4.1 Introduction
4.2 Guidelines
literature
4.3 Tasks for literature
4.4 Three
poems
4.5 The
Little Prince
4.6 Malamud's
Black
4.7 Guidelines
for films
4.8 Tasks
for films
4.9 Guidelines
songs
4.10 Stranger
than you
4.11 Bibliography
4.2 Guidelines for using literature to develop
intercultural competence
Veronika Rot Gabrovec
FOLKTALES
Note: Some of these ideas may well be used with other literary
genres as well.
- Find something in the story you know well from your own fairy tales.
- Is the topic/theme/story something that you encounter
in your folktales as well?
- Find something in the story you don't know at all from your own fairy
tales. Write a "letter back home" to a character from one
of your tales, and describe the "culture shock".
- Underline the features that appear to belong to a culture different
than your own, and explain how they differ. Do the differences blur
the meaning(s) for you, and/or make the story more exotic/strange/interesting?
- Do you think your response to the text was conditioned by the culture-bound
associations and connotations? Which part/elements do you find particularly
troublesome?
- What information does the text give you about the people, their life
and relationships in the past?
- Can you trace the ways the story has changed over time? Do you have
a variant of this story in your country?
- Are there any stereo/typical characters (people,
animals etc) in the story? Are such characters known in your country
as well?
- Who is the main hero? Is there an equivalent of such
a character in your tales? (e.g. the tenth daughter, the youngest son,
Mischa the Bear, . )
- Who are the foil characters? Is there an equivalent of such characters
in your folktales? Rewrite the story using the characters known in your
culture.
- Is the register of the story very formal or informal?
How does it compare to the folktales from your back of the woods?
- What kind of language is typically used in the fairy
tales from your country? Would that be the standard form of language
/ non-standard accents / a non-standard form of language / archaic language
forms?
- Illustrate the story or change it into a comic strip.
Use all sorts of (stereo)typical features of your culture (typical hairstyles,
costumes, types of houses). Can the story be adapted to your culture?
Why (not)?
NOVELS
Note: Some of these ideas may well be used with other literary
genres as well.
TITLE
- With the help of a dictionary, your teacher or your own knowledge
of languages, compare the title of the novel in the original language
with its translation. What kind of changes are there?
- Do you think the changes made in the translation of the title
are due to different cultural backgrounds, different knowledge or something
else? (Note:Changes happen also when they don't seem necessary at the
first sight: some English novels have been published in the States
with a changed title, and some American works in Europe likewise. Compare
Down Under vs In a Sunburned Country by B. Bryson,
or the titles of some novels by Agatha Christie.)
LANGUAGE
- What is distinctive about the language / type of discourse / text
- If it is archaic - select a passage that you find particularly
interesting, and rewrite it in today's slang of young people.
How does that affect the text?
- If it's very informal / select an interesting passage
to rewrite in the standard variety of the language.
- Create a picture dictionary of the objects that are mentioned in the
text and are not known in your culture.
PLOT - What is happening?
- Could this story be happening in your culture? Why (not)? Support
your opinion with examples (similar or different attitudes, value systems,
festivals and celebrations, rituals, history etc).
- Select a passage that you find particularly interesting. Rewrite it
as if it were happening in your culture.
- In pairs, choose a passage from the novel and illustrate it. Compare
the illustrations as far as the cultural details are concerned (landmarks,
clothes, position of the characters etc). Alternatively, draw a picture
of the original text and one of the text being "localised".
Check for the differences and similarities.
CHARACTERS - To whom is this happening?
- Who are the main characters? How do they compare to the characters
in similar novels from your culture?
- Who are the minor characters? Are the same characters used as foils
in the novels from your culture?
- Rewrite the outline of the plot, using typical characters from your
literature. Does it still work?
- Localising the text: Imagine the events in the novel are taking place
in your country. How would that affect the life of the characters?
- Localising the text temporally: Imagine the story is happening nowadays.
How would that affect the life of the characters?
- Hot Seat: Interview one of the characters who has come to visit your
town about his impressions.
- A What-If Exercise: Write a "questionnaire", introducing
elements from today's (global or local) life, and asking questions
like "What would happen if Character X could use a mobile telephone?",
"What if the hero could travel by plane?" (Alternative:
"What if there were no cars yet?"). Question at least three
of your mates, and then compare the answers.
- Find a passage where two or more characters talk to each other. How
do they address ach other? Do they use any titles, special verbal forms,
are there any formal or informal terms of address, anything else?
- Find a passage where there is a conversation mentioned, but not given
in direct speech. Rewrite it in the form of a scene from a theatre play.
SETTING and TIME / Where and when is
it happening?
- Are there any landmarks mentioned? Which setting (if any at all) would
be an appropriate equivalent if the novel were set in your cultural
setting?
- What tells you when the story is happening? Is the time with its values
and attitudes very different from the present?
- If the novel isn't a very contemporary one, find some music
from the same time. Compare the verbal, and the non-verbal.
- Imagine you are a director, shooting a film based on the book. Where
in your country would you find an appropriate location for filming?
Think of the costumes and props, visual effects, music, you can even
choose the actors to appear in your movie. What would cause you most
problems?
