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INCORPORATING CULTURAL STUDIES AND HISTORY INTO ENGLISH LESSONS

SVĚTLANA OBENAUSOVÁ

Abstract

This paper is aimed at teachers of English at basic and secondary schools who say that they do not have time to go beyond the scope of their textbooks. My purpose is to persuade them that there exist many short activities enabling them to incorporate cultural studies and history in English lessons, thus enlarging students’ knowledge and understanding of English-speaking countries and raising their interest in learning English.

Key words – Cultural studies, history, short activities, internet resources

Although the textbooks of English used in our schools usually contain passages dedicated to the life and culture of English-speaking countries, it is still well worth the effort if teachers enrich their lessons with short activities of their own or taken from other than textbook sources.

By cultural studies I mean both big C and small c culture (see Tomalin, B. – Stempleski, S., 1993, p. 6). After a long period when students were forced to learn by heart boring and factual paragraphs on the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Abbey for their exams (big C culture), at the moment, there is a tendency to look more at small c culture, that is, behaviour culture or everyday culture. Yet I would not underestimate big C culture, that is, achievement culture, if it is done properly, in an interesting and amusing way, not just through cramming facts and figures.

When teaching English, we should try to incorporate the cultural aspect from the very start, making students aware of the fact that English, although it is becoming used as the language of international communication more and more, is also the mother tongue or lingua franca of people in all continents, who have a rich culture and history. Because of this we should include bits and pieces not only about England and the USA, but also about other English-speaking countries like Australia and Canada, but also India and African countries.

There appears to be a growing trend towards incorporating material from non-English-speaking backgrounds into British-published textbooks. The reason for this may be that, according to Newsweek and other sources, non-native speakers of English now outnumber native speakers 3 to 1. It may be caused by the wish to please the learners, to make them feel at ease when they can identify with their own cultures, or simply by the thriving intercultural aspect in modern education. Sometimes teachers even complain that there is not enough about English-speaking countries in textbooks.

How does the integration of cultural studies into English lessons help students?

• Motivation. Students find new issues of interest (music, sports, fashion, films) and want to improve their English to be able to understand more.
• Real communication. If students deal with interesting texts or films about contemporary life in English-speaking countries, the ensuing discussions are more lively and lead to comparison with the situation in our country and curiosity to learn more. Language issues are thus set in a real context.
• Intercultural awareness. Learning another language opens a window onto another life. As for English, many new windows are opened, as there are so many English-speaking cultures and even more where English is spoken as a second or third language.
• Raising tolerance. Fear and hatred usually arise from ignorance; if we learn who other people are, what they like and dislike, they stop being perceived as weird and potentially dangerous.
• Bringing real content to grammar activities. As will be shown later, there exist many ready-made activities on the web, just sitting there and waiting to be used by more teachers. In them, vocabulary acquisition and grammar revision tasks are combined with various entertaining content. Students are so absorbed in the tasks they hardly realise they are also revising grammar.
• Theme-based work. Topics of real interest to students should be covered in a world context, not just the Czech or Central European one. English is used for issues that can enrich students in another sphere, enlarge their knowledge, and help their understanding of today’s world. A typical example of this would be the hot issue of today – climate change.
• Cross-curricular approach. It is highly advisable to cooperate with all the teachers in your school, because whenever they deal with anything related to the English-speaking world, be it chemistry, geography, physics or history, you can always find some interesting material on the issue on the web and adapt it for your students. Some BBC websites even have this type of material ready to use. Thus you will kill two birds with one stone – the matter will have been pre-taught by another teacher, and students will understand they are not forced to learn separate chunks of knowledge, but everything is interconnected, like in real life.

Why bother incorporating history into English lessons?

Teachers whom I teach in seminars usually do not protest against introducing culture-related issues from either big C or small c culture, because they feel it might be of interest and also useful to their students. But why history?

