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students could complete with enthusiasm and we think it also helped group
unity, since it allowed students to learn more about their groupmates, who were
still relatively new to one another.
A major theme of our class is intercultural awareness. As noted above, it is
always useful to start from the known [students' personal knowledge] and build
outward from that framework. We created an arc of lessons building from the idea
of personal identity [what makes you you?] to the idea of a national identity, then
applied that to countries known [Uzbekistan] and less well known [western
English-speaking countries]. Students did group work projects and presentations
on these topics. We capped this off with a pair of lessons about stereotypes that
tried to illuminate the concept and have students recognize the almost inevitable
functioning of this response to contact with outside groups, whether halfway
around the globe, or within your own country's borders. Students naturally have
some instinctive awareness of this notion, but examining it in detail builds up their
intercultural awareness, self-awareness, and encourages critical thinking as well.
The first lesson begins with a short PPT we created, based on a single chart
about European stereotypes – views that 8 European countries had about each
other regarding the traits of trustworthiness, arrogance, and compassion. The data
in the chart is presented in restricted sets, to highlight different aspects of the
overall data and to show some consistent patterns not readily evident when
viewing the entire chart at once. The objective of this introduction is to
demonstrate concretely the widespread and persistent existence of national
stereotypes.
After this introductory presentation, we put students to work with some
activities taken from a lesson plan about stereotypes created by Sarah Sahr (2)
(Lesson Plan: Stereotyping TESOL Connections, February 2013). The crux of
these activities is to have individual students generate common views about people
and cultures in different regions of the world, then as a class, identify the regions to
which they apply, and work with partners and small groups to organize them into
positive and negative characteristics. See the following lesson plan for details.
At several stages of the activity, students must get up and move around the
classroom to complete various tasks. Sometimes students are initially
uncomfortable doing this, since it breaks the traditional model of sitting and
passively receiving information from the teacher. However, by involving students
in different ways, mentally and physically, their engagement with the material is
deeper, and learning retention is strengthened. This is one of the foundations of a
learner-centered approach to language teaching.
www.journal.fledu.uz 102
Илмий-методик электрон журнал
unity, since it allowed students to learn more about their groupmates, who were
still relatively new to one another.
A major theme of our class is intercultural awareness. As noted above, it is
always useful to start from the known [students' personal knowledge] and build
outward from that framework. We created an arc of lessons building from the idea
of personal identity [what makes you you?] to the idea of a national identity, then
applied that to countries known [Uzbekistan] and less well known [western
English-speaking countries]. Students did group work projects and presentations
on these topics. We capped this off with a pair of lessons about stereotypes that
tried to illuminate the concept and have students recognize the almost inevitable
functioning of this response to contact with outside groups, whether halfway
around the globe, or within your own country's borders. Students naturally have
some instinctive awareness of this notion, but examining it in detail builds up their
intercultural awareness, self-awareness, and encourages critical thinking as well.
The first lesson begins with a short PPT we created, based on a single chart
about European stereotypes – views that 8 European countries had about each
other regarding the traits of trustworthiness, arrogance, and compassion. The data
in the chart is presented in restricted sets, to highlight different aspects of the
overall data and to show some consistent patterns not readily evident when
viewing the entire chart at once. The objective of this introduction is to
demonstrate concretely the widespread and persistent existence of national
stereotypes.
After this introductory presentation, we put students to work with some
activities taken from a lesson plan about stereotypes created by Sarah Sahr (2)
(Lesson Plan: Stereotyping TESOL Connections, February 2013). The crux of
these activities is to have individual students generate common views about people
and cultures in different regions of the world, then as a class, identify the regions to
which they apply, and work with partners and small groups to organize them into
positive and negative characteristics. See the following lesson plan for details.
At several stages of the activity, students must get up and move around the
classroom to complete various tasks. Sometimes students are initially
uncomfortable doing this, since it breaks the traditional model of sitting and
passively receiving information from the teacher. However, by involving students
in different ways, mentally and physically, their engagement with the material is
deeper, and learning retention is strengthened. This is one of the foundations of a
learner-centered approach to language teaching.
www.journal.fledu.uz 102
Илмий-методик электрон журнал
