ICC Lessons
Reflection Part One of Three: Introduction and Set-Up
In the last week I have filmed two pre-planned ICC lessons
in two different environments with two different learner-types. One lesson was
a private lesson in a coffee shop setting with two former University students
of mine, their proficiency level advanced-low to advanced-mid in my
determination. The ICC lesson I put into
practice with them was based on my lesson I had crafted for class a few weeks previously
(which I have titled ‘Intercultural Comparisons of Family &
Friends’), focusing on the differences in how holidays are celebrated
and social interaction between family and friends. The other lesson filmed here
(‘Native
Culture Expectations Meet Target Culture Reality’) was during an afterschool
class at my current public middle-school job with students who were mostly
intermediate-high to advanced-mid, with one novice student being the exception
(her friend, an advanced L2 speaker had invited her to sit in, and I think
since this wasn’t intended to be a heterogeneous class, she had trouble keeping
up). The primary focus on this lesson, partly demonstrated by the extreme and
ridiculous examples on the hand-out, was how tourists can unrealistically place
their native-culture expectations on target-culture environments and treat such
a place by their cultural rules, even when they are the visitor. This second
lesson was requested and consequently generously provided to me by Sean
Makarenko and is based on his original plan for ICC class. I imagine I taught
it a bit differently than he would have, not to say there’s a correct way to
teach it, but rather different approaches, different interpretations or
responding to the needs of different learners.
In all honesty, I prefer my first
lesson with my old University students to the second lesson with the
middle-school students for a number of reasons. First, being in a more intimate
setting (despite the din of noise from being in a crowded Starbucks… don’t
worry the sound still comes in crystal-clear) I think they felt more at ease
and retained a very low affective filter. This leads into the second reason,
which is that I’m well-acquainted with them (one of them I first taught almost
four years ago). Finally and perhaps most importantly, there is a degree of
extra confidence, passion and familiarity that comes with enacting your own
lesson plan. And again, that’s not taking anything away from Sean’s lesson at
all. Led Zepplin are really good at playing ‘Stairway to Heaven.’ What if you
asked them to play ‘Hey Jude’ by The Beatles? Because it’s a great song and
they are great musicians, it would probably be pretty good. However, their
rendition most likely wouldn’t be as good as The Beatles playing ‘Hey Jude’,
because they are not The Beatles. And vice-versa, The Beatles probably wouldn’t
be able to play ‘Stairway…’ as well as Zepplin. Anyway, you get my point.
Sorry, for the strained analogy that almost turned into a musical theory
tangent. Basically, because of this preference, I’m going to delve into and
analyze my ‘Intercultural Comparisons of Family & Friends’ with my
private-lesson students first, before transitioning to the ‘Native Culture
Expectations Meet Target Culture Reality’ middle-school class.
Enough rambling. Without further
ado…
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