What would it be like to grow up in another
culture? One way to explore this question is through memoirs
and novels. Now, with the Internet, you can offer your students
an interactive means to venture outside the borders of their
own experience to try on an alternative cultural identity.
Learning Objectives
To challenge stereotypes about cultures
unfamiliar to us; to expand awareness of the range of factors
that help constitute a cultural identity; to research, organize,
and present information about everyday life in an unfamiliar
culture; to create an imaginative firsthand account of life
in an unfamiliar culture.
1
Introduce this lesson by asking students a series of simple
questions about American life that demonstrate how much we
take our cultural knowledge for granted: What is the capital
of the United States? Who are some famous American authors?
What holiday marks the end of summer? What is a touchdown?
2
Have students work in small groups to
create a series of questions to guide their research into
an unfamiliar culture. Their aim will be to produce a questionnaire
that profiles the knowledge and experience of a person their
own age. Some topics they might cover include: form of government,
political system, national leaders, international relations,
economic development, historic milestones, architectural landmarks,
great works of art and literature, religious traditions, family
life, educational system, trends in popular culture, foods,
climate, and environment. Have students share their questionnaires
with the class and help them develop a consensus research
tool they can all use. Be sure they include follow-up questions
that explore the roots of cultural identity - e.g., How did
the culture arrive at its form of government? What factors
have influenced its cuisine? The final questionnaire should
also ask for a map of the country, a photograph showing a
typical scene (e.g., family life) and an example of the country's
traditional arts.
3
Introduce
students to the three regional websites now featured on EDSITEment
: African
Studies WWW, LANIC,
and SARAI.
Have students work in research teams to investigate the culture
of one of the countries listed on these sites, with different
team members responsible for completing different parts of
the questionnaire. For country listings, see the "Country-Specific"
link at African Studies WWW, the "Country
Directory" at LANIC, and "South
Asia Resources by Country" at SARAI. All lead to well-organized
directories that link to specialized websites on different
aspects of national life. If Internet access is limited among
your students, have two or three group members at a time explore
the Internet under your supervision. To help students prepare
for working on the Internet, provide each group with print
outs of the directory pages for their countries so they can
work out a research strategy together.
4
Advise your students that many kinds
of information are available on these websites, ranging from
almanac-style summaries to museum-size exhibits, and that
their sources of information can include newspapers, magazines
and even citizens of the country contacted by e-mail. In planning
their research strategy, they may want to mark certain topics
(for example, popular music or sports) for exploration beyond
the borders set by their questionnaire. Students also might
supplement their Internet research by contacting members of
their community with a family link to their target country.
5
Have students consult traditional print
resources in their research as well. Ask them to compare print
and online resources: Which is easier to use? Which seems
more reliable and why? Make a list of the virtues and limitations
of each.
6
When their research is complete, have
each group report their findings to the class. Reports might
take several forms: an exhibit, a panel presentation, a web
page, etc. Focus discussion of these reports on the similarities
and differences that mark teenage life in unfamiliar cultures
from teenage life in your community. Build on these points
of comparison to help the class formulate some general conclusions
about factors that help constitute cultural identity. You
might clarify this issue by asking, "What distinguishes two
teenagers in two different cultures if both are wearing blue
jeans and t-shirts, both listening to the same music, both
watching the same movies and both learning about other cultures
in school?"
7
Conclude this lesson by asking your
students to imagine that they are growing up in one of the
countries they have explored and having them write a letter
to a pen-pal in the United States explaining what life in
their country is like.
Extending the Lesson
Depending on your curriculum, this lesson
might lead to ongoing e-mail correspondence between your students
and their peers in a distant culture. You might also re-shape
the lesson to focus class attention on a region or nation
in the news, on a region that is part of your students' cultural
heritage, or on a country that is the setting for a novel
or story you will study as a class.
Standards Alignment
View your state’s standards
