Reflect on the 2nd standard, Culture. What are products, practices and perspectives? How might you teach these in the target language?
The Five World Readiness Standards are connected. If we expect our students to contrast their culture with those of other countries and develop an appreciation for the cultures of other countries, we must learn how to teach culture. Culture has a very broad definition, but within the context of the Five World Readiness Standards it is possible to break culture into three components: products, practices, and perspectives.
I will provide an example: if I am teaching a Spanish class for students at the intermediate-advanced levels (or students taking an AP class), I would show them YouTube videos depicting scenes of classic telenovelas. Personally, I would choose the telenovela “Doña Bárbara.” This telenovela is based on a novel published in 1929 by Rómulo Gallegos. Rómulo Gallegos was not only a famous writer, but also a renowned politician, and, in 1948, he became the first cleanly elected President of Venezuela. Thus, my product is the telenovela “Doña Bárbara.”
What would be my practice? As we know, people from Latin America watch telenovelas and watching telenovelas, therefore, falls under the category of a practice (a daily practice; I, personally, learn Spanish daily by watching my favorite telenovelas).
My cultural perspective would be how individuals from Latin American countries value telenovelas. According to a PBS article, “for Latinos, watching telenovelas is often a way to keep in touch with their friends and family, especially those who have emigrated.” Telenovelas, therefore, are very important and influential. Telenovelas are also unfairly underestimated as a genre. I would like to change how Americans perceive this genre.
Doña Bárbara addresses issues of patriarchy and tells the story of a deeply wounded woman who, ahead of her time, dares to succeed in a male-dominated, patriarchal society. For decades, her character has been a symbol of female empowerment not only in Venezuela, but also abroad. Below is a video showing the beautiful Mexican actress María Felix playing Doña Barbara in the 1943 Mexican adaptation of Gallegos’s novel.
Doña Bárbara, as a telenovela, would also allow me to bring content (Venezuelan history, specifically) to my classroom. By introducing Rómulo Gallegos, the writer of Doña Bárbara, to my students, I could teach them about the history of Venezuela. I could ask my students questions like “Who was Rómulo Gallegos and why is he important in Venezuela?” or “how does Rómulo Gallegos compare to the current President of Venezuela?” or “how would Rómulo Gallegos handle the humanitarian crisis that we are witnessing in Venezuela right now?” Of course, I would provide my students with magazines and articles that discuss the current political and humanitarian turmoil in Venezuela.
As any activity, the activity that I propose can also be modified to address the needs of students at the novice and intermediate levels. By watching the scene, students at the novice level could learn new vocabulary (for example, horses), whereas students at the intermediate levels could narrate the scene. Any activity can be modified to address the specific needs of students who are at different levels of proficiency.
To summarize, the Five World Readiness Standards are connected. If we, as teachers, know and value things like literature, geography, history, and film, there are so many interesting things that we can explore in the environment of a foreign language classroom.