Open up your Mind: Interculturality in the English Language Classroom through the Use of Literary Texts

MÁSTER DE PROFESOR EN EDUCACIÓN SECUNDARIA OBLIGATORIA Y BACHILLERATO, FORMACIÓN PROFESIONAL Y ENSEÑANZA DE IDIOMAS Especialidad: Inglés TRABAJO DE FIN DE MÁSTER Open up your Mind: Interculturality in the English Language Classroom through the Use of Literary Texts Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Tutor/a: Sara Medina Calzada Valladolid, julio 2020 Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 1 ABSTRACT Literature is a very useful tool to use in the language classroom to teach, in this specific case, English. The use of literary texts offers a great variety of topics and activities to motivate students in the learning process. This project offers just one of many ways of using literature to teach, not only the language, but also the culture surrounding it. This thesis tries to prove the importance of using literary texts and the advantages it offers to students and to the teaching-learning process. Culture is also understood as an essential part of the learning of a language. Furthermore, the idea is presented that English goes beyond Great Britain and the United States and students should be aware of that. Through the selection of four short stories dealing with different topics and showing specific historical and cultural aspects of different English-speaking countries, the present proposal aims to present a way of working with all these elements with teenagers trying to make them as open as possible to the differences and similarities found around the world. Literature, English-speaking countries, short stories, interculturality, English as a Second Language. La literatura es un instrumento muy útil para utilizar en el aula de idiomas para enseñar, en ese caso concreto, inglés. El uso de textos literarios ofrece una gran variedad de temas y actividades para motivar a los alumnos en el proceso de aprendizaje. Este proyecto simplemente ofrece una de las muchas maneras que existen de usar la literatura para enseñar, no solo el idioma, sino también la cultura que lo rodea. Se intenta demostrar la importancia que tiene el uso de textos literarios y las ventajas que ofrece a los estudiantes y al proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje. Además, se presenta la idea de que el inglés va más allá de Gran Bretaña y Estados Unidos y que los estudiantes deben ser conscientes de ello. A través de la selección de cuatro historias cortas que tratan temas diferentes y que muestran un aspecto cultural e histórico concreto sobre diferentes países de habla inglesa, la presente propuesta tiene el objetivo de presentar una manera de trabajar todos estos elementos con adolescentes intentando abrirles, lo más posible, a las diferencias y similitudes que se encuentran alrededor del mundo. Literatura, países de habla inglesa, historias cortas, interculturalidad, inglés como segundo idioma. Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 2 Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………3 2. Theoretical framework………………………………………………………………...7 2.1. Using literature in the language classroom…………………………………..7 2.2. Teaching culture in the language classroom………………………………..15 2.3. Selecting the texts…………………………………………………………..19 3. Teaching proposal……………………………………………………………………24 3.1. Context……………………………………………………………………..24 3.2. Selected texts……………………………………………………………….26 3.3. Curriculum and methodology………………………………………………30 3.4. Activities…………………………………………………………………...36 4. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...52 5. List of works cited……………………………………………………………………53 Annexes Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 4 Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 5 1. INTRODUCTION “Without literature, life is hell” Charles Bukowski said. And it is true if literature is understood as a way of comprehending life. Literature is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary (2020c) as “written artistic works, especially those with high and lasting artistic value” and by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2020b) as “writings having excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest”. If both definitions, which are just two among many, are taken into consideration, it becomes obvious that literature should be present in all of our lives because of its value and universality however this is not exactly the case. The promotion of literature should be an objective in any classroom. Reading is not only relevant because it helps in the development of personalities, but also because, in the context of language teaching, it becomes even more relevant as it allows the learning of that second language in a more satisfactory way. Reading grants the achievement of many and varied objectives such as the expansion and improvement of language and writing, the increasement in vocabulary, the enhancement of human relationships and cultural knowledge, the development of fluidity in the mother tongue, etc. All these advantages will be explained in the present study. According to the Federación de Editores (2018) in Spain, when children turn 15 years old, the number of readers dramatically decreases. The readers they refer to are those that decide to spend their free time reading books. Furthermore, when children become teens, many of them abandon literature completely and limit their literary input to the compulsory readings at school. The reading that, on the contrary, increases is the one done in social networks or webpages. New technologies are becoming more and more important every day and they are also present in the educative context. It is the teachers’ duty to try to present literature in the most appealing way for these students. When talking about teaching a second language, we are not talking simply about teaching the language in itself, this means, the grammatical and linguistic rules. We are also talking about the achievement of intercultural knowledge about such language. Intercultural knowledge can be defined as “a set of cognitive, affective and behavioral skills and characteristics that support effective and appropriate interaction in a variety of Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 6 cultural contexts” (Bennett, 2009, p. 97). Modern languages are alive and thus, they change and develop, and they also have a function that cannot be forgotten: students are going to use that language in real life. That is why it is imperative that they learn also about the culture around it (Soto, 2019) so as to be able to fulfill the need for communication. In fact, language knowledge and culture are obviously linked: “[o]ne cannot separate the two without losing the significance of either language or culture. The acquisition of a second language […], is also the acquisition of a second culture” (Brown 2007, p. 189-190). This is something can be achieved through the study of literature as it provides authentic language use although it is very important that the selection of those materials is done carefully and taking the aspect of authenticity into consideration. Furthermore, literature is also a pathway to learn about historical or cultural events that are representative of those countries where the foreign language is spoken. Teaching students through this angle as well will make them more open and it will improve their intercultural knowledge making them citizens of the world. It is essential to realize and remember that the world changes and, with it, the skills our students acquire in the classroom should change too. In this globalized world, the necessities shift very fast and students as well as teachers have to be up to the expectations. Obviously, this is, in great part, the teachers’ duty. Stewart starts her chapter “Becoming Citizens of the World” with the following message: “The future is here. It’s multiethnic, multicultural, and multilingual. But are students ready for it?” (2009, p. 182). She summarizes the main reasons behind these rapid changes in four trends: economy, science and technology, health and security and changing demographics. She believes that not all schools are prepared to deal with the world’s development, but makes clear that they should be and that it is imperative to create an “education response to globalization, which should include raising standards, increasing high school and college graduation rates, and modernizing and internationalizing the curriculum” (2009, p. 184). A way of achieving a more international curriculum is through the use of international literary sources in the language classroom. The present study tries to show the importance of using literature in the classroom to teach both, the grammatical aspects as well as the culture around the language. This is presented with a series of activities that can be developed in the language classroom Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 7 having literary texts as the main resource. The main objectives of with this study are the following: a) To present a deep analysis on the importance of using literary texts in the language classroom as well as the reasons supporting the use of short stories as the best of the genres. b) To display an analysis of the advantages of teaching culture in the language classroom as a way of developing the intercultural competence in students. c) To show the importance of making students aware of the diversity within the English-speaking countries through the use of short stories representative of four different countries: Nigeria, South Africa, Australia and Ireland. d) To develop a series of activities that will be able to change students view of the world by the analysis of literature and culture as well as improving