Tabu in Latin America

On Sunday night, I watched a new TV program in National Geographic that really called my attention. Not only because of the theme but because of its relation with our culture.

This first program was about piercing and tattoos all over America. However the program presented people from Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico and the way they take this art as their life style.

I couldn't watched it from the beginning but I could get that someone was trying to let the viewers understand that these two activities have been part of our culture since long ago. First, they tried to explain why and how inhabitants of ancient cultures practiced. Then someone said that nowadays there are many behaviours and practices that have been distroying our culture. So, this person said that having piercing and tattoos, they can reinsert and remind the others where we came from.

I don't really like this kind of art, but I do appreciate the artists that make them. By now, I am still trying to reflect, understand and organize my ideas of why people like this art. But I really invite you to watch tomorrow night (9 o'clock) this program. It will be about Physical appearence.

Food and culture

I attended an Intro B class (beginners) from CEIC. Only 9 of 12 students attented and the activity lasted around 50 minutes. In advance, students were asked to research about a particular country and its characteristics. It was a group project. Also they were told to research about the food people from that particular country eat and explain a little about it. The countries chosen by the students were Italy, China, Mexico, and France.

It was really nice to see their PowerPoint presentations and most of the groups brought food for sharing. They had lots of fun! As an anecdote, a group brought "guacamole" and the person who prepared it used lots of onion. As a result, not all of the students liked it, but one ate it all.

At the end, of each presentation the professor asked students questions about their feelings and knowledge about their research. Their comments were brief because of they have a low proficiency level. They did their best!

If you take time and think of the countries the students chose, you can notice that somehow the food eaten there are part of Costa Ricans diet. However, the Italy group brought "Crostata" an unknown dessert for me. It tastest great!

No matter if you already know something about a topic, cause the way it is presented could help you learn new aspects or understand something better. Developing these kind of activities in our classes, we could help our students analyze, understand and be empathic with the differences, similarities or even influences among cultures.

“Culture is a little like dropping an Alka-Seltzer into a glass-you don't see it, but somehow it does something.”

Jonna's Visit

This encounter was amazing! I really enjoyed the way she interacted with the group. The introductory activity was great. It is curious how we get used to with the things that represent our culture. I hadn't think before that most of the things that I carry with me show something of my country or my own culture.

The way she introduced the concept and definition of culture was very original. She mentioned that every single country has its culture and that each county, district or neighborhood has its own culture, too. Besides, every family and every family member, including ourselves, have their particular culture.

Of course, my culture is a combination between my country, family and own beliefs, traditions, customs, values and behaviors. In conclusion, my personal identity represents my culture.

"We (educators) don't teach the language only, we teach culture."

My identity

My feelings as a L1 speaker

I feel pretty much comfortable with traditions, beliefs, costums, behaviors and some other aspects of Costa Rican culture, because I had grown in this culture. However, my knowledge is basically from the places where I have lived, like San José and Alajuela.

During my childhood I lived in San José. In 1990, at the age of eleven, my family moved to Alajuela. In this move, I experienced culture shock. Eventhough, Alajuela and San José are part of the same country, their inhabitants beliefs, costums and traditions are different. Also, many expressions and vocabulary is quite different.

For example, one day, in the new school, I asked a classmate to borrow me her pencil sharpener (I called it “tajador”) and she didn’t understand me. Inmediately, she asked, “what do you need?” I answered her, “I need something to sharpen my pencil” and she said, “Ah, you’re asking for a “maquinilla.” “Yes, that’s what I need,” I said. What I mentioned before, is just an example of a bunch of experiences I had with culture shock, although my family and I moved to a different province in the same country.

My feelings as a L2 speaker

I have never lived in an English speaking country but I have traveled to USA twice. During my trip I could observe many culture behaviors such as,

• ü Hot chocolate milk preparation
• ü Extreme security in most places
• ü Fast food prevails everywhere
• ü Coffee drinkers
• ü Well cleanup streets

These were things that I didn’t learn when studying English. I learned them when I was inmersed in that country for a couple of weeks. Now, I have to research for many other things about this culture to be able to transmite these data to my classmates. I still have to learn more things about USA.

