Interculturality in The Big Bang Theory

Facultad de Educación y Trabajo Social Máster de Profesor de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria y Bachillerato, Formación Profesional y Enseñanza de Idiomas Trabajo de Fin de Máster Interculturality in The Big Bang Theory Autora: Lourdes Luque Cardenal Tutora: Ana Isabel Alario Trigueros Departamento de Didáctica de la Lengua y la Literatura Valladolid, 2019-2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction ..............................................................................................................1 2. Justification ..............................................................................................................2 2.1. Objectives .......................................................................................................3 3. Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................3 3.1. Interculturality ................................................................................................3 3.1.1. Multiculturalism ....................................................................................4 3.1.2. Pluriculturalism .....................................................................................5 3.1.3. Culture ...................................................................................................7 3.1.3.1. Racism .......................................................................................10 3.1.3.2. Xenophobia ...............................................................................11 3.1.4. Globalisation .......................................................................................13 3.2. Intercultural competence ..............................................................................14 3.3. Interculturality in Language Teaching ..........................................................15 4. The Big Bang Theory ..............................................................................................17 4.1. Cultures in The Big Bang Theory .................................................................18 4.1.1. Indian ..................................................................................................18 4.1.2. American Jewish .................................................................................19 4.1.3. Texan ...................................................................................................20 4.1.4. Nebraskan ............................................................................................20 4.1.5. New Jerseyan ......................................................................................21 4.1.6. Californian ..........................................................................................21 4.1.7. Scientific .............................................................................................22 4.1.8. Nerd or Geek? .....................................................................................22 4.2. Stereotypes ....................................................................................................23 5. Methodological Proposal ........................................................................................25 6. Activities Proposal .................................................................................................27 6.1. Objectives .....................................................................................................27 6.2. Competences .................................................................................................30 6.3. First Session ..................................................................................................33 6.4. Second Session .............................................................................................35 6.5. Third Session ................................................................................................38 6.6. Fourth Session ..............................................................................................40 6.7. Fifth Session .................................................................................................41 6.8. Sixth Session .................................................................................................43 7. Conclusion ..............................................................................................................45 Works Cited .................................................................................................................47 Appendices ..................................................................................................................53 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Giménez Romero’s ‘Pluralismo, multiculturalismo e interculturalidad - Propuesta terminólógica y conceptual’ .........................................................................6 Figure 2. Giménez Romero’s ‘Hacia una Tipología de Modelos Sociopolíticos ante la Diversidad Cultural’ ....................................................................................................11 ABSTRACT [EN] Nowadays, the world in which we are living is characterised by the presence of different cultures co-existing in the same places, interacting among each other. This phenomenon, called interculturality, happens also in other fields, such as education, where students from diverse cultures and nationalities relate with other ways of lives different from theirs. Interculturality can be also appreciated in fiction, such as TV shows like the famous The Big Bang Theory. This series is familiar for students, and it could be a useful tool for working and developing cultural awareness and respect in class. Therefore, in this Master Thesis I propose a syllabus with activities that include critical discussion, as well as individual, pair and group work, in order to study interculturality in the classroom using The Big Bang Theory. KEYWORDS: culture, interculturality, education, foreign languages, The Big Bang Theory RESUMEN [ES] Actualmente, vivimos en un mundo caracterizado por la presencia de diferentes culturas coexistiendo en los mismos lugares, interactuando entre ellas. Este hecho, conocido como interculturalidad, también se produce en otros ámbitos, como la educación, donde los estudiantes de diversas culturas y nacionalidades están en contacto con otros modos de vida diferentes a los suyos. La interculturalidad también puede apreciarse en la ficción, como en series de TV como la famosa The Big Bang Theory. Dicha serie resulta cercana para los estudiantes, y puede ser una herramienta eficaz para trabajar y desarrollar la conciencia cultural y el respeto en el aula. Por lo tanto, en este Trabajo de Fin de Máster propongo una unidad didáctica con actividades que incluyen debates críticos, así como trabajo individual, en pareja y en grupo, con el fin de estudiar la interculturalidad en clase mediante The Big Bang Theory. PALABRAS CLAVE: cultura, interculturalidad, educación, lenguas extranjeras, The Big Bang Theory 1 1. Introduction When we talk about interculturality, we refer to the relationship between people from different cultures, and the harmonious interaction among them, without inequalities. Since we live in a globalised world, interculturality is not a new phenomenon, because “[p]eople have always interacted across borders, be they national, regional, linguistic, religious and/or social” (Pietersen qtd. in Dervin 2016, 2), and “[w]hat is different about interculturality in our era is its omnipresence and the speed at which it can take place”(Dervin 2016, 2). Also, this phenomenon is present in every aspect from our daily lives in every part of the world, and, one of those aspects is education; in fact, Dervin claims that “[e]ducation is probably one of the best places to learn about, practise, and reflect on interculturality” (2016, 2). There are many methods and techniques to implement interculturality in the classroom, so that students could learn new cultures, while they respect and tolerate the possible differences that may exist among those new cultures strange for them, and their own culture. Moreover, around the age of 15, teenagers start developing their critical thinking skills, which means that they begin to build their own opinions, ideas and values, and, consequently, they will show an especific attitude towards foreign cultural notions. The most evident manner of learning from different cultures are TV documentaries; but there are also many other means, such as fictional and non-fictional books, graphic novels and comics, films, and also TV series. There are many shows that attract the attention of students, like the famous The Simpsons (1989-) or the Netflix series Sense8 (2015-2018). But one TV show that seems to interest teenagers the most is The Big Bang Theory (2007-2019). In its 12 years and seasons, we have been witnessing the different and main events that have happened in The Big Bang Theory, which concerned the main characters and their families and friends. The series, which has won numerous prizes, is about a group of friends living in Pasadena, California; these people, principally, are scientists and work at the University. Also, in this series, many cultures coexist together, and the most noticeable is the Indian culture, because of the character Rajesh Koothrappali, or the American Jewish, represented in Howard Wolowitz; but there are other cultures, from different states of the USA, like the Texan, the Nebraskan and the New Jerseyan, portrayed in the characters of Sheldon 2 Cooper, Penny and Leonard Hofstadter, respectively, apart from the Californian culture, since Pasadena is the city in which the series develops. The main aim of this Master thesis is the study of The Big Bang Theory’s intercultural dimension. In order to achieve that goal, this thesis is structured in five main ideas: firstly, I provide a justification for the elections and reasons of this matter; secondly, I establish the different objectives of the thesis itself; thirdly, I include a theoretical framework analising previous studies on interculturality and similar concepts from numerous experts; fourthly, I provide a set of activities in order to study The Big Bang Theory’s interculturality in the classroom; and finally, I include a series of conclusions that I have reached in the final section of this Master thesis. 2. Justification There are two main reasons why I selected this topic for my Master thesis. On the one hand, respect and tolerance towards the other is thoroughly important in the multicultural world we are living nowadays. As a consequence of the cultural diversity, we constantly see people from foreign countries living with us.Besides,in the high schools from Spain and every country worldwide, there are students coming from other places, and they bring their culture and language with them into the classroom, with their classmates; therefore, students should learn this respectful attitude in the classrooms. On the other hand, The Big Bang Theory is a very popular TV series, among different audiences from all ages, and many teenagers have grown up watching this show, and witnessing many special moments like Howard Wolowitz and Bernadette Rostenkowski becoming parents, or Sheldon Cooper asking Amy Farrah Fowlerto marry him. Certainly, many students enjoy watching the different events that compose the show develop; therefore, The Big Bang Theory is familiar for them, which eases the process of interculturality and learning from the different cultures that appear in the show, despite certain stereotypes that could be present in some episodes. 