their skills in the English language. In order to do so, the present thesis shows, in the first chapter, the previous research dealing with the use of literature in the language classroom and, more specifically, in the teaching of English (advantages, disadvantages, selection of the material, etc.) as well as the importance of considering motivation when choosing the texts. Research regarding the importance of teaching culture in the language classroom is also explained and analyzed in order to support the idea that it is necessary to include this aspect in the language curriculum. In fact, it is very important that students learn more about other English-speaking countries beyond the United States and Great Britain. Finally, this chapter includes the research that supports the use of the short story in the classroom. In the second chapter, the teaching proposal is explained preceded by an explanation of the context as well as its justification. This last part includes the reasons behind choosing this approach, the texts selected (including some background on the country it represents, the story and its content as well as the author) and the activities. The methodology and the curricular aspects supporting this proposal are explained as well. Finally, in the conclusion, the main points of this dissertation as well as ideas for future research are presented. There is research supporting the idea of exposing children as young as six weeks to books so as to prepare them as much as possible for school. Making them familiar with Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 14 the specific stylistic aspect under analysis. Then, she mentions “literature as content” which is an approach that considers literature and its characteristics (genres, history, etc.) as the center of the session. This approach will be typical in the literature classroom curriculum. Finally, she also understands literature “for personal enrichment” as it allows students to reflect on their own opinions and experiences. Probably, this is the approach followed by people who spend time reading because they like it, although they are not aware of the process. The ideal will be selecting a text which can help students learn the stylistic and grammatical aspects it contains as well as having a suitable and interesting content which provides the perfect context for debate and personal growth. The combination of the three approaches is what has been selected for the intervention plan explained later. The texts have not been selected because of their style, but because of the content and the opportunity it presents to learn about cultural aspects related to the country they describe. However, the stories are going to be used to reflect about the language as well in a direct and indirect manner. Anyway, probably the most important conclusion students can draw from these activities is going to be that we are not that different from people from other parts of the world, and that it is important to learn about them in order to understand their situation and also the differences that do exist. When teachers decide that they are going to use literary texts in the secondlanguage classroom, it is imperative that they agree and make clear how they are going to use it. Paran in his study “The Role of Literature in Instructed Foreign Language Learning and Teaching: An Evidence-Based Survey” (2008) develops figure 1 where he shows the four possible combinations structured in quadrants, when working with both, language teaching and literary texts depending on the degree of deepening of each of the two aspects: Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 15 Figure 1. Paran’s Intersection of literature and language teaching (2008, p. 467) As Paran (2008, p. 467) explains, the first quadrant shows a more or less even combination of both aspects: “Literary knowledge and skills are focused on, but there is also a conscious focus on the lexis, grammar, etc.” This means that both elements are considered in the classroom and students will learn, through the use of literary texts, about the content as well as the form. Quadrant 2, however, focuses only in the formal aspects that the text contains without paying attention to the text itself: “Literature is used just as a text with no focus on literary values, literary knowledge, or literary skills”. This means that the content is not important for the teaching process so the text could be either literary or not. At the bottom left, the third quadrant shows the complete opposite: there is no focus on the formal elements, but just in the text as literature (“Literature is discussed only as literature; any focus on language is on its literary effects”). This is the usual approach in literary courses. Finally, quadrant 4 focuses simply on the reading of the texts without focusing in any other aspect. Paran names this combination “Extensive reading”. The BBC (British Council, 2020) defines extensive reading the following way: “Extensive reading involves learners reading texts for enjoyment and to develop general reading skills.” The opposite is intensive reading which includes learning aims and tasks. The BBC also gives an example of an activity of extensive reading in order to be more illustrative: “A teacher reads a short story with learners but does not set them any tasks except to read and listen” this means that the only intention is for students to develop the Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 16 written text comprehension competence. Once all these four possibilities are considered, the teacher must decide on one of them or a combination of several so as to organize the learning. For the didactic intervention explained in the following pages, the approach followed has been what is defined in the first quadrant as it is a combination of the teaching of both: literary aspects as well as formal aspects of the text. I believe this is the most complete approach. However, all of the options are important and should not be overlooked in the language classroom. Furthermore, figure 1, as Paran explains, is a simplification and some important aspects are not clearly included. For example, something that is not present in the quadrants, but that it is important and included in this proposal is the intercultural knowledge that can also be developed through the use of literary texts. In order to include this extra meaning, a new intersection should be created; one that includes three aspects: the language learning focus, the literary focus and the cultural focus. The use of literature in the classroom provides many learning opportunities for the students regarding various aspects as it has been mentioned. And, although there are arguments against its use, the benefits are undeniable. It is true that this approach will probably need an extra effort on the part of the teacher especially during the process of deciding what and how, but the effort will be rewarded not only with the results, but also with the enriching process in which teachers and students work together. Furthermore, a great variety of literary texts that fit for different situations exist so it is highly probable that, somewhere, a text exists that can if not replace, at least complement the other tools available to teach a language. It should be the teachers’ duty to try to make literature familiar to their students so that they will be interested in continuing reading on their own outside the classroom and the compulsory readings. Fernández Fernández (2006) supports the importance of encouraging aesthetic reading as well in order to transmit the advantages of reading for pleasure in the students. Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 17 2.2. TEACHING CULTURE IN THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM Literature is not only useful in the teaching of the formal aspects of the language, but literature is culture as well. Many authors write about the impossibility of understanding one without the other and the bilateral relationship they have. Literature represents the culture of the society or group it talks about, but, at the same time, the product of literature becomes part of the culture of that society. Literature changes the view of the culture, but as culture develops, literature does too. As it will be seen in this section, culture and language cannot be separated. An easy, effective and appealing way of teaching both culture and grammar is through the reading of literary texts. But what is culture? There are many definitions for the word that change depending on the exact context in which it is used. One of the most important poets of the 20th century, T. S. Eliot in his work Notes Towards the Definition of Culture writes, first of all, about what he calls “the three senses of Culture”. These senses depend on the understanding of the word whether as “the development of an individual, of a group or class, or of a whole society.” (2010, p. 1). He believes that the individual culture depends on the group culture and that this one depends on the culture of the whole which means that the three elements are interrelated. Following this process of thinking, he reaches the conclusion that the definition of culture has to be centered on the one of the whole society as he sees it as “fundamental”. Scholars also give their own definitions of what culture is, for example: “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” (Tylor 1870, p. 29). Anyway, the world culture is polysemic so dictionary definitions go from understanding culture as “the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2020b) to “enlightenment and excellence of taste acquired by intellectual and aesthetic training” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2020a). For