• Because history is an important part of every nation’s culture. Teaching about countries and cities without mentioning their history does not leave many traces in a child’s memory. If we add interesting historical details, we make facts more memorable.
• Because history is inextricably bound up with contemporary life, we just cannot understand the present if we do not have at least a slight insight into things from the past. It helps explain today’s problems and people’s attitudes.
• Because history surely is a very good subject for a cross-curricular approach. If you want to use a cross-curricular approach, incorporating literature, geography and art in your lessons of English, you will need history as background.
• Because history is full of thrilling stories that children like. There are so many movies using historical figures or events. Not all of them are trustworthy regarding facts; some develop myths and generate misconceptions even further. Still, most of them arouse children’s interest by their spirit of adventure. Teaching history can help avoid these popular misconceptions (e.g. about the Celts).
• Because history is reflected even in pop music or sports, fields that can really catch students’ attention.
• Because teaching about holidays and festivals without mentioning their historical background is very shallow and adds to further commercialisation of the events.
• Because the web is full of interesting material enabling us to teach history in an innovative way. We can even teach grammar or vocabulary through various activities based on historical events – a lot of them have already been prepared for teachers and once you start using them and see their advantages, you will soon begin to produce your own based on the grammar you need to revise.
• Because students will have heard about the main historical events in their history classes, so you do not need to pre-teach anything apart from unknown vocabulary; the ground has been set for you by other teachers.
• Because children are curious and will be impressed if you can provide an explanation of why London policemen are called Bobbies or why the thistle has become the symbol of Scotland or why Celtic Football Club in Glasgow is mainly supported by Catholic fans.
• Because even if children claim they do not like history and they hate learning it at school, they often identify with some historical heroes (e.g. William Wallace in Scotland).
• Because the past is a sum of events and history is their interpretation. And since there are many interpretations, it can lead to fruitful discussion with older students.

Bits and pieces from history that can enliven your English lessons.

Being a British and American history teacher, I can suggest certain topics suitable for children for project work, as well as for five-minute activities.

Projects

• A day in the life of an ordinary Celt, British Roman, Viking, etc.
• Arthurian legends
• The Bayeux tapestry – the oldest cartoon strip – will surely be popular even with the smallest children. What does it tell us not only about the Norman Conquest but also about the way of fighting, fashion, ship-building, people’s beliefs and superstitions of the time?
• Elizabethan England – amusements of the time, theatre, medicine, food, fashion, etc.
• Sea explorations
• Victorian period – A day in the life of a middle-class and working-class child. It is always good to make children understand what their daily routine would have been like if they had been born rich or poor during the Industrial Revolution in Britain – because this is simply not just history, we have examples of child labour in the modern world of today.
• Inventors and their inventions – what would our life be without them (a good cross-curricular topic)?
• Building of the railways in Britain – how it changed people’s way of life, diet, holidays, reading habits, etc. In the USA the same theme will deal with a much more serious context – the impact of the railroad on the life of the Native Americans – suitable for older students.
• Changing fashions throughout the centuries. Which events initiated the changes? Why bobbed heads and a boyish look in the 1920s, why miniskirts in the 1960s?
• Schools – how did it all start, was it different from our country? Teaching methods through the ages and what did it mean for children?
• Popular sports, their origin and reasons for their popularity in different parts of the world.
• Housing – architectural styles, geographical and social differences in history and modern times.
• Holidays and festivals with their historical background (deconstruction of stereotypes – Bonfire Night – Guy Fawkes Day, Thanksgiving, Remembrance Day, etc.)
• Visible representations of royalty, their emblems and symbols in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth – is it the same everywhere? (Scottish banknotes without the Queen, etc.) What does royalty mean in the modern world?
• Columbus – myths versus reality.
• Native Americans, their way of life before the arrival of white settlers, how things changed for them afterwards.
• Lewis and Clark – explorations of the American territory (based on their diary on the National Geographic website).
• American national parks, their origin and history, comparison with our national parks, environmental issues.
• History of jazz, how it is interwoven with black people’s fate in the USA.
• The Bill of Rights. (For older students.) What rights do we have in this country, do we have all of those mentioned there? Do any of them cause problems in modern America? A discussion on human rights in the world.
• The major global issue of the day – climate change, its historical roots, impact on the world, possible solutions.

