Teaching Culture

I think that most language teachers agree that when it comes to teaching culture it feels more like an after- thought than a meaningful, thoughtful experience. The problem comes from teaching culture outside of context or separate from language learning. What we need to realize is that language and culture go hand in hand.

One thing that I am implementing now is a Tâche Hebdomadaire. The Tâche Hebdomadaire was created by French teacher and National Board Certified Teacher, Elise Robillard. It is a way for students to get real-world experience with the language in an authentic way.

The way it works is that students are given a list of real-world tasks that they can do outside the classroom. The tasks range from putting your social media site into French for a week to following a hash tag on Twitter. Students can listen to music, read poetry, interview people, read articles, or any other host of activities.

Each week students are asked to complete one Tâche and turn in a written summary in English, or French, of their experience with the Tâche. The summary should be a thoughtful reflection of what they have learned, how it all went, or just general information.

The goal here is not to fact check students or to check for spelling or grammar. It is an authentic way for students to interact with the language in a way they probably wouldn't have sitting in our classrooms. 

This activity correlates perfectly with National Board entry 3: Building Cultural Competence and hits all C's of the ACTFL Standards. We want students to connect to language in ways that is meaningful them. We want to create in them a desire to be life-long learners and to have a curious mind about other cultures.

Here is the link to see my Google Docs form on how students submit their Tâche.

Tâche Hebdomadaire