the purpose of the present study, the first definition is the one going to be considered. Culture as well as having many definitions, is an umbrella term for many others. Culture can be considered with capital C or in lower case. When considered as Culture, we are traditionally referring to elements such as music, art or literature. However, when Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 18 talking about culture, we can also include terms such as cinema, traditions or television programs; this is popular culture. Popular culture was usually referred to in a negative way as “unofficial culture, the culture of the non-elite” (Burke, 2017, p. xiii). However, this view has changed. Strinati (2008) writes about the difficulty of defining the term because popular culture is present in many societies and groups. Anyway, he decides to use Hebdige’s definition: “a set of generally available artefacts: films, records, clothes, TV programmes, modes of transport, etc.” (Strinati, 2008, p. xiv). Although teaching culture is clearly much more than just focusing on literature, literature has been considered the best option to obtain the desired results in the students of English as a second language. Furthermore, the stories selected can be considered to be in the middle: they are part of the Culture (canon) because of their literary value, but, at the same time they are used to teach the culture of the countries they represent. Before dealing with the issue of teaching culture through literature and as a means of improving the language knowledge, something has to be mentioned about the specific peculiarities of the English language which are the main reason to develop this type of proposal. First of all, although English is not the language with more native speakers (that position is occupied by China), it is the most spoken language in the world. Many people have or learn English as their second language. However, there are many countries which do count with English as their official language. A very useful book to talk about what can be called Englishes (referring to the variety of English languages and cultures around the world) is Rob Pope’s The English Studies Book: An Introduction to Language, Literature and Culture (2014). “English varies from place to place, sometimes beyond recognition” (Pope, 2014, p. 23) and it is important that English students realize the fact. There are countries in all the continents which have English as official language, most of them due to the processes of colonization that happened in the past. All these countries, although sharing a common language (which sometimes is not that similar), are very different in culture, traditions and customs. It is interesting to teach students about it and this is exactly the main purpose of the activities planned and explained in the next part of the study. Nowadays, teaching culture in the language classroom is not uncommon, but there was a time when it was. Things begun to change when linguists and culture Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 19 anthropologists started to work together and realized the importance of establishing a relationship between the learning of a language and the culture of that language (Kitao, 1991). Crozet and Liddicoat go even beyond that explanation and clarify that “culture underlies every part of communication, from asking someone to lend you a pen to writing a novel” (2000, p. 2) which means that if language teachers want their students to be able to communicate (which is worldwide considered the main reason for learning a language), they will have to understand the culture behind that language. Especially because of the globalization process, the way of language teaching that was fashionable in the past is not useful anymore: as Kitao explains “because without culture, they were just teaching meaningless symbols or symbols to which students attached the wrong meanings” (1991, p. 11). Using culture in the language classroom offers many advantages that Kitao explains in his research “Teaching Culture in Foreign Language Instruction in the United States” (1991). Although his study is focused in the United States, most of what he presents can be extrapolated to the use of culture in the teaching of second languages in general. One of the main advantages derived of teaching culture in the teaching of languages is the fact that it makes students more open. This means that, by making them face cultures different to their own, they will become more aware of the distinctness and similarities, and thus, more understanding. This is what Kitao calls “international understating” (1991, p. 286), something essential in the present world. This will also improve the understanding of our own culture as it will make us aware of the differences and similarities we share with people around the world. Another advantage and probably one of the most important ones, is that, by studying culture, the motivation of the students increases as they see the language in a context. Motivation has been already explained and its importance in the learning process has been broadly accepted so I will not discuss it in depth here however, it is important to establish clearly the idea that students (and anyone in fact) will work best if they are interested and attracted to the material. Showing language in a context and making students aware that learning the culture around the language is going to be helpful in situations which are or will be familiar for them, will make them more interested in learning. For example, if they want to travel to an English-speaking country, they should Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 20 realize that learning English and the culture of the country is essential to have a great experience. Furthermore, although it is impossible to learn about all the countries where the language under analysis is spoken (English or any other language), the teacher should be able to transmit the necessary tools for students to continue their learning outside the classroom. In order for this to happen, it is essential to work on the motivation and the curiosity of the students as well as giving them space to develop their own ideas and views. Culture has to be taught in the language classroom as it will allow students to “speak but also write in culturally appropriate ways” (Crozet and Liddicoat, 2000, p. 2) as well as behave properly. Although nowadays consensus exists on the convenience of using literary texts to learn about culture, there are also some drawbacks. A disadvantage that can be faced and that Kitao writes about is that language teachers may not have the necessary training to be able to make their students learn about different cultures. Although a drawback, it is an easy one to overcome. Language educators should focus on improving their knowledge about the culture and about the best way to present it to their students as it will also benefit themselves and their language proficiency. As it is becoming clear, being a teacher requires constant reflection on the personal work as well as a constant process of investigating, learning and improving. Furthermore, the role of the teacher is essential at this point as they have to work as “mediator between cultures” having to consider both cultures: the students’ and the second language. Teachers have to develop activities that will promote the interaction between both making students aware of similarities and differences, but mainly making them open to the learning. Many advantages have been mentioned, but it cannot be argued that the most important one is the possibilities it offers to students to be able to become citizens of the world, as it has been mentioned already. Language students will be able to, not only communicate, but to do it effectively with people from other countries, especially when they travel without incurring in misunderstandings or accidental misbehaving and, at the same time, they are improving their proficiency level in the language under study. Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 21 2. 3. SELECTING THE TEXTS As it has been clearly stated, using literary texts in the language classroom provides many advantages that, in some cases, cannot be achieved otherwise. Literature is useful in the teaching of the language itself, which is capital in the language classroom, but it is also helpful in the teaching of culture which also helps in the acquisition of the language. The correlations between the three elements end up creating a circle of influences that, if correctly developed, will allow teachers and students to obtain the best educational results. However, probably the most important step when following this path is choosing the correct text. In the present section, the reasons behind the selection of the type of text for the proposal are going to be explained and supported with academic bibliography. It is essential to choose the material carefully so that it really resonates with the students as this, as previously mentioned, will increase the so needed motivation. Obviously, not all students are going to have the same characteristics and interests, however, the best option has to be selected: one which will interest the classroom in general. One of the first aspects that has to be always considered is the age of the audience. However, age has to be closely related to the intellectual and emotional maturity of the students. Another aspect is the students’ linguistic proficiency and the language present in the text (archaisms, dialects, etc.). The cultural background of the students has to be considered as it will be decisive in the correct understanding of the texts. For this specific proposal, students will need to understand the culture surrounding the text before, during or/and after the reading. It is also the teacher’s duty to show the relevance those texts have in the students’ own contexts and understanding of the world; to make it relatable and thus, attractive. On the other hand, texts have to be in the realm of interest for the students. Lazar (2009) mentions other aspects that are sometimes overlooked but should be always considered. One of these characteristics is the availability of the texts, in this case, all the texts are going to be provided to the student by the teacher as they are short enough. She also mentions the length of the text which is obviously considered and one of the reasons for choosing the short story as the best genre to work with in the classroom. Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 22 Exploitability is essential to take into account as well: “what kind of tasks and activities can you devise to exploit the text?” (55). Finally, Lazar mentions the importance of deciding if the text is fit with the syllabus which is essential to consider. This justification will be included in the section called Curriculum and methodology. In summary, Lazar (2009) creates a checklist (Figure 2) of elements that have to be considered when deciding what text to use in the classroom: Figure 2. Lazar’s Checklist for choosing literary texts (2009, p. 56) There are several options when deciding to use literary texts in the language classroom. One of the most used ones is the use of graded readers. This type of texts can be of two different kinds: they can be simplifications of stories (usually classic or canonical texts that are considered to be essential for students to know, but that are, at the same time, too complex for them) or they can be texts written with the sole purpose of fulfilling specific characteristics. Anyway, there are various arguments for and against the use of these graded readers. McKay (1982), in her study, mentions the issue of adapting the text to make it suitable for the audience, but she does not see many advantages to this method preferring the use of young adult (YA) literature because of the length, themes, characters and stylistic complexity. YA literature can be defined as “books written for an audience of 12-20-year-olds. It may also include books primarily written for adults, but which have appeal to younger readers” (California State University, 2020). But adaptations or the use of YA literature are not the only options. In the present Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 23 study, the choice was to use short stories as this type of texts, if chosen carefully, provides the necessary input for the learning of the language and the culture of the country it represents. There are various reasons supporting the use of short stories in the classroom, but it is important to understand first what the term exactly refers to. Short stories are defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “an invented prose narrative shorter than a novel usually dealing with a few characters and aiming at unity of effect and often concentrating on the creation of mood rather than plot” (2020c). Pardede (2011) argues that poetry is not the best option because it is hard to understand, the novel because of its length and time available, and drama because of the difficulty of acting it out. All the disadvantages mentioned do not affect the short story. There are many scholars who support the idea that short stories are the best genre to use in the classroom as well as investigations that back the same belief. For example, there is a study conducted by Hirvela and Boyle (1998) among Chinese students which made clear that the best genre to work with in the classroom is the short story as it was one of the least feared and most enjoyed by the students. Pardede also writes about the benefits she sees in the use of short fiction. For her, the essential asset of using short stories is the opportunity it allows for the reinforcement of skills as she believes that “short stories allow instructors to teach the four skills to all levels of language proficiency” (2001, p. 3). First of all, the reading of literary texts (in this case short stories) can benefit the acquisition of vocabulary as well as the creativity of the students (proved to be basic in the classroom) as it is going to be essential for them to interpret what they are reading. Secondly, using this type of texts can help promoting the writing skill always depending on the activities that teachers design. Speaking and listening can also be trained with the use of short stories by, for example, making students read or listen to their partners read. Pardede is not the only scholar who supports the use of short stories in order to improve the students’ performance in the four language skills. As it has been mentioned, this type of texts can promote the learning of vocabulary which, for Al-Dersi, is the most important benefit it provides as “the mastery over required knowledge of vocabulary can Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 30 of the African countries, is the language of the colonizers: English. But English is not the only one as in Nigeria other languages are spoken such as Yoruba and Igbo. One of the most important authors of the country is Chinua Achebe (1930-2013) as he is one of the first Nigerian authors to write in English. Achebe wrote a lot about the process of colonization that his country went through which is the main topic in one of his most important novels Things Fall Apart (1958). It is also the main topic in the short story used for this didactic proposal “Dead Men’s Path” (1953). This story has been chosen because it talks about a very important historical process suffered by the inhabitants of the country and which has marked and changed them forever. Achebe was very much concerned with writing about the natives’ resistance against this process of colonization and Christianization. This is a topic clearly seen in the story chosen and one of the reasons for selecting it. It is important that students learn about countries which probably they do not know a lot about and the best way to do so is by reading those authors that write about their own collective experience. The story’s main character is Michael Obi which has been appointed headmaster of a new school in Ndume with the mission of reforming and updating it. When arriving, he realizes that the inhabitants are stuck in the past, something that he believes has to be changed immediately. There is an element in the story that represents that traditional living which is a path that crosses through the school’s premises. This path has a religious significance for the villagers. He decides that it has to be closed, but he faces strong opposition from the locals resulting in damages to the school building. This finally has negative consequences for Michael. The story will allow students to learn about Nigeria’s history as well as make them aware of the process of colonization which is something in which a lot of European countries participated, including Spain. “The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses” by Bessie Head (1937-1986) is another of the stories chosen which is also representative of an African country: South Africa. The Republic of South Africa has several official languages like Afrikáans, but English is also one of them. The country is important economically mainly because of the mining and transport industries. Bessie Head is considered one of the most important authors in Botswana although she was born in South Africa. She used her literature in the same way as Achebe, mainly to talk about the problems of colonialism. The story chosen deals with a group of black political prisoners working in the fields and how everything changes Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 31 when a new white guard tries to take control. The protagonist accuses the guard of stealing from the farm and that is how they both make an agreement by which the guard will not be denounced in exchange of him treating the prisoners correctly. The story relates issues of apartheid, an important concept students should know about. Apartheid is defined by Dubow as “the unique system of racial discrimination and economic exploitation” (1989, p. 1) and it was especially damaging for black people in this country. Students will be opened to a new vision of the world that does not affect them directly, but that it is essential to understand. Australia is another English-speaking country which has been chosen for this proposal. In this case, English is the only official language of the county. The story selected, “Neighbors” by Tim Winton, shows the multiculturalism that is so representative of the country. Winton (1960) is an important Australian author who is very much concerned with the environment and thus, tries to include it as main character in his writings. The story presents an Australian neighborhood in the southeastern city of Melbourne inhabited by various European migrant families. The main characters are an Australian couple moving to said neighborhood and the story shows their feelings towards the values and lifestyles of their neighbors which represent a variety present in the country. At the beginning they are not very open to understanding the people living around them but, as time passes, they realize the benefits of living all together helping each other. The sense of community that they finally achieve is clearly represented at the very end when the woman gives birth to their son and all the neighbors cheer and share their happiness with them. The story will help students understand the situation of multiculturalism in Australia at the same time that they will be aware of their own situation in Spain making them more open to sharing and creating communities. The topic of multiculturalism and immigration is very important in the present because of all the movement around Europe of refugees, especially. According to the Consejo de la Juventud de España (2011), the 6.3% of the youth in the country are immigrants and, in fact, the 29.9% of all immigrants in Spain are young people. Furthermore, the story presents Europeans as the migrants which will make students realize we can also be placed in that difficult role. These facts highlight the importance of making our students open to other cultures, also because they are not only the future, but also the present. Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 32 Finally, the last of the stories chosen is “Killing a Brit” by David Park which deals with the Irish conflict. This short story is included in the book titled Oranges from Spain (2004) which is a collection of short stories including tales “about the trials of growing up in a community where tension, confusion and violence hold sway” (Bloomsbury, 2020). Learning about the conflict in Northern Ireland will make students aware of the situation many teens like themselves had to endure when they should have been enjoying life. Also, it will hopefully make them more open to understanding the situations of war that are currently happening in various parts of the world; they seem so far away that sometimes are even forgotten. The main character of the story is a young boy who is punished in school. When he goes back home, he describes, in an indirect way, the tension existing between the Irish and the British soldiers as he encounters two of them. As it has been seen, the selection of these four stories has been done in a way that allows students to build a broader vision of the existence of different English-speaking countries as well as their history, conflicts and literary production. Although it is very important that they realize the situation of these countries, it is as important that they relate their learnings with their own contexts and situations. The comparison between both worlds will make them see that they are not that different and will help in understanding everything that surrounds them. It is true that they are young, and some topics are harder to talk about than others, but this should not be considered an obstacle in learning about them; we should not be blind to the realities and injustices present in other people’s lives. Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 33 3.3. CURRICULUM AND METHODOLOGY The present teaching proposal is based on the curriculum of Secondary Education of Castilla y León (ORDEN EDU/362/2015). The activities proposed have been developed considering the learning expectations that appear in the document: not only the general vision of the subject of the second language, but also the specifics of the fourth grade of ESO. At this point, it is important to mention as well the specific characteristics of the group chosen for the intervention. As already mentioned, the group is part of the project with the British Council which means that they have more hours of English than the usual groups. The characteristics of this type of groups are established in the REAL DECRETO 717/2005. In the document (ORDEN EDU/362/2015), language is presented and understood as the main instrument in the communicative and learning process being this vision the one followed in the proposal explained in the following pages. The document highly focuses on considering languages as a way of understanding the world: it is a way of accepting other traditions and beliefs. As it can be seen in the explanation of the selected texts, this is the main aim of the proposal developed. The objective is to make students open and to make cultures come near. The way this is achieved in this specific case is through the reading of various short stories; method that meets perfectly the demands of the ORDEN EDU/362/2015: “el uso de canciones, películas, historias y relatos que formen parte de la identidad cultural ligada al idioma serán muy provechosos” (p. 32233). The BOCYL mentions the importance of motivation so the activities have been planned in a way that aims to motivate and engage students. In order to do so, all competences are considered: producing and comprehending both written and oral texts. Likewise, the activities are varied (role plays, debates, visualizing videos, writing dialogues…), but there are also some constants so as to provide students with a structure that can be useful in their future academic lives. Regarding the methodology, the activities are varied and need of the active participation of the students. The main characteristic is that students are almost always the protagonists while the teacher stays in the background. The activities proposed try to Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 34 improve the students’ abilities in order to prepare them for their future, not only academically, but also as citizens of the world. For this reason, creativity and imagination are encouraged throughout all the sessions. Also, the autonomous work of the students is boosted by giving them the tools to work but leaving them to do their own research and make their own decisions. It is considered of high importance that students are ready for their future academic, professional, but also, personal lives and that is why the use of technologies as well as a little competition are introduced in the proposal. Furthermore, the teacher has to encourage students to ask when something is not clear or when they want to learn more in order for them to be involved in the sessions. The evaluation, as explained in the ORDEN EDU/362/2015, is not restricted to a final examination, but it is understood as a constant monitoring on the part of the teacher of his/her students so as to reward the effort and participation. The way this intervention is going to be evaluated is mainly through the work the students do in class and the revision of the final projects. The teacher will consider all the work of the students done with the completion of the different activities in class as well as the final project and the answers to the Kahoots. Participation is going to be very important in all the sessions as well. An assessment grid for one of the stories (Story 2) can be found in Annex 1 as an example of the manner in which the evaluation will be developed. Something that is also mentioned in the document and it is essential to consider when developing any type of teaching proposal is the selection of the key competences that are going to be present. For this intervention, the competences considered are: a) competencia en lectoescritura b) competencia multilingüe c) competencia digital d) competencia personal, social y de aprender a aprender e) competencia en conciencia y expresión culturales The specific contents, evaluation criteria and learning standards for each of the four blocks present in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (comprehension and production of oral texts and comprehension and production of Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 35 written texts) that are developed in the teaching proposal are mentioned in the following table 1 : CONTENTS EVALUATION CRITERIA EVALUATION STANDARDS Block 1. Comprehension of oral texts - Formulation of hypothesis about content and context. - Sociocultural and sociolinguistic aspects. - Narration of specific and habitual past events, description of states and present situations and expression of future events. - To know and apply the adequate strategies for the comprehension of the general meaning, the essential information, the main ideas or the relevant details of the text. - To know and use the sociocultural and sociolinguistic aspects related to daily life, life conditions, interpersonal relationships, behaviors and social conventions. 4. Understands, in an informal conversation he/she participates in, explanations or justifications of points of view and opinions about various matters of personal interest, everyday or less common affairs, as well as the formulation of hypothesis, the expression of feelings and the description of abstract aspects. Block 2. Production of oral texts - To express the message with clarity, coherence, structuring it correctly and adjusting, in this case, to the models and formulas of each type of text. - Description of physical and abstract qualities of people, objects, places and activities. - To know and apply the adequate strategies for the production of monological or short and medium-length dialogical oral texts with a simple and clear structure exploiting the resources available limiting the expression to them. 1. Develops short, wellstructured presentations, previously rehearsed and with visual aid, about specific aspects related to academic or occupational topics of interest, organizing the basic information in a coherently, explaining the main ideas briefly and 1 This is a personal translation. Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 36 - Establishment and maintenance of communication and organization of the discourse. - To interact in an easy but effective way in clearly structured exchanges, using common formulas or indications to transfer the turn to speak. clearly and answering to easy questions. 