Task: Using paintings, photographs, music or films to foster cultural comptence
Outline a didactical project where you use paintings, music or film to increase your pupils’ cultural awareness. Would you have to change your presentation if you were to think in terms of cultural AND intercultural competence?
This didactical project would be presented in a double lesson with opportunity to continue a project in the subsequent lessons. The target group would be a class in upper secondary school in Norway. In this text I will explain briefly the outline of the lessons as well as reflect upon the challenges related to teaching cultural, and/or intercultural competence in a language subject like English class.
Learning objectives
Firstly, I will introduce students to Jay Z’s song, from his last record Blueprint 3, with the intention to discuss the symbols of American culture. This song has lyrics with a lot of references to American culture, New York, rap culture, rich vs. poor, rags-to-riches myth and clichés and myths like ‘land of opportunities’ and ‘melting pot’. Jay Z is a pop star which most students will be familiar with, and he sings together with Alicia Keys on this particular song.
The lyrics will be a soothing entry point to the topic of the lessen, namely discuss what USA is, and what it entails to be an American, and define American values and question their validity and generalizations. It is also an apt opportunity to address foul language and profanity, violence and sex and other less positive features of rap culture such as ‘bling’-materialism.
Secondly, I will introduce students to the Sri Lankan/British artist M.I.A. with her song “Paper Planes”, which also might be known among students as it is used in the popular movie “Slumdog Millionaire”. M.I.A. is a rap artist as well, but perhaps with a different background than Jay Z. My intention is to investigate her song’s lyrics as their are references to the ‘global village’, ‘immigration’, poor vs. rich, third world problems and dreams and aspirations of less fortunate people of the world.
Again, the lyrics will be a good entry point into a discussion based upon popular culture and values of USA vs. Third World countries and immigrants. Do they have any shared values? What does it mean to be an immigrant? What does it mean to be multicultural? What does it mean to be part of the global village? Lots of interesting questions to be addressed.
A third learning objective will challenge the students to compare the two artists, their songs and their music videos and look for similarities and differences.
Discussion
Problem: Would you have to change your presentation if you were to think in terms of cultural AND intercultural competence?
I have tried to address this issue by adding M.I.A.’s song and compare it with Jay Z as an American rap artist. Hopefully, I would assume, that the content of the class discussions and projects would present both cultural and intercultural problems.
I would argue, that in this case the lessons would probably be more focused on intercultural competence rather than cultural competence. Even New York has an intercultural quality, both historically and socioculturally, and so does an artist like Jay Z. Nevertheless, I think this would be fruitful for the discussion and the presentation in general as it would create an environment for discussions which will raise questions related to terms such as ‘multiculturalism’, ‘racism’, ‘rags to riches’ and ‘land of opportunities’.
In terms of cultural competence the project would certainly address American values such as social mobility, strong work ethic, and direct communication style as discussed by Hall and Hall in Understanding cultural differences (1990). “In a society of ethnic diversity and high mobility, a ‘nation of strangers’, many Americans suffer from an absence of roots” (p.145) would certainly resound in a line from Jay Z’s song: “In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of”. Thus, the superficiality that many foreigners experience and comment when interacting with Americans as they tend to form short and superficial relationships more often due to relocations. Many Americans suffer from an absence of roots and some has called America a “nation of strangers”. However, Americans like the sense of belonging, which again deals with identity and can be universal in nature and related to both cultural and intercultural competence.
Other points discussed in by Hall and Hall are Americans strong work ethic, which is also expressed in Jay Z’s lyrics: “Me, I gotta plug, Special Ed ‘I Got It Made’” and the norm of unshamefully priding yourself with personal successes. The Americans direct communication style is also discussed by Hall and Hall and can also be found in Jay Z’s use of language, and the semi-racist and profane use of language is also part of decoding language and an important part of cultural, and arguably also intercultural competence in a global communicative reality.
In terms of intercultural competence there are a lot of overlapping areas for discussion related to this project including the universal human desires to dream, experience freedom and succeed in life. M.I.A.’s song “Paper Planes” opening line “I fly like paper, get high like planes/If you catch me at the border, I got visas in my name” can be a starting point to discuss human rights, immigration policies and the value of human life according to cultural and political background. Themes expressed in Jay Z’s lyrics are also expressed in M.I.A.’s song and perhaps the focus for this project should focus on universal topics such as ‘multiculturalism’ and ‘identity’ and hence cover the goal of intercultural competence? The answer then to the discussion question would be that I would not necessarily have to change the presention/project, but rather focus on the universal themes in the two songs to emphasize the intercultural nature of the two artists’ songs.
Assessement. After my presentation I got a question of how I would assess this project. As it is a group project I would assess process and product based upon reflection logs, but it would also be interesting to assess the individual student’s understanding of main themes such as ‘social mobility’, ‘multiculturalism’ and ‘codes in language’ in the context of cultural and intercultural competence. This could have been done in various ways, for instance a conclusive essay assignment, a test or a class debate.
Looks like an excellent extended lesson plan Morten. Working at an interesting and stimulating level. Ticked all your objective boxes
Hope the Clash would get a mention for their sample in MIA’s song – intercultural borrowings? Much like the Clash themselves…
Thanks for commenting, David. Lots of ideas, but working on the structure. I’m new to the info on The Clash’s contributions here – thanks! Much appreciated. Intertextuality/intercultural borrowings indeed.
Any interesting assignments coming your way?
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