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Raising cultural consciousness
of racism. The question of why nobody in the cockpit spoke up force- fully is crucial because this kind of crash—in which a perfectly good plane flies into the ground—happens with alarming frequency worldwide. Such disasters account for as many as eight out of every 10 crashes and more than 9,000 deaths on commercial flights in the jet age.
12.2.2 Consider all the possibilities, if you wish to design a step-by- step microstrategy using this or any other local newspaper story that has a cultural component built into it.
12.2.3 Make a list of pre-reading and post-reading comprehension questions that would help your learners understand the text.
12.2.4 Focus then on the cross-cultural aspect of the story. Defer- ence to authority? Respect for elders? Cultural stereotypes? What else?
12.2.5 Consider possible activities to help your learners research the Korean perspective of this accident. Library search? Internet archives? Korean embassy in your country?
12.2.6 What activities can you design to help your learners respond to this story creatively? For instance, assuming that the cultural aspect of the story is true as reported, would your learners be able to put themselves in the shoes of the co-pilot and then imaginatively write about how they would have reacted when they realized that their cap- tain was making a terrible mistake that could cost the lives of all 254 passengers and crew?
12.2.7 Is it a good idea to raise the issue of cultural stereotypes? What specific activities would you design to bring out the cultural stereotype embedded in this text?
12.2.8 What are other ways in which you can make use of this news- paper story to raise critical cultural consciousness in your learners?
12.2.9 As always, reflect on the possibilities and limitations of doing an exploratory project like this, given your specific learning and teach- ing environment.
In Closing
I started this chapter with a general discussion on the concept of culture. I pointed out that the traditional pedagogic aim has been primarily to create in the L2 learner an empathy toward and an ap- preciation for the culture of the target language community. Such a view offers only a narrow view of culture because it ignores the rich