Page 289 - Beyond Methods

Raising cultural consciousness 277 are shared by the next two microstrategies as well—at a different level
of complexity.
Microstrategy 12.2: Thanksgiving
12.2.0 This microstrategy is best introduced during the month or se- mester when some form of thanksgiving or spring festival is celebrated. The United States celebrates its Thanksgiving in the month of Novem- ber. Although the term thanksgiving or its translated equivalent may not be part of the event name itself, the idea of thanksgiving can be found in many cultures around the world. Thanksgiving is observed for different reasons and in different ways. Thanks may be given to God or Nature for such things as a good harvest, the triumph of Good over Evil, overcoming some collective hardship, etc. The celebration may involve religious rituals, social gatherings, feasts, games, or other forms of festivities. An occasion like Thanksgiving offers an excellent oppor- tunity for an L2 teacher to promote cross-cultural understanding among students. There are, of course, several ways of implementing a micro- strategy like this. I present below one version that I have found very useful in my class.
12.2.1 Ask your students to think about the meaning of Thanksgiving and the form it takes in their home culture. More often than not, as fre- quently happens in my class, the initial response from a group of in- ternational students would be something like: “Oh, we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving; it’s an American festival.” Ask leading questions (Is there a spring festival in your home culture? Do people in your home culture thank God or Nature when there is a good harvest of crops? etc.) to cre- ate the grounds for the activity to be understood and pursued.
12.2.2 Explain the primary objective of the activity: to help learners get a cross-cultural perspective of Thanksgiving—its origins and what people actually do on the day of Thanksgiving. Have your students col- lect information about Thanksgiving (a) in the United States, (b) in their home culture, and (c) in a third culture or subculture of their choice, preferably one represented in class.
12.2.3 Give adequate time for your students to research the topic in the library. General and subject-specific encyclopedias are a good place to start. Parents and other elders at home are a friendly source of in- formation about thanksgiving in their home culture.
12.2.4 Ask your students to use the information they have gathered to put together posters containing key words, pictures, and images that