06/10/19, W08 ‘Deep Culture in the Elementary Classroom’

I found the assigned article ‘Teaching Deep Culture in the Elementary Classroom’ by N. Ivers/J. Ivers very insightful. They began by asking a critical question, ‘Why did certain civilizations in world history seem to be more "advanced" than others?’ Then they answered the question with the emphasis that these civilizations had a heavy cross-cultural influence, or in other words, ‘many heads are better than one’ to advance a culture. So why is it important to teach deeper culture beginning in elementary school foreign language classes? The article focused on the importance of students developing a cross-cultural consciousness, and on the benefits of cultural diversity; which also include the creative genius, cognitive development and high achievement. Although we understand the need to teach deep culture, knowing how to teach it in the elementary classroom is difficult. 

To help teach deeper cultural elements in the classroom, we can use Ellis’ formula; state the event or circumstance; such as, burping at the table, then talk about our cultural beliefs; for example, it’s not good manners in America, and then we can talk about the reactions; others would be embarrassed and would expect an apology. Afterwards we could discuss the same event; burping at the table, within the framework of a different culture including their beliefs and reaction. It’s important to teach the cultural principles generally as there are many individual differences and exceptions. Ellis’ approach in teaching deep culture has many benefits. It helps ELL’s to understand that there are many interpretations of reality throughout the world because our cultural paradigms inform our thinking and influence our interpretations. It also helps teach students that cross-cultural misunderstandings are common. 

After reading this article, I feel that it’s important to begin talking about deeper cultural principles at a younger age. In this way, more people would have a clearer view of cultural differences and hopefully there would be less cultural prejudicial interpretations.