Presentation

Subject: social Studies

Topic: Culture and Language

Goals:
Students will research assigned cultures, concentrating mostly on the culture's
languages. After research, groups present audio clips of different languages and
students will listen to find similarities between all languages. This will lead them
to make generalizations about communication as a whole

Objective:
Students will be able to research cultures using a variety of resources. Students
will be able to document research in a clear, organized way. Students will be able
to use information to make generalizations about cultures and languages.
Students will be able to write a response to the questions: What is language?
What is culture? How are the two related? How are languages similar? Students
will be able to present information gathered in a clear, understandable way. TEKS:
(20) Writing/inquiry/research. The student uses writing as a tool for learning and
research. The student is expected to: (C) take simple notes from relevant sources
such as classroom guests, books, and media sources (2-3); and (D) compile notes
into outlines, reports, summaries, or other written efforts using available
technology (2-3). (14) Writing/purposes. The student writes for a variety of
audiences and purposes and in various forms. The student is expected to: (A)
write to record ideas and reflections (K-3)

Materials:
Books about culture and language, encyclopedias, internet access, pencils, paper,
poster board, colored notecards, markers Introduction: As a class, we will review
the previous lesson by looking at the map and discussing what we learned before:
that most areas of the world that speak a common language also have similar
cultural ways. I will remind students that we were only able to look at one aspect
of culture before, and now we have an opportunity to look at more. I will
compare their work to that of scientists, and remind them that when scientists
study a culture, they look at more parts than just one or two. I will make sure they
understand where to look online for audio clips of their language, and I will stress
that the audio clip is very
LESSON PLAN (S. Studies)
important so that we can listen to the language. I will ask students what other
parts of culture they would like to learn about, and record their answers. Then,
each group will pick 4 topics to research for their previously assigned area of the
world. For example, if in the previous lesson they researched Africa's languages
and foods, now they will research Africa's languages, foods, dress, religions,
customs, and education. Students will organize themselves into groups to pick
their 4 additional cultural topics to research. They will choose one color of
notecard for each topic. Development: As a class, we will review what serious
scientific research looks like: reading books or online, and recording information
on the notecards, with some discussion about what they find. We will have a
short lesson on note-taking, by reading a section of text together and writing only
important parts. Practice: Students begin research. This will take more than one
day, and as the students work, I will monitor them and take anecdotal notes on
their participation and behavior and once in awhile I will remind them of what
sort of behavior I am looking for. To take a break from research, we will read
Animals That Talk, and they will respond to questions posed at the end of each
day in their journals. Accommodations:
I will place each ESL student in a group that can support him/her, and pair them
with someone in the group that either speaks his/her language or can patiently
re-explain information and help with reading and writing. I will also write bulleted
directions on the board with a picture to go along with it. For example, since the
first direction is to find their groups, I might write "Find groups" and draw a group
of people next to it. For groups that are finished early, I will ask them to come up
with a more creative way to present the information without being silly. "How can
you show what you have learned in a way that your class will remember?" If they
finish with this, I might ask them to write a short response as a group about what
similarities they noticed between the parts of culture and the language/s.
Checking For Understanding: The presentations will be the main way that I check
for understanding. If the group presents in a way that shows the parts of culture
they chose to research and compares these parts to language, it is clear they
understand the concepts. As a class, we will listen to the audio clips and write
notes on what we hear. We will listen to pitch, volume, tone, speed, and
articulation. I will also ask them how they researched their information. I would
also say something like, "As scientists who have made a discovery about this
culture, would you say that language is an important part of culture? So, if you
have different languages in a community, is the culture more interesting than if
you had only
LESSON PLAN (S. Studies)
one language spoken?" These questions are intended to scaffold students to the
realization that language diversity is a positive part of rich culture, and that it
should be valued. Closure: After all groups have presented, we will discuss the
audio clips. What was the same about all of them? What do we notice about
language in general? I will record their responses on chart paper, and we will use
this to think about communication in general. Even if we don't speak the
language, are there some things that we can understand? (In the upcoming
weeks, we will review the concept that communication goes much beyond word
meaning, and this information will be used to develop our social action plan to
help ESL students feel more comfortable in the classroom, even though we speak
different languages.)