Task 4. Final Education.

Brayan Andrés Calderón Urueña.

Code: 1083910824

Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia.

March 17th, 2020.

Author's note:

Language and Culture course.

Tutor's name: 

Group number:

Bachelor's degree in English as a Foreign Language.

Introduction.

The relation between Language and Culture has been established since the need that they are the complement of each other due to when you are involved in the role of teaching and/or learning a language, you will get familiar such as culture in different ways. This is why both are meaningful features of any social group and they represent a lot as traditional forms and more.

Thanks to the development of these tasks during the course. I realized how relevant they are to acknowledge our culture's value and what we must respect and protect. Here you will see evidence of that performance.

The relationship between language and culture and culture

“Do we teach language using culture or do we teach culture using language”.

Language may be seen as one of the main means which we as social individuals conduct our social lives. A long time ago, language has been an essential part of our culture and in like manner, it has become a source of knowledge accumulation.

The act of communication among human beings may be done effectively trough verbal and non-verbal language, it means the way how people share their the world through messages, knowledge, emotions, and values.

And from now on, there is a hard question to solve; What is culture? Yassine, (2006) asserts culture can be defined as an acceptable interaction within the society as a group, what it involves and what the group does. Therefore, both culture and language are directly related since we teach culture using language without being aware of that.

On the other hand, if any person is aware that belongs and is involved in a culture who he is learning, that person may definitely have a better performance and comprehend the language in an easier way. This is absolutely right in those communities where a foreign language is being taught, due to it is needless to say not a part of students' everyday life.

So, the development of the question which we began this reflection, it maybe confusing and it suggests us some kind of search since after watching and reading reliable sources, we get the conclusion that culture and language are always linked to each other.

It is necessary to take into account that culture represents for each country and communities. In the same way, everyone who is teaching any language needs to get immersed in that culture first and to comprehend the main and secondary features and so, be able to give the best at the time of teaching for being prepared to solve any doubt.

For this purpose, it is necessary to analyze the social context, fundamental in the development of each individual and even more, that world that implies action as relevant as communication.

 In this order of ideas, culture is taught through language. This affirmation must be supported under the possibility of analyzing and reflecting on what tools the apprentice is being allowed to be part of that foreign context, having the ability to convert the non-family into a family.

Now, it is necessary to reflect on the type of culture that is being taught through language, thinking about what kind of context we wish for our learners to take part in and with that assumption, having the ability to see, experience and enjoy the world from other perspectives.

 PowToon Presentation.

The following link will show you the task related to social identity.

 https://www.powtoon.com/online-presentation/dhra9qgs8P8/?utm_campaign=copy%2Bshare%2Bby%2Bowner&utm_content=dhra9qgs8P8&utm_po=4864607&utm_source=player-page-social-share&utm_medium=SocialShare&mode=movie

 Interview to an English Teacher.

Conclusions about unit 1. 

The interview made a lot of emphasis on how important culture is in learning a foreign language and how important language is in learning a new culture, over time we have been learning new words that were not known for many years since as time goes by the culture in some countries is changing and that means that the language is also constantly changing and what to learn the language of a different country from the one you were born you have to know its culture.

 Culture, Language and Education

Mind map.

Canada Country

Canada’s Flag

Form of Government: Federal parliamentary state.

Capital: Ottawa.

Population: 36,307,820.

Official Language: English and French.

Money: Canadian dollar.

Coat of Arms

Canada is a really big land! There you may delight plenty of landscapes, with magnificent mountains, rolling plains, forested valleys, and wonderful lakes and rivers. Talking about its shield, a hilly region of lakes and swamps stretches across northern Canada and has some of the oldest rock on Earth.

In northern Canada there is a frozen Arctic zone. That sector is full of snow, ice, and glaciers. Despite the inclement cold and harsh climate, native Canadians live there and they live normally.

First Canadians living there came up 15,000 and 30,000 years ago approximately, crossing a bridge which used to join Asia with North America.  Around A.D 1,000 the Viking explorer Leif Eriksson discovered Newfoundland, Canada. He made an effort at the moment of establishing a settlement, but his efforts went down quickly.

     In the 16th century, French and British settlers arrived. Land disputes between farmers and fur traders led to four wars between 1689 and 1763. The final war, called the French and Indian War, left the British in control of Canada, but French influence continued and remains strong even today.

Canadian people and culture

                                   Picture 1. Glavin, Terry (2017). Are white Canadians becoming conscious of their witness? 

Canada’s history consists of a mixture of British, French and indigenous cultures and traditions, through language, art, and music. Indigenous people are still influencing the identity of Canadians. In 20^th century a different bunch of nationalities like African, Caribbean and Asian ones, which have added identity and culture.

Canadian Culture, Customs, and Traditions

     Canada is a multicultural country whose culture is formed from a variety of influences. For that reason, Canada has a lot of Culture, Customs and Traditions that they are not from Canada but from the rest of the world.

 Symbols

     Canada's national symbols are influenced by natural, historical, and indigenous sources. The use of the maple leaf as a Canadian symbol dates to the early 18th century. Prominent symbols include the sports of hockey and lacrosse, the beaver, Canadian goose, common loon, Canadian horse, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canadian Rockies, and more recently the totem pole and Inuksuk.

Picture 2. Incomible. S.f. Iconos de Canada Los símbolos y atracciones tradicionales canadienses.

 

Literature

     Canadian literature was viewed as some of the world's best. The first truly Canadian literary works were written in French by explorers, missionaries, and settlers, and many of them became the inspiration for subsequent writings. Although the growth of novel writing was the main feature of Canada’s literary scene after World War I, marked changes also took place in the work of Canadian poets during that period.

