Lessons > Culture Play

Examples: practices, values, schemas of products, code-switching, multilingualism

Fêtes et souvenirs

+ Expand Information
Lesson Title:	Fêtes et souvenirs [ Holidays and Recollections ]
Lesson Author:	Joanna Luks
Instructional Language:	English / French
Level of Activities:	College / 1. year
Text Title:	Le père Noël
Text Language:	French
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, LLDQ

Le Monde du travail

+ Expand Information
Lesson Title:	Le Monde du travail [ The Work World ]
Lesson Author:	Joanna Luks
Instructional Language:	English / French
Level of Activities:	College / 1. year, 2. year
Text Title:	Retour à la terre / Petit cours de politique
Text Language:	French
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, LLDQ

Cultural Allusion, Humor, and Memes On- and Offline

+ Expand Information
Lesson Title:	Cultural Allusion, Humor, and Memes On- and Offline
Lesson Author:	Chantelle Warner
Instructional Language:	German / English
Level of Activities:	College / Intermediate, Advanced
Text Title:
Text Language:	German
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Symbolic Play

Die witzigsten WG-Anzeigen

+ Expand Information
Lesson Title:	Die witzigsten WG-Anzeigen [ The funniest Housemate Ads ]
Lesson Author:	Chantelle Warner / Yannleon Chen / Patrick Ploschnitzki
Instructional Language:	German / English
Level of Activities:	College / 1. year / Novice
Text Title:	Die witzigsten WG-Anzeigen
Text Language:	German
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Genre Play, Pragmatic Play

La globalización de comida

+ Expand Information
Lesson Title:	La globalización de comida
Lesson Author:	Carol Ready
Instructional Language:	Spanish
Level of Activities:	College / 1. year, 2. year / Intermediate
Text Title:	La United Fruit Co.
Text Language:	Spanish
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Grammar Play, Symbolic Play

Una carta para Dios

+ Expand Information
Lesson Title:	Una carta para Dios
Lesson Author:	Marcelo Fuentes
Instructional Language:	Spanish
Level of Activities:	College / 1. year, 2. year / Intermediate
Text Title:	Una carta para Dios
Text Language:	Spanish
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Genre Play

Cuando yo sea mayor…

+ Expand Information
Lesson Title:	Cuando yo sea mayor…
Lesson Author:	Natasha César Suárez
Instructional Language:	Spanish
Level of Activities:	College / 1. year, 2. year / Intermediate, Advanced
Text Title:	Desafío a la vejez
Text Language:	Spanish
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Symbolic Play

Cosas de ciudad

+ Expand Information
Lesson Title:	Cosas de ciudad
Lesson Author:	Natasha César Suárez
Instructional Language:	Spanish
Level of Activities:	College / 2. year / Intermediate, Advanced
Text Title:	Puerta del Sol 2011
Text Language:	Spanish
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Pragmatic Play, Symbolic Play, Visual Play, Word Play

Alles offen: Öffentliche Verkehrsmittel und Weltoffenheit

+ Expand Information
Lesson Title:	Alles offen: Öffentliche Verkehrsmittel und Weltoffenheit [ It’s all open: Public Transportation and Cosmopolitanism ]
Lesson Author:	John Benjamin / Devon Donohue-Bergeler / Katrin Fuchs / Alexander Lorenz (all authors contributed equally)
Instructional Language:	German / English
Level of Activities:	High school, College / 1. year / Novice
Text Title:	“Is mir egal” (Dez. 2015)
Text Language:	German
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Genre Play, Pragmatic Play, Sound Play

Las narrativas transmedia a partir de un cuento de hadas

+ Expand Information
Lesson Title:	Las narrativas transmedia a partir de un cuento de hadas [ Transmedia Storytelling with a Fairytale ]
Lesson Author:	Maybel Mesa Morales
Instructional Language:	Spanish
Level of Activities:	College / 1. year, 2. year / Intermediate, Advanced
Text Title:	Transmedia Storytelling
Text Language:	Spanish
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Genre Play, Narrative Play, Pragmatic Play, Symbolic Play, Visual Play

El mayor premio es compartirlo

+ Expand Information
Lesson Title:	El mayor premio es compartirlo [ The greatest prize is to share it ]
Lesson Author:	Raychel Vasseur
Instructional Language:	Spanish
Level of Activities:	College / 1. year, 2. year, 3. year / Novice
Text Title:	Anuncio de la lotería de Navidad 2015
Text Language:	Spanish
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Grammar Play, Visual Play

– Collapse Information
Text
Text Title:	Anuncio de la lotería de Navidad 2015
Text Language:	Spanish
Text Author:	Leo Burnett agency
Genre:	Emails, Letters, and Postcards / TV and Film / Image
Topic:	Family, Friendships, and Relationships / Holidays and Celebrations
Lesson
Lesson Title:	El mayor premio es compartirlo [ The greatest prize is to share it ]
Instructional Language:	Spanish
Lesson Author:	Raychel Vasseur
Level of Activities:	College / 1. year, 2. year, 3. year / Novice
Pedagogical Practices:	Reading / Writing / Cultural Understanding
Grammar Focus:	adjectives as nouns, cognate (and false cognate) recognition, dates, telling time on a 24 hour clock
Main Objectives:
Grammatically the main objectives of this lesson are that students will be able to recognize, false cognates, recognize and understand adjectives used as nouns, to recognize, understand, and produce cognates, students will understand and produce written dates, and students will recognize the 24-hour clock system. Culturally, students will understand the practices and perspectives of the Spanish Christmas lottery and compare them to their culture’s lottery and Christmas traditions. Analytically, students will be able to use multimodal elements to support their interpretation and understanding of an advertisement. Texts, Genres & Practices Watching and analyzing a commercial for the Spanish Christmas lottery. Using multimodal elements (visual and audio) to support interpretation and understanding. Cultural Knowledge & Mindset Interpreting and understanding “The best prize is to share it” as the overarching theme of the Christmas lottery and how this appeals to working-class Spaniards. Making sense of the importance of social solidarity Language Use & Language Play grammar play: Using adjectives as nouns grammar play: Recognizing cognates (and non-cognates) culture play: Foregrounding relationships to advertise a lottery perspective play
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Grammar Play, Visual Play

Anxiety after the Revolution

+ Expand Information
Lesson Title:	Anxiety after the Revolution
Lesson Author:	Kelly Houck
Instructional Language:	Persian
Level of Activities:	College / 2. year, 3. year, 4. year / Intermediate
Text Title:	در این بن بست [In This Blind Alley]
Text Language:	Persian
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Sound Play, Symbolic Play, Visual Play

O que cabe no poema?

+ Expand Information
Lesson Title:	O que cabe no poema? [ What fits in a poem? ]
Lesson Author:	Steven Alcorn
Instructional Language:	Portuguese
Level of Activities:	College / 2. year, 3. year / Intermediate
Text Title:	Não Há Vagas
Text Language:	Portuguese
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Symbolic Play

– Collapse Information
Text
Text Title:	Não Há Vagas
Text Language:	Portuguese
Text Author:	Ferreira Gullar
Genre:	Poetry
Topic:	Literature, Music, Art
Lesson
Lesson Title:	O que cabe no poema? [ What fits in a poem? ]
Instructional Language:	Portuguese
Lesson Author:	Steven Alcorn
Level of Activities:	College / 2. year, 3. year / Intermediate
Pedagogical Practices:	Reading / Writing / Cultural Understanding
Grammar Focus:	n/a
Main Objectives:
Students will first be asked to reflect on the subject matter traditionally associated with poetry (love and romance, emotion, struggle, discovery, etc.). They will also prepare a list of things that they could not live without and see/use/experience in their everyday life. They will then read the poem and answer some discussion questions about the author’s intended message in groups. The concept of metaphor will also be introduced with examples from the text. Finally, students will choose one item/person/profession/etc. from everyday life and write a poem about it, incorporating the metaphors discussed earlier in the lesson. Texts, Genres & Practices A short poem, “Não há vagas”, is included. Students practice reading comprehension, as well as critical thinking by relating the objects mentioned in the poem to the economic and cultural reality of Brazil. Finally, they will engage in creative writing by producing their own poem in response to the one they read. Cultural Knowledge & Mindset The poem is a critique of the objects and ideas traditionally associated with and portrayed in poetry. It forces the reader to consider why the items and people present in everyday life are not deemed worthy of appearing in poetic texts. Language Use & Strategies The poem relies heavily on metaphors to describe both the art of poetry and its traditional objects of reverence. Students will be asked to study these comparisons in the reading portion of the activity and include them in poems that they produce in the writing portion.
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Symbolic Play

#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly

+ Expand Information
Lesson Title:	#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly
Lesson Author:	Matthew Sherman
Instructional Language:	German
Level of Activities:	College / 3. year, 4. year / Intermediate, Advanced
Text Title:	ExplainAFilmPlotBadly hashtag
Text Language:	German/English
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Genre Play, Perspective Play

– Collapse Information
Text
Text Title:	ExplainAFilmPlotBadly hashtag
Text Language:	German/English
Text Author:	Social media users
Genre:	Social Media
Topic:	Literature, Music, Art
Lesson
Lesson Title:	#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly
Instructional Language:	German
Lesson Author:	Matthew Sherman
Level of Activities:	College / 3. year, 4. year / Intermediate, Advanced
Pedagogical Practices:	Reading / Writing
Grammar Focus:	Subordinate Clauses and Complex Sentences in Expository/Explanatory Prose
Main Objectives:
Enhance comprehension of genre as describing forms of expository prose Enhancing awareness of the role of the audience in reading and writing Fostering use of complex sentences as necessary to expository prose; focus on subordinate conjunction difficulties and subordinate clause word order (particular problems in German acquisition; adaptable to other languages, like which conjunctions use subjunctive in Spanish) Texts, Genres & Practices analyzing, and categorizing tweeted plot blurbs distinguishing blurbs, summaries, and synopses Identifying “bad” versus “good” one-sentence film summaries, in both English and German. Explain how “accuracy” in genre depends on genre convention identify formulae and conventional short forms Cultural Knowledge & Mindset How to read and understand bias / perspective in summarizing vis-à-vis audience How to correlate content to audience (horizon of expectation) publication sources for blurbs: the hashtags: #ExplainAFilmPlotBadly and https://twitter.com/shiny1jux/status/941299435870609408?lang=en sources for summaries: imdb.com and https://www.amazon.de/) cultural positions of film viewers (and possible cross-cultural comparisons) Language Use & Strategies markers for point of view and audience in expository prose Identifying and contrasting formal and grammatical elements of long and short-form plot summaries (especially subordinate clauses, use of sentence fragments) = awareness of formulae within and register of genre Correlation of “accuracy” in plot replication with genre conventions, in both lexical choice and grammar
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Genre Play, Perspective Play

Un journal intime

+ Expand Information
Lesson Title:	Un journal intime [ A Personal Journal ]
Lesson Author:	Jim Law
Instructional Language:	French / English
Level of Activities:	College / 1. year / Novice
Text Title:	Journal d’une étudiante
Text Language:	French
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Narrative Play, Perspective Play, Word Play

J’habite où, moi?

+ Expand Information
Lesson Title:	J’habite où, moi? [ Where do I live? ]
Lesson Author:	Rachel Poulin
Instructional Language:	French
Level of Activities:	College / 2. year / Intermediate, Advanced
Text Title:	Recherche un colocataire
Text Language:	French
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play

Ich hätte gerne Ihre Hilfe! – wie man Ratschläge benutzt, um Probleme zu lösen

+ Expand Information
Lesson Title:	Ich hätte gerne Ihre Hilfe! – wie man Ratschläge benutzt, um Probleme zu lösen [ I would like your help! – how to use advice to solve problems ]
Lesson Author:	Emily Claire Krauter
Instructional Language:	German/English
Level of Activities:	High school, College / 2. year, 3. year / Intermediate, Advanced
Text Title:	Schluss machen: 12 Dinge, die du beachten solltest / How to Break Up With Someone in the Kindest Possible Way
Text Language:	German
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Pragmatic Play

