Subject: (life) Big Macs - msg#00005

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(life) Cultural evangelism

> I quess I agree with you in general but what, pray tell, is a > "cultural evangelist teacher"? Is it good/bad? As I implied before, the presence of culture in the language classroom is inevitable. There is, however, a continuum. I'm not sure where the line lies between legitimacy and cultural evangelism. I'll try some examples. Legitimate Language and culture: Using terms with connotations that are culturally specific, especially when you think they are common to other major English speaking communities, eg. greedy/dirty pig. Using idioms that are cultural but widely used, eg. military and sporting idioms in business English. Yes you can use a fair number of baseball idioms because these are known to Brits, Australian and other business people but you can't use cricket idioms so much because although UK, Australian, New Zealand, African and Indian speakers know these, Americans don't. Idioms generally are culturally based though some are cross cultural (Johnson and Lakoff, Idioms We Live By). I think I posted onece before that the going to future is an idiomatic use and is an indication of a culturally influenced way of looking at aspects of the future. There are millions more instances, some taken for granted like this one and plenty that are more obviously idiomatic but are basic in the language. Appropriate use of "please", "thank you" and all that stuff. Again, one has to stick to usages in major English. Using your own English, in the way that you would use it with other English L1 speakers who don't share your dialect, in the classroom. I wouldn't find an occasion to use "have a good day" in the way N Americans do (Americans might not use it in the classroom either, but they might in passing). On the other hand, although I'm sometimes tempted I wouldn't wear the Ivor Cutler sticker "NOBODY TELLS ME WHAT KIND OF DAY TO HAVE". Using CLT or other pedagogy that happened to have originated in the West, though it helps if you don't view it as western, just as a way of doing things that you think is useful. Legitimate Culture: Explaining when requested or when the topic demands it. As Don says, this can be done without advocacy, though there may be occasions when enthusiasm creeps in and this is fair enough if it doesn't bore or alienate. Cultural Evangelism: Presenting your culture as better than or more interesting than the host culture or other English cultures. Pushing lessons at students about what we do on November 5th or Thanksgiving Day. Doing these things and getting useful language out of it is fine when there is a reason for it. Comparing fireworks and the reasons behind firework celebrations on Chinese New Year and Nov. 5 th in UK is fine, as is comparing the symbolism of meals and ingredients at Chinese and Western Festivals but to come into the class with little more than "This is what WE do on this date" is not a brilliant idea. Bouncing into the classroom ready to tell the learners how wonderful your country is. Telling them how lousy your country is is not a good idea either though Brits are allowed a small cultural moan about the weather. I've come across some UK teachers who disparage US culture and language use to their students. I am quite happy to mock the US "Have a good day" to you guys but I present it neutrally to students if it comes up and I try to give an idea of its area of use. I've come across US teachers who ignore or are blissfully ignorant of Englishes other than their own. I suppose the latter is unconscious evangelism. > I have taught the various 'isms' of religion & political systems but > never cross that dangerous line of advocacy. Where is the line? I wouldn't advocate anything religious or political in the classroom but I'd give a very brief well-labelled private opinion if asked, together with an explanation that I was there to teach English, not to use my authority to promote my opinions. If I couldn't do that I'd get out and find another country to teach in. After all, I couldn't keep quiet if students were spouting apartheid slogans or other racist or sexist nonsense. I had a mainland student tell me that women and men in China were equal and had equal opportunities. It was a new class and the other students weren't ready to chip in so I said that well over 90% of people in powerful positions in China and in the west too were male and that we all had a way to go. Of course, I do realise that I'm lucky here in Macau. I don't teach in countries where freedom of speech is drastically limited and I don't because I choose not to. I won't Ggle my Google. > First there was 'linguistic imperialism' & now 'culturual > evengelicals' via Trojan Horses. Am I part of some vast intellectual > conspiracy against poor China and I don't even know it. Hmmmmm!! > Don The Brits set up the British Council to retain and promote a UK cultural influence in colonies and former colonies, and indeed wherever they could. The US didn't need to - money talks. The world language of money, power and academia is English, more or less. We insist that academic writing conforms to certain cultural organisational and stylistic forms. We promote English for business and we sell MBAs that teach business western style, with a nod towards understanding other cultures but a hefty shove towards them understanding our western ways. Some of this imperialism is a deliberate way of spreading influence, creating client states and client economies, some of it is unconscious, some of it is unavoidable. Some of the cultural evangelicals are just naive and some think they are the bees knees come to tell the third world how life should be. It's not aimed at China particularly. Phillipson's book looks primarily at the way the British Council operates in India and Africa and I think we might now look at the US in Central and South America, the Middle East and South East Asia. I think it's something to be aware of so that we can moderate ourselves and not be too pushy. Perhaps I can quote what I wrote in http://writing.berkeley.edu/tesl-ej/ej21/f1.html Dick Tibbetts: Ryoko Sato wrote "Being aware of cultural differences is one thing, and following foreign cultural expectations is another. If the latter has a connotation of linguistic imperialism, we need further discussion." I think it may depend on the type of cultural expectation the second language learner is being asked to follow. A common form of greeting and starting a conversation in Chinese is to ask if you have had breakfast. This would go against English native speaker cultural expectations and I'd feel quite justified in telling a learner that it was not appropriate. But this type of cultural behaviour is not too difficult to modify and most Chinese would not feel that keeping quiet about breakfast and commenting on the weather instead did not detract from their Chinese-ness. When it comes to more subtle expectations I think the degree to which the second language user needs to accept the cultural conventions of the target language depends on the situation. The Chinese style of presenting an opinion or argument is often less direct than that of an English native speaker. A Chinese speaker of English may decide to comply with native speaker norms and try and be direct in order to form a bond with the person they are speaking with or they might decide their purposes may be better served by emphasising their Chinese background. In neither case are they submitting to linguistic imperialism. They are manipulating language and cultural expectations as best they can to their own advantage. Being aware of cultural differences enables you to try and use such differences in your dealings with others. We do much the same in our exchanges with others who share our culture. I think there are quite a few useful comments from others on that site. Dick Tibbetts TEFLChinaLife Rules & Help --> http://TEFLChina.org/welcome OVERMODERATED? --> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/teflchinalife-UNMODERATED ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TEFLChinaLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: TEFLChinaLife-unsubscribe-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

