We all know that learning culture is necessary for the communication process. It is an important part of learning the language. However, most of the time we spend in class is focused on vocabulary. We sometimes forget to include culture in our daily, weekly, or even monthly lessons.
If you use a textbook, you know the culture included in the text can be pretty weak and besides that, we spend all of our time planning communication activities that we let culture take a backseat. We just don’t have enough time for culture…or do we?
I want to share with you a few ways you can get culture into your classroom without losing a lot of class time (who has time for a full-length movie?) and with very little prep involved.
Ten Ideas to Add Cultiure To Your Classroom
So here are some ideas to get you started adding more culture-rich resources to your ASL classes.
1. Read blog posts
Blog posts are generally short, easy to read, and full of great information. They can be used as a warm-up or a closing activity. And when you use blogs written by deaf people for deaf people they are not only an authentic resource but a great way to get a glimpse into the life of deaf people without being intrusive.
Always check the content on blogs before sending students to any site. You can specifically assign a page to read so you know what content is being covered.
2. Photos
Photos are a great FREE resource for you to use in your classroom. They are great for integrating culture and language and they allow you to stay in the target language while providing comprehensible input. Use photos of a variety of different topics like greetings to art or even use them to discuss eye contact.
3. Facts and Statistics
Teachers can easily gather data about a specific topic like the number of deaf people in the US or the number of manual alphabets worldwide. Create beautiful charts and graphs and share these facts with students so they can get a better understanding of the culture.
4. Videos
This is probably the easiest way to get culture into the ASL classroom. There are videos out there on all types of cultural topics from a day in the life of Deaf people to what an infant hearing test is like. These topics open doors for wonderful discussions like the view of the Deaf community and CIs for newborn babies.
5. Find a Guest
Find a classroom of deaf students or a deaf college student who is willing to come to your classroom or do a virtual interview with students. Track down a person who is willing to help your students better understand Deaf culture and Deaf life. You can even connect with a classroom of deaf students and work on a semester-long project.
6. Current Events
Choose a day of the week where students have to find a current event about the Deaf community. This can be news, events, or even pop-culture happenings. Students can share their ideas in the target language in the upper levels and lower-level students can pin their current event articles around the room and conduct a gallery walk.
7. Infogrpahics
Infographics are not only a way to measure what students have learned but they are a quick and easy way to teach culture to students. A quick Google search will bring up many of these infographics but you can always make your own too. You can read more on infographics here.
8. Create a Class Bulletin Board
Students can help be the teacher in the classroom by creating bulletin boards with facts on well-known Deaf people in the community. You can focus on one person a month where students all bring in facts, pictures, and data on the individual or you can assign groups to cover a specific person throughout the semester.
9. QR Code Quick Facts
Make quick, easy-to-access facts about deaf culture, people, or the language to hang around your room. Use images that are eye-catching to students and place a QR code with the cultural information on the image. Students can quickly scan and read, listen to, or watch facts on the topic you provide them with.
10. Comic Strips
Comis strips are always a quick and easy way to quickly get cultural information into the minds of students. They appeal to most teenagers, they are short in length but have a big punch, and they quickly get information to students. Comic strips do not need a lot of class time to cover material.
Culture is Necessary
There are a lot of ways to include cultural information in the ASL classroom. Let culture inspire your students to become better communicators, be sensitive and welcoming to other cultures, and learn a different world perspective.
What is your favorite way to add culture to your classroom? Join the conversation on Facebook.
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