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    Cultural Practices #1

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    Subject: World Languages

    Lesson Length: 45 mins - 1 hour

    Topic: Expression, Communication, Culture, Tradition, Presentation

    Grade Level: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

    Standards / Framework:

    Brief Description: Students will investigate, explain, and reflect on the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the culture studied.

    Know Before You Start: Students should be able to express traditions common to their culture.

    Hook:

    • Ask students:
      • “What family traditions do you have?”
      • “How can we share our culture or background?”
      • “What cultural tradition do you want to explain to others?”

    Activity:

    • As a class, have students discuss different traditions that come from their background or culture.
    • Have students discuss different ways to share or talk about their traditions.
    • Using the sample comic as a guide, have students create a comic that describes a tradition of their choice.

    Closure:

    • Have students share their comics with the class or in small groups.
    • Have students explain why they chose the tradition featured in their comic.
    • Discuss why it’s important to talk about culture and traditions in a different language.
    • Emphasize that learning languages also involves learning about and comparing traditions and cultural norms.

    Differentiation:

    • Allow students to use the speech-to-text feature.
    • Allow students to work in pairs or groups as needed.
    • Allow students to use the voiceover feature to read their comics aloud.
    • Allow students to use digital dictionaries/translators as appropriate for your class policy.
    • Students may find it helpful to draft their descriptions in English first, then the target language, if they find it difficult to create original sentences in the target language.
    • Help students identify and define what “culture” might mean, whether related to their family background or the community to which they belong.
    • Help students identify images of cultural traditions, e.g., dress, decorations, etc.
    • For younger grades, provide books with pictures of some traditional cultural events, dress, etc.
    • Allow students to use digital dictionaries/translators as appropriate for your class policy.

    Resources:

    Suggested Content Packs:

    Suggested Story Starters:

    Related Ideas

    Two Sides to a Story

    Students will make connections to emerging global themes, e.g., poverty, economy, environment, etc. by examining diverse perspectives as they relate to the language and culture being studied.