NARRATIVE
Who is telling the story? How?
- Is the type of the narrator usual in your cultural tradition within
a certain time or a certain social context? (e.g. omniscient narrator,
limited 3rd person narrator, a first-person narrator)
How is the story being told?
- Think about the chronological order, flashbacks,
flashforwards, the stream-of-consciousness etc. Would you have to reorganise
the narrative to make it seem natural/common in your culture?
- Are there any bits of information about the real world that help the
reader understand the text? Are there any bits of information in the
text that help the reader understand the real world?
- Are there any bits of information about the real world that might
puzzle the readers? What kind of knowledge do you lack to understand
them completely / factual, cultural, something else?
- Intertextuality I: Find texts/songs/films from your
back of the woods that deal with the same/similar topic. Compare and
contrast.
- Intertextuality II: Are there any characters from
other texts/films/songs mentioned in the text? Do you understand the
references easily or do you need some help?
PSYCHOLOGICAL level
- Do the characters seem psychologically real, and their actions plausible
in your culture? Could you understand their motives easily? Is it because
the narrator describes the characters' mental states so clearly? Do
you understand them because of your cultural background, or because
of something else?
- Are there any other psychological states mentioned/discussed in the
text (e.g. dreams)? Are there any public symbols (flags, signs, skulls,
wedding rings, flowers, landmarks) or individual/private symbols (e.
g. Gatsby's green light, Holden's ducks) mentioned? Can you relate
to them easily?
- Do the colours and numbers mentioned in the text have the same meaning
in your culture and in the culture the text is from or is about? Think
about them on two levels: first explore the universal, dictionary meanings
(e. g white/wei3/bela), then explore the specific meanings (e.g. white
as the colour signalling innocence, purity or mourning).
- Find the passages in the novel where the characters either verbally
or otherwise show their attitudes to time, to showing emotions, gender
issues, physical beauty, bringing up children, family, old age, education,
social classes, other races and nationalities, religion. On the basis
of these passages, draw a chart showing your opinion of the value system
in the community/country described in the novel.
- Find the passages where inappropriate (verbal or non-verbal) behaviour
is described. Write a diary entry, summarising one or more of these
passages as if you have witnessed them and adding your own commentary
of the event.
- Write a letter on behalf of one of the characters to a friend from
another culture. Focus on one of the events in the novel, and explain
what it meant within your culture (defined by the novel).
- Write a letter to one of the characters. Focus on one of the events/symbols
etc in the novel, and ask about the meaning. Explain why the event is
difficult to understand for you.
- Every now and then stop, and predict what a character would do if
s/he belonged to your cultural context. Then read on, and see if your
predictions have been correct.
NON-VERBAL elements
- Focus on the descriptions of the characters' movements, posture,
facial expressions, sounds they make, their personal space, touching
etc. Enact the passages if necessary. What do you find unusual (if anything)?
Why?
- Introduce the necessary changes that would make the described non-verbal
behaviour more usual in your culture/nowadays: rewrite the passage or
enact the part once again with the changes.
- Find a passage where the non-verbal behaviour of a character is described,
and no direct speech or explanations are added. On the basis of the
descriptions, add your own text: write down the thoughts the character
might have in that particular moment.
TRAVEL NOVELS
Note: Some of these guidelines may well be used with other literary
genres as well.
While reading a travel novel, take notes on:
the narrator/the subjective factor:
- Who is the narrator? Do you know which country s/he is from? Does
it matter where s/he is from? Why (not)?
- What does the narrator focus on / is s/he more interested in
landmarks, people, attitudes, celebrations? Does s/he compare the culture
s/he is in with the culture s/he comes from? How? Is s/he critical,
curious, interested, patronising, . ?
- Pay attention to the tone of the voice the speaker adopts, the choice
of vocabulary, choice of topics.
the landscape:
- If you didn't know which country the book is about, would you
guess? What gives the country away?
- Check the internet, coffee table books, or encyclopaedias and collect
additional materials (e.g. photos) on the landscape in question.
- Which features seem very exotic to the narrator, and which to a reader
from your country?
- Having seen the narrator's interests, which features of your
own country would you definitely show to the narrator if s/he decided
to come to your back of the woods? Which places in your country have
a particular meaning for you? Compare your notes with a schoolmate's.
the people:
- Does the author's/narrator's representation of people
contribute to stereotyping, or does s/he try to dismantle them? Support
your opinion with appropriate quotes from the novel.
- Which attitudes/value systems described in the book would a reader
from your country have problems to understand? Why? How do they compare
to the value systems of your country?
- Write a passage that would explain where a culture shock awaits a
reader from your country.
various emerging forms of culture
- Explore what the author describes by the term "culture".
Make a list of things you would personally count as culture, and a list
of things/concepts the author considers culture. Can you identify any
common elements?
- If possible, find various editions of a book and compare the front
page. Which parts of a country/culture do the different cover pages
show? Do you think they offer the reader a stereotypical insight into
the culture, or a new, fresh view?
- List the different aspects of the author's home society he draws
upon/from to make his/her point.
