., the use of high-volume speech in public) by analysing texts and comparing them with their own cultural norms. This fosters cultural awareness and enhances oral interaction skills through verbal collaboration. Additionally, the activity introduces vocabulary related to social communication norms and focuses on practicing the use of Spanish address forms "tú" and "usted." Learners analyse situations to understand the appropriate use of these forms based on formality and context, thus improving their ability to connect oral and written communication. The activity begins with a debate on learners’ politeness norms and their perception of Spanish politeness, supported by a set of questions. It also includes a discussion on the use of "tú" and "usted," encouraging group reflection. The core activity has five parts: 1. Reading a text about polite speech volume across cultures. 2. Practicing "tú" and "usted" by matching them to different contexts. 3. Reading texts explaining the usage of "tú" and "usted." 4. Sharing opinions on these address forms. 5. Writing a composition on the topic. This activity targets A2-level learners and above.

Themes: cultural/linguistic diversitycustoms/social norms

Source: By Dolores Soler Espiauba, for DidactiRed (Centro Virtual Cervantes)

Descriptors:

The activity is designed to address stereotypes, but its primary focus is on the phenomenon of cultural shock, in particular the ‘disillusionment’ phase when familiar routines and rules no longer apply, when a newcomer feels confused and abandoned. The objective of the activity is to get learners to reflect on and compare their habits with those in France, and to question a number of preconceived ideas with the aim of putting their reference points into perspective. In this way, the activity supports the process of integration. Linguistically, it involves written comprehension and written expression, with a focus on certain administrative procedures. While the activity takes an intercultural approach, the material can also be adapted for use in a multicultural context.

Themes: cultural/linguistic distance/proximityidentity/othernessprejudice/image of otherness

Source: Sefdilam, Institut Français de Madrid et Conseil régional d’Aquitaine. Vivre en Aquitaine, section MiroirS-Adoptez une démarche interculturelle.

Descriptors:

Learners are presented with problem situations relating to multilingualism in schools, the presence of allophone pupils, equity and linguistic rights. They must find solutions using linguistic or non-linguistic mediation. They debate the chosen situation by reflecting on their own experiences, and they also carry out some little research into language policies in various contexts, including their own.

Themes: cultural/linguistic mediation/translationlanguage variation/diversity

Descriptors:

Starting from a situation of intercultural conflict, the material proposes a simulation on the topic of food and nutrition, including school meals and school catering. Learners argue from different perspectives, while exploring the cultural, including religious, roots of eating habits. Food trends and nutritional problems could also be discussed.

Themes: customs/social normsfood

Descriptors:

Les activités se declinent en trois temps : 1°) Les apprenant.e.s travaillent d’abord leur capacité à « se regarder en train » a) d’apprendre une langue et b) d’entrer dans des processus d’acculturation (aux langues et aux cultures) par le moyen du dessin réflexif (individuel) et du commentaire interprétatif (à plusieurs). 2°) On leur propose ensuite d’historiciser leurs apprentissages au contact des langues et des cultures, en en retraçant les étapes, en en faisant la narration et, si possible, en en situant les événements marquants. 3°) On leur demande enfin de travailler sous la forme d’un graphique : quelles sont leurs motivations pour apprendre, pour être en contact avec l’altérité (des langues et des cultures) sur la longue durée, d’abord, de façon individuelle, puis en groupe, d’abord à l’oral puis à l’écrit.

Themes: biographycultural contactslanguage learning

Source: "Adapted from 2 other activities: - CRTF. 2009. Le dessin réflexif. Elément d’une herméneutique du sujet plurilingue. Molinié, M. (dir.). Cergy : Encrages-Belles Lettres. - Molinié, M. 2005. Retracer son apprentissage : pour quoi faire ? A.I.L.E. n°23. http://aile.revues.org/1712"

Descriptors:

