“Empathy is about finding echoes of yourself in someone else.”
Moshin Hamid
I recently uploaded an ABC Halloween rap to a group of local EFL teachers in Israel. While I felt a great deal of support from my community, there was still some question as to why I was teaching Halloween in a country where it is not celebrated or at all part of the culture. My immediate response was obviously to make like Taylor Swift and shake it off but then I understood that there is a much deeper conversation here. What is the connection between cultural and language studies. My intuition tells me a great deal but let’s look into it a little bit further.
This first thing I asked myself was, how much is culture embedded in language, the short answer is… a lot.
You can see this by the fact that while English is spoken in many different countries, it also has diverse dialects and colloquialisms depending on the region you are looking at. Even different sides of a city can have unique ways of expressing themselves through language. So if culture itself has such an impact on the sound and meaning of one language then surely this is a factor that we should include in our foreign language classrooms.
WHY DO YOU TEACH ENGLISH?
Language is more than grammar rules and vocabulary. It’s culture, it’s history, it’s storytelling and expressing how we feel.
Mrs. G
The other thing we need to focus on is the why factor. Why are we teaching a second language in the first place. I know the first thing I do when I step into an EFL classroom is ask my students, why should we learn English? A huge part of motivation and learning success is understanding exactly what you are working towards. So why are WE LEARNING English?
Language is more than grammar rules and vocabulary. It’s culture, it’s history, it’s storytelling and expressing how we feel. This is why I see culture as a huge part of language learning. In a world pushing for us to take responsibility as global citizens, now more than ever we need to open the doors and awareness to the rainbow of cultures around us. Allowing students to experience some of these wonders creates understanding, empathy and curiosity. It gives context to the language they are learning, developing their communication skills and sociocultural understanding.
If the point is to work then they will have a greater empathy and connection with their colleagues.
If the point is for them to travel then they will be able to truly experience the local communities and the nuance for what is happening around them.
If the point is simply to create compassion for people that are different to us, with different customs, a different history and different way of life, then we will help nurture a future generation of global citizens.
The premise of learning languages is to break borders, bring down walls and create connection; so where in all that does censorship fall in?
As soon as we dismiss other cultures we are creating divisions. We are creating a lack of understanding and more ignorance about other people’s culture. We are nurturing close minded views and missing the unique opportunities we have to break down these barriers and find common ground. It doesn’t necessarily have to be about mixing cultures, rather it is about discovering and nurturing understanding and compassion for the other. For example Halloween started as a night to honour the dead and fires were lit as a way to ward off evil spirits. I’m Jewish and a huge part of our observance is to have a Mezuzah on the door. A special scroll with a prayer on it that is permanently fixed on the doorway to protect the home. In fact when it seems like you’re having a streak of bad luck the first thing you do is check your mezuzah to make sure there is no damage. It’s not so far from lighting fires to protect the home as was the custom on All Hallows’ Eve, the origin of today’s commercial Halloween festival. I find it interesting to discover the different ways we are all trying to do the same thing and I’m sure my students do too!
It is impossible to truly teach a language with no context and no culture. Within one generation my entire family has moved between three countries. We continue to take parts of the cultures we have experienced with us wherever we go. The world is getting smaller, people are getting closer. Cultures are getting mixed and it’s absolutely beautiful.
Yours Truly,
Mrs. G xoxo
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