Two

Frameworks for Teaching

Culture and Critical Thinking
During this event, Andy will:
•  explore the ra+onale for including culture as an area
of study in the English language classroom
•  demonstrate a lesson which requires students to use
listening and intercultural awareness skills
•  provide an ac+vity which uses students’ ability to
form cri+cal ques+ons rather than judgements
 Andy Noonan
Andy Noonan has over 20 years of experience in TESOL
methodology, teacher training, and online course
facilita+on.

As a Trainer of Trainers at World Learning, Andy facilitates

training and reflec+on sessions u+lizing a variety of
methods, including in-person observa+on and online
engagement, for trainees in U.S. Department of State-
funded programs.

Andy is a former English Language Fellow and holds a

Master’s degree in TESOL from SIT Graduate Ins+tute as
well the UCLES DELTA. He has taught and trained in
Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Russia, Georgia, Mexico, El Salvador
and the United States.
 Two Frameworks for Teaching Culture
and Cri=cal Thinking

Andy Noonan
TESOL Program Specialist
World Learning/SIT Graduate Ins+tute

2018 by Andy Noonan. Two Frameworks for Teaching Culture and Cri7cal Thinking for the Office of English Language
Programs. This work is licensed under the Crea+ve Commons A\ribu+on 4.0 License, except where noted.
To view a copy of this license, visit h\p://crea+vecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Today’s Webinar
1.  An overview of teaching culture in the English
language classroom
2.  Introduc+on of Moran’s Cultural Elements
Framework and Cultural Knowings Framework
3.  Walkthrough of a lesson using these frameworks
4.  Reflec+on ques+ons
Why teach culture?
•  Andy, were you disappointed when your daughter
was born and she had brown eyes and brown hair?
c C?
or
Little c culture Big C culture
•  Products
•  Art
▫  Shoe style •  Architecture
▫  Dog sweaters •  Music
•  Prac+ces •  Dance
▫  Gree+ngs •  Literature
▫  Nego+a+ng •  Film
•  People
▫  Cashiers

While important, Big C

LiDle c cultural elements culture doesn’t let us
are the everyday things look into the day-to-day
lives of the cultures we
that a learner would are trying to enter by
encounter. learning English.
http://go.rwd.com/CulturalIcebergCanSinkInitiatives2.html
https://inquiry111westminster.wikispaces.com/Blind+men+and+an+elephantContributions to
https://inquiry111westminster.wikispaces.com/ are licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 3.0 License.
 C1 C2
The students’ Any outside culture
home culture
In English textbooks, oaen
the U.S., England, Australia,
Canada, etc.
Bene$its of looking at C1
•  Builds the ability for students to talk about their own
cultures– usually ignored by textbooks
•  Allows students to build pride in aspects of their
culture
•  Allows students to cri+cally analyze possible
nega+ve aspects of their own culture
•  Allows students to “see” their culture from an
outside perspec+ve
▫  This should enable students to cri+cally analyze
outside cultures with more sensi+vity.
Bene$its of using these Frameworks
1.  Rela+vely easy to use
2.  Versa+le
3.  Allow the teacher to exploit textbooks to a
deeper degree
4.  Help build the mental processes that enable
students to be more culturally aware and
be\er able to func+on in a 21st century,
globalized world
 Framework 1: Cultural elements
1. Products 2. Practices 3. Persons







4. Communities 5. Perspectives

Adapted from Moran, P. Teaching
Culture: Perspec+ves in Prac+ce.
Heinle ELT, 2001




Cultural Elements Framework

• Allows students to isolate elements

of culture for further explora+on.
By looking at one element in detail,
students can build the ability to
recognize and start to do the
analysis on their own.
• Products = Things created and used in a culture
Examples: chops+cks, convenience stores, para-para dance
• Prac=ces = behaviors, social interac=ons
Examples: gree+ngs, showing respect, exchanging business cards
• Persons = People ac=ng within a culture
Examples: salary man, taxi driver, grandmother
•  Communi=es = Groups of people sharing values and
behaviors
Examples: sports fans, construc+on workers
•  Perspec=ves = underlying beliefs of a culture
Examples: respect for teachers and elders, wabi sabi

 Framework 2: Cultural Knowings


Knowing Howà par+cipa+on Knowing Aboutà descrip+on
What did you say? What happened?
What did you do? What did you see or hear?
How did you do it? What are the details?

Was it appropriate?

Knowing Oneselfà response Knowing Whyà interpreta+on
What do you think? What are the insider’s perspec+ves?
How do you feel? What are the outsider’s perspec+ves?
What more do you need to know? How does this compare with your culture/
other cultures?