Acculturation

It is a stage that comes after a culture shock. It is the process of becoming used to or even adopting traditions, beliefs, values, behaviors of a surrounding culture.

Teachers of a second language should be aware of that the language they are teaching have a particular culture. So, it is important to consider this idea during the learning process. Foreign language learners must know customs, traditions, beliefs, body language (non verbal communication), typical food, manners, and many other things about the target language.

Probably, some of these language learners could travel to the target language country and all this prior knowledge could help them minimize their culture shock and overcome the process of acculturation. Therefore, teachers must not forget to include culture aspects in their teaching process.

Bizarre things and beliefs

I got so impressed by looking at the video "Unbelivable incident with pakistan girl." I couldn't understand a word of what the reporter was saying, but by paying close attention to the video I could understand what was happening to the girl. Even they took her to the doctor, he couldn't identify the cause or causes of this evet. Only God can explain us this.

In the other hand, it is commonly heard that dogs are the best friends of humans. However for Muslims, dogs are only considered guard or working animals. They don´t keep them as pets. This is the first time, I hear that a particular group of people don´t have dogs as pets.

Learning about cultures

People can learn about different cultures by learning a foreign language, reading, watching documentary TV programs, traveling abroad and having culture encounters. During the last month, we have had two culture encounters, one with a Texan woman and the other with two German women.
It was really interesting to hear from them particular aspects of their culture, such as living style, socioeconomic activities, education, traditions, costums among others. I didn´t know many things about German people, besides what I studied realted to World War I and World War II. After this particular encounter, I could eliminate many thoughts and beliefs I had from these people.
Another way, how we can learn about other cultures is by cooking. So that a look to this site. I haven't thought of this before.

The Wonders of the Culture

Bizarre Customs and Traditions From Around the World

Uganda

In Ankole culture, the aunt’s gift to her nephew’ bride was to teach her everything she knew about pleasing a man in all aspects including bed skills. The lessons will go as far as the aunt showing the bride practically on the wedding night by sharing the groom’s bed.
The best gift that the father gave to his son on the wedding night was to help him perform his manly duties on the wedding night. This meant for the father-in-law to sleep with the bride before the groom.
As late as the 1980s, women in some rural areas had to kneel when speaking to a man.

Taken from http://www.bukisa.com/articles/125596_bizarre-customs-and-traditions-from-around-the-world

Video: Children see. Children do.

In certain way, all of us are educators even if we are not teaching right now. As adults we are models to the children around us (daughters, sons, nieces, nephews, neighbors), so take care of the things you say and do infront of them. The behaviors shown in the video are not the best, but it is an example of how children imitate and how behaviors are transmitted from generation to generation.

Didactic Unit/Proposal

Topics:

Cultural Event: Afro-Costa Rican’s Day

ü Afro Costa Rican’s Customs

ü Afro Costa Rican’s Food

ü Afro Costa Rican’s Language

ü Afro Costa Rican’s Music

Objectives

ü Understand and respect socio-cultural aspects of Afro Costa Rican’s who lived in Limón.

- Recognize folktales of the Afro Costa Rican’s culture.

- Dramatize Afro Costa Rican’s folktales.

- Recognize typical food from Limón.

- Prepare typical food from Limón.

- Recognize the differences between Criole English and English pronunciation.

- Listen to Calypso music.

- Follow Calypso’s rythmn with body movements.

Contents

1. Folktales

2. Typical food

3. Criole English

4. Calypso

Context

This “Unidad Didáctica” is adressed to a group of students of a private elementary school in Santa Ana. One of the school’s purposes is to encourage children to respect their country’s cultural aspects by celebrating events as Afro Costa Ricans Day, among others.

Audience

This “Unidad Didáctica” is adressed to first graders between 7 and 8 years old.

Resources

The following resources will be used as background:

ü Websites

ü Books

ü Afro Caribbean Authors/Professors: Quince Duncan, Eulalia Bernard

ü Linguistics Final Projects

ü Afro Caribbean Music: Calypso

These resources will be created by the teacher:

ü Coloring pages

ü Texts

ü Crossword

ü Word search

ü Questionnaires

Define culture

Culture refers to the system of customs, attitudes, values, traditions, behavior, beliefs and other characteristics that represent the way of life of a particular group of people.