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Re: (life) Chengdu

Dear Hin, Thank you for describing Chengdu to me. Really appreciate the local insight into the place. Regards Dr Zheng Junjin Kuala Lumpur (Malaysian Chinese) TEFLChinaLife Rules & Help --> http://TEFLChina.org/welcome OVERMODERATED? --> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/teflchinalife-UNMODERATED ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TEFLChinaLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: TEFLChinaLife-unsubscribe-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

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Re: (life) KFC in Haikou

Imagine my shock in Vietnam, where American troops fought a long and bloody war against the current regime, to find a statue honoring an American military officer on exiting the airport in Ho Chi Minh City (ex-Saigon). Some colonel named Sanders... Mert <Mert_Bland-/E1597aS9LQAvxtiuMwx3w@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > --- Jada Rufo <tanyujie-/E1597aS9LQAvxtiuMwx3w@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > I can't believe it! First there was KFC. Next McDonalds. Now Haikou > finally has a Pizza Hut! My how things have changed in Hainan! TEFLChinaLife Rules & Help --> http://TEFLChina.org/welcome OVERMODERATED? --> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/teflchinalife-UNMODERATED ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TEFLChinaLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: TEFLChinaLife-unsubscribe-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

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Re: (life) Big Macs

CHINA DAILY - North 2005-03-28 06:14 Fast foods doing harm to kids, research shows Statistics show the number of children suffering from obesity or neoteny in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, has doubled from estimates in the year 2000. Harbin Children's Hospital found that 70 per cent of children suffering from either overweight or conditions that find them exhibiting adult features in childhood eat foreign fast food. Yu Hong, a doctor at the hospital, said most of the food is deep fried and has little nutritional value. Much of it contains large amounts of hormones. The hospital suggests children be served limited amounts of such food, the Heilongjiang Morning Post reports. McDonald's plans to open 100 new outlets in China ( 2004-01-15 09:46) (China Daily by Liu Jie) McDonald's, the world's top fast food operator, is to open nearly 100 new outlets around China this year and promote McKIDS, a series of children-related products, to the Chinese market from April. Martin --- Jennifer Wallace <isleworth.jennifer-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > "Big Macs served in Hong Kong contain more fat and cholesterol than > anywhere else in the world, apparently... Made me wonder about PRC > Big Macs! The ultimate in US secret weapons? TEFLChinaLife Rules & Help --> http://TEFLChina.org/welcome OVERMODERATED? --> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/teflchinalife-UNMODERATED ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TEFLChinaLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: TEFLChinaLife-unsubscribe-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/