– Collapse Information
Text
Text Title:	Schluss machen: 12 Dinge, die du beachten solltest / How to Break Up With Someone in the Kindest Possible Way
Text Language:	German
Text Author:	Simone Sauter / Candice Jalili
Genre:	Personal Blogs and Journals / Social Media
Topic:	Family, Friendships, and Relationships
Lesson
Lesson Title:	Ich hätte gerne Ihre Hilfe! – wie man Ratschläge benutzt, um Probleme zu lösen [ I would like your help! – how to use advice to solve problems ]
Instructional Language:	German/English
Lesson Author:	Emily Claire Krauter
Level of Activities:	High school, College / 2. year, 3. year / Intermediate, Advanced
Pedagogical Practices:	Reading / Writing / Speaking / Cultural Understanding
Grammar Focus:	Imperative, subjunctive, modal verbs
Main Objectives:
The goal of this lesson is for students to connect important grammar concepts, e.g., modal verbs, the imperative, and the subjunctive to their everyday usage in advice giving as represented through online sites. The incorporation of advice giving also aims to build connections and draw contrasts between English and other languages of the learners and German, with regards to how advice is given. Texts, Genres & Practices This lesson includes a blog post from a German “self-help” guru and an article from a US-American newspaper website. Students engage with the articles and form meaning, both linguistic, pragmatic and cultural. The students will have to think critically and compare the C1 to the C2 as well as the L1 and the L2 to form new reflections about language use and its cultural implications for everyday life. Cultural Knowledge & Perspectives The text conveys the importance of self-help gurus in societies today and how they give advice. The text also works to build connections between the L1/C1 and L2/C2 by showing that relationships are an important part of each environment. Culturally, the article breaks stereotypes by showing that Germans are as versatile as US-Americans and do not always fit into the “direct” and/or “cold” mold, as they are often portrayed in the media. Language Use & Language Play Modal verbs, subjunctive and imperative are central to this lesson. Additionally, forms of address, e.g., advice giving, informal writing, formal vs. informal register, and imperatives are parts of the image and central to its comprehension and to the assignment following the lesson. Visually, the students will be working with a blogpost from an American and German author, which should not be novel to them.
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Pragmatic Play

Cherchez le dépaysement

+ Expand Information
Lesson Title:	Cherchez le dépaysement [ Look for a change of scenery ]
Lesson Author:	David Barny
Instructional Language:	French
Level of Activities:	College / 2. year / Intermediate
Text Title:	Sites et curiosités
Text Language:	French
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Genre Play, Visual Play

– Collapse Information
Text
Text Title:	Sites et curiosités
Text Language:	French
Text Author:	René Gosciny / Marcel Gotlib
Genre:	Image / Comics and Graphic Novels
Topic:	Travel and Vacation
Lesson
Lesson Title:	Cherchez le dépaysement [ Look for a change of scenery ]
Instructional Language:	French
Lesson Author:	David Barny
Level of Activities:	College / 2. year / Intermediate
Pedagogical Practices:	Reading / Writing / Speaking / Listening
Grammar Focus:	Inflectional Future Tense (futur simple)
Main Objectives:
This lesson is designed around a two-page bande dessinée (French comic strip) by writer René Gosciny and illustrator Marcel Gotlib. In this strip, Gotlib uses his trademark burlesque, farcical visuals to poke fun at the tourism industry by illustrating how to manufacture folklore and turn the most isolated and bleak village into a picturesque tourist favorite. Through humor, this artifact leads the learners to wonder: What constitutes folklore? How does folklore intersect with history? Are these characteristics cross-cultural? Additionally, students will reflect on the discourse of tourism and the genre of tourist text, while apprehending the use of the inflectional future (futur simple) in planning an itinerary. The final task is designed as a team effort. Student will create their own tourist brochure about their college town by following the tropes highlighted by Gosciny and Gotlib. The brochure will be presented orally in class to the rest of the students who will then vote on which version of their college town they would rather live and attend university in. This lesson can easily be implemented in most textbook-based curricula, as these typically include a thematic unit of tourism and traveling. Texts, Genres & Practices Reading and responding to a satirical bande dessinée (text and image) Reading and analyzing a short touristic text on Brittany Writing/Designing a tourist brochure about a College Town Presenting (through promoting) a tourist destination Cultural Knowledge & Perspectives Apprehending Franco-Belgian bande dessinée as a satirical tool Reflecting on the essence of folklore as a concept Comparing French folklore with the learners’ native culture folklore Analyzing French examples of touristic discourse. Discovering French historical and literary references Language Use & Language Play Culture play: subversion of cultural practice (creation of folklore) Genre play: genre subversion (humorification of folklore) Visual play: visual subversion of monuments and historical sites Language Skills: viewing, reading, listening writing, speaking
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Genre Play, Visual Play

Se mettre en colère

+ Expand Information
Lesson Title:	Se mettre en colère [ Getting Angry ]
Lesson Author:	Tracey Adams (The University of Texas at Austin)
Instructional Language:	English / French
Level of Activities:	College / 2. year / Intermediate
Text Title:	La langue française
Text Language:	French
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Narrative Play, Pragmatic Play, Symbolic Play

Un court séjour

+ Expand Information
Lesson Title:	Un court séjour [ A brief stay ]
Lesson Author:	Keith Wagner
Instructional Language:	French (with some English for the opening activity)
Level of Activities:	College / 2. year, 3. year / Intermediate
Text Title:	Austin, Texas – Un week-end à la cool
Text Language:	French
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Pragmatic Play