Art

     Sculpture and handicrafts have existed in beginning Canada’s history, though it was only in the 20th century that museums and scholars began to value important masterpieces such as the stone carvings of the Inuit and the totem-pole carvings of the Northwest Coast Indians. Since then, new kinds of Inuit sculpture and graphic work have flourished, as artists have built on their own history and also borrowed elements from the Western tradition.

Painting has been the focus of most Canadian artists since the arrival of the Europeans. Canadian painters were greatly influenced by the styles of their European roots, but their subject matter increasingly came to be Canadian locales and landscapes.

Sculpture in Canada was for many years much less avidly pursued than painting. The works that were produced consisted largely of carved figures made of wood, stone, or bronze. In the last year of the 20th century, new media such as video art and performance art were challenging the dominance of painting and traditional forms of sculpture.

 

                                Picture 4. Franklin Carmichael's October Gold, 1922 (McMichael Canadian Art Collection)

Canadian Fairy Tales, Folk Tales and Fables

     Canadian folklore and fairy tales were influenced by regions and ethnocultural groups along Canada. With Inuit-Indian folklore, French Canadian and Anglo-Canadian folklore, to name just a few, the breadth of folkloric history in Canada is a vast and colorful one. The folk tales are filled with legends of the Sasquatch, Ogopogo, and other forest monsters. Magical tales of werewolves, witches and devils are favorites among the stories for children and adults. 

     From 17th-century explorers, trappers, and traders, missionaries and migration myths, the folklore is rich in history, customs, and beliefs. The strong oral traditions in the early 1900s helped Canadians establish a national identity, and fortify their cultural ties. With influence from over 70 oral traditions from around the world, Canadian folk tales cannot be classified easily as their roots can be traced all across Europe and even back to medieval times.

 Canadian folklore and fairy tales are outstanding, smart and fun-loving tales that transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Many of the Canadian Native American tales are creation or origin myths that have strong themes of nature and the seasons similar to Native American folklore throughout the Americas. Like most countries, storytelling in Canada is deeply rooted in tradition and cultural identity.

Picture 5. Cyrus Macmillan (2019). Canadian fairy tales. 

Conclusion about unit 2.

The current search allowed me to appreciate how cultural and multicultural a nation can be. We may find a lot of diverse features in each country for all likes and wishes, but undoubtedly it is relevant to value and respect ours not as an egoist way but as something each inhabitant will keep and protect generation by generation.

Canada is a great country which you may learn and enjoy a lot thanks to the variety of literature, arts, landscapes, and fairy tales. That is why is one of the most well- structure countries and the first option for a huge part of tourists.

Conclusions

Language and culture course let me understand in a better way the relevance of recognizing what we are teaching in fields of those relevant features of any social group like it is language and culture. I remember that sort of debate about if you teach culture through language or vice versa. I got to the conclusion that they are directly related and complement each other.

Then, I had the magnificent chance to look up information and got involved in the culture and tradition of another country like Canada. Which is quite different from my country but at the same time, recognize the essential points of Colombia and value them a little bit more.

List of References.

·         Canadian Geographic (2019) Indigenous people atlas of Canada [Article] Retrieved July 13, 2019, From https://indigenouspeoplesatlasofcanada.ca/article/oral-tradition/

• Claire Kramsch (2016) “do we teach language using culture or do we teach culture using language” [Video] Retrieved June 18, 2019, From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gk9A_dnmK8&t=47s

·         Cyrus Macmillan (2019). Canadian fairy tales. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.es/Canadian-Fairy-Tales-Cyrus-Macmillan/dp/6057876326

·         Franklin Carmichael's October Gold, 1922 (McMichael Canadian Art Collection). Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/the-world-needs-canadian-art-i-m-going-to-give-it-to-them-says-new-head-of-mcmichael-gallery-1.4440251

·         Glavin, Terry (2017). Are white Canadians becoming conscious of their whiteness? Retrieved from https://www.macleans.ca/society/are-white-canadians-getting-conscious-of-their-whiteness/

·         Incomible. S.f. Iconos de Canadá Los símbolos y atracciones tradicionales canadienses. Retrieved from https://www.shutterstock.com/es/image-vector/canada-icons-set-canadian-traditional-symbols-1188853297

·         Lisa Evans (2004) Canadian Immigrant [Magazine] Retrieved July 13, 2019, From https://canadianimmigrant.ca/guides/moving-to-canada/diversity-in-canada-an-overview

·         Myexamsolution (2019). Canadian Literature. Retrieved from https://www.myexamsolution.com/2019/05/canadian-literature.html

·         National Geography (2019) Canada Facts [Documentary] Retrieved July 13, 2019, From https://www.natgeokids.com/au/discover/geography/countries/facts-about-canada/

• Pourkalhor, O. & Esfandiari, N. (2017). Culture in Language Learning: Background, Issues, and Implications. International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies. 5(1), 23-32. Retrieved from http://bibliotecavirtual.unad.edu.co/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsdoj&AN=edsdoj.03ce6a5f8a834d008ba51211741d94e0&lang=es&site=eds-live&scope=site

·         Roger D. Hall Ralph R. Krueger William Lewis Morton Norman L. Nicholson David J. Bercuson (2019) Canada [Article] Retrieved July 13, 2019, From https://www.britannica.com/place/Canada

·         Stephen J. Augustine (2015) Oral Traditions [Artile] Retrieved July 13, 2019, From https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/oral_traditions/

·         Wikipedia (2019) Canada [Article] Retrieved July 13, 2019, From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada