Teaching Experience: A Cultural Lesson Plan

On April 19th, I dedicated 80 minutes of my class to teach culture. I prepared a class in which my students learned about Italian culture. It is important to state that in this class there are thirteen students, but in this there was a student who was absent. Their ages range from 16 to 47; specifically there are five students whose age is 17, two who are 23, three who are 35, two who are 42, and one who is 47 year old.
The first stage of the class was to assess students’ knowledge about how each person’s live is different from one to another. Hence, they had to reflect about how their lifestyle is. Then, they had to watch a video about the Italian Lifestyle. They listen to the video three times since students’ proficiency level is novice-high. They had to take notes, so then they could contrast and compare the information they got with Costa Rican’s culture. In the second stage, students share their understanding and opinions in a round table. It was a very meaningful and nice experience since all my students expressed they learned a lot from the video. For example, they learned that Italian people try to eat at least healthy meals once a week. They also recognized that Italian use to do their activities with passion, dedication and not in a hurry. They say “Rome was not built in a day”. Students could as well notice that as Costa Rican people Italians love to share with their families and friends.
Besides the round table, I applied a survey to my students to know if they knew the information or if they did not. I also wanted to know what they learn and if they know how to get culture understanding. The questions I asked and a summary of students’ answers are below, so you can have a clearer idea about what students said.

SURVEY
A. What did you learn from this class?
As a summary, students expressed they learned about another culture and some particular aspects about Italian culture. First of all, they said there are characteristics in a country which identify it and make it unique. From this video, students said they learned that Italian people do not do everything in a rush. They do everything with love and patience. They say it would be good to take this characteristic as their own. In addition, they argued about how Italians are organized and disciplined people as well as they take care of their bodies because they eat healthy food. They also mentioned that there are many painters in Italy. Italians like to share a lot with their families. They besides learned about Italian food, drinks, customs; that is, Italian life style. Finally, they stated they learned about what these people do and do not and that they enjoyed this experience. But they did not learn only about Italian culture, but also they learn new vocabulary as most expressed.

B. Did you know the information or you did not?
In this question there were nine students who answered they did not know the information, two who knew some aspects and one who said he knew almost everything. This is reflected on the graphic below.

C. What does it mean to you?
Most students expressed it was a funny, interesting, wonderful and meaningful experience because they learned about many aspects of Italian culture they did not know. They said Italians have a very healthy life; therefore, they reflect that this is very important for everyone because our lives depend on how healthy meals we eat. They said they have to learn to be healthy. Finally, they communicated that each culture is different, so they are different. They also said they should adopt some customs from Italy such as avoiding doing things in a hurry and change food habits.

D. How did you develop your understanding through this lesson?
Few students stated they develop their cultural understanding by comparing and contrasting Italy with Costa Rica. For example, they said they are healthier than us. They eat healthy food, and that this culture is similar to our culture in some aspects, but very different in others. However, most affirmed that the video was difficult, interesting, productive, funny and good. Others that there are many different cultures, but that the Italian culture is very organized. One expressed she develop her cultural understanding by teaching culture to her son and by sharing with her family and friends. Another one said that each culture is different and no one is perfect.

As it was perceived most students argued they learned many aspects about Italian lifestyle that they did not know before. However, it is noticeable they do not know how to develop their cultural understanding. Most of them wrote about how nice or interesting the video was, but not about how they developed their understanding through the lesson. This means that students need to be taught how to develop their cultural awareness and that there has been lack of culture practices in this English class. I encourage you, to take time for your classes and dedicate it to teaching culture. Culture is everywhere and it cannot be deny in any sense.