3. Participates correctly in informal face to face conversations about everyday or less common affairs in which information is exchanged and briefly expresses and justifies opinions and points of view. Block 3. Comprehension of written texts - Distinction of types of comprehension. - Sociocultural and sociolinguistic aspects. - Description of physical and abstract qualities of people, objects, places and activities. - To know and apply the adequate strategies for the comprehension of the general meaning, the essential information, the main ideas or the relevant details of the text. - To know and use the sociocultural and sociolinguistic aspects related to daily life, life conditions, interpersonal relationships, behaviors and social conventions. 6. Understands specific information in Web pages and other clearly structured reference material about academic topics. 7. Understands the general aspects and the most relevant details of fictional and short contemporary literary texts, when they are wellstructured and in a standard variant of the language, in which the argument is lineal and can be followed without difficulty, and the characters and their relations are presented in a clear and simple way. Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 37 Block 4. Production of written texts - To mobilize and coordinate general and communicative competences with the aim of effectively fulfilling a task. - To locate and use adequately the linguistic and thematic resources. - To express the message clearly adjusting to the models and formulas of each type of text. - Sociocultural and sociolinguistic aspects. - To know, select and apply the adequate strategies to elaborate short or medium-length texts. - To incorporate to the production of the written text the acquired sociocultural and sociolinguistic knowledge. 3. Takes notes and messages with simple and relevant information about everyday affairs and specific aspects in the personal, academic and occupational scope within their area of interest. 5. Writes, in a conventional format, short and simple reports in which essential information about an academic or occupational topic is presented. Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 38 3.4. ACTIVITIES The teaching proposal explained in the present section consists of twelve sessions distributed throughout the school year. Each trimester will include various sessions that will be dedicated to working with each one of the stories. However, as the stories are four and there are only three trimesters, the fourth one (that will be the first to be read) will be used as an example done in class so that students understand what they are going to be expected to do with the rest of the texts. The story selected as the example is “Killin’ a Brit” that deals with the conflict in Northern Ireland. The structure for the three stories selected to be worked with in class is always the same and can be seen in the following table. However, the activities change from story to story to make it more interesting and suitable for each context: DAY 1 2 3 ACTIVITIES Working with the title Activity Presentations Reading the story Activity Comments and questions Debate Explanation of the project Evaluation It is important for students to understand the background behind the texts analyzed, especially in this context as the main focus is the culture they represent. Lazar (2009) includes a list of some information regarding the background of the text that can be presented to the students. From her proposal, the elements that have been chosen for the present intervention are: • Biographical information about the author • Historical events • Philosophical, religious or political ideas • Places • Historical, political or social background However, it has been decided that the students are going to be the ones in charge of researching about those aspects and provide the first approach about it to the rest of the Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 39 classroom. Obviously, the teacher will be supervising every piece of information, but it will be more interesting for students to look for the information on their own in order for them to really interiorize the knowledge. Also, as the first text is going to serve as an example done in the classroom, they will have clear ideas of what to do. Anyway, if necessary, the teacher can also prepare a session after the students have presented their research in order to further explain the cultural aspects that appear in the stories. The research the students have to develop will always deal with the figure of the author and with the country. This way, students will be able to relate history and facts with the fiction in the stories and they will have a broader vision about the countries and their cultural and historical background that is so important to understand the reading perfectly. It is also crucial to mention how the texts are going to be read, whether they will be worked with in class together or at home on their own. For this proposal, it has been decided that the four stories will be read in class. This is realistic as the stories are not especially long (the length varies from 3 to 5 pages). This way, students will acquire the tools to do an adequate reading of this type of stories in the future. Regarding the classroom distribution, most of the sessions (except one) are developed in the usual classroom and students remain in their usual places (sitting looking to the board). There are some exceptions when students have to change positions: when they do group work, for the activity of the trial and for the apartheid simulacrum. Also, there are different materials needed to carry out this intervention, but most of them are easily found in schools: • Photocopies with the stories • Blackboard/whiteboard • Computer, speakers and screen • Computers for students (computer room) • Internet connection • Mobile phones (Kahoot) • Papers and pens • Handout “Neighbors Everywhere” (Annex 2) • Handout “Rules” (Annex 3) • Vocabulary and definition cards (Annex 4) Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 46 SESSION 3 (50 minutes) a month later GROUP 1 Presentation of the project 12 minutes The first group presents the information they have gathered regarding the country of Nigeria. They will have to talk about, for example: - Important general information: flag, official language, capital… - Important historical events: colonization GROUP 1 Questions and comments 5 minutes The listeners will be encouraged to ask questions and the teacher can also participate. The intention is to make the presentation as complete as possible. At this point, students will also talk about the difficulties they have faced when carrying out the research. GROUP 2 Presentation of the project 12 minutes The second group presents their findings on the figure of the author Chinua Achebe, one of the most important authors in Nigeria and one of the first to write in English. They could include facts about: - His life - His books and publications GROUP 2 Questions and comments 5 minutes As with the previous group, these minutes are dedicated to answering questions and doubts and commenting on anything important. Evaluation 16 minutes The evaluation will be done using Kahoot. Students will be asked to have their mobile phones (if any student does not have one, he/she can play with another person). They will use the app Kahoot to answer some questions related to both the author and the country based on the information presented. Playing using technology and including a little competition will motivate students. This is an example of the type of questions students will have to answer: https://create.kahoot.it/share/nigeria-and-chinua-achebe/4d41d5c410d1-42e1-97d3-0ed5e4a63cbf Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 47 Story 3: “Neighbours”, Tim Winton The work regarding this story will also consist of three sessions that will occur during the months of January for the first two sessions (after the Christmas holiday) and February for the third session. Once again, the story will be read in class together with the development of various activities. Also, there will be a final project. The following three tables show the structure of each of the sessions and the explanation of each activity. JANUARY: SESSION 1 (50 minutes) Monday Writing: Guess the plot 10 minutes As with the first story, at the beginning of the lesson, the teacher tells the students the title of the story they are going to work with. In pairs, they have to write a few sentences that work as a summary of what they suppose the story is about. Presentation: Guess the plot 15 minutes Some of the students (ideally, different from the ones that read their suggestions for the first story) read their sentences in front of the class. All of the summaries are given to the teacher. Reading 15 minutes Students read the story out loud. All students have a photocopy of the story and they have to underline those words, expressions or parts that they do not understand or that they want to discuss. All comments have to be made at the end so the reading is not interrupted. Debate 10 minutes This last ten minutes are dedicated to explaining all those aspects that were difficult or strange for students. They will also comment on their feelings towards the story. Possible questions for the teacher to ask: - What was the story about? - Why do you think the main characters were reluctant to talk to their neighbors? - Why do you think things change at the end? Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 48 SESSION 2 (50 minutes) Tuesday Neighbors everywhere 25 minutes Students are given a description of a type of neighbor. The teacher groups the students in eight groups of three: there are 12 types of neighbors so some will be repeated. They will have some minutes to create a dialogue between them as if they were neighbors in a specific situation that they have to come up with. The dialogues will have a length of 3 minutes. The teacher has to go around the class helping students and making sure that they speak as much English as possible. (Neighbor’s descriptions in Annex 2). They then present the dialogues in front of the rest of their classmates. Cultural differences and similarities 20 minutes To make students aware of the differences that exist between people of different countries, the teacher will play various videos showing some differences. After each video, students have to comment on it. These are examples of videos that could be useful (they are short, fun and interesting): - Breakfasts around the world: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry1E1uzPSU0 - Greetings around the world: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tlNJibk234 Then, all students will have to think of the countries they have visited and start brainstorming about the differences and similarities they have found. They can write them in two columns on the board. Once they finish, they will have a good number of cultural norms from around the world. Finally, the teacher can introduce the discussion of whether these differences are positive or negative, if they make countries richer or make relations difficult, etc. Explanation of the project 5 minutes As for the previous project, two more groups are chosen to work with this story. Students have a month to work with the topic at home to create a presentation with a summary of the information they have gathered. Topics: - Australia - Tim Winton Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 49 FEBRUARY: The mechanics of this session are the same as it has been explained for the previous story. SESSION 3 (50 minutes) a month later GROUP 1 Presentation of the project 10 minutes The first group presents the information they have gathered regarding the country of Australia. They will have to talk about, for example: - Important general information: flag, official language, capital… - Important historical events GROUP 1 Questions and comments 5 minutes The listeners will be encouraged to ask questions and the teacher can also participate. The intention is to make the presentation as complete as possible. At this point, students will also talk about the difficulties they have faced when carrying out the research. GROUP 2 Presentation of the project 10 minutes The second group presents their findings on the figure of the author Tim Winton. They could include facts about: - His life - His books and publications GROUP 2 Questions and comments 5 minutes As with the previous group, these minutes are dedicated to answering questions and doubts and commenting on anything important. Evaluation 20 minutes The evaluation will be done using Kahoot as with the previous story. Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 50 Story 4: “The Man Who Wore Glasses”, Bessie Head For the last of the stories, the structure is the same as the previous ones: the story is read in class and some activities are developed, as well as the final project. In this case, the first two sessions will happen in the month of April (after Easter) and the third one at the beginning of May. This time distribution will allow students to have most part of May and the whole of June free from these readings so they can focus on their exams. The following three tables show the structure of each of the sessions and the explanation of each activity. APRIL: SESSION 1 (50 minutes) Monday Writing: Guess the plot 10 minutes Once again, at the beginning of the lesson, the teacher tells the students the title of the story they are going to work with and, in pairs, they have to try to guess the plot of the story for which they have to write a short summary. Presentation: Guess the plot 15 minutes Some of the students (different from the ones that read their suggestions for the other two stories) read their paragraphs in front of the class. All of the summaries are given to the teacher. Reading 15 minutes Students read the story out loud while they underline those words, expressions or parts that they do not understand or that they want to discuss with the teacher and the rest of the classmates. They will ask about them at the end so the reading is not interrupted. Debate 10 minutes For the following ten minutes, the students, together with the teacher, talk about the story, their feelings towards it and any problems they have faced during the reading of the text. Possible questions for the teacher to ask: - What was the story about? - Did you like it? Why? Why not? - What is the relationship between the two main characters? - What is the symbolic meaning of the glasses the prisoner wears? Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 51 In this second session students are going to participate in a process of apartheid so they realize what the situation was like in South Africa and what racism means nowadays as well. Some students are going to enjoy a series of privileges and other students are going to suffer some restrictions. The only reason for the distinction is a physical characteristic that cannot be changed. These differences will continue throughout the whole session. SESSION 2 (50 minutes) Tuesday Apartheid in class 5 minutes The teacher explains that the blue and green-eyed students will have some privileges that the brown-eyed students will not, in fact, they will suffer restrictions. The rules can be found in Annex 3. The situation will continue until the end of the session when the teacher tells them to stop. Guess the word 20 minutes The objective of this next activity is to work with vocabulary. Some difficult or strange words are extracted from the text to work with them. The teacher hands out the words and definitions in separate pieces of paper. In groups, students have to match the words with their definitions (list of vocabulary and definitions in Annex 4). Then, all together, play Taboo. A student will get a random vocabulary card and he/she will have to explain what the word is without using the three words that the teacher gives him/her in another card (Taboo cards in Annex 5). The rest of the students have to raise their hand and guess the word. Because apartheid is happening in the classroom, the groups have to be formed within the distinctions made; there cannot be mixed groups. Also, brown-eyed students will be able to answer only when green and blue-eyed students do not know the answer. Debate about feelings 10 minutes At this point, the teacher announces that the restrictions and privileges have finished. Students go back to their usual places and a debate starts. The teacher has to ask students about their feelings throughout the experiment. The teacher has to make clear that the situation was unfair. Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 52 Sources and debate 15 minutes To expand their knowledge on apartheid various documents will be shown to the students: - A video that summarizes the situation in South Africa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f2k6iDFCL4 - A letter written by Nelson Mandela to his daughters during his imprisonment: Annex 6. - An example of a flyer during apartheid: Annex 7. All the readings and visualizations have to be accompanied by comments from the teacher and questions from the students. In another session, the teacher will dedicate a few minutes to explain the final project for this short story. EXTRA (5 minutes) Wednesday Explanation of the project 5 minutes As for the previous projects, the last two groups of four have to work with this story. Students have a month to work with the topic at home to create a PowerPoint presentation with a summary of the information they have gathered. They will have to present the information clearly to the rest of the students. Topics: - South Africa - Bessie Head Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 53 MAY: This session follows the same structure as the already explained sessions for the previous two stories. SESSION 3 (50 minutes) a month later GROUP 1 Presentation of the project 10 minutes The first group presents the information they have gathered regarding the country of South Africa. They will have to talk about: - Important general information: flag, official language, capital… - Important historical events: apartheid GROUP 1 Questions and comments 5 minutes The listeners will be encouraged to ask questions and the teacher can also participate. The intention is to make the presentation as complete as possible. At this point, students will also talk about the difficulties they have faced when carrying out the research. GROUP 2 Presentation of the project 10 minutes The second group presents their findings on the figure of the author Bessie Head. They could include facts about: - Her life - Her books and publications GROUP 2 Questions and comments 5 minutes As with the previous group, these minutes are dedicated to answering questions and doubts and commenting on anything important. Evaluation 20 minutes The evaluation will be done using Kahoot as with the previous stories. Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 54 4. CONCLUSION “That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover your longings are universal longings, that you are not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.” F. Scott Fitzgerald’s quote presents the idea behind the development of the proposal explained perfectly: literature brings us closer and helps us understand each other. The selections of the texts, authors and countries as well as the design of the activities have been developed considering this idea at the center of it. Especially nowadays, having a broad vision about the world and everything that makes us different, but also similar, is essential for the students this proposal is aimed at: they are teenagers that start creating their own ideas and start travelling the world. The main objective of the project was to design a teaching intervention that promotes the use of short stories as a way of teaching English and the culture around it. It has been demonstrated that the use of literary texts provides many and varied opportunities in the language classroom. The activities chosen try to be as attractive as possible for students in order to motivate them to read literary texts, not only for academic purposes, but also for personal enrichment. In order to check if the proposal is in fact useful and fulfills the interests mentioned, it should be developed in real life. It will be interesting and possible to do so as it has been designed taking careful attention in making the implementation viable. Something that could be very interesting is to develop a similar proposal but using different short stories, authors and countries. This selection depends on the teachers and the objectives they have in mind. Asking students about their own interest regarding these three aspects could also be beneficial in designing the best activities possible. There are many English-speaking countries that are usually forgotten in the schools’ curricula and it should be the teachers’ duty to present them to their students. In conclusion, the present intervention shows some ideas about how to include the teaching of both literature and culture in the English classroom, but these are not the only options. It is our duty as future teachers to make our students as open to differences as possible making them citizens of the world. Andrea Rodríguez Carrancio Universidad de Valladolid 55 5. LIST OF WORKS CITED Primary sources Achebe, C. (2009). Dead Men’s Path. Girls at War and Other Stories. Johannesburg: Penguin. Head, B. (2016). The Prisoner who Wore Glasses. Oxford: Cover2Cover Books. Park, D. (2012). Killing a Brit. In D. Park, Oranges from Spain. London: Bloomsbury Paperbacks. Winton, T. (1985). Neighbours. In B. Pascoe, Australian Short Stories. Victoria: Pascoe Publishing. Secondary sources Alami, M. and E. Tavakoli. (2016). Audio Lingual Method. 3rd International Conference on Applied Research in Language Studies. ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/293731529 Al-Dersi, Z. E. M. (2013). The Use of Short Stories for Developing Vocabulary of EFL Learners. International Journal of English Language and Translation Studies, 1(1), 72-86. Anjomshoa, L. and F. Sadighi. (2015). The Importance of Motivation in Second Language Acquisition. International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature, 2(3), 126-137. Bennett, J. M. (2009). Transformative Training: Designing Programs for Culture Learning. En M. A. Moodian, Contemporary Leadership and Intercultural Competence: Exploring the Cross-Cultural Dynamics Within Organizations (pp. 95-111). California: Sage Publications. Annex 2 NEIGHBORS EVERYWHERE MARY Mary is Peter’s wife. They are a married couple in their fifties. They are always complaining about everything. PETER Peter is Mary’s wife. They are a married couple in their fifties. They are always complaining about everything. HANNAH Hannah is a 25 year-old student that lives with her friend Lisa. They like inviting their friends on Friday nights. LISA Lisa is a 25 year-old student that lives with her friend Hannah. They like inviting their friends on Friday nights. JOHN John is a 43 year-old man that lives alone with his pet, a German Shepherd. Everytime he leaves the house the dog starts barking and continues for 10 minutes. LUCY Lucy is a single mother that lives with her son Dan. Dan is five years old and loves playing everywhere. DAN Lucy is a single mother that lives with her son Dan. Dan is five years old and loves playing everywhere. BETH Beth is a very old widow that lives alone although a carer visists her everyday to help her around the house and give her the medicines. PAUL Paul is an old widower that lives with his parrot who loves to talk. He receives family visits almost everyday. SUSIE Susie is a teenager that lives with her parents and her sister with whom she usually argues. She shouts and plays loud music when she is angry. LEO Leo and Tina are a young married couple that live with their recently born baby. As all babies, she cries and does not let her parents sleep well at night. TINA Tina and Leo are a young married couple that live with their recently born baby. As all babies, she cries and does not let her parents sleep well at night. Annex 3 RULES Blue and green-eyed students • You can choose where to sit. • You can go to the toilet whenever you need to. • You can take things from the brown-eyed students. • You should not talk to the brown-eyed students. • You cannot work in the same group as brown-eyed students. Brown-eyed students • You can only be in the delimited area. • You cannot go to the toilet. • If the blue or green-eyed students ask for anything, you should give it to them. • You cannot ask questions. • You cannot talk to the blue and green-eyed students unless directly addressed. • You have to be silent most of the time. Loud noises could be punishable. • You cannot work in the same group as green and blue-eyed students. Annex 4 VOCABULARY AND DEFINITIONS Vocabulary cards AFRIKAANS KAFFIR BOGEYMAN DIVINITY PERPETRATE BEDLAM CHAOS RUEFULLY TIN ACUTE CONVICION TIRADE COMMODITY Definition cards A language that is related to Dutch and is spoken in South Africa. An offensive word for a black African. An imaginary evil person who harms children. A god or goddess. To commit a crime or a violent or harmful act. A noisy situation with no order. A state of total confusion with no order. In a way that shows that you are feeling sorry and wishing that something had not happened. A closed metal container in which food is sold. If a bad situation is like that, it causes severe problems or damage. A strong opinion or belief. A long, angry speech expressing strong disapproval. A substance or product that can be traded, bought or sold. Definitions extracted from: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/ Annex 5 TABOO WORDS AFRIKAANS • Language • Dutch • Speak KAFFIR • language • Dutch • speak BOGEYMAN • evil • children • imaginary DIVINITY • god • power • goddess PERPETRATE • crime • commit • act BEDLAM • situation • chaos • noisy CHAOS • confusion • order • disaster RUEFULLY • sorry • happen • manner TIN • metal • container • food ACUTE • situation • problems • damage CONVICTION • strong • opinion • belief TIRADE • long • angry • speech COMMODITY • product • bought • sold Annex 6 MY DARLINGS To Zenani and Zindzi Mandela, his middle and youngest daughters, 4 February 1969 My Darlings, The nice letter by Zindzi reached me safely, and I was indeed very glad to know that she is now in Standard 2. When Mummy came to see me last December, she told me that both of you had passed your examinations and that Zeni was now in Standard 3. I now know that Kgatho and Maki have also passed. It pleases me very much to see that all my children are doing well. I hope that you will do even better at the end of the year. I was happy to learn that Zeni can cook chips, rice, meat, and many other things. I am looking forward to the day when I will be able to enjoy all that she cooks. Zindzi says her heart is sore because I am not at home and wants to know when I will come back. I do not know, my darlings, when I will return. You will remember that in the letter I wrote in 1966, I told you that the white judge said I should stay in jail for the rest of my life. It may be long before I come back; it may be soon. Nobody knows when it will be, not even the judge who said I should be kept here. But I am certain that one day I will be back at home to live in happiness with you until the end of my days. Do not worry about me now. I am happy, well and full of strength and hope. The only thing I long for is you, but whenever I feel lonely I look at your photo which is always in front of me. It has a white frame with a black margin. It is a lovely photo. For the last two years I have been asking Mummy to send me a group photo with Zindzi, Zeni, Maki, Kgatho, Nomfundo [Mandela's niece] and Kazeka. But up to now I have not received it. The photo will make me even more happy than I am at the present moment. Many thanks for the wonderful Christmas cards you sent me. Apart from yours, I received one from Kgatho and another from Mummy. I hope you received more. Mummy visits me two or three times a year. She also arranges for Kgatho and others to see me. Father Long of the Roman Catholic Church, St Patrick, Mowbray, Cape Town, still visits me once a month. In addition, I am allowed to receive and write one letter every month. All these things keep me happy and hopeful. Please pass my fondest regard to Father Borelli and tell the Mother Superior that I am greatly indebted to her and all the sisters there for the help and guidance they are giving you. Perhaps someday I may be able in some small way to return this kindness. In December 1965 I received a letter from Zeni in which she also asked me to come back home, just as Zindzi says in hers. The English was good and the handwriting clear. But I was completely surprised to get one from Zindzi. Her English was also good and the writing was just as clear. You are doing well, my darlings. Keep it up. With lots and lots of love and a million kisses. Affectionately, Tata Text and image extracted from: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/nelson-mandela-lettersprison-robben-island-apartheid-civil-rights-racism-a8449961.html Annex 7 FYLER Image extracted from: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/nelson-mandela-lettersprison-robben-island-apartheid-civil-rights-racism-a8449961.html