Did you know….

Currently, I am working on a Didactic Unit on Culture. The objective of this project is to create a kind of book for teaching cultural aspects from around the world. So, for a while I have been surfing on the web in order to collect useful information for my project. Searching I found many interesting facts about different cultures that I want to share with you… Hope you enjoy as much as I did…

o In Africa there are over 1,000 languages spoken and some of these languages are not written, only spoken. (When a language is not written but spoken, it is called pidgin. When a pidgin evolves and becomes the first language of a group it is called creole.)
o The majority of Spaniards are Catholic, though Spain is a secular state. For over 300 years, most of Spain was Muslim. Parts of Spain were under Muslim rule until 1492 when the last Moorish king fell (in Granada).
o Right behind Christmas and Thanksgiving, Super Bowl Sunday ranks as the third largest occasion for Americans to consume food, according to the National Football League.
o Fortune cookies were actually invented in America in 1918 by Charles Jung.
o Donald Duck comics were banned from libraries in Finland because he doesn’t wear pants.
o Americans send an estimated 900 million Valentine’s Day cards each year.
o In Tibet, it is considered polite to stick out your tongue at your guests.
o The most common surname in the world is Li, and about 87 million people have it.
o Opera is an Italian creation.
o Italians on average eat around 30 kg (66 pounds) of pasta and drink 60 liters of wine per year.
o There is no need to send invitations to weddings, funerals, and the like as they are community events which are shared by all in Japanese villages. All of the village women prepare food and the entire village either mourns or congratulates the newly-wed couple.
o It is considered rude to openly express your emotions in public. This is why a straight face showing absolutely no emotions is worn by most of the people in Japan. It is also unheard of to show any signs of affection in public.
o When eating in this Asian country, forget what your mother taught you about having good manners and not slurping. It is Japanese custom to slurp while you eat foods such as soup. If you do not slurp, then your host will think that you do not like your food and will take offense.
o Mexican children do not receive presents on Christmas Day. They receive gifts on January 6, the day on which Mexicans celebrate the arrival of the Three Wise Men.
o The Aztecs adopted human sacrifice from earlier cultures (such as the Olmecs) because they believed the universe would come to an end and the sun would cease to move without human blood. There are many ancient statues of gods sticking out their tongues, such as Huitzilopochtli, which may be a sacred gesture that suggests their thirst for blood.
o Istambul is the only city in the world built on two continents.
o In Australia, guests to a barbeque typically bring wine or beer for their personal consumption.
o Belgium has the highest density of roads and the highest density of railroads in the world.
o France is the most visited country in the world.

And the most interesting fact is that all people belong to the same species called Homo Sapiens which means "wise man" in Latin. We all have the same origin, but with different points of view, behaviors, traditions. Just different cultures that we should learn from, respect and enjoy them…

A strange Guapileña girl in Heredia

Acculturation

This blog is based on acculturation to a second culture. First at all, I want to share some important concepts regarding this topic.

• Acculturation

○ H. Douglas Brown states “the process of becoming adapted to a new culture” It’s necessary a reorientation of thinking and feeling as well as language.

• Culture Shock

○ H. Douglas Brown says that it refers to the phenomena ranging from irritability to psychological panic and crisis including estrangement, anger, hostility, indecision, frustration, unhappiness, loneliness, homesickness and even physical illness.

○ Peter Adler describes it as a “form of anxiety that results from the loss of commonly perceived and understood signs and symbols of social intercourse”

○ And, personally, the most accurate definition is given by George M. Foster who declares that “Culture shock is a mental illness, and as is true of much mental illness, the victim usually does not know he is afflicted. He finds he is irritable, depressed and probably annoyed by the lack of attention shown him”.

I defined culture, on my previous blog, as all the aspects that a determined group of people share, acquire and transmit from generation to generation. But I left aside the fact that even in a same country culture varies from town to town, even from family to family. There are many aspects that are general, shared by almost all people within that culture, but some others are just quite different as way of acting, behaving, talking. I was aware of it, but I did not realize it was true after my own culture shock within the same country.

