Project Work“Cultural Banner”
Work together to create a “cultural banner” expressing values, traditions, activities, and places important in their families and friends.
Vocabulary: Culture
Materials: Crayons, markers, and construction paper
Create a Culture Web
Step 1. 1. Write the word culture in the center of a piece of chart paper and circle it.
2. Brainstorm associations with the word, record the words and phrases that come up on the chart paper, and connect them to culture, creating a web.
3. Discuss the web and agree on a definition along these lines: culture is the values, beliefs, and traditions shared by a group of people.
Step 2. Introduce Cultural Banners
1. Take paper and markers or crayons.
2. Write your name on the banner and any symbols (words or pictures) that show values, traditions, activities, and places that are important for their family. Use words or drawings to represent holidays, foods, sports, flags and so on.
3. After you have created the banners, pass the banners to your neighbors and keep doing so until everyone has had a chance to see every banner. Share your banners with each other.
Step 3.Discussion
How was this activity for you? What did you learn from doing it?
What are some of the cultures represented in the group?
Module 5
Unit 1. What is Xenophobia?
Lead in
Ø Do you know any scientific definition of the “unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers”? Skim the following text about xenophobia.
Ø What is your personal attitude towards this phenomenon?
Ø Can you give any examples you have ever heard, seen, experienced?
Reading and vocabulary
Read the text for general understanding . Pay attention to the words in bold?
What is Xenophobia?
Xenophobia refers to the fear and/or hatred towards foreigners or people with different nationalities, culture, ethnicity, or background. Many people also use the term “xenophobia” and casually inter-change it with “racism” although there is quite a big difference between the two terms. Racism may almost always mean some form of anger or hatred towards people of different nationalities, while xenophobia may or may not involve hatred. Sometimes, xenophobia may just manifestitself as a feeling of fear or unease and anxiety towards “foreign” or “strange” people.
The fear involved in xenophobia may come from different aspects. Some people experience ill-feelings toward other cultures and nationalities because of a fear in losing one’s identity. Some also are extremely suspicious of other people’s activities and personalities that they resort to either “withdrawal” from the unpleasant situation or “aggression” towards the foreign people involved. Others have this extremist type of feeling that his/her culture or background is superior over the others with accompanying prejudiceto other groups of people as inferior.
To further distance the word “xenophobia” from “racism”, many experts point out that the fear involved in xenophobia is irrational. This means that people who have this condition do not actually have control over their emotions and prejudices on people and situations. Unlike in racism, where much of the thoughts and actions involved are pre-determined, purposeful, and done at a person’s own free will. Another point is that xenophobia does not only involve feelings of fears towards foreigners or people with different nationalities. Fear may also be experienced with people who seem to be “foreign” or who are labeled as strangers. And since these feelings are uncontrollable, xenophobic have a chance to get better through behavioral and psychotherapies.
2. Match the words with their definitions.
| 1.Xenophobia | a)the belief that men are superior to women; |
| 2.Racism | b)typical of a particular cultural group |
| 3.Prejudice | c) the group of a people or a race from which one is descended |
| 4.Race | d)unfair treatment of people, especially woman because of their sex |
| 5. Ethnic | e) any of the group into which humans can be divided according to their physical characteristics |
| 6. Ancestry | f)a good opinion of one’s own character |
| 7.Self-esteem | g) the deliberate killing of a nation or race of people |
| 8. Male chauvinism | h)dislike or distrust of a person |
| 9.Sexism | i) the belief that some races are superior to others |
| 10. Genocide | j) deep-rooted antipathy towards foreigners |
2. The word Xenophobia comes from the Greek words ξένος (xenos), meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φβος (phobos), meaning “fear”. There are a lot of words possessing the stem meaning “fear”. Find the meaning of the following words, using on-line dictionary:
- acrophobia is a fear of…..
- aerophobia is a fear of….
- agoraphobia is a fear of…
- Anglophobia is a fear of…
- claustrophobia is a fear of…
- homophobia is a fear of…
- hydrophobia is a fear of…
- negrophobia is a fear of…
- photophobia is fear of…
Read and discuss
Read and translate the text about forms of Xenophobia. Try to give your own definition to the word. Have ever experienced xenophobia yourself? Anywhere for anyone? Do agree that Xenophobia can also be directed simply to anyone outside a culture, not necessarily one particular race or people? How do you think Xenophobia may be expressed? Skim the text about two main forms of Xenophobia and say what is the main difference of these two forms?