Author Topic: Need ideas for culture lesson! (Read 2829 times)

drgenderpotato · « **on:** October 10, 2013, 03:30:17 PM »

My 5th and 6th graders get a culture class two weeks of the month. So far, I've done:

American Schools
American Etiquette
Weird Things Americans Do (In this case, Black Friday shopping, LARPing, camping at Wal-Mart, and raising urban chickens)
Korea in America (Korean things that are popular in the US)

I'm running out of ideas! Can anyone throw something my way? My kids are quite high-level and my co-teachers do a lot of translating- two different women with great English skills; I've checked that both are okay with a lot of explanation and they both said they absolutely were- so I want something I can talk about with the kids for at least 30 minutes.

I've thought about popular hobbies and sports as a topic, but it's not really THAT different, and doesn't leave enough room for me to chat with the kids.

Wintermute · « **Reply #1 on:** October 10, 2013, 03:46:15 PM »

my personal fav, you will see a certain handsome user, with some wonderful tips

http://www.waygook.org/index.php?topic=46296.0

and some others

http://www.waygook.org/index.php?topic=49999.0

http://www.waygook.org/index.php?topic=2530.0

http://www.waygook.org/index.php/topic,883.0.html

http://www.waygook.org/index.php?topic=12612.0

http://www.waygook.org/index.php?topic=11753.0

JessicaisinKorea · « **Reply #2 on:** October 10, 2013, 04:22:31 PM »

Hey there,

I saw your post and I've been meaning to share this stuff anyway on here. I have an afterschool class about once every other week - the theme is "Travel to America" (my co-t's idea).

They're 6th graders and their level is pretty darn low. I usually make a power point and my co-teacher usually translates the English on the PPT into Korean (as you will see). Sometimes she just verbally translates. We read the power point together and then we usually watch a couple short videos on the topic (easy to find on youtube). I ask them some questions at the end and those who answer get a little prize.

Hope some help you! I included some of the more interesting (as interesting as you can get) power points: American Holidays, Facts about America, American Landmarks, Garage Sales, and American Music. At the end of the Music PPT I included a bunch of links to music I found through the years. I did my best to showcase it all! I usually just played like 30 seconds from each clip.

I was wondering, though, I saw one of your topics was American School - well that's a topic I'm covering in about 2 weeks. Would you mind posting what you did? I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

drgenderpotato · « **Reply #3 on:** October 10, 2013, 06:15:16 PM »

Thanks for posting yours, guys! Jessicisinkorea, I'll happily post mine, as well as the others I've done.

The think to keep in mind for my culture class PPTs is that there's a lot of stuff that happens "off screen" with a good deal of elicitation and asking students to state personal preferences, recount experiences, etc. Most of them are also very time-flexible in this way, as my 6th-graders are less eager to talk than my 5th-graders (usually.)

I also have to be careful; my school doesn't like me teaching anything controversial because the students are quite young still and sheltered. I also think my coteachers would prefer not to have to explain really bad or explosive stuff to them, which I completely understand. My kids tend to shoot the messenger when something upsets them.

Here is the PPt for School in America. Although it's fairly simple English, I use the PPT as more of a guide for me to talk from and summarize it rather than read it word-for-word. If you have high-level students, you can ask them to read and try to figure out any new words. It's also the first one I ever did so it's not as much fun as other ones I've made since. It also has pictures from my schools, and I started with a video of a play I was in during middle school (thanks, mom!)

drgenderpotato · « **Reply #4 on:** October 10, 2013, 06:24:05 PM »

Here's my next one, American Manners. It sounds boring but it was a huge hit!

Start with the clip from Mr. Baseball of Tom Selleck royally ****** up Japanese table manners- here: http://youtu.be/029kdjdasyM (you may want to stress to your students that you are aware that the people are Japanese). This gets a HUGE laugh from my students and co-teachers alike! Then elicit what Tom Selleck did wrong from them.

After that, the PPT is fairly straightforward. Lots of acting really sells this one. Again, summarize rather than reading the whole thing, and ask the students a lot of questions.

drgenderpotato · « **Reply #5 on:** October 10, 2013, 06:33:02 PM »

Looking at my last post- they really bleeped out the "f" word? I think everyone here's over 18.