Let me tell you about it…

While reading and studying about acculturation and culture shock, the main issue that was in my head over and over again, was just me. I was always thinking that I was being through this process, because, as I mentioned before, H. Douglas Brown says that acculturation is the process of becoming adapted to a new culture, and for me, a woman from Guápiles (a Limón town, an hour from San José), Heredia is a totally new culture. So, I will tell you how I passed through the acculturation stages stated by Brown.

☺ Excitement and euphoria over the newness of the surroundings. I have always lived, with my parents, in Guápiles (for about 22 years). I was very excited to be a little independent from my parents, at least on weekends. I was going to meet new people, new places. A complete unknown world was waiting for me in Heredia, just let’s enjoy it!

☼ Culture Shock. This stage emerges as the person feels the intrusion of more and more cultural differences into his own image of self and security. The main cultural difference, or the only one I can recall now, that I perceived was that most of the city people are always in a rush, and have no chance to talk to other people. I felt that way because when I was attending classes at the university, I usually arrived early, sat somewhere to smoke some cigarettes and watch people passing. But in Guápiles people greet each other, share some words and almost never are in a rush. I felt so out of place during my first day at the university in Heredia, that I was almost crying, I called many friends from Guápiles telling them that I hated Heredia, its windy weather, its slopes and its people. And all that happened to me in my first half an hour sitting, waiting for any relief. Then a friend from Guápiles, who is attending some classes with me, arrived and made me felt just a little bit better. I think I was feeling the same way, but at least I was not alone.

☻ Recovery. According to Larson and Smalley (1972) there is a period called Culture Stress, when some problems of acculturation are solved while other problems continue for some time. After my first week in Heredia, I told myself that it was not beneficial at all to keep in that way, especially if I have to spend, at least, two years in Heredia. For this reason, I started relating more with other people. I decided to go out in order to get familiar with the city and met some people. I went some places walking instead of paying taxis. I started enjoying the weather even I do not like how my hair gets so untidy because of the wind. I think I am getting a little accustom to be in Heredia, anyhow, it just for the weekend.

☺ Near or full recovery. It I an assimilation or adaptation, acceptance of the new culture and self-confidence. This is the last stage, but I have not passed through it yet. I consider that if a person overcomes the culture shock, it would not be a big problem recovering at all. Because, if we learn to enjoy the new experience, despite the emotions that could emerge during the culture shock, we could learn many meaningful aspects in regards to a second culture.

Teaching Language is Teaching Culture...

I am Karen Angulo. I finished my Bachelor's Degree on English teaching last year at Universidad de Costa Rica, and currently I am in a Second Languages and Cultures Master’s program at Universidad Nacional-Heredia.

The purpose of my blog is to share a little bit what I am learning on culture and its relationship with language. Language teachers are not only in charge of teaching the language itself, but teaching culture, we cannot detach one from the other.

There are lots of definitions on culture, I consider that culture include all those aspects that a determined group of people share (as the food, values, attitudes, ways of thinking, likes and dislikes, habits, traditions and behaviors), acquire and transmit from generation to generation. Those aspects are not easy to teach in our classrooms, even more if we are not familiarize with the culture of the target language. The lack of familiarization, or actual knowledge of a culture from the inside, makes us create assumptions that could develop into stereotypes. We, as teachers, have to avoid “labeling” people in class. On the contrary, we have to emphasize in our students the fact that we should not judge those people who have different points of view, or behaviors from ours.

Let’s implement different techniques in our classrooms in order to teach culture accurately, in an objectively way. Let’s do research on different topics that our students could be interested on learning. Don’t limit yourself; go beyond that teaching just a language. Remember that “Language is Culture and Culture is Language”.

But, how could we teach culture? According to Patrick Moran (2001) there are many approaches in order to teach culture while teaching a language as role-plays, film, realia, authentic materials, literature, among others. But there is a huge difference between teaching culture as a way of living and teaching how to participate in that way of living. Moran explain it by his own experience, he was a French student, who didn’t know about French culture until he actually was part of it. He realized that, even he knew lots of grammar rules, vocabulary, and culture, he didn’t know how to behave,he didn’t know how to apply all the knowledge he had learned and acquired. After a while immerged in French culture, Moran could understand what he had learned on culture.

At this point, I get a little bit concern, because we, as teachers, have to provide our students with cultural experiences and also have to make them understand the culture by their own comparison and analysis. I have not had the opportunity to be immerged in an English culture as Moran did, in order to provide my students with cultural experiences. But, anyhow, I have to teach culture while teaching the language. I am not going to wait until I can experience living within an English speaking country for learning culture from the inside, so, the answer for my problem is to research on culture accurately and meaningfully.

For that reason, I was trying to look for some information about different cultural behaviors. People tend to be ethnocentric because assume our own culture as a point of reference. That is why I chose two cultural behaviors that are different for me, based on my own perception of culture. Here there are…

Female Genital Mutilation

This is a very controversial topic, on which even World Health Organization (WHO) has been involved. Let’s state it as objectively as possible.

According to Rhonda Heitman (2000), “Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a cultural practice that started in Africa approximately 2,000 years ago. It is primarily a cultural practice, not a religious practice. But some religions do include FGM as part of their practices.”

There are many practices that, even in our own culture, in our own home, we don not share, we do not see it as "regular", or "acceptable". But, we can not judge it, their just different. We must respect others beliefs, even they are not similar to ours.

Those African and Islamic people practicing FGM believe in it as a religious or cultural issue. Its part of their traditions, and we cannot just say that is a strange, dangerous or abominable practice, because we do not understand it.

There is just one aspect that concerns me, and should be the only one that makes people aware of the risks that Female Genital Mutilation has. It is the insalubrious of the procedure in some cases. Even this practice is carried out in hospitals and clinics, sometimes, because of traditional matters; it is done with not so adequate hygienic conditions, and could bring some health complications. But, besides of that, I really do not get the point when people criticizes or judge those cultural practices. You will see in the videos that I attached that women are conscious about the process that they had being through, and they really are proud of their beliefs and practices. So, if they are satisfied with their practices, why are we going to be concern? We just have to respect, learn, and avoid judging. (Watch the added videos on Female Mutilation)

Zulu Culture

This other topic that I want to develop is not as controversial as the previous one. I consider this, to be an idea on how to get involved, trying to understand and learn in a meaningful way from other cultures.
Zulu is a South Africa ethnic group, which has its own language, traditions, values… Its own Culture!

I chose this culture because it is said that they hold ceremonies yearly, in order to keep alive their culture and traditions. Some of them are:

• Reed Dance Festival. It promotes purity among women.
• Weddings. Zulu woman has to show to her husband’s family how pretty she is. And man’s family kills a cow as a symbol of acceptance.
• Traditional Healing. They have an isangoma, who is in charge of healing people, and find stolen goods.

One of the videos that I added was performed by two young men that tried to represent Zulu way of living and behaving. I like it very much, because, its a nice way to involve our students on learning a different culture. They benefit from learning while having fun. (Watch videos on Zulu's Culture)

As a conclusion, I want you to get my point on the development of these two cultural behaviors. The most interesting fact is that, in both cases, they have different traditions, and ways of living that us, but people do not criticize Zulus as much as they criticize Female Genital Mutilation practice. I am not telling that you have to accept FGM as part of your own culture and practice it, I am saying that the important issue on culture is to accept and respect others beliefs, traditions, behaviors, and not judge them just for being different from ours. Let aside the stereotypes, let aside ethnocentrism, we are all part of the same world, we only have to realize that there are unlimited different points of view.