October 17, 2014
Creative Culture Critics
My time teaching English as a foreign language in Argentina was influenced by the intercultural approach to language learning by John Corbett. This approach steers away from the linguistically imperialist goals of assimilation and native speaker acquisition, and instead, focuses on integrating home-culture into target-culture practice while facilitating the use of the four skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. I will talk about how I explored this approach with my students and how the experience transformed my understanding of foreign language learning. Together, my students and I became creative culture critics, and I had the fortunate experience of learning alongside them while navigating my internship in a foreign country. As the learning process regarding intercultural communication continues for me, I hope to encourage others to open their minds to what it means to "teach" English as a foreign language.
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