The principal goal of the activity is to familiarize learners with the particularities of Spanish culture through a comparison with the culture of the learners themselves. The activity also aims to free learners of prejudices and stereotypes concerning the so called “average Spanish person” through a study of Spanish media. This activity forms part of the series of Intercultural ELE learning. This learning series seeks to improve both the sociocultural learning strategies and the students´ skills and knowledge about Spanish cultural realities. In order to do this activity, the teacher needs to prepare video material related to the social norms and behavior of a typical Spanish person in his/her everyday life (the author of the activity recommends sources for these materials). The introduction into the activity supposes a common discussion among students and their teacher about the general ideas that students possess of a ""typical Spaniard"", the subsequent consultation of mass-media and video materials so that the students can compare reality with their views, and the final comparison of the Spanish cultural reality and the cultural reality of the students´ country of origin. The activity entails students´ reading of a newspaper text about a typical Spaniard (the text available on the link), their conceptualization of it and their final comparison of the Spanish and native cultures in view of different and dominant social problems. The activity in question is essentially based on the comparison(s) that students establish between Spanish and the other cultures, and these reflections lead them to be aware of sociocultural distances and to sharpen their perception of the specific characteristics of other cultures. The activity contributes to the improvement of the reading comprehension, oral expression and written expression. It may be repeated as many times as necessary since many topics require elucidation as far as sociocultural aspects of the Spanish language are concerned. The activity is better applied in a big group which may be divided into small subgroups of 3-4 (or even couple), and will produce better results at higher levels. Users may consider that some texts are a little outdated and look for other sources on the web (B2 and beyond).

Themes: cultural contactscustoms/social normsdaily life

Source: Activity created by Dolores Soler-Espiauba for Didactired, Centro virtual Cervantes

Descriptors:

This activity is catered for Portuguese Mother Tongue and Spanish Foreign Language (ELE) students of Brazilian origin, who are looking into the peculiarities of the Spanish culture, and are about to get acquainted with the city of Madrid (it doesn´t really matter whether the pupils have already been to the Spanish capital before). But for the merely insight into Madrid, the students are supposed to compare their native culture with the Spanish one, and to get familiarized in such a way with the sociocultural differences that may sound rare. The main practical goal consists in students´ written elaboration of a Madrid guide, with advices and recommendations, for their countrymen who could probably visit the city. The activity realization requires the previous preparation of iconic documents (some models are available on the link) and the direct access to Internet during the whole lesson for all the students. The introductory part supposes students to recognize Madrid on photos the teacher shows them and to explicit their knowledge and personal ideas about the Spanish capital. The very activity is developed in the way the students learn as much as it´s possible about Madrid´s cultural and artistic heritage, history, geography and social norms of behavior, so that they could form a general idea about the life in Spain. The author recommends web-sites to be visited throughout the activity and offers the model cards which may be used for the organization of the lesson. The basic principle of this task is to sensitize Brazilians with the norms of behavior in Spain (schedules, timetables, traditions, customs, etc.), to make them compare these norms with those of Brazil, to discuss the results of their work in the classroom and to implement them afterwards in a written form. The activity in question is oriented on the improvement of the listening comprehension, reading comprehension, written expression and oral interaction of the students of B2 and higher levels. Its realization is supposed to arouse interest in the Brazilian students as Spain is a known dominant target country of their visits. Some links do not work any more. They can easily be replaced (for example with information given on the site https://www.comunidad.madrid/centros/d-g-turismo).

Themes: customs/social normstown/region/country

Source: By Luciana Maria Almeida de Freitas, for DidactiRed (Centro Virtual Cervantez).

Descriptors:

This activity allows learners to know the origin of words of foreign languages (French, Hindi, Italian, Arabic, Nahuatl, Inuit, Croatian, Bulgarian, Portuguese, English…) which are used in their own language (as in many others, too). The activity can give the impact to reflect the history and development of the language(s) of the students’ countries. It also shows the similarities and relations between languages.The aim is to sensitise learners to their native tongue by discussing expressions borrowed from other languages and to become learners aware of the fact that many words of their daily life are borrowed by other languages. This activity can also be integrated in history or geography lessons.

Themes: history of languages/language familieslanguage contactslinguistic borrowing

Source: Ministère de l’Éducation nationale et de la Formation professionnelle du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg : « Ouverture aux langues à l’école. Vers des competences plurilingues et pluriculturelles », p. 43-45

Descriptors:

By comparing text passages in various languages, the students learn to identify different alphabets and writings and classify them in groups. In addition to that, they reflect upon further writing systems. In the second task, the students learn to distinguish between language families and subfamilies. For classifying the respective languages, they concentrate on similarities and differences in the texts. Finally, they create a language map of Europe. In the last task, the students are asked to compare negation clauses in seven languages and to finally formulate grammar rules concerning their respective creation. The students and the teacher reflect upon the tasks with the help of reflection sheets. Languages used for the activity: Arabic, Czech, English, French, Russian, Slovakian. Duration: 6 x 45’. Card compiled by Janne Werner.

