Taylor CP #2

(Culture Workshop)

Date/Time: Thursday, February 4^th, 1:00-1:50pm

Location: CIES (Lounge)

Topic discussed: The expectations of and for both students and teachers in various countries. (group activity)

Cultural and/or linguistic topics you and your partner learned: It was very surprising to learn that what felt like most other countries aside from the U.S. are more teacher-centered and respectful to the teachers. This includes behavior like the whole class standing up for the teacher, and assemblies before class to sing the national anthem and possibly present. Classes in the U.S. may be largely teacher-centered as well, but we still have a lot of pair/group activities, as well as presentation assignments. I found it interesting that at least in Saudi Arabia and China, students do not have to do presentations in class. To me it seemed like another way to kind of reinforce the heavy focus on the teacher. I would definitely apply this to my own teaching as I would want to fully understand the culture around teacher-student interaction as well as the expectations my students might have.