9 The scholar Guillén Díaz, who argues that “[a]unque por sí sola la lengua no puede definir la cultura” (2002, 203), discusses about “lo cultural” Empezaré por decir lo que no es. Lo cultural no es simplemente un conjunto de conocimientos sobre la historia, la geografía, las instituciones de un país; menos aún sobre las características de turísticas de un país . . . Lo cultural no es una realidad global, es una realidad fragmentada, múltiple, plural que depende de numerosos factores tales como el lugar geográfico, el estrato social, la edad, el sexo, las categorías socioprofesionales, etc. Hay que hablar pues de las características culturales de un grupo social dado, de una época dada, y ver las cosas bajo el ángulo de la pluralidad. (Charaudeau qtd. in Guillén Díaz, 2002, 203) However, Eriksen warns about the problems in the definition of our own culture . . . it is easy to see how problematic this can become . . . Such comparisons can create dichotomies between the ‘good’ and ‘bad’, the ‘civilized’ and ‘uncivilized’, and the ‘same’ and the ‘other’. They can contribute to ethnocentrism (believing that our culture is better than others), establish power imbalance, patronize the other, close doors to our environment, and hide and justify negative actions (attacks against freedom of speech, violation of human rights, misogyny, and so on). (qtd. in Dervin 11) Shortly, culture is a complex term, whose meaning has gained different connotations with the passing of time. Moreover, culture involves more than just referring to traditions, customs, habits and ways of life; nevertheless, all of us should be prudent and avoid any negative thoughts about our neighbouring cultures, which are different from ours. Otherwise, that perspective could lead us to types of intolerance and discrimination such as racism and xenophobia. Since these two notions are employed as synonyms in the Present-day, I will explain them briefly, highlighting the differences among them. 3.1.3.1. Racism Again, if we search in the Online Cambridge Dictionary for the definition of this concept, it refers to “the belief that people’s qualities are influenced by their race and that the members of other races are not as good as the members of your own, or the resulting unfair treatment of members of other races” (n. p.). Thus, racism describes the superiority of a group of 10 people over other people different from them, because of their race, culture, beliefs, etc. Unfortunately, this intolerance has been present in our lives for centuries8,and still is; however, organisations all along the world, like the European Union, proposed measures to fight every racist behaviour, such as “[t]he Treaty of Amsterdam, signed in 1997, introduces the principle of free circulation of persons, the Rights o Man and the fundamental liberties while fighting against “all discrimination based on gender, race, ethnicity, religion, handicap or sexual orientation” (Lo Bianco, 1999, 53). Besides, in the field of education, this treaty, along with the Treaty of Maastricht9, have made possible the development of numerous programs, such as the European SOCRATES and LEONARDO programmes elaborate a number of concrete measures which encourage the learning and diffusion of the languages of member states and amplify at all levels of each educational system the cross-border mobilityalready encouraged by the ERASMUS (for students), COMETT (a cooperative effort between universities and the private sector), PETRA (vocational training for youth) programmes. (Lo Bianco, 1999, 53). In addition, experts have created guides and manifestos, such as The Green Book (1993), or The White Book on Education and Trainig. Teaching and Learning: Towards the Cognitive Society (1995), to mention a few, that “specify the educational goals for the European citizen of the next century: mastery of three E.U. languages, promotion of distance learning and new methods of evalutation skills, the fight against social exclusion, life-long learning” (Lo Bianco, 1999, 53). 8Slaves’ trade from Africa to America and Europe in the 16th-19th centuries; the Nazi Regime during the World War II persecuting mainly, the Jews; segregation in USA against African-American people in the mid-20th century. 9Ratified in 1992, the Treaty of Maastricht put in the place the institutional and legal framework of the EU. Each member state found in it a guarantee of its national sovereignty and a declaration of its adherence to the common principles of democracy, as well as to economic and social union. Furthermore, if the European Community contributes to the development of the culture of member states, it also has the mandate of promoting European identity and of encouraging the awareness and diffusion of a specifically European culture and patrimony (Lo Bianco 1999, 52-3). 11 3.1.3.2. Xenophobia Xenophobia, from Ancient Greek xenos ‘foreign’, and phobos ‘fear’, refers to the “extreme dislike or fear of foreigners, their customs, their religions, etc.”, according to the Online Cambridge Dictionary (n. p.). Xenophobia, however, does not imply any cultural neither racial connotations; this attitute refers to the rejection of people from different countries and nationalities. In order to avoid xenophobic attitudes in education, international organisations, like UNESCO, have proposed numerous educational initiatives, focused on the intercultural education (Lo Bianco, 1999, 40); in fact, this was one of the goals of the Council of Europe since its creation in 1949, to fight xenophobia and other intolerant attitudes in countries, while reaching a solution and helping its victims (Lo Bianco, 1999, 56). I return to Giménez Romero to explain his interesting classification, as itmaybe appreciated in Figure 2 (2003, n. p.) 12 Figure 2. Giménez Romero’s ‘Hacia una Tipología de Modelos Sociopolíticos ante la Diversidad Cultural’ (2003, n. p.) In this second table, Giménez Romero distinguishes between exclusion and inclusion (2003, n. p.). Within the first category, the scholar refers to phenomena like racism and xenophobia, terms previously described. Giménez Romero points out here to the 13 different treatments towards the Other: discrimination, segregation and even ellimination (2003, n. p.). In the second category, however, Giménez Romero addresses inclusion, while he differentiates between the homogenisation, which may lead to certain obstacles like etnocentrism, and the acceptance of cultural diversity, including terms that have been explained before (2003, n. p.). 3.1.4. Globalisation Another important concept in this matter is globalisation, whose definition in the Online Cambridge Dictionary refers to “a situation in which available goods and services, or social and cultural influences, gradually become similar in all parts of the world” (n. p.). In accordance with Lo Bianco, this phenomenon ...refers to the manifold ways in which the nations and populations of the world are becoming enmeshed in a single interconnected global system . . . Globalisation extends well beyond things financial . . . education is a commodity in which is traded globally and in which language plays a critically determining role . . . In the domain of culture, we note the rapidly emerging effects of the global exchange of entertainment,cinema, publication and music. At innumerable levels previously discrete systems of endeavour are being meshed into hybrid new varieties influenced by the instantaneous capacity for communication via the telecommunications revolution. Globalisation, here sketched very briefly, sustains the domestic multicultural imperative for language education to address interculturalism. (1999, 16-7) Therefore, as a consequence of globalisation, we live in world that is evolving into one, and this may be appreciated in every aspect, not only in entertainment, but also in culture, and even in education (Lo Bianco, 1999, 16-7). 14 3.2. Intercultural Competence Intercultural competence is an essential concept within this topic, afterreviewing other important and interrelated issues such as interculturality, multiculturalism, pluriculturalism, culture and globalisation. Thus, this ability not only alludes to the socio-cultural skills, as we may generally believe, but also to the communication capacities that allow people to interact with each other. Consequently, and thanks to this competence, people from different countries, cultures, nationalities, etc., relate among them, and develop understanding and empathy with those whose customsand beliefs are different from theirs. According to Beacco et al., intercultural competence . . . is the ability to experience otherness and cultural diversity, to analyse that experience and to derive benefit from it. Once acquired, intercultural competence makes it easier to understand otherness, establish cognitive and affective links between past an new experiences of otherness, mediate between members of two (or more) social groups and their cultures, and question the assumptions of one’s own cultural group and environment. (2016, 10) Since the definition of this competence is clear, what are the requirements for a person to develop intercultural competence? Byram, Gribkova and Starkey affirm that the acquisition of this skill is never perfect neither complete, due to the constant changes in which cultures are nowadays and the different languages that are spoken worldwide, and also because of the personal values and beliefs people have towards cultures (2002, 11). The components of intercultural competence, Byram, Gribkova and Starkey affirm, “. . . are knowledge, skills and attitudes” complemented by the personal social values (2002, 11), which shall be explained in the next lines. In the attitudes (savoir être) lies the foundation of the intercultural competence, and would correspond to the comprehension of different cultures, from an opener perspective; this ability would be known as “to decentre” (Byram, Gribkova and Starkey, 2002, 12). Next, knowledge (savoirs) refers to the notions surrounding the different social interactions, both personal and of other people (Byram, Gribkova and Starkey, 2002, 12). In the case of skills, Byram, Gribkova and Starkey distinguish two 15 categories: the skills of comparison, interpreting and relating (savoir comprendre) (2002, 12-3) and the skills of discovery and interaction (savoir apprendre/faire) (2002, 13). The first category is identified with the capability to recognise and relate aspects from other cultures with one’s own (Byram, Gribkova and Starkey, 2002, 13);the second category, however, refers to the interaction with people from another cultures, in order to acquire new notions from that people and culture (Byram, Gribkova and Starkey, 2002, 13). Finally, the critical cultural awareness (savoir s’engager) indicates the critical skills and self-consciousness to evaluate other and one’s own cultural values (Byram, Gribkova and Starkey, 2002, 13). In addition, Byram, Gribkova and Starkey conclude that “. . . all language teaching should promote: a position which acknowledges respect for human dignity and equality of human rights as the democratic basis for social interaction” (2002, 13). Also, these scholars add that “[t]he role of the language teacher is therefore to develop skills, attitudes and awareness of values as much as to develop a knowledge of a particular culture or country” (2002, 13), an issue that is related with the next section. 3.3. Interculturality in Language Teaching Once the concept of intercultural competence has been explained, I consider essential to analyse its role in teaching. As I mentioned before, this competence involves socio-cultural and communicative skills; this means that language is a proper medium to transmit culture. In fact, Byram, Holmes and Savvides claim that . . . some language teachers have also recognised the opportunity to re-integrate the aims of the liberal education philosophy which had been attached to language teaching in the 19th century, i.e. the personal development of the individual through empathetic understanding of other countries, peoples and their languages. (2013, n. p.) Nevertheless, culture knowledge does not imply that a teacher must know every aspect of a specific culture, since “. . . there are many cultures associated with a particular language . . .”, which means that, despite there are many countries that share a common language as L1, there are, in fact, variations in their cultures, customs, etc. (Byram, Gribkova and Starkey, 2002, 14). 16 Regarding the aim of interculturality in language teaching, it is widely spread that the perfect intercultural competent teacher, a figure whose existence could be impossible (Byram, Gribkova and Starkey, 2002), is the one who gathers cultural knowledge perfectly; nevertheless, Lo Bianco affirms that the real aim of interculturality in language teaching is “. . . supporting the development of intercultural competence through the learning of foreign languages and by extension through the learning of how language and culture connect in one’s first and target language” (1999, 21). However, Lo Bianco points out to two obstacles in the situation of cultural education in the classroom . . . a) that language teaching has predominantly been based on the written form of the languages taught and b) that culture . . . has always been taught as an adjunct to language whether in the form of literature (high culture) or cultural studies (e.g. history and customs). Even when the proclaimed aims of language teaching . . . were to teach people how to use aforeignspoken language to communicate across cultures, the content of language education by and large remained heavily based on written forms, that is, mainly grammar, and culture was never taught as an inherent part of language . . . this also requires an effort from language teachers to rethink the very nature of language: how itshapes human interactions and relationships. (1999, 20-1) Thus, Lo Bianco is highlighting the importance of language teaching withinthe context of intercultural education in the classrooms. Interculturality in language teaching assures benefits, as it “...continuestohelplearnersto acquire the linguistic competence needed to communicate in speaking or writing, to formulate what they want to say/write in correct and appropriate ways. But it also develops their intercultural competence” (Byram, 2002, 9-10). Therefore, the intercultural competence in language teaching does not require cultural knowledge exclusively; instead, learners should develop certain socio-cultural and communicative skills. There are numerous methods to work this competence in the class, in the form of activities, games, debates, etc. Later, in the proposed activities section, I shall provide a series of techniques to practise interculturality in language teaching, concretely, English language teaching. 