Thursday, August 19, 2010
End-of-Quarter Self-Evaluation
This has been an interesting term for me. As of writing this, I’m getting married in about 6 hours; I’ll be moving house on Monday and have had to deal with some mayor changes to do with two of my three children. Nevertheless, I feel I invested quite some time in the projects and presentations required for this course and liked doing it very much. My strengths have usually been in doing these kinds of presentations, as opposed to writing the reports. I enjoyed participating with the other students and laughing at everyone’s comments. I feel I learned more about structuring a lesson plan more clearly and how better to appreciate other people’s points of view. I think it’s difficult to stick to a schedule when everyone has many comments to make. The cooperative learning approach is very good because it guides students along the main points of the lesson without offending anyone by cutting them off. Again, I feel it has been one of the most entertaining courses I’ve taken. Thank you very much Neli, Peter.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Essay on Culture and the quilt patch presentation to European students
In our course on teaching culture related to the English language, it has been important to understand what is truly being understood and assimilated by our students as new information that can be useful for them to apply. One of the ways of doing this is by having genuine interaction with foreign students to see how they feel about an unfamiliar culture. This practise has shown us as teachers what we need to improve on to be able to get the message across in a clear and concise manner, while obtaining the needed feedback so as to improve our methods.
The cultural activity we had with the students from Europe had with us was a success. We were able to share in some cultural interaction and learn more about Costa Rica and its traditions. The activity consisted of folkloric dance and typical food, together with the explanation of the patchwork quilt we were asked to individually present to them. They were asked to guess which of the quilt pieces belonged to the specific person that was talking with them.
The design of my part of the quilt reflects the most obvious differences between the country I grew up in and the landscape that is found in Costa Rica. We do not have volcanoes in The Netherlands. We don’t even have any real hills. We do not have the same type of trees and greenery. There are a variety of flowers and fruit here that aren’t found in Europe. The climate there is temperate, not hot and humid like many places in Costa Rica.
The volcano depicted in my patchwork is called Arenal. It is one of 9 active volcanoes in Costa Rica. There are more than 200 volcanoes in the whole country, of which most you can tour. My patchwork illustrates the most famous volcano in Costa Rica that nearly all tourists visit. Overall, the visiting students seemed interested in learning about what makes Costarican culture unique. We spoke about the people and their various practises and how they compare to their part of the world. The way of dancing, the rice pudding (arroz con leche), and the filled tortillas were very much appreciated. It was useful in my discussions with them when trying to point out the differences in, for example dress and cuisine and how that relates to the practises, products, perspectives and communities found here and in their countries.
Because these students are studying Sustainable Development they were interested in knowing how the nature of the country is being preserved. I told them that Costa Rica does a lot to keep the natural areas protected and left to nature. The greenery on my patchwork sparked interest in this point and I was happy to discuss the natural beauties of what I’ve seen in Costa Rica.
Everybody interacted well and they expressed their desire to come back to ULACIT to repeat the activity again next year. The feelings that were expressed showed that the foreign students gained a greater appreciation for the Costarican culture and were able to speak with deeper understanding about their new experience. As a future professional teacher I was able to understand their apprehension about some cultural aspects, but at the same time I was able to help them relate to the different way of living and see how it is not that dissimilar to what they already know.
The cultural activity we had with the students from Europe had with us was a success. We were able to share in some cultural interaction and learn more about Costa Rica and its traditions. The activity consisted of folkloric dance and typical food, together with the explanation of the patchwork quilt we were asked to individually present to them. They were asked to guess which of the quilt pieces belonged to the specific person that was talking with them.
The design of my part of the quilt reflects the most obvious differences between the country I grew up in and the landscape that is found in Costa Rica. We do not have volcanoes in The Netherlands. We don’t even have any real hills. We do not have the same type of trees and greenery. There are a variety of flowers and fruit here that aren’t found in Europe. The climate there is temperate, not hot and humid like many places in Costa Rica.
The volcano depicted in my patchwork is called Arenal. It is one of 9 active volcanoes in Costa Rica. There are more than 200 volcanoes in the whole country, of which most you can tour. My patchwork illustrates the most famous volcano in Costa Rica that nearly all tourists visit. Overall, the visiting students seemed interested in learning about what makes Costarican culture unique. We spoke about the people and their various practises and how they compare to their part of the world. The way of dancing, the rice pudding (arroz con leche), and the filled tortillas were very much appreciated. It was useful in my discussions with them when trying to point out the differences in, for example dress and cuisine and how that relates to the practises, products, perspectives and communities found here and in their countries.
Because these students are studying Sustainable Development they were interested in knowing how the nature of the country is being preserved. I told them that Costa Rica does a lot to keep the natural areas protected and left to nature. The greenery on my patchwork sparked interest in this point and I was happy to discuss the natural beauties of what I’ve seen in Costa Rica.
Everybody interacted well and they expressed their desire to come back to ULACIT to repeat the activity again next year. The feelings that were expressed showed that the foreign students gained a greater appreciation for the Costarican culture and were able to speak with deeper understanding about their new experience. As a future professional teacher I was able to understand their apprehension about some cultural aspects, but at the same time I was able to help them relate to the different way of living and see how it is not that dissimilar to what they already know.
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