Lesson Plan 8: Mentality of the host people; your identity: do you feel more “German”, “European”, or ….

This lesson will focus on two aspects of the integration processes: raising awareness on differences and similarities between host people and migrants in the context of conventions of polite behavior, gender relations, own rights, hierarchical structures in the family, work environment and public as well as the identity of migrants, how they perceived themselves.

Lesson duration: 5 EU plus time for selected videos

Learning objectives:

  • To reflect on the students’ own culturally determined values, behaviour and ways of thinking;
  • To raise awareness of intercultural differences in values, behaviour and ways of thinking;
  • To raise awareness of culturally determined aspects of language use;
  • To practise observation and interpretation skills as well as critical thinking;
  • To develop and adopt multiple perspectives;
  • To negotiate common ground;
  • To develop empathy, open-mindedness and respect for otherness.

 

Summary of the tasks / actions

Task 1:

Learners watch the selected sequences of videos.


Alex: 32:20 --> 33:13 



Shohreh: 21:48 --> 22:37 and 33:52 --> 34:47


After that the learners make notes in order to answer the question:

How the speakers of the videos perceive themselves?

Do they see themselves as migrants, as foreigners, or as full citizens?

What are the various reasons for their migration? Can you think of other reasons?

What is their identity in the context of culture, society, family? Before the learners start the first task, the teacher carries out a short brainstorming what are the meaning of the words: migrants, foreigners, full citizens. What is a difference between migrant and foreigner? What does it mean for you to be granted full hosting country citizenship? The learners should try to create definitions of those three terms taking into account society, culture and person.  


Task 2:

Answer the question: at what point do people stop being “migrants” and start to perceive themselves as “ordinary citizens” as a part of the society? What are the critical elements for this transfer? Can you give some examples? Maybe there were some examples in the video sequences? 


Task 3: Reflecting on your own culture and discovering other cultures

From observations upon topics related to time such as delay, punctuality, arrival time when invited for a meal or meeting… have a look inside your own culture’s expected behaviour and attitudes.

The teacher can propose also other conversation topics, the learners shall discuss if the topics are acceptable for introduction into a conversation with a person e.g. of the same age whom meet for the first time at a fairly informal social event like a party in your culture.

  • Age: could you ask someone’s age?
  • Family relationships: could you talk about problems and conflicts in your family? Could you ask if someone is married?
  • Relationships: could you talk about your private life?
  • Health: could you talk about any health problems?
  • National (party) politics: could you criticize or praise government or opposition policies or politicians?
  • International politics: could you talk about international relations?
  • Jokes: could you tell a joke? What topics would be taboo?
  • Professions: could you ask what others’ professions are? Could you talk about your own?
  • Money: could you ask what something has cost or what somebody earns?

 

Materials / Equipment:

Videos with cases, beamer, computer

Working sheets with questions

Paper notes, markers

 

References:

“FLAM Feel like am migrant - multicultural approach in teaching” Handbook, © 2010 Volkshochschule im Landkreis Cham, Germany


Lesson Plan 8 as a PDF file here


10 topics:

Last modified: Monday, 17 February 2020, 3:19 PM