- Draw up a list of positive terms which the author uses in connection
with the country described. To what extent can you make judgements about
the attitudes and values representative of the culture on the basis
of this list?
- According to the author, how do people react to various "stimuli"
like natural catastrophes/ sports / dangerous animals / tourists / people
from other regions of the country? Can you widen these reactions to
identify examples of attitudes rooted in the society?
- In your opinion, how is the stereotype about the people from this
country influenced by the country's politics?
- Keep a portfolio of articles / pictures / video & audio recordings
from your and other countries on various issues (same sex marriage,
abortion etc). How much stereotyping can you find? How do the collected
items compare to the facts/stories that appear in the travel novel?
Do you think the author is objective or subjective?
- What kind of attitude do the people in the country have towards heritage?
Do they celebrate any past events? Compare this to the celebrations
in your country.
- Which is the most popular sport in your country? Can you explain why
it is so popular? Is it popular in the country described? Which of the
mentioned sports are popular in your country?
- Were you surprised/annoyed by anything the natives of the country
you are reading about said/did? Why?
- Differences in the way the land has been settled and/or used may be
reflected in different vocabulary and different ways of using the vocabulary.
Find the words that reflect that.
- Are there any particular concepts the people in this country generally
associate with a particular time? (e.g. World War I/Gallipoli for Australians,
etc) What about the people in your country?
- Find parallel texts, different in genre (e. g. Bill Bryson's travel
novel Down Under and Alison Lester's picture book Are we
there yet?). Do they both/all focus on the same aspects of culture?
Which? Why (not)? Write a review of both/all texts and explain which
one you find most interesting and useful for a reader from a different
culture.
POETRY
Note: Some of these guidelines may well be used with other literary
genres as well.
- The content: can you think of any sets of values,
beliefs, attitudes in your community/country/culture that would compare
to the ones expressed in the poem?
- Read the poem aloud. Is the rhythm you hear familiar
to your ear?
- Are there any particular sounds (created by alliteration/assonance/repetition
etc) that transfer you to a different culture? Which sound could be
used if you rewrote the poem to make it fit in your culture?
- Explore the form of the poem. Can you think of any
author that uses the same form in your country? As these days various
forms are used globally, explore if the form in question is traditional
in your culture or not. Can you explain why (not)?
- Are the images familiar to you? Which of the images
make you see that the poem you are reading doesn't originate in
your country? Or are the images shown universal?
- Underline the comparisons/metaphors, similes. Do
you easily see/understand why these are used? What makes it difficult
for you to understand' Is it the genre or the image that is unfamiliar
to you?
- Language: What kind of language is used in the poem?
Is it standard, non-standard, archaic, a dialect? If you rewrite it
(e. g. in a non-standard language/ in a dialect), which other changes
does that cause?
- Rewrite the poem in another form (e.g. a sonnet as a haiku). What
did you have to change beside the form?
For concrete examples of activities and lesson plans, go to Tasks
and activities for literature, Three
poems by Liz Lochhead, Saint-Exupéry's The
Little Prince, and Malamud's Black
is My Favorite Color.
See recommended poems, novels, tales and short stories in the
bibliography under: Further reading, viewing and singing.
ADVERTISEMENTS / VISUAL STIMULI
Advertisements seem very useful materials for intercultural training.
They are (unfortunately) omnipresent and (fortunately) often have literature-like
characteristics. As by default a media text cannot be reduced to a single
meaning and as it is very clear that in any given culture one accepts
the dominant codes, advertisements therefore usually prove very effective
in reconciling the various meanings. Therefore, analysing advertisements
can help the student to become more of a critical thinker than a gullible
receiver / reader of various texts and images.
- Which meanings do you associate with the signs used in the advertisement?
How many meanings do the individual signs have?
- Think about the icons/signs used, and look at the
way how a different group or the audience from another culture
might look at this particular ad (e.g. certain animals, scarcely clad
women etc). Might the icons mean anything else there?
- Which necessary changes would therefore have to be
introduced if you wanted to publish the ad elsewhere in the world? To
get your ideas confirmed or rejected:
- Check the internet
- Check the magazines that are also published in other countries
(e. g. Cosmopolitan).
- Have the ads for a particular product been changed in other countries
(i. e. are there different colours, different clothes, other models)?
How? Can you use your knowledge of the particular country/culture
to explain the differences?
- Explore the codes of construction. Check how the signs are
assembled, what they signify: setting, props, codes of non-verbal communication
(like facial expressions, pose/posture, gestures, etc), codes of dress,
colours. How many of them can you see? Where are they placed?
- Make a list of the codes of construction, find their meaning(s)
in your culture and foresee any possible misunderstandings that might
occur if the advertisement were published in another culture.
- Which words are used in the slogans included? Would the same expressions
be appropriate / acceptable in another culture? Why not?
- It has often been claimed that in general people are rather passive
consumers of the various products offered by mass media. Thinking about
the advertisements and commercials in your country, do you agree with
this statement?
See sections 4.7 and 4.8 (Guidelines
for using films and Tasks
and activities for films: Real women have curves) for more ideas on
visual materials. next chapter: 4.3 Tasks
for literature
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