This is where they start getting a bit more fun. I did "Weird Things Americans Do" and they LOVED it! This is fairly video-heavy, so I attached mine. You can play the whole Black Friday disaster compilation clip or cut it off after a couple minutes, whichever you want.

Also, they wouldn't believe me when I said George Takei isn't Korean!

drgenderpotato · « **Reply #6 on:** October 10, 2013, 06:40:19 PM »

Aaaaand here's what I'm doing this week- Korea in America. I start by eliciting American things that are popular in Korea (this has netted some hilarious results, like "English" and "chicken" and "1945 BOMB JAPAN!") and then go on from there.

The picture on the introductory slide is a piece of art by a Korean-American artist, btw.

You also might want to explain to them that the Anthony Bourdain video (first one) is really difficult to understand, and summarize it a bit afterwards. You should also teach them "trendy" ASAP.

This one has been pretty popular.

Zeegs · « **Reply #7 on:** October 10, 2013, 06:50:01 PM »

Here's the broad list of topics I had set for culture class I had a couple years ago.

History - Basic roots of western culture. Some Greek and Roman stuff. Architecture the gods, myths, etc.
Geography - Highlight western cultures, their landscapes, wildlife, local food
Folk tales, stories, and fables - A lot of these stories are familiar to the students. I talked about the brothers Grimm, and mother goose
Video Games - I know a lot of the games ares strictly western, but I had sort of a history from Pong to now. What kind of games are more popular in the west kind of thing
Board Games - just show some popular games, talk about board game night. Play some games if you have a small enough class.
Childrens Games - Hide and seek, tag, what time is it Mr. Wolf, etc. Examples of how kids play back home
Western Sports - I'd show the playing area and break down how many people play on a team and some basic objectives of the games. Show some video clips.
Computers - Show the evolution of computers, you can use some dos emulators and such to show how the older ones worked. Pretty far away from the touch control of today.
Cartoons - The Looney Toons, Mickey Mouse, show off some western characters.
Toys - what were the most wanted toys of Christmas kind of thing. Furby, POGs, moon shoes, GI Joes, easy bake oven, show some of the old toy commercials
Comic Books - I don't really see western style comic books around here. Show some popular characters that they know, Calvin and Hobbes would be great for winter with all the snowmen. Or even some things like Garfield and Peanuts (I think they know the characters but not the strips)
Movies - The majority of big movies are made in the west. Talk about hollywood, and what kind of movies are popular
TV - Pretty much the same as the last one. You can talk about how our programming is a bit different than Korean TV
Music - Blues, Rock, R&B, Hip Hop, Country, etc. Show them some non-kpop on a musical history tour.
Food - Show the main styles from different Western countries, maybe cook somethign with them
Holidays - explains itself
Famous People & Places - A lot of them know about people like Thomas Edison, Einstein, and Helen Keller. Show some impacts made on the world by western people.

drgenderpotato · « **Reply #8 on:** October 11, 2013, 11:01:36 AM »

Quote from: Zeegs on October 10, 2013, 06:50:01 PM

Here's the broad list of topics I had set for culture class I had a couple years ago.

