Traditionally, language is viewed as a
code. In this view, language is made up of words and a series of rules that
connect words together. If language is only viewed in this way, language
learning just involves learning vocabulary and the rules for constructing
sentences. This understanding of language is, however, a very narrow one. It
sees language as fixed and finite and does not explore the complexities
involved in using language for communication. Language learners need to be
aware, for example, of the culturally appropriate ways to address people,
express gratitude, make requests, and agree or disagree with someone. They
should know that behaviors and intonation patterns that are appropriate in
their own speech community may be perceived differently by members of the
target language speech community. They have to understand that, in order for
communication to be successful, language use must be associated with other
culturally appropriate behavior.
Culture must be fully incorporated as a vital
component of language learning.
Second language teachers should identify key
cultural items in every aspect of the language that they teach.
Students can be
successful in speaking a second language only if cultural issues are an
inherent part of the curriculum.
This project will help teachers to know
each other, their cultures and traditions and important days which they are all
important for ERASMUS+ in terms of
continuity of the project and delivering the knowledge to other students in the
future.
Students who are the main priority of this
project will be the good examples and the source of enthusiasm for their own
friends in the future to fulfill the needs of ERASMUS+. With this project they
will complete missing parts of their knowledge about European people, how they
live, who they are going to contact, how they learn a lesson, how they live
their religion and they will get answers of many questions which we cannot fit
here.
The concrete objectives of the partnership are as follows:
- To develop an understanding of the fact
that all people exhibit culturally-conditioned behaviors;
- To become more aware of conventional
behavior in common situations in the target culture;
- To increase their awareness of the
cultural connotations of words and phrases in the target language;
- To develop the ability to evaluate and
refine generalizations about the target culture, in terms of supporting
evidence;
- To develop the necessary skills to locate
and organize information about the target culture;
- To stimulate students’ intellectual
curiosity about the target culture, and to encourage empathy towards its
people.
The approaches we will take to achieve our
objectives are as follows:
- Collaboration learning and peer
interaction is important;
- Selecting and organizing curriculum
contents;
- Using meaningful, authentic
communication/activities;
- Deciding what our own beliefs are about
language learning;
- Avoiding overgeneralization - this occurs when we
make predictions about the target language, which turn out to be wrong. For
example, a particular item belongs to a different category, which is covered by
another rule, or is simply an exception to the rule that the learner is
employing.
