Content

The article Rooted in Culture begins by giving three learning goals of the unit;
to use different product, practices and perspectives to analyze a culture, help others
compare their own culture with other cultures, and integrate teaching cultural
concepts into a foreign language classroom (section 1). After the introduction the
article jumps right in and provides two articles, including questions to ponder, and a
workshop video. Both the articles and the video emphasize the importance of
learning other cultures and how teachers work to include different cultures in their
lessons. Upon completing the questions from the video an action research project is
proposed which asks the teachers do complete a research project and put their
research into actions in their own classrooms. This action research project requires
the person to first think through reasons to study culture, such as why it is
important to talk about it in a foreign language classroom as well as concerns such
as whether or not the students will be able to comprehend this culture that is
different from their own. The action section of the project is the lesson plans that
the teacher needs to implement with their students. This includes figuring out
questions to ask the students as well as doing all the necessary research to answer
the research questions and create an assessment. Rooted in Culture ends with a
reflection section, which asks the reader/teacher to go think through their lesson
plans that they did in the action research project as well as the workshop video and
write out what they have learned and how they could use different concepts in their
own classroom.

The article is intended for foreign language teachers who are trying to

incorporate the different cultures of that foreign language into their lessons. The
author wants the teachers to be more confident in how they are teaching their
students about different cultures as well as provide ways for teachers to add in
culture where they did not think of adding it before. For example in the workshop
video two teachers talk about how they had been inspired to teach culture and how
their approach has changes. One of the teachers, Ms. Birkland, looked at her school
calendar and found cultural events that she could build into the curriculum and
explore further.

I can use this idea of incorporating cultural events into my lessons. I am

teaching the unit on Aztec legends. The Day of the Dead and Halloween fall in the
middle of my unit. So, I can teach the students about the Day of the Dead, which is a
Mexican holiday, and have them compare that holiday with Halloween in America.
Not only will the students be able to find differences between those two cultures but
they can also look at the culture of the Aztecs and see how the Mexican culture has
changed over time.
Bibliography

Donato, R. (n.d.). Teaching Foreign Languages Workshop: Rooted in Culture.
In Annenberg Learner. Retrieved October 26, 2014, from
http://www.learner.org/workshops/tfl/session_05/index.html

Strategy
Langer de Ramrez begins her article by explaining why it is important to

include stories when learning a foreign language. According to the studies she has
done, stories provide students with a structure that is both new and exciting
(363). The article continues by showing how stories benefit learning about cultures.
Instead of a lesson about culture being rushed and only learning about a holiday
when it comes up stories become a natural vehicle through which language is
taught (Page 364). It is important that student retell the stories they have learned
because these portfolios, as Langer de Ramrez calls them, reveal the strengths and
weaknesses of each student better than a standardized test would. The next section
of the article answers the question where can I find stories?. Langer de Ramrez
says that stories can be found in study abroad programs, traveling with students,
foreign exchange students in ones own hometown, as well as in the surrounding
communities, which have native speakers of the language being taught. In the final
section of the article Langer de Ramrez talks through her study and her major
findings. She focused on story structure, language structure, and visual imagery
when working with stories in the classroom and found that students were able to
work better with unknown vocabulary and tenses when it was in story form
because they could use the context and visual images to decipher what it meant
rather than sitting in class and taking notes.

Langer de Ramrez wrote this article for other teachers in the hopes that they

could find ways to incorporate stories into their lessons. Not only that but she wants
teachers to be inspired to seek out the worlds stories, both for their linguistic
potential and for the joy that they can bring into a foreign language classroom
(page 370).
When planning my unit on the Aztec legends I knew that there were two or
three things that I had to do such as teaching the fourth graders the song provided
in the unit book along with using phrases and motions that were similar to the
teacher that I am aiding under in order for the students to understand me. The three
facets that Langer de Ramrez focused on, story structure, language structure and
visual imagery of a story, helped me to be more comfortable and confident in front
of the classroom. I am teaching a legend as my unit so I do not need to go find one.
By using the three facets I am able to emphasizing the differences between our
culture and those of the Aztecs. For example, when an American reads a book they
begin with the first page and read the words starting at the top on the left hand side
of the page and move to the right and to the bottom. The books, codices, that the
Aztecs wrote were read starting with the last page and did not contain words. I can
teach these differences to my friends and they will be able to better grasp the Aztec
culture and learn the legends better. Not only will my friends have a better grasp on
the Aztec culture but also, performing retells helps to reinforce what the story is
saying. Not to mention, it is a way for me to determine how well they learned and
understand the story. This is how I will be assessing my students; through a video

that they are making for themselves that has them retelling the legend that I taught
them.
Bibliography
Langer de Ramrez, L. (1993). The Story of Proyecto Papn-Folktales and their
potential for foreign language education [Electronic version]. Foreign
Language Annals, 32(3), 363-371.