History - Basic roots of western culture. Some Greek and Roman stuff. Architecture the gods, myths, etc.
Geography - Highlight western cultures, their landscapes, wildlife, local food
Folk tales, stories, and fables - A lot of these stories are familiar to the students. I talked about the brothers Grimm, and mother goose
Video Games - I know a lot of the games ares strictly western, but I had sort of a history from Pong to now. What kind of games are more popular in the west kind of thing
Board Games - just show some popular games, talk about board game night. Play some games if you have a small enough class.
Childrens Games - Hide and seek, tag, what time is it Mr. Wolf, etc. Examples of how kids play back home
Western Sports - I'd show the playing area and break down how many people play on a team and some basic objectives of the games. Show some video clips.
Computers - Show the evolution of computers, you can use some dos emulators and such to show how the older ones worked. Pretty far away from the touch control of today.
Cartoons - The Looney Toons, Mickey Mouse, show off some western characters.
Toys - what were the most wanted toys of Christmas kind of thing. Furby, POGs, moon shoes, GI Joes, easy bake oven, show some of the old toy commercials
Comic Books - I don't really see western style comic books around here. Show some popular characters that they know, Calvin and Hobbes would be great for winter with all the snowmen. Or even some things like Garfield and Peanuts (I think they know the characters but not the strips)
Movies - The majority of big movies are made in the west. Talk about hollywood, and what kind of movies are popular
TV - Pretty much the same as the last one. You can talk about how our programming is a bit different than Korean TV
Music - Blues, Rock, R&B, Hip Hop, Country, etc. Show them some non-kpop on a musical history tour.
Food - Show the main styles from different Western countries, maybe cook somethign with them
Holidays - explains itself
Famous People & Places - A lot of them know about people like Thomas Edison, Einstein, and Helen Keller. Show some impacts made on the world by western people.

Dammit, you just reminded me that I never got an EZ Bake Oven.

I'm terrified at the idea of cooking with the sixth-graders, but this is a fantastic list! Thanks!

Zeegs · « **Reply #9 on:** October 11, 2013, 11:59:41 AM »

You could try some cooking stuff with no fire involved.

Worms in the dirt:

http://www.childrensrecipes.com/worms_in_dirt.htm

drgenderpotato · « **Reply #10 on:** October 11, 2013, 12:01:08 PM »

Quote from: Zeegs on October 11, 2013, 11:59:41 AM

You could try some cooking stuff with no fire involved.

Worms in the dirt:

http://www.childrensrecipes.com/worms_in_dirt.htm

Boys throw worms at the girls, girls punch the shit out of the boys, boys cry, girls laugh at crying boys, coteacher gets mad at drsexpotato teacher, drsexpotato teacher turns to a life of rampant alcoholism.

However, worms in dirt is a fantastic idea for my younger students or maybe camp!

Wintermute · « **Reply #11 on:** October 11, 2013, 12:57:05 PM »

Making this tonight, thanks braj!!!

alliiequiinn · « **Reply #12 on:** December 11, 2014, 03:20:15 PM »

Quote from: drgenderpotato on October 10, 2013, 06:40:19 PM

Aaaaand here's what I'm doing this week- Korea in America. I start by eliciting American things that are popular in Korea (this has netted some hilarious results, like "English" and "chicken" and "1945 BOMB JAPAN!") and then go on from there.

The picture on the introductory slide is a piece of art by a Korean-American artist, btw.

You also might want to explain to them that the Anthony Bourdain video (first one) is really difficult to understand, and summarize it a bit afterwards. You should also teach them "trendy" ASAP.

This one has been pretty popular.

Wow, I really really loved this material! So great. I took your material and added it to a new PPT with more pictures and formatting.

I've hyperlinked all the videos that you showed as well. In the PPT, if there's an arrow pointing towards a picture, click the picture and it will take you to the Youtube video.

Really great work!

smurdock83 · « **Reply #13 on:** January 26, 2015, 04:26:17 PM »

Hello Everyone,

I know this topic can be hard to manage. At my new school i had to do one culture class per lesson. so I've done about 15 to 20 culture classes and I wanted to share them on this thread.

Author Topic: Need ideas for culture lesson! (Read 2829 times)

drgenderpotato

Need ideas for culture lesson!

Wintermute

Re: Need ideas for culture lesson!

JessicaisinKorea

Re: Need ideas for culture lesson!

drgenderpotato

Re: Need ideas for culture lesson!

drgenderpotato

Re: Need ideas for culture lesson!

drgenderpotato

Re: Need ideas for culture lesson!

drgenderpotato

Re: Need ideas for culture lesson!

Zeegs

Re: Need ideas for culture lesson!

drgenderpotato

Re: Need ideas for culture lesson!

Zeegs

Re: Need ideas for culture lesson!

drgenderpotato

Re: Need ideas for culture lesson!

Wintermute

Re: Need ideas for culture lesson!

alliiequiinn

Re: Need ideas for culture lesson!

smurdock83

Re: Need ideas for culture lesson!

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