INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION-SUPPORTED BY CULTURAL-INTEGRATED PROJECTS
INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION-SUPPORTED BY CULTURAL-INTEGRATED PROJECTS

Summary/Abstract: Most often students are not interested in reading the piece of literature assigned by their teacher because they cannot identify with that particular work. Teachers of English as a second language (TESL) should teach the language in the context of its culture. Such an approach gives students, a familiar perspective of the world. Introducing students to the cultural context of the time is an extremely important teaching goal. This paper explores the benefits of a motivational teaching approach of a novel using New York city as a cultural context. Two Montreal four year secondary school groups were reluctant to reading Edith Wharton’s Age of Innocence till the task was presented as part of a cultural project, a visit to New York. Students who finally received high grades were to be included in the project. At the end of the trip, these students had to compare their reading impressions on New York to their perceptions of the actual New York culture. Students benefited of deeply meaningful learning as they were connected with the culture of the city. Writing their final impressions was a reflection over their global understanding of the culture, not only about the past but also about the present.

• Details
• Contents