17 4. The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory is one of the most popular sitcoms10 in the Present-day, from its very beginning in 2007, until its ending last year, in 2019. Besides, this TV show is known worldwide, reaching numerous countries, and its success has been such that the creators developed in 2017 a spin-off based on the youth of one of the main chraracters, Young Sheldon.The Big Bang Theory is set in Pasadena, California, and follows the different stories of a group of friends and their families and friends: Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah Fowler, Leonard Hofstadter and Penny, Howard Wolowitz and Bernadette Rostenkowski, and Rajesh Koothrappali. All alongthe development of the sitcom, we witness numerous events, like weddings (Howard Wolowitz and Bernadette Rostenkowski’s, Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah Fowler’s, Leonard Hofstadter and Penny’s), deaths (Howard Wolowitz’s mother), or even winning the Nobel Prize (Sheldon Cooper in Physics). One of the main themes of the show is science, since the main characters’ occupations are related with this issue: experimental, theoretical and astrophysics (Leonard Hofstadter, Sheldon Cooper and Rajesh Koothrappali), neuro and microbiology (Amy Farrah Folwer and Bernadette Rostenkowski), and aeroespace engineering (Howard Wolowitz). Another promminent and recurrent topic is superheroes’ comics and science-fiction movies and shows, such as Star Wars and Star Trek,orMarvel’sand DC’scomics. Furthermore, the main characters from The Big Bang Theory have different origins: not all of them are from California. The most evident case is Rajesh Koothrappali’s, who is from India, and the series includes some references to this country and its culture, as well as some stereotypes. Howard Wolowitz is the Jewish man within his group of friends, and, like Rajesh, there are also some aspects from his culture in the sitcom, apart from the stereotypes. Again, there are mentions to cultural aspectsof other states from the country, like Texas and Nebraska, due to Sheldon Cooper and Penny were born and raised there, respectively. The same happens, to a lesser extent, 10 Situation comedy: a comedy genre, typical in TV shows, which follows a series of event, normally humourous, around the main characters. This type of comedies, whose great majority are original from the USA, are usually recorded in front of an audience in episodes lasting around 20 minutes, whose laughs accompany the series. Some examples of sitcoms are Seinfield (1989-1998), Frasier (1993-2004), Friends (1994-2004) or How I Met Your Mother (2005-2014), among many others. 18 with the New Jerseyan culture, represented in the character of Leonard Hofstadter, with a lesser quantity of references to his culture and state origin. Nevertheless, I include different sections for each culture and character in the next paragraphs. 4.1. Cultures in The Big Bang Theory As I mentioned before, there are numerous cultures that may be appreciated in The Big Bang Theory. Consequently, since the main characters come from different origins, and have different beliefs and customs, they are in contact with each other as friends, they interact among them. Thus, they share their cultural aspects; and what is more, they learn from other cultures different from theirs and their friends. Certainly, the series itself shows a cultural mosaic which reflects the integration of people from different cultures and nationalities in the USA (Guerrero and González, 2010, n. p.). Therefore, I dedicate the next sections for each culture, as I mentioned before. Nevertheless, there are also some stereotypes of these cultures within the series, some of the most noticeable that have been gathered in another different section. 4.1.1. Indian To begin with, the most obvious representation of the Indian culture is portrayed in the character of Rajesh Koothrappali. Rajesh, or Raj, as his family and friends call him, is a shy Indian man from a large and wealthy family, despite he himself claims that they are not as rich as they seem. In the series, he has an evident Indian accent in his English speech, a phenomenon which has not been reflected in the Spanish dubbed version of The Big Bang Theory. He is an astrophysicist working at Caltech11, and his shyness used to hamper him from talking to women, unless they were from his family 11 California Institute of Technology 25 giving birth to his niece, or in every situation in which Sheldon jokes about Christianity, since his mother, Mary Cooper, is a devoted Christian. Finally, the New Jerseyan culture, since the customs and manners from this state do not seem to be so prominent as the rest of the cultures, lacks some of these stereotypical views, despite Leonard himself, and maybe Sheldon as well, is the one who may comment and joke about his birthplace state. Furthermore, scholars have examined in different studies The Big Bang Theory,from different perspectives, and, one of those cases, is the evaluation of stereotypes within the show. In their study, Guerrero and González (2010) affirm that The Big Bang Theory represents stereotypes from the USA, focused on nerds and geeks and their social interactions. These scholars proved that, certainly, the series demonstrates the heterogeneous population of the USA, formed by people from different cultures, nationalities and religions, unfortunately, with a discriminatory tone (2010, n. p.). This study also analysed the presence of men in science, which, regrettably, is more predominant than women’s, among other differences between both genres, like education and occupation since the male characters seem to have more estudies and better jobs, because they have degrees and/or PhD’s and work at Caltech, than Penny, who did not attend the University and used to work as a waitress at The Cheesecake Factory; another negative stereotype is directly related with physical appearance and intelligence, since the four men are considered “ugly” but intelligent, and Penny is portrayed as the blonde beautiful girl but stupid (Guerrero and González, 2010, n. p). Despite all these sexist attitudes, this study focused only on the three first seasons of The Big Bang Theory; from that moment on, female characters like Penny, Amy Farrah Fowler and Bernadette Rostenkowski acquired more importance in the show, which established certain balance in contrast with the previous seasons. 5. Methodological Proposal The selected metodology for the activities proposed is task-based, which consists in the succession of different activities, related among each other and focused in a 26 final task. These activities could be an opportunity for the social and communicative development of the students (O’Dowd, 2007, 11), since the main theme is interculturality in The Big Bang Theory, which is a TV show familiar for teenagers, and this fact could increase their interest and motivation in the lessons, which means that students will participate actively in class. The activities are comprised into six sessions that belong to a quaterly program in which interculturality is worked. Furthermore, throughout the first five lessons, students watch videos from The Big Bang Theory that portray cultural aspects, and they should reflect and debate upon them, while they develop their critical thinking skills as well as tolerance, respect and comprehension towards their classmates’ views. In these five sessions, students learn concepts and aspects from the most evident cultures in the show: Indian, American Jewish, Texan, Nebraskan and New Jerseyan; each lesson corresponds to a different culture and integrates a similar strategy and activities related to discussion and personal reflection. In the final session, students play Trivial with questions related to The Big Bang Theory, and write an invented story on the show. Besides, all these activities are not only beneficial for developing competences such as social, critical thinking and cultural skills, and creativity and imagination, but also to revise and even acquire new contents of grammar and specific vocabulary.In addition, students learn cultures different from theirs while they enjoy discussing and playing board games with their classmates. Furthermore, students are expected to work in small groups, a technique that promotes cooperative and collaborative work. In addition, introducing games in the classroom, such as Trivial, which has been a very popular board game for decades, and is familiar for students, encourages motivation and participation in students, and contributes to a calmer environment within the classroom, which is excellent for students in their learning process. This unit is designed to be develop with students from Secondary Education, specifically, third grade. According to CEFR, the average English level of this grade corresponds to B1. In addition, the activities are arranged to consider special needs for students with any type of necessity. Finally, I could perform similar activities in my internship period in ‘IES Parquesol’, from February to March 2020. I introduced to 38 students, from two classes of3º 27 ESO, to the cultures from The Big Bang Theory mentioned before, while combining the grammatical contents from the textbook Mosaic (Oxford University Press). In this first unit, I employed the same technique, which consisted in the combination of the theory explanation from the textbook, and then customs and habits of the corresponding culture of the lesson, along with the references in The Big Bang Theory. 6. Activities Proposal In this section, I include the different activities that can be performed with students in the classroom to study interculturality in The Big Bang Theory. All these activities are comprised in a syllabus, which, as I mentioned before, consists of six sessions, whose lessons are dedicated to each culture from the main characters of the show, and the selected methodology is task-based. The sessions include debates and games for students, so that they could feel motivated and comfortable, in order to participate and contribute to a more dynamic and relaxed atmosphere in the classroom. Besides, the activities cater to any possible special necessity that students could require, thus, they could be adapted to any students’ needs. In addition, official legislations from Spain such as Orden EDU 362/2015, Real Decreto 1105/2014and Ley Orgánica para la Mejora de la Calidad Educativa (LOMCE), as well as documents from the European Union like the “Council Recommendations”, which have been useful tools to establish different aspects, such as objectives to achieve and competences to develop, as may be appreciated in the next paragraphs. 6.1. Objectives On the one hand, the main goals in Secondary Education can be found on Artículo 11 from Real Decreto 1105/2014 of 26 December 2014 (Real Decreto 1105/2014, 11). Because of the extension of these objectives, I will mention briefly that, in Secondary Education, students are expected to develop skills and 28 competences to be good citizens, including the improvement of social abilities, tolerance and respect (Real Decreto 1105/2014, 11), as well as other capacitites that could be appreciated in the next sections. In addition, Secondary Education advocates for the development and consolidation of study and working habits, in orderto prepare students for their future studies and labour life as citizens (RealDecreto 1105/2014, 10-1). In regards to the objectives of the subject ‘Primera Lengua Extranjera’ from the curriculum of Secondary Education and Bachillerato, the famous Ley Orgánica 8/2013, of 9 December 2013, para la Mejora de la Calidad Educativa, establishes that La Unión Europea fija el fomento del plurilingüismo como un objetivo irrenunciable para la construcción de un proyecto europeo . . . para conseguir que los estudiantes se desenvuelvan con fluidez al menos en una primera lengua extranjera, cuyo nivel de comprensión oral y lectora y de expresión oral y escrita resulta decisivo para favorecer la empleabilidad y las ambiciones profesionales ...(LOMCE,10) As it may be appreciated, both in Real Decreto 1105/2014 and LOMCE, the students are prepared in Secondary Education and Bachillerato in order to acquire the required competences and skills that they one day will put into practise in their future studies and occupations. In this syllabus, the main objectives are To learn new and different cultural aspects from India and regions of the USA; To understand the teacher’s instructions and explanations; To ask for help to solve questions and doubts; To develop tolerance and respect; To produce proper oral and written speeches in English; To work cooperative and collaboratively. Furthermore, the Spanish law Orden EDU 362/2015 of 4 May 2015 establishes the curriculum for Secondary Education, and has been central in the plannification of 29 these activities. According to this official document, language is “[e]l instrumento fundamental para la comunicación y el aprendizaje” (Orden EDU 362/2015, 32232); besides Orden EDU 362/2015 provides relevance to language knowledge, since “[e]l conocimiento de otras lenguas, aparte de la lengua materna, constituye un bagaje indispensable de las personas inmersas en un mundo globalizado” (32232). In line with this issue, the subject known as Primera Lengua Extranjera in Secondary Education helps students to develop their communicative skills, not only in the foreign languages theyare learning, but also in their mother tongue (Orden EDU 362/2015, 32232); thus, the lerning of those L2, according to Orden EDU 362/2015, should be as similar asthe acquisition of L1, to guarantee students’ proper control in the real world’s contexts (32232). Furthermore, the knowledge and handle of foreign languages is an incredibly benefitial phenomenon, since this fact implies numerous opportunities inthe globalised world we are living nowadays, where cultures are in contact witheach other (Orden EDU 362/2015, 32232). The curriculum of Secondary Education is comprised into four blocks that introduce the contents, criteria assessment and assessable learning standards (Orden EDU 362/2015, 32232): Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts; Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction; Block 3. Comprehension of written texts; Block 4. Production of written texts: expression and interaction (Orden EDU 362/2015). As it may be appreciated, these blocks are devoted to oral and writing skills within the subject Primera Lengua Extranjera. Interestingly, in Orden EDU 362/2015 are highlighted the next issues: . . . la producción oral es la que mayores problemas causa al alumnado y, por ello, hay que conseguir que se sienta cómodo en la utilización del idioma. Para lograrlo se pueden utilizar los mismos mecanismos y rutinas usados para el desarrollo de la clase, como pueden ser los saludos, felicitaciones, preguntas recurrentes, etc. . . . En cuanto a la producción escrita, contribuye a fomentar la motivación y el uso por el idioma la utilización de temas actuales, familiares y acordes con los intereses del alumnado. Las compresiones orales y escritashandeser 30 documentos reales o adaptaciones de estos, que permitan al alumnado la adquisición de los contenidos socioculturales y transversales previstos en el currículo . . . como discursos del profesor, vídeos, canciones, audios, dictados . . . apoyos de vocabulario no exhaustivos que aclaren algún término no adecuado al nivel o de carácter cultura. (32233) Besides, languages allow learners to develop competences established by the Council of Europe, some of which are improved in the activities proposed that have been described in the next section. 