Adapted from Moran, P. Teaching Culture: Perspectives in Practice. Heinle ELT, 2001
Framework 2:
Cultural Knowings Framework
•  Based on Kolb’s Experien+al Learning Cycle, the Cultural
Knowings Framework takes the student step by step
through a cultural element they have seen or
experienced.

1.  Describing the cultural element allows them to see it
from mul+ple angles based on direct evidence.
2.  Analyzing the descrip+on allows understanding to
develop from mul+ple views/perspec+ves.
3.  Responding to this allows the students to explore their
own reac+ons and more importantly, create ques+ons to
find out more.
Using Video
• Modern TV shows, movies, video clips, music

• Voice of America: Off the Highway
h\ps://www.youtube.com/watch?
+me_con+nue=3&v=F9peVFiIDXo
As a Listening Lesson
•  Following a Pre-listening Tasks, During Tasks, Post-
Listening Tasks Framework (PDP)

Pre-Listening:
•  Step 1: Ac+vate background knowledge, create
interest and pre-teach any vocabulary that is
essen+al to complete the tasks
Hippie Culture
Living “off the grid”
Solar Panels
During Listening Task 1: Gist
• Play a short snippet of the video and ask the
students to complete a task that demonstrates
they understand the basic theme of video:
▫  Choose the best +tle
▫  Choose the most accurate summary
▫  Circle the items the woman probably does NOT own
During Listening Task 2:
Find all the cultural elements
•  Play the video (Tip: keep it short! 1-3 minutes)
•  Have students write down all the cultural elements
they find. Have them compare with a partner.
•  Check the students’ answers aloud and give language
support, if needed.
•  As a class, try to iden+fy the cultural element that is
the most interes+ng, strange, or mysterious.
During Listening Task 1: Find all the
cultural elements
1. Products 2. Practices 3. Persons







4. Communities 5. Perspectives



Adapted from Moran, P. Teaching
Culture: Perspec+ves in Prac+ce.
Heinle ELT, 2001


I’m a hippie. Let’s just go…let’s start from
that. And that means back to the land,
connected with the earth. I live in a small
cabin, off the grid on 20 acres. I have solar
panels. I have no running water. I have a
spring that I get my water from. I have
space! And animals and earth and sky and
eagles and coyotes and life is good!
 Identify the cultural “mystery”
Products Prac=ces Persons
•  Small cabin •  Living “off the grid” •  Hippie
•  Solar panels •  Owning an outside dog
•  Natural spring (for water)
•  House on 20 acres of land

Communi=es Perspec=ves
•  Hippies •  Living off the grid is be\er than
•  Locals (?) living in organized society
•  Sacrificing modern Adapted from Moran, P. Teaching Culture:
Perspec+ves in Prac+ce. Heinle ELT, 2001
conveniences for freedom is a

good thing
•  Pride in one’s subculture
•  Feeling connected with nature
During Listening Task 3:
Knowing Aboutà description

•  Consider the most important cultural element:
▫  What happened?
▫  What did you see or hear?
▫  What are the details?

•  These ques+ons help develop the students’ ability to
pick out a greater level of details for a more
complete comprehension
I’m a hippie. Let’s just go…let’s start from
that. And that means back to the land,
connected with the earth. I live in a small
cabin, off the grid on 20 acres. I have
solar panels. I have no running water. I
have a spring that I get my water from. I
have space! And animals and earth and
sky and eagles and coyotes and life is
good!
Post-Listening Task 1:
Knowing Whyà interpretation
• What does it mean?
• How can you explain it?
• What are the insider’s perspec+ves?
• What are the outsider’s perspec+ves?
• How does this compare with your
culture/other cultures?
Post-Listening Task 2:
Knowing Oneselfà response
•  What do you think?
•  How do you feel?
•  How does this affect you?
•  What more do you need to know?
▫  With a partner, create two ques+ons that you could
ask the woman from the video to be\er understand
her lifestyle.
Let’s think about that lesson…
•  What is the role of the teacher when using these
frameworks?
•  Could these frameworks be used to teach reading?
Wri+ng? Speaking?
•  What homework could you give with this?
•  How would you adapt this lesson for your students?
For younger learners?
•  What elements of your culture do you think your
students would benefit from thinking more deeply
about?
Re$lection time
Based on your experience
today, what are your thoughts
on teaching/learning culture?
Have they changed? Do you
want to try anything this this
week?
References
•  Moran, P. (2001) Teaching Culture: Perspec7ves in
Prac7ce. Boston, USA: Heinle ELT.
•  Byram, M. (1997) Teaching and Assessing
Intercultural Communica7ve Competence. Clevedon,
UK: Mul+cultural Ma\ers.
•  Stor+, C. (1997) Culture Ma?ers: The Peace Corps
Cross-cultural Workbook. Peace Corps Informa+on
Collec+on and Exchange.
Thanks for coming!