Themes: grammar/syntax/morphologyhistory of languages/language familiesWriting (systems) / punctuation / orthography

Descriptors:

Firstly, the pupils listen to the song “Polyglotte” twice, trying to understand its message and the meaning of the words they recognise. The class is given the lyrics the third time they listen to the song. The teacher encourages discussions in order for the pupils to understand the word “polyglot”. The class is now divided into small groups. Every group receives the five-column table with four languages (French, English, Slovene and another known language) and one column with the origin of the word. The groups are asked to copy the transparent words in the first (French) column, and to fill in the rest with translations or descriptions.

Themes: linguistic borrowingmusic/songs

Descriptors:

In the first task, the students compare the names of the three characters in various languages and think about differences concerning their writing and pronunciation. In the second and third task, they compare the length of the same word or sentence in different languages, try to identify certain letters, words and phrases, reflect upon the common (Slavic) origin of certain words and advance hypothesis concerning the pronunciation of the foreign words. In addition to that, the students are asked to develop a strategy how to identify the respective words in Arabic. In the next step, they think about the geographical assignment of the respective countries and languages. As a homework assignment, the students are asked to find the names of the directions in the foreign-language texts. Furthermore, they should consult an atlas or the Internet to find the countries’ flags and emblems and think about how they have come into being. The students and the teacher reflect upon the tasks with the help of reflection sheets. Languages used for the activity: Arabic, Czech, English, French, Russian, Slovakian. Duration: 40’. Card compiled by Janne Werner.

Themes: history of languages/language familieslanguage variation/diversityliterature/stories/tales

Source: Gajek, Elżbieta; Murkowska, Anna; Walewska, Anna (2004) : Old Polish Legends. The Legend of the White Eagle called The Legend of Lech, Czech and Rus. JaLing – Gateway to Languages. Didactic materials. Warsaw : Warsaw University. Centre for Foreign Language Teacher Training and European Education, University College of English Language Teacher Education. Gajek, Elżbieta; Murkowska, Anna; Walewska, Anna (2004) : Legenda o Orle Białym nazywana. Legendą o Lechu, Czechu i Rusie. JaLing – Brama do Języków. Materiały dydaktyczne. Warszawa : Warsaw University. Centre for Foreign Language Teacher Training and European Education, University College of English Language Teacher Education.

Descriptors:

In a first step, the students talk about the meaning of the legend’s content and about national symbols. They read the script and perform the legend in groups in which every student takes different roles to prevent stereotypical behavior or prejudices against other “nations”. In the next step, they try to identify certain words or sentences of the text in various foreign languages. The students and the teacher reflect upon the tasks with the help of reflection sheets. Languages used for the activity: Arabic, Czech, English, French, Russian, Slovakian. Card compiled by Janne Werner.

Themes: identity/othernessliterature/stories/talesprejudice/image of othernesstown/region/country

Source: Gajek, Elżbieta; Murkowska, Anna; Walewska, Anna (2004) : Old Polish Legends. The Legend of the White Eagle called The Legend of Lech, Czech and Rus. JaLing – Gateway to Languages. Didactic materials. Warsaw : Warsaw University. Centre for Foreign Language Teacher Training and European Education, University College of English Language Teacher Education. Gajek, Elżbieta; Murkowska, Anna; Walewska, Anna (2004) : Legenda o Orle Białym nazywana. Legendą o Lechu, Czechu i Rusie. JaLing – Brama do Języków. Materiały dydaktyczne. Warszawa : Warsaw University. Centre for Foreign Language Teacher Training and European Education, University College of English Language Teacher Education.

Descriptors:

The idea of Europanto was introduced by Diego Marani, a translator of the European Union.This set of activities aims at the recognition of the language diversity in Europe and the development of a sense of togetherness. During the first teaching module, the learners decode a joke in the artificial language Europanto with the help of their previous knowledge and dictionaries. They identify the languages used in the joke and describe the idea of Europanto. The CD that has been announced is not available. During the second teaching module, proverbs are translated into a mix of languages called “classpanto”. It can be composed of all the languages spoken in class, including colloquial elements and local dialects. The learners compare their results and within the context of a final/closing conversation they think about the existence of such language mixes. The languages used in the Europanto joke are German (including colloquial language and local dialects), English, French, Italian and Spanish.

Themes: cultural/linguistic mediation/translationlanguage contactslanguage variation/diversity

Source: Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur. Österreichisches Sprachen-Kompetenz-Zentrum (Hrsg.) (2006): „Europanto“. In: ske Impulse 3, Praxisreihe Kinder entdecken Sprachen. Erprobung von Lehrmaterialien (KIESEL), 3.2. Graz: Österreichisches Sprachen-Kompetenz-Zentrum.