6.2. Competences As I mentioned before, the activities from this proposal seek for the improvement of specific skills in students from an early age, which can be found on the “Council Recommendations of 22 May 2018 on key competences for lifelong learning”, established by the Council of Europe. Nevertheless, this expected improvement does not only refer to education, but also to society, culture, work and citizenship: the main goal is to form people with attitudes and skills in order to interact properly with other citizens, from different nationalities and cultures, and learn how to cooperate and collaborate with them in team work, while they develop a positive behaviour, based on tolerance, empathy and understanding. Thus, these proposed activities pursue the improvement of the next competences Literacy competence, “. . . the ability to identify, understand, express, create, and interpret concepts, feelings, facts and opinions in both oral and written forms, using visual, sound/audio and digital materials across disciplines and contexts”, which also requires social interaction and critical thinking (Council of Europe, 2018, 8); Multilingual competence, similar to the previous competence, “. . . defines the ability to use different languages appropriately and effectively for communication”, and involves knowledge and curiosity towards different languages and cultures (Council of Europe, 2018, 8); Digital competence requires “. . . the confident, critical and responsible use of, and engagement with, digital technologies for learning, at work, and for participation in society”, as 31 well as other capacities such as problem solving and critical thinking, andalso social interaction and communication, always from a responsible and safe perspective (Council of Europe, 2018, 9-10); Personal, social and learning to learn competence “. . . is the ability to reflect upon oneself, effectively manage time and information, work with others in a constructive way, remain resilient and manage one’s own learning and career”, and involves the knowledge of communication and conduct rules of different cultures, as well as comprehension, tolerance and empathy (Council of Europe, 2018, 10); Citizenship competence refers to “. . . the ability to act as responsible citizens and to fully participate in civic and social life, based on understanding of social, economic, legal and political concepts and structures, as well as global developments and sustainability” and requires the knowledge of certain aspects, related with people, society, work organisations, economy and culture (Council of Europe, 2018, 10); Entrepeneurship competence “. . . refers to the capacity to act upon opportunities and ideas, and to transform them into values for others.”, and is founded on skills such as creativity and imagination, critical thinking and problem solving, individual and collaborative work and initiative (Council of Europe, 2018, 11); and Cultural awareness and expression competence involves “. . . understanding of and respect for how ideas and meaning are creatively expressed and communicated in different cultures and through a range of arts and other cultural forms”, which requires knowledge of languages and cultures, empathy and abstraction, and open-mindedness (Council of Europe, 2018, 11-2). Other important aspects to consider are the context, the class formation, the resources and materials, and the characteristics of the students, and cooperative and collaborative group work that these activities may require. Concerning the context, a similar syllabus to the present one has been performed at the IES Parquesol,in Valladolid, in the homonym neighbourhood, during February and March 2020. Despite those activities were also focused on grammar from the textbook Mosaic (Oxford University Press), they also pursued the development of cultural and social skills. However, both the original and the present proposal, are addressed to students from 3º ESO, who are, generally, 15 years old, an age in which abstract and critical 32 thinking begins developing, as I mentioned before. In addition, the proficiency English level of this students would correspond to B1. I personally consider this issue very important, since not all students from the same classroom show the same level, thus the average level of the whole class may not be as homogeneous as expected. Regarding the class formation in which these activities could be performed, the most adequate manner to place the tables and chairs in the classroom would be, depending on the number of students, in small groups of 3-4 students per group, so that they can work together and help each other in the different activities. In addition,thisclass formation could lead to a more relaxed environment, and, thanks to the activities and cooperation, competition among students may decrease. The resources and materials employed would be the traditional blackboard and chalk, whenever needed, but also Information and Communication Technologies, called ICTs, such as digital board, projector, laptop or computer with Internet connection; if the students’ usual classroom lacks any of these resources, the activities would take place in the computer room instead. Furthermore, since we are living nowadays in a more technological world, which is becoming even more digital everyday, the incorporation of new technologies is beneficial and motivational for students for two reasons Because students are familiar with these sources from their earlier age, and The use of new technologies in education contributes to the development of the skills such as Digital competence, as mentioned above. In addition, it is essential to know the students’ characteristics, attitudes and interests before performing the activities. As I mentioned previously, this syllabus addresses students from 3º ESO; generally, teenagers from this level show interest towards The Big Bang Theory, which is an advantage before implementing this proposal. Nevertheless, level and motivation are fundamental aspects to consider, as well as special necessities that students may need; thus, this syllabus allows to specific adaptations of the activities: dynamism, open-questions debates, etc. Finally, these activities encourage collaborative and cooperative team work, which is very beneficial for students, since they interact with their classmates, as they develop their social skills, and each student learns from each other, while competition among students reduces; also, the activities proposed include debates that work critical thinking skills, as well as tolerance and respect towards other students’ opinions. 33 In the next sections, I include a short introduction of every lesson, as wellastables that gather aspects, such as time, class formation, materials, activities, objectives, among others; besides, there are explanations on every activity from the sessions. 6.3. First Session This first session, as I mentioned above, is dedicated to India and its culture, and also to Rajesh Koothrappali from The Big Bang Theory. This lesson consists of six activities; whose duration varies among each other. In this session, students discuss about the Indian culture, and watch four short videos from the TV show, whose links can be found at the end of the table. Temporalisation 50 minutes Class formation Individual work: students sit on their usual places to work autonomously Pair work: students gather in pairs to work cooperatively Materials Laptop or computer with Internet connection, proyector, white screen, digital and/or traditional boards, chalk, papers, pencils and ball pens Objectives - Learn aspects from the Indian culture - Develop tolerance and awareness towards a different culture - Understand the teacher’s questions and explanations - Produce oral texts, striving to pronounce correctly and be understood - Work collaboratively - Participate actively in class - Comprehend The Big Bang Theory’s videos 34 - Respect their classmates’ opinions and views Activities 1 - ‘Brief presentation to the syllabus’ (2 minutes) 2 - ‘What is culture?’ (5 minutes) 3 - ‘What do you know about India?’ (5 minutes) 4 - ‘The Indian culture in The Big Bang Theory’ (10 minutes) 5 - ‘Aspects from the Indian culture that you have appreciated’ (10 minutes) 6 - ‘Role play: Raj’s expected visit’ (18 minutes) Videos’ links https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4OJfXnjtS0 “Big Bang Theory Hinduism mentioned” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKO--YojicM “Big Bang Theory Indian” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOZ6nKnJI6w “TheBigBangTheory - Sheldon tries Indian Meditation [HD] 3x18” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfprS-CXSnU “Raj Wants Arrange Marriage-The Big Bang Theory S12E02// TBBT 12X02” In the first activity of this session, ‘Brief introduction to the syllabus’, the teacher presents very briefly what students will be working on in the next five lessons. The teacher mentions that these sessions will be focused on culture and a famousTV series they probably are familiar with. This brief introduction is the connection with the second activity, ‘What is culture?’. The main aim of this task is to have students discussing about their own definitions and opinions on culture. This is a short activity, in which the teacher leads the discussion to a specific country, India, because it will be the main theme of the lesson, and asks students about this region, to beginwiththe third activity of the session, ‘What do you know about India?’. In this task, students say out loud aspects from India they are familiar with, so that the teacher can ask 41 18 - ‘Aspects from the Nebraskan culture that you have appreciated’ (15 minutes) 19 - ‘Role play: Penny’s invitation to Nebraska’ (20 minutes) Links https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQn7g2fXVPo “Fun With Flags - Clip 6 - Nebraska - The Big Bang Theory” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePxeYGoW8wY “The Big Bang Theory - Learning About Football” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djfmLVEjJdI “The Big Bang Theory – The Cornhusker Vortex clip1” This fourth lesson begins with the introductory activity ‘What do you know about the Nebraskan culture?’, the visualisation of The Big Bang Theory videos in ‘The Nebraskan culture in The Big Bang Theory’ began by the teacher’s usual question about a specific character from the series who is from Nebraska, and the ensuing discussion task ‘Aspects from the Nebraskan culture that you have appreciated’. Later, students work in pairs in a role play, ‘Penny’s invitation to Nebraska’, forthe remaining 20 minutes, in which they have to imagine that Penny has invited them to her birthplace, and they have to discuss which activities would they like todoin Nebraska. 6.7. Fifth Session Fifthly, the main focus of this fifth session is the New Jerseyan culture. Nevertheless, the strategy performed in this lesson differs from the previous ones, due to the lack of relevant videos portraying aspects from the mentioned culture in The Big Bang Theory. Despite the absence of videos from the show, the teacher plays a video on New Jersey and its culture, so that students can become familiar with this way of life. Also, as in the preceding sessions, this lesson contains discussion and group activities. 42 Temporalisation 50 minutes Class formation Individual work: students sit on their usual places to work autonomously Pair work: students gather in pairs groups to work cooperatively Group work: students gather in small groups to work cooperatively Materials Laptop or computer with Internet connection, proyector, white screen, digital and/or traditional boards, chalk, papers, pencils and ball pens Objectives - Learn aspects from the New Jerseyan culture - Develop tolerance and awareness towards a different culture - Understand the teacher’s questions and explanations - Produce oral texts, striving to pronounce correctly and be understood - Work collaboratively - Participate actively in class - Comprehend The Big Bang Theory’s videos - Respect their classmates’ opinions and views Activities 20 - ‘What do you know about New Jersey?’ (5 minutes) 21 - ‘Visualisation of videos on New Jerseyan culture’ (10 minutes) 22 - ‘Creative group writing’ (20 minutes) 23 - ‘Revision of contents’ (15 minutes) Video Link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIOkoCd445U “7 Facts about New Jersey” 43 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UIrHvqE228 “New Jersey Traditions” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CtDLbLQ92Y “5 New Jersey Sandwiches to Eat Before you Die” As in the previous lessons, this fifth session begins with the task ‘What do you know about the New Jerseyan culture?’, a question made by the teacher to the students in order to activate their previous knowledge on facts they may know about New Jersey. Next, students watch and pay attention to the videos ‘7 Facts about New Jersey’, ‘New Jersey Traditions’ and ‘5 New Jersey Sandwiches to Eat Before you Die’,so that they can verify the different aspects from New Jersey and its culture in the first activity, and also to acquire new ones. In the next activity, the class is divided into groups of 3-4 students, and each of them receive a photocopy with an introductory sentence: “And Leonard was on his way to New Jersey for a couple of weeks, because...”. They have to work cooperative and collaboratively in groups and continue writing, creating an original story that includes aspects from the New Jerseyan culture, and, when all students have finished writing, each composition shall be read. Finally, in the remaining 10 minutes, the teacher revises with the students the contents they have acquired in these five lessons, because this will be relevant for the next and last session of the syllabus. 6.8. Sixth Session In the final session, students prove their acquired knowledge in this syllabus; thus, this lesson is composed by two activities that encourage team and autonomous work. Besides, the type of tasks seem entertaining and motivating for students, because they are familiar for them and allow creativity and imagination. 44 Temporalisation 50 minutes Class formation Group work: students gather in small groups to work cooperatively Individual work: students sit on their usual places to work autonomously Materials Photocopies, papers, pencils and ball pens Objectives - Demonstrate the acquired knowledge - Understand the teacher’s questions and explanations - Show respect and tolerance towards other cultures - Work cooperatively and help other classmates - Participate actively - Produce oral texts, striving to pronounce correctly and be understood - Respect their classmates’ opinions and views - Produce coherent invented and creative texts Activities 24 - ‘Trivial’ (30 minutes) 25 - ‘Writing: invent a story’ (20 minutes) Finally, this sixth session is dedicated to the demonstration of the acquired knowledge in the syllabus. On the one hand, students make groups of 3-4 students, to play Trivial with 15 questions directly related with the contents learnt in the previous classrooms. This first task lasts 30 minutes, if we consider that students have 20 minutes to answer and discuss the questions with the members of their group, and 10 minutes so that all groups can participate and correct the questions with the teacher. On the other hand, the last activity, which lasts 20 minutes, is a creative writing task, in which each student, individually, has to invent a story on the characters from the show; however, if students do not finish the task, they can continue at home. The teacher provides dictionaries and tables with information on the characters (names, birthplaces, 45 occupations, families, etc.) to help students in this activity, and s/he suggests ideas for writing, such as situations happening after the end of The Big Bang Theory, or before the show, as Young Sheldon, or alternative situations; in addition, they can focus on the situations formulated in the previous writing activities from the preceding lessons, but in this case, students have to be original and cannot repeat the inventedstories from their classmates. When students finish the task, they have to submit their stories to the teacher, who will evaluate each student’s creativity and originality. 7. Conclusions To conclude, I proposed a series of activities to perform in a class of 3º ESO in this Master Thesis. This syllabus, composed by six sessions, is focused on the evaluation of interculturality in the famous sitcom The Big Bang Theory, familiar for the students, which includes tasks that encourage discussion and work group, so that they learn how to cooperate and collaborate with their classmates, as well as help them. In addition, these activities pursue the development of tolerance and respect towards different cultures and nationalities, and censure any negative behaviour, such as racism. Besides, these students find themselves in a particularly important age, since, at the age of 15, criticial thinking and abstraction are developing; thus, these activities contribute to that development, and help in the assimilation of concepts, such as tolerance. Besides, due to this syllabus addresses The Big Bang Theory, students may find the different activities motivating and entertaining, since this TV show is familiar for them, and some students may consider themselves ‘fans’ of The Big Bang Theory. In addition, these proposed tasks also assist to improve some of the competences established by the Council of Europe that have been alluded before. On the other hand, this proposal can be adapted to other grades, with students from different ages and English proficiency levels. Furthermore, and, as a consequence of globalisation, there are numerous series that also address cultural diversity, and different activities can be performed from them, such as the famous The Simpsons or Sense8, series that, once again, students are familiar with and usually like. 46 Thus, further research would have needed, addressing other students and other TV shows that portray different cultures, or even another languages that are taught at high schools in Spain, like French or German. 47 WORKS CITED Beacco, Jean Claude et al. (2016). Guide for the development and implementation of curricula for plurilingual and intercultural education. Strasbourg: Council of Europe. Retrieved from https://books.google.es/books?id=WEBWDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3& dq=&f=false Blumberg, Naomi. (n. d.). Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/story/hanukkah-the-festival-of-lights Byram, Michael. (1997). Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Retrieved from https://books.google.es/books?id=0vfq8JJWhTsC&printsec=frontcover&hl=es #v=onepage&q&f=false Byram, Michael, Gribkova, Bella and Starkey, Hugh. (2002). Developing the intercultural dimension in language teaching. A practical introduction for teachers. Strasbourg: Council of Europe. Retrieved from https://rm.coe.int/16802fc1c3 Byram, Michael, Holmes, Prue, and Savvides, Nicola. (2013). Intercultural communicative competence in foreign language education: Questions of theory, practice and research. The Language Learning Journal,41 (3), 251-253. Retrieved from http://dro.dur.ac.uk/14977/1/14977.pdf?DDD29+ded4ss+dul4eg Chronicle TV. (2018, September 28). Raj Wants Arrange Marriage-The Big Bang Theory S12E02// TBBT 12X02. [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfprS-CXSnU Condé Nast Traveler. (2017, June 17). 5 New Jersey Sandwiches to Eat Before you Die - Condé Nast Traveler. [Video]. YouTube. Retreived from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CtDLbLQ92Y 48 Council of Europe (2018). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment.Companion volume with new descriptors. Strasbourg: Language Policy Programme. Education Policy Division. Education Department. Retrieved from https://rm.coe.int/cefr-companion-volume-with-new-descriptors-2018/168078 7989 Council Recommendation of 22 May 2018 on key competences for lifelong learning. Retrieved from https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32018H0 604%2801%29 Culture. (2020). Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/diccionario/ingles/culture Culture. (2020) Etymology Online Dictionary. Retrieved from https://www.etymonline.com/word/culture Dervin, Fred. (2016) Interculturality in Education: a Theoretical and Methodological Toolbox. London: Palgrave Pivot. Retrieved from https://books.google.es/books?hl=es&lr=&id=Lf1jDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg= PR5&dq=&ots=i9bpnd1cTr&sig=QcFoEGy5AJdthH1gXH0tSJ_6AU8#v=one page&q=&f=false Dietz, Gunther. (2009). Multiculturalism, Interculturality and Diversity in Education. Münster: Waxmann. Retrieved from https://books.google.es/books?id=MuU8Ljo5F2AC&printsec=frontcover&dq= &hl=es&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiP_JHFm_foAhUuxYUKHao2C9QQ6AEIKT AA#v=onepage&q=&f=false F3RIOUS guy. (2017, January 17). Big Bang Theory Hinduism mentioned. [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4OJfXnjtS0 FraserNetwork. (n. d.). The Big Bang Theory - Learning About Football. [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePxeYGoW8wY 49 Fun With Flags. (2017, February 14). Fun With Flags - Clip 6 - Nebraska - The Big Bang Theory. [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQn7g2fXVPo Geek. (2020). Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/diccionario/ingles/geek Giménez Romero, Carlos. (2003). Pluralismo, Multiculturalismo e Interculturalidad. Retrieved from https://red.pucp.edu.pe/ridei/wp-content/uploads/biblioteca/100416.pdf Globalisation. (2020). Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/diccionario/ingles/globalisation 2020. Guerrero González, Ilse Josefina, González Leal, Iris Janet. (2010). Análisis de Contenido de los Estereotipos Presentes en “The Big Bang Theory”. Razón y Palabra,72, n. p. Retrieved from https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/1995/199514906047.pdf Guillén Díaz, Carmen. (2002). La dimensión cultural en la enseñanza/aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras. In Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, Lenguas para abrir camino (pp. 193-226). Madrid: Subdirección General de Información y Publicaciones. Retrieved from https://books.google.es/books?id=KQo6ende7j4C&pg=PA193&lpg=PA193& dq=&source=bl&ots=qxaws1EOs6&sig=ACfU3U25gxFQM4v7OV9KiVJCb CC6iHeoBA&hl=es&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiiiJCvn9ToAhUfBGMBHXOdB8Q6AEwA3oECAsQKw#v=onepage&q=%C3%A9n%20&f=false Hanukkah. (2020, April 1). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hanukkah Idoideas. (2012, November 1). The Big Bang Theory - Pray for falling off the space. [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIODUxjBfZ0 Intercultural. (2020). Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/es-LA/dictionary/english/intercultural 50 Jewish Calendar 1996. (2020). Retrieved from https://www.hebcal.com/hebcal/?v=1;year=1996;month=x;nh=on;c=off Ley Orgánica 8/2013, de 9 de diciembre, para la Mejora de la Calidad Educativa. Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte. B.O.E. núm 295, de 10 de diciembre de 2013. Retrieved from https://www.boe.es/buscar/pdf/2013/BOE-A-2013-12886-consolidado.pdf Lo Bianco, Joseph, Liddicoat, Anthony J. and Crozet, Chantal (eds.). (1999). Striving for the third place: Intercultural Competence through Language Education. Melbourne: Language Australia. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED432918.pdf McNamee, Gregory Lewsi et al. (2020, April 28). Texas. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/place/Texas-state Multiculturalism. (2020). Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/diccionario/ingles/multiculturalism Nerd. (2020). Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/diccionario/ingles/nerd O’Dowd, Robert. (2007). Online intercultural Exchange: An introduction for foreign language teachers. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Retrieved from https://books.google.es/books?id=uHHCH6wuCiQC&pg=PA3&hl=es&source =gbs_toc_r&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false ORDEN EDU/362/2015, de 4 de mayo, por la que se establece el currículo y se regula la implantación, evaluación y desarrollo de la educación secundaria obligatoria en la Comunidad de Castilla y León, núm. 86, de 8 de mayo de 2015, 32232-52. Retrieved from http://bocyl.jcyl.es/boletines/2015/05/08/pdf/BOCYL-D-08052015-4.pdf TvKilledInternet. (2010, March 23). TheBigBangTheory - Sheldon tries Indian Meditation [HD] 3x18. [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOZ6nKnJI6w 57 been said. - To know how to apply the most adequate strategies to produce brief monological or dialogical oral texts of simple and clear structure, using, among others, procedures such as message adaptation to patterns of the first language or other, or the use of similar vocabulary elements whenever lacking more precise elements. - To incorporate to the production of the monological or dialogical oral text the sociocultural and sociolinguistic knowlegde adquired relative to the social structures, interpersonal relations, performance patterns, behaviour and social conventions, acting with the right appropriateness and respecting the most important courtesy standards in the respective contexts. - To know and use an oral vocabulary supply adequate to communicate information, opinions and points of view, brief, simple and direct, in daily life situations, although in less usual situations the message should be adapted. - To pronounce and pitch in a clear and understandable way, although the foreign accent may sometimes seem clear, or there are sporadic pronunciation mistakes, whenever communication is not interrupted, and the speakers will require for repetitions. - To interact in a simple way in clearly structured exchanges, using manners or simple gestures to take or give the speaking time, although it highly depends on the speaker’s performance. Block 3. Comprehension of written texts: - To identify the essential information, the main points and the most relevant details in well organised oral texts, both in printed and digital formats, brief and well structured, written in a formal, informal or neutral register, about daily life topics in usual situations, or about general topics, or from the interest field itself in the personal, public, educational and occupational areas, containing simple structures and 58 vocabulary of common use. - To know and use, for the comprehension of the text, the sociocultural and sociolinguistics aspects from the daiy life (studying and working habits, leisure, including art manifestations like music or cinema), life conditions (environment, social structure), interpersonal relationships (between men and women, at work, at the school, at institutions), behaviour (gestures, facial expressions, voice, visual contact) and social conventions (customs, traditions). - To distinguish the most relevant communicative function or functions of the text and a supply of its most common exponents, like speech patterns of frequent use related to the text organization (introduction to the topic, development and topic change, and text closure). - To recognise the common usage written vocabulary related to daily topics and general topics or related to interests, studies and occupations, and infer the context and cotext, with visual aid, the meaning of words and expressions less frequent or most specific. Block 4. Production of written texts: expression and interaction: - To write, in paper or digital format, brief, simple texts, with a clear structure about daily or personal interests’ topics, in a formal, neutral or informal register, using properly the basic cohesion resources, the basic orthographical conventions and the most common punctuation signs, with a reasonable control of simple expressions and structures, and a vocabulary of frequent use. - To incorporate to the production of written text the sociocultural and sociolinguistic knowlegde acquired relative to the social structures, interpersonal relations, performance patterns, behaviour and social conventions, respecting the most important courtesy standards in the respective contexts. - To accomplish the asked functions for the communicative purpose, using the most 59 common exponents of those functions and the most common usage speech patterns to organise the written text in a simple way with the adequate internal cohesion and coherence regarding the context of the communication. - To show control over a limited supply of syntactic structures of common use, and employ, to communicate, simple procedures comformed enough to the context and to the communicative intention (repetition of vocabulary, ellipsis, deixis, personal, spacial and temporary, juxtaposition, and frequent connectors and speech markers). - To know and use a written vocabulary supply adequate to communicate brief, simple and direct information, opinions and points of view, in usual and daily life situations, although in less usual situations about less known topics the message should be adapted. - To know and apply, in an adequate way to be understandable, the basic punctuation signs (e. g. period, comma) and the basic orthographical rules (e. g. use of capital or small letters, or the separation of the words at the end of the line), as well as the most common orthography conventions’ in the redaction of texts in electronic format (e. g. text message, WhatsApp) Assessable learning standards (ORDEN EDU 362/2015) Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: 2, 3 Block 3. Comprehension of written texts: 2, 3, 6, 7 Block 4. Production of written texts: expression and interaction: 2, 3, 5 60 Key Competences Según RECOMENDACIÓN DEL CONSEJO de 22 de mayo de 2018 relativa a las competencias clave para el aprendizaje permanente (Diario Oficial de la Unión Europea) The Key Competences would be: - Literacy competence; - Multilingual competence; - Digital competence; - Personal, social and learning to learn competence; - Citizenship competence; - Entrepreneurship competence; - Cultural awareness and expression competence. Diversity Attention The activities are dynamic and include open-answers questions 61 First Session: Activities - ‘Brief presentation to the syllabus’ - ‘What is culture?’ - ‘What do you know about India?’ - ‘The Indian culture in The Big Bang Theory’ - ‘Aspects from the Indian culture that you have appreciated’ - ‘Role play: Raj’s expected visit’ Criteria Assessment The students should be able to: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: - Understand the explanations and the instructions provided by the teacher - Understand the questions that the teacher may ask - Be familiar with aspects from the Indian culture: society, traditions, clothes, cuisine, etc. - Understand and follow the videos from the TV show The Big Bang Theory that the teacher plays Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: - Produce brief oral speeches and messages to answer the teacher’s questions, related with the Indian culture and the TV series The Big Bang Theory - Interact with the teacher in English - Show control over the English language - Make an effort to pronounce in a proper way to make themselves understood by the teacher and their classmates - Show tolerance and respect towards the new culture they have already learnt about Block 3. Comprehension of written texts: - Understand the subtitles from the videos 62 Block 4. Production of written texts: expression and interaction: - Write properly the dialogues from the role play activity Learning Standards The student: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: 1.1: Comprehends the teacher’s instructions and explanations 1.2: Follows the events that have happened/are happening in the videos of The Big Bang Theory 3.1: Understands the dialogues from the The Big Bang Theory videos 4.1: Comprehends the questions related with the Indian culture that the teacher asks 5.1: Comprehends the teacher’s speech 7.1: Understands the Indian cultural references in The Big Bang Theory videos Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: 4.1: Answers the questions that the teacher asks about the Indian culture and The Big Bang Theory Block 3. Comprehension of written texts: 3.1: Understands the subtitles from The Big Bang Theory videos 7.1: Reads the subtitles and follows the events that develop in The Big Bang Theory videos about one of the main characters from the series, Rajesh Koothrappali Block 4. Production of written texts: expression and interaction: 1.1: Has enough knowledge and comprehension to participate in a role play activity based on Raj and India Time 50 minutes 63 Contents Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: - Comprehension strategies: 1, 2, 3 - Sociocultural aspects: 1, 2, 3 - Communicative functions: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9 - Syntactic-discursive structures: 1, 2, 3 - Accent, and rhythm and intonation patterns: 1, 2 Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: - Production strategies: Planification: 1, 2 Performance: 1, 2, 3 Linguistics: 1, 2 Para-linguistics: 1, 2, 3 - Sociocultural and sociolinguistic aspects: 1, 2, 3 - Communicative functions: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9 - Syntactic-discursive structures: 1, 2, 3 - Accent, and rhythm and intonation patterns: 1, 2 Block 3. Comprehension of written texts: - Comprehension strategies: 1, 5 - Sociocultural and sociolinguistic aspects: 1, 2, 3 - Communicative functions: 1, 5, 9 - Syntactic-discursive structures: 1, 2, 3 - Graphical patterns and orthographical conventions Block 4. Production of written texts: expression and interaction: - Production strategies: Planification: 1 Performance: 1, 2, 3 - Sociocultural and sociolinguistic aspects: 1, 2, 3 - Communicative functions: 1, 5, 9 64 - Syntactic-discursive structures: 1, 2, 3 - Graphical patterns and orthographical conventions Session 1 - Activity 1 Title: Brief presentation to the syllabus Type: Introductory activity Temporalisation: 2 minutes Class organization: the teacher is in front of the class and the students are on their seats, paying attention to the teacher’s explanations Materials: laptop or computer with Internet connection, projector, white screen, digital and/or traditional boards, chalk, papers, notebooks, pencils and ball pens Assessable Learning Standards: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: 1.1, 4.1, 5.1 Linguistic input: Good morning, students! Today and in the next five sessions, we are going to learn about different cultures of the world; we are going to do different activities and play some games too. Also, I will play some videos from a very famous TV show that I suppose you are familiar with. So, today’s lesson is going to be focused on India. Session 1 - Activity 2 Title: What is culture? Type: Introductory activity Temporalisation: 5 minutes 65 Class organization: the teacher is in front of the class and the students are on their seats, discussing and expressing their own opinions Materials: laptop or computer with Internet connection, projector, white screen, digital and/or traditional boards, chalk Assessable Learning Standards: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: 1.1, 4.1, 5.1, 6.1 Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: 4.1 Linguistic input: Before dealing with India, what is culture? Can you give a definition? What do you think it is? *students share their views with the teacher and their classmates* Session 1 - Activity 3 Title: What do you know about India? Type: Introductory activity Temporalisation: 5 minutes Class organization: the teacher is in front of the class and the students are on their seats, sharing the aspects they know on the addressed culture Materials: laptop or computer with Internet connection, projector, white screen, digital and/or traditional boards, chalk Assessable Learning Standards: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: 1.2, 3.1, 7.1 Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: 4.1 66 Linguistic input: Now that we have been discussing what culture is, can you tell me aspects that you know from India and its culture? *the students share with the teacher and their classmates the aspects they know from India* And, do you know any Indian character/s from a TV show or films? *the teacher waits for the correct answer* Session 1 - Activity 4 Title: The Indian culture in The Big Bang Theory Type: Reinforcement activity Temporalisation: 10 minutes Class organization: the teacher plays some videos from The Big Bang Theory with subtitles in front of the class and the students stay on their seats, paying attention Materials: laptop or computer with Internet connection, projector, white screen, digital board Assessable Learning Standards: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: 1.2, 3.1, 7.1 Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: 4.1 Block 3. Comprehension of written texts: 3.1, 7.1 Linguistic input: As I mentioned before, I am going to play now some videos that reflect aspects of the Indian culture in The Big Bang Theory. Pay attention. *the teacher plays selected videos from the TV show with subtitles, while the students pay attention and follow the events* Session 1 - Activity 5 Title: Aspects from the Indian culture that you 73 Class organization: the teacher plays some videos from The Big Bang Theory with subtitles in front of the class and the students stay on their seats, paying attention Materials: laptop or computer with Internet connection, projector, white screen, digital board Assessable Learning Standards: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: 1.2, 3.1, 7.1 Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: 4.1 Block 3. Comprehension of written texts: 3.1, 7.1 Linguistic input: As I did in the previous lesson, I am going to play now some short videos that reflect aspects from the American Jewish culture in the show. Pay attention. *the teacher plays selected videos from the TV show with subtitles, while the students pay attention and follow the events* Session 2 - Activity 9 Title: Aspects from the American Jewish culture that you have appreciated Type: Reinforcement activity Temporalisation: 10 minutes Class organization: the teacher is in front of the class and the students are on their seats, while they discuss associating the aspects from the addressed culture represented in the TV show Materials: laptop or computer with Internet connection, projector, white screen, digital and/or traditional boards, chalk 74 Assessable Learning Standards: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: 1.2, 3.1, 7.1 Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: 4.1 Linguistic input: Can you say which aspects from this culture have you appreciated? Were they thesameasthe ones you mentioned previously? *students discuss on the aspects they have identified* Session 2 - Activity 10 Title: Jigsaw: Howard’s Hanukkah Type: Reinforcement activity Temporalisation: 20 minutes Class organization: the students work and discuss in groups, as they respect their classmates’ opinions Materials: laptop or computer with Internet connection, projector, white screen, digital board, fragments of the letter Assessable Learning Standards: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: 1.1, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1 Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: 4.1, 4.2 Block 3. Comprehension of written texts: 1.1, 1.2 Linguistic input: Now that you are familiarised with the American Jewish culture, we are goingtoplayagame.It is similar to a puzzle, and to solve it, you are going to work in groups of 6. But first, I will explain you the activity: Howard Wolowiz is telling in a letter how he spent Hanukkah when he was 15 years old. So, I have divided this text into 6 different passages, and 75 you have tell to your group’s members what is Howard narrating in your paragraph, and then, all of you discuss the correct order. Now, I will give each of you a passage, and then, we will form groups. *the teacher provides each student a numbered passage from the text* Now that all of you has a fragment, you have to form different groups and you cannot coincide with a classmate that has the same paragraph as you. Come on, explain and discuss the correct order with your classmates, and we will solve the puzzle. *each group examines the correct order* Session 2 - Activity 11 Title: Similarities between the Indian and the American cultures Type: Reinforcement activity Temporalisation: 10 minutes Class organization: the students work and discuss in groups, as they respect their classmates’ opinions Materials: laptop or computer with Internet connection, projector, white screen, digital board Assessable Learning Standards: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: 1.1, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1 Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: 4.1, 4.2 Linguistic input: Before finishing the lesson, I would like that, each of you, in the groups you are now, discuss about the similarities you may identify between today’s culture, American Jewish, and last lesson’s, the Indian culture. Come on, you have 10 minutes, and at then, you will share your conclusions with the rest. *each group examines the similarities between the addressed cultures* 76 Third Session: Activities - ‘What do you know about Texas?’ - ‘The Texan culture in The Big Bang Theory’ - ‘Aspects from the Texan culture that you have appreciated’ - ‘Escape Room: Help Sheldon in Texas’ Criteria Assessment The students should be able to: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: - Understand the explanations and the instructions provided by the teacher - Understand the questions that the teacher may ask - Recognise aspects from Texas and its culture: history, customs, society, cuisine, etc. - Understand and follow the videos from the series The Big Bang Theory that the teacher plays Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: - Produce brief oral speeches and messages to answer the teacher’s questions, related with the Texan culture and the TV show The Big Bang Theory - Interact with the teacher in English - Show control over the English language - Make an effort to pronounce in a proper way to make themselves understood by the teacher and their classmates - Show tolerance and respect towards the new culture they have already learnt about Block 3. Comprehension of written texts: - Comprehend the subtitles from the videos - Understand the instructions from the Escape Room 77 Learning Standards The student: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: 1.1: Comprehends the teacher’s instructions, explanations and corrections 1.2: Follows the events that have happened/are happening in the videos of The Big Bang Theory 3.1: Understands the dialogues from the The Big Bang Theory videos 4.1: Comprehends the questions related with Texas and The Big Bang Theory that the teacher asks 4.2: Understands the teacher and the classmates’ explanations and opinions 5.1: Comprehends the teacher’s speech 7.1: Understands the Texan cultural references in The Big Bang Theory videos, especially perceived in two characters of the series, Sheldon Cooper and his mother Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: 4.1: Interacts with the teacher in English 4.2: Answers the questions that the teacher asks about Texas and The Big Bang Theory Block 3. Comprehension of written texts: 1.1: Comprehends the instructions in the Escape Room 3.1: Understands the subtitles from The Big Bang Theory videos referring to particular events from the TV series 7.1: Follows the events that develop in The Big Bang Theory videos about the characters from the series, specifically Sheldon Cooper and his mother, by means of the subtitles Time 50 minutes Contents Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: 78 - Comprehension strategies: 1, 2, 3, 6 - Sociocultural aspects: 1, 2, 3 - Communicative functions: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 - Syntactic-discursive structures: 1, 2, 3 - Accent, and rhythm and intonation patterns: 1, 2 Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: - Production strategies: Planification: 1, 2 Performance: 1, 2, 3 Linguistics: 1, 2 Para-linguistics: 1, 2, 3 - Sociocultural and sociolinguistic aspects: 1, 2, 3 - Communicative functions: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 - Syntactic-discursive structures: 1, 2, 3 - Accent, and rhythm and intonation patterns: 1, 2 Block 3. Comprehension of written texts: - Comprehension strategies: 1, 2, 3, 5 - Sociocultural and sociolinguistic aspects: 1, 2, 3 - Communicative functions: 1, 3, 5, 6, 9 - Syntactic-discursive structures: 1, 2, 3 - Graphical patterns and orthographical conventions Session 3 - Activity 12 Title: What do you know about Texas? Type: Introductory activity Temporalisation: 5 minutes 79 Class organization:the teacher is in front of the class and the students are on their seats, sharing the aspects they know on the addressed culture Materials: laptop or computer with Internet connection, projector, white screen, digital and/or traditional boards, chalk Assessable Learning Standards: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: 1.2, 3.1, 7.1 Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: 4.1 Linguistic input: Good morning, students! Today, we are staying at the USA, since we are learning cultural notions from a different state: Texas. We are going to start by discussing the aspects you know from this state: you can mention historical facts that you know, famous monuments, the typical food there, customs and traditions... *the students share with the teacher and their classmates the aspects they know from Texas* In the previous lessons, I asked you about popular Indian and American Jewish characters, and you correctly answered ‘Rajesh Koothrappali’ and ‘Howard Wolowitz’, so, is there any character in the show who is from Texas? *the teacher waits for the correct answer* Session 3 - Activity 13 Title: The Texan culture in The Big Bang Theory Type: Reinforcement activity Temporalisation: 7 minutes Class organization: the teacher plays some videos from The Big Bang Theory with subtitles in front of the class and the students stay on their seats, paying attention Materials: laptop or computer with Internet connection, projector, white screen, digital board 80 Assessable Learning Standards: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: 1.2, 3.1, 7.1 Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: 4.1 Block 3. Comprehension of written texts: 3.1, 7.1 Linguistic input: As I did in the previous lesson, I am going to play now some short videos that reflect aspects from the American Jewish culture in the show. Pay attention. *the teacher plays selected videos from the TV show with subtitles, while the students pay attention and follow the events* Session 3 - Activity 14 Title: Aspects from the Texan culture that you have appreciated Type: Reinforcement activity Temporalisation: 10 minutes Class organization: the teacher is in front of the class and the students are on their seats, while they discuss associating the aspects from the addressed culture represented in the TV show Materials: laptop or computer with Internet connection, projector, white screen, digital and/or traditional boards, chalk Assessable Learning Standards: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: 1.2, 3.1, 7.1 Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: 4.1 81 Linguistic input: Now that you could appreciate aspects from this culture, regarding Texans’ way of life, customs, traditions, behaviour and so on, can you mention aspects that you have identified in the videos? You can either refer to new aspects or repeat the ones you mentioned before. *students discuss on the aspects they have identified* Session 3 - Activity 15 Title: Escape Room: Help Sheldon in Texas Type: Reinforcement activity Temporalisation: 28 minutes Class organization: the students work collaborative and cooperatively in groups, helping each other to solve the puzzles from the Escape Room Materials: laptop or computer with Internet connection, cards with instructions, questions and riddles on the Escape Room Assessable Learning Standards: Block 1. Comprehesion of oral texts: 1.1, 5.1 Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: 4.1, 4.3 Block 3. Comprehension of written texts: 4.1. Linguistic input: We are going to play now a game: Escape Room, but, for time reasons, this is goingtobeavery short version. Have you ever been in an Escape Room? *the teacher waits for the students’ answers* I have distributed instructions, clues, questions, riddles and puzzles from the Escape Room that you have to solve in groups of 4-5, because you have to help Sheldon to leave Texas; if you achieve it, you will obtain a ticket from Galveston, Texas, to Pasadena, California. When you solve one of the puzzles, you can continue to the next one. So, let’s form the groups, and you start here, at this point. 82 Fourth Session: Activities - What do you know about Nebraska? - The Nebraskan culture in The Big Bang Theory - Aspects from the Nebraskan culture that you have appreciated - Role play: Penny’s invitation to Nebraska Criteria Assessment The students should be able to: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: - Understand the explanations and the instructions provided by the teacher - Understand the questions that the teacher may ask - Identify aspects from the Nebraskan culture: history, traditions, society, cuisine, etc. - Understand and follow the videos from the series The Big Bang Theory that the teacher plays Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: - Produce brief oral speeches and messages to answer the teacher’s questions, related with the Nebraskan culture and The Big Bang Theory - Interact with the teacher in English - Show control over the English language - Make an effort to pronounce in a proper way to make themselves understood by the teacher and their classmates - Show tolerance and respect towards the new culture they have already learnt about Block 3. Comprehension of written texts: - Comprehend the subtitles from the videos Block 4. Production of written texts: expression and interaction: 89 Fith Session: Activities - What do you know about New Jersey? - Visualisation of videos on New Jerseyan culture - Creative group writing - Revision of contents Criteria Assessment The students should be able to: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: - Understand the explanations and the instructions provided by the teacher - Comprehend the questions that the teacher may ask - Identify aspects from the New Jerseyan culture: history, traditions, society, cuisine, etc. Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: - Produce brief oral speeches and messages to answer the teacher’s questions, related with the New Jerseyan culture - Interact with the teacher in English - Show control over the English language - Make an effort to pronounce in a proper way to make themselves understood by the teacher and their classmates - Show tolerance and respect towards the new culture they have already learnt about Block 3. Comprehension of written texts: - Comprehend the subtitles from the videos - Understand the instructions and explanations provided by the teacher in the writing activity Block 4. Production of written texts: expression and interaction: - Write adequately the fictional story on Leonard Hofstadter, 90 including aspects from the New Jerseayn culture and The Big Bang Theory Learning Standards The student: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: 1.1: Comprehends the teacher’s instructions, explanations and corrections 4.1: Comprehends the questions related with the New Jerseyan culture 4.2: Understands the answers and explanations provided by their classmates 5.1: Comprehends the teacher’s speech Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: 4.1: Interacts with the teacher in English 4.2: Answers the questions that the teacher asks about New Jersey Block 3. Comprehension of written texts: 1.1: Comprehends the intructions formulated by the teacher in the writing activity 3.1: Understands the subtitles from the videos played by the teacher on the New Jerseyan culture Block 4. Production of written texts: expression and interaction: 1.1: Has enough knowledge and comprehension to create a fictional story including aspects from the New Jerseyan culture and The Big Bang Theory Time 50 minutes Contents Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: - Comprehension strategies: 1, 2, 3 - Sociocultural aspects: 1, 2, 3 91 - Communicative functions: 1, 2, 3, 5, 9 - Syntactic-discursive structures: 1, 2, 3 - Accent, and rhythm and intonation patterns: 1, 2 Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: - Production strategies: Planification: 1, 2 Performance: 1, 2, 3 Linguistics: 1, 2 Para-linguistics: 1, 2, 3 - Sociocultural and sociolinguistic aspects: 1, 2, 3 - Communicative functions: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9 - Syntactic-discursive structures: 1, 2, 3 - Accent, and rhythm and intonation patterns: 1, 2 Block 3. Comprehension of written texts: - Comprehension strategies: 1, 2, 3, 6 - Sociocultural and sociolinguistic aspects: 1, 2, 3 - Communicative functions: 1, 4, 5, 8, 9 - Syntactic-discursive structures: 1, 3 - Graphical patterns and orthographical conventions Block 4. Production of written texts: expression and interaction: - Production strategies: Planification: 1 Performance: 2, 3 - Sociocultural and sociolinguistic aspects: 1, 2, 3 - Communicative functions: 1, 5, 8, 9 - Syntactic-discursive structures: 1, 2, 3 - Graphical patterns and orthographical conventions 92 Session 5 - Activity 20 Title: What do you know about New Jersey? Type: Introductory activity Temporalisation: 5 minutes Class organization: the teacher is in front of the class and the students are on their seats, sharing the aspects they know on the addressed culture Materials: laptop or computer with Internet connection, projector, white screen, digital and/or traditional boards, chalk Assessable Learning Standards: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: 1.2, 3.1, 7.1 Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: 4.1 Linguistic input: Good morning students! This is the last day we are learning about cultures from the USA. We are moving now to New Jersey, and, as in the previous classes, you are going to share the notions you know from this state and its culture, traditions, food... So, what can you say about New Jersey? *the students share with the teacher and their classmates the aspects they know from India* Before moving to the next activity, I am going to make you a question about The Big Bang Theory: do you know which character comes from New Jersey? *the teacher waits for the correct answer* Session 5 - Activity 21 Title: Visualisation of videos on New Jerseyan culture Type: Reinforcement activity Temporalisation: 10 minutes 93 Class organization: the teacher plays some videos about New Jersey with subtitles in front of the class and the students stay on their seats, paying attention Materials: laptop or computer with Internet connection, projector, white screen, digital board Assessable Learning Standards: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: 1.2, 3.1, 7.1 Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: 4.1 Block 3. Comprehension of written texts: 3.1, 7.1 Linguistic input: As I mentioned before, I am going to play now some videos that reflect aspects of the Indian culture in The Big Bang Theory. Pay attention. *the teacher plays selected videos with subtitles, while the students pay attention* Session 5 - Activity 22 Title: Creative group writing Type: Reinforcement activity Temporalisation: 20 minutes Class organization: students work in pairs on the creative group writing activity Materials: papers, notebooks, pencils, ball pens, photocopies Assessable Learning Standards: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: 1.2, 3.1, 7.1 Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: 4.1 94 Block 4. Production of written texts: expression and interaction: 2.1, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1 Linguistic input: Now, you are going to form groups of 3-4, and you are going to write a story that should include aspects from the New Jerseyan culture. You have to work in groups, so every member should help in the creation of the story. I give you now a photocopy with the beginning of the story that says “And Leonard was on his way to New Jersey for a couple of weeks, because ...”. Come one, start writing, and please, be original and creative. When you finish, we will try to read all your stories. Session 5 - Activity 23 Title: Revision of contents Type: Reinforcement activity Temporalisation: 15 minutes Class organization: the students work and discuss in groups, as they respect their classmates’ opinions Materials: laptop or computer with Internet connection, projector, white screen, digital board Assessable Learning Standards: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: 1.1, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1 Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: 4.1, 4.2 Linguistic input: We have 10 minutes left, so, we are going to do a quick revision of the contents that you have been learning these days, because you will need to remember them for the next class. *the teacher asks questions to the students related with the contents seen in class in the previous sessions* 95 Sixth Session: Activities -Trivial - Writing: invent a story Criteria Assessment The students should be able to: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: - Understand the explanations and the instructions provided by the teacher in the development of the Trivial and the writing activity - Comprehend and respect their classmates’ opinions and answers - Recognise contents learnt in the previous lessons Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: - Answer correctly the Trivial’s questions while using all the contents they have been learning in the previous sessions - Repeat an answer if they are asked to by the teacher or their classmates - Discuss the answers with their classmates in English - Interact with the teacher in English - Show control over the English language - Make an effort to pronounce in a proper way to make themselves understood by the teacher and their classmates - Show tolerance and respect towards their classmates Block 3. Comprehension of written texts: - Understand the questions and instructions required by the teacher in the Trivial and writing activity - Recognise contents learnt in the previous sessions Block 4. Production of written texts: expression and interaction: - Complete the questions from the Trivial, in groups 96 - Write an invented short story about one of the main characters of the TV show The Big Bang Theory - Show control over the English language, orthography and punctuation Learning Standards The student: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: 1.1: Comprehends the teacher’s instructions, explanations and corrections 1.2: Understands the essential information that is required in the questions from the Trivial and in the writing part 4.1: Comprehends his/her classmates’ opinions and explanations 5.1: Is familiar with the teacher corrections and explanations 7.1: Has enough knowledge on culture and The Big Bang Theory to complete the activities from this session Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: 1.1: Shares with the teacher and his/her classmates the answers that his/her group has been discussing about, and the final conclusion they have reached 3.1: Interacts with the teacher and his/her classmates in English 3.2: Discuss with his/her groups the most adequate answer 3.3: Answers the questions from the Trivial with his/her group 4.1: Asks the teacher for help whenever needed Block 3. Comprehension of written texts: 1.1: Comprehends the instructions from the Trivial and the writing 1.2: Understands the questions from the Trivial and the guidelines in the writing task 3.1: Is familiar with the information that the teacher provides about the main characters of The Big Bang Theory in the writing task Block 4. Production of written texts: expression and interaction: 97 2.1: Is knowledgeable enough to answer the questions from the Trivial, in groups 4.1: Develops an invented short story about the main characters from The Big Bang Theory Time 50 minutes Contents Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: -Comprehensionstrategies:1,2,3,4,5,6 - Sociocultural aspects: 1, 2, 3 - Communicative functions: 1, 2, 3, 5, 9 - Syntactic-discursive structures: 1, 2, 3 - Accent, and rhythm and intonation patterns: 1, 2 Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: - Production strategies: Planification: 1, 2 Performance: 1, 2, 3 Linguistics: 1, 2 Para-linguistics: 1, 2, 3 - Sociocultural and sociolinguistic aspects: 1, 2, 3 - Communicative functions: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 - Syntactic-discursive structures: 1, 2, 3 - Accent, and rhythm and intonation patterns: 1, 2 Block 3. Comprehension of written texts: - Comprehension strategies: 1, 2 - Sociocultural and sociolinguistic aspects: 1, 2, 3 -Communicativefunctions:1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 - Syntactic-discursive structures: 1, 2, 3 - Graphical patterns and orthographical conventions 98 Block 4. Production of written texts: expression and interaction: - Production strategies: Planification: 1, 2 Performance: 1, 2, 3 - Sociocultural and sociolinguistic aspects: 1, 2, 3 -Communicativefunctions:1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 - Syntactic-discursive structures: 1, 2, 3 - Graphical patterns and orthographical conventions Session 6 - Activity 24 Title: Trivial Type: Reinforcement activity Temporalisation: 30 minutes Class organization: students play Trivial in small groups (3-4 students per group) Materials: papers or notebooks, pencils and ball pens, photocopies Assessable Learning Standards: Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts: 1.1, 1.2, 4.1, 5.1, 7.1 Block 2. Production of oral texts: expression and interaction: 1.1, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1 Block 3. Comprehension of written texts: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 Block 4. Productionion of written texts: expression and interaction: 2.1 Linguistic input: Good morning, students! We have been learning about different cultures in thelastfivesessions, cultures that appear in The Big Bang Theory, a TV show which is very familiar to you. So, today we are going to test all that knowledge; but do not worry, this is not an exam, this is a play, which I guess that you know: Trivial. But, this Trivial is a special one, because it contains quetions directly related with The Big Bang Theory and the places and customs you have learnt 105 Nobel Prize, etc.) or even before the show (similar to Sheldon Cooper’s Young Sheldon, but with a different character), you can also invent an alternative story (for example, what would have happened if Raj and Anu got married? What would have happened if Howard and Bernadette broke up before getting married? Etc.), or you may invent the story (and name in some cases) of a character who is only mentioned in the show, and he/she does not appear (for example, Raj’s unnamed brothersand sister, Penny’s sister Lisa, etc.). In case that you need some facts of the main characters from the TV show, you have tables with some facts below. Character Sheldon Cooper Birthplace Texas Job Theoretical Physicist; winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics Family Father: George (dead); mother: Mary; brother: George Jr.; (twin) sister: Missy; unnamed nephew (Missy’s son); maternal grandmother: Meemaw; wife: Amy Farrah Fowler; father and mother-in-law: Larry Fowler And Mrs. Fowler Religion Atheism but raised in Christianity Character Amy Farrah Fowler Birthplace California Job Neurobiologist Family Father: Larry; mother: Mrs. Fowler; husband: Sheldon Cooper; mother-in-law: Mary Cooper; brother-in-law: George Cooper Jr.; 106 sister-in-law: Missy Cooper; no brothers or sisters Religion Christianity Character Leonard Hofstadter Birthplace New Jersey Job Experimental Physicist Family Father: Alfred; mother: Beverly (divorced parents); brother: Michael; unnamed sister; nephews (her sister’s sons): Neil, Jeffrey, Scott, William, Richard; wife: Penny; unborn baby (with Penny); father-in-law: Wyatt; mother-in-law: Susan; brother-in-law: Randall; sister-in-law: Lisa Religion Unknown Character Penny Birthplace Nebraska Job First waitress in the Cheesecake, then actress, and now Pharmaceutical Sales Rep Family Father: Wyatt; mother: Susan; brother: Randall; sister: Lisa; husband: Leonard Hofstadter; unborn baby (with Leonard); father-in-law: Alfred; mother-in-law: Beverly; brother-in-law: Michael; unnamed sister-in-law; ex-husband: Zack Johnson 107 Religion Spiritual Character Howard Wolowitz Birthplace California Job Aerospace Engineer, Astronaut once Family Father: Sam; mother: Debbie (dead); stepmother: Mrs. Wolowitz II; half-brother: Josh; wife: Bernadette Rostenkowski; daughter: Halley; son: Neil Michael; father-in-law: Mike Rostenkowski; mother-in-law: Mrs. Rostenkowski; brother-in-law: Joey Rostenkowski; four unnamed brothers and sisters-in-law; unnamed nephews and nieces Religion Judaism Character Bernadette Rostenkowski Birthplace California Job First waitress (with Penny in the Cheesecake), now Microbiologist Family Father: Mike; mother: Mrs. Rostenkowski; brother: Joey; unnamed brothers and sisters; unnamed nephews and nieces; husband: Howard Wolowitz; daughter: Halley; son: Neil Michael; father-in-law: Sam Wolowitz; mother-in-law: Debbie Wolowitz (dead) Religion Chatholicism 108 Character Rajesh Koothrappali Birthplace India Job Astrophysicist and narrator in the Planetarium Show Family Father: V.M. Koothrappali; mother: Mrs. Koothrappali; brother: Adoot; sister: Priya; two unnamed brothers and one unnamed sister; brothers and sisters-in-law; goddaughter: Halley Wolowitz Religion Hinduism