Five-minute activities, bits and pieces

• Stamps (Why is the name of the country not on English stamps?)
• Coins (symbols on the reverse on British coins), Czech coins, Euro.
• Banknotes (English, Scottish – no queen on the reverse, Czech – which people are considered important enough to appear on the country’s banknotes and why?)
• Flags – How was the Union Jack composed? Why is Wales not represented there? The Czech flag.
• Inventors and inventions. Many short activities – attributing the right invention to its inventor, chronology of several inventions, a short list of inventions – deciding which was the most important for humankind – discussion, dominoes with inventors and inventions, making little heaps of inventions on pieces of paper according to centuries, according to countries of origin, etc.
• Symbols –

o   flowers (poppy flowers for Remembrance Day, national symbols – thistle, rose, leek/daffodil, shamrock – there is always a story with historical background about them),

o   animals (royal lions of England, lion rampant of Scotland, Czech lion with two tails, eagle in the USA – originally the symbol of the Iroquois League),

o   colours (especially important symbolically in Northern Ireland), general symbolism of colours and how it changed in history.

• Extracts from movies for general listening comprehension and ensuing discussion (Braveheart, Merlin or Excalibur, Passage to India, Gandhi, Pride and Prejudice, The Great Gatsby and many more) – older students.
• Songs – listening comprehension, discussion (Sinead O’Connor – The Famine – Ireland, Neil Young – Alabama – black rights, Ohio – students’ revolts against Vietnam, Scott McKenzie – San Francisco – hippies, Bob Marley – Them Belly Full as a representative of reggae, and many more, even national anthems are a good source) – for older students.
• Funny pieces of language – why do they say this? (See Michael Quinion’s website World Wide Words for this).
• Jokes – a lot of them are based on national stereotypes that have a historical background (why are the Scots regarded as mean, the Irish as dumb and lazy, etc.) – discussion deconstructing the stereotypes.
• Topical holidays and festivals – always with their historical context.
• Festivals and holidays unheard of here and their historical background (Religious Freedom Day, John Muir Day, Emmeline Pankhurst Day, Pi Day, etc.)
• Place names (Roman military camps, old Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Viking settlements)
• Extracts of famous speeches for listening comprehension and their historical background – with older students (M.L. King, J.F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and many more)
• language borrowings (in Czech from German, in English from French and many other languages) – a good source for this can be the electronic version of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary – 7th edition.
• Housing – development of housing – postcards or photos – putting the houses in chronological order.
• Looking at the map.

o   How did various types of countryside influence the settlement and further development of the country?

o   Why are Celtic languages spoken mainly in the hilly parts of the United Kingdom?

o   Where did all the forests go in Britain, once rich in wood?

o   The main rivers and what was their importance in history? (settlement, industry, ports)

• The calendar – many interesting short activities.

o   Days of the week – Anglo-Saxon names.

o   Months – Roman/Latin names, Caesar’s reform (Why is the tenth month called October, which refers to the number eight in Latin?)

o   Different calendars in the world.

o   Holidays by religion (see the Earth Calendar website)

I am fully aware of the fact that this list is by no means complete, yet I hope it is at least inspiring and you will add your own ideas to it.

Possible sources

Recommended books:

GILL, S. – ČAŇKOVÁ, M. Intercultural Activities. Oxford: OUP, 2002.

LEWIS, G. The Internet and Young Learners. Oxford: OUP, 2004.

SAMPEDRO, R. – HILLYARD, S. Global Issues. Oxford: OUP, 2004.

ŠVECOVÁ, H. Cross-curricular Activities. Oxford: OUP, 2003.

TOMALIN, B. – STEMPLESKI, S. Cultural Awareness. Oxford: OUP, 1993.

UTLEY, D. Intercultural Resource Pack. Intercultural communication resources for language teachers. Cambridge: CUP, 2004.

WALLWORK, A. The Book of Days. A resource book of activities for special days in the year. Cambridge: CUP, 1999.

A selection of recommended websites:

Ready-made materials

Inside Out (Macmillan)

http://www.insideout.net/e-lessons.htm

One Stop English (Macmillan)

http://www.onestopenglish.com/Lessonshare/index.htm

Oxford Teachers’ Club

http://www.oup.com/elt/teachersclub/?cc=cz

My choice from the wide range of history websites

Hyper History Online

World history site. Historical timelines, biographical lifelines, and many colourful maps, events, all on one page. Very impressive, very useful. Shortcuts to different fields like art, science, and many more.

http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/History_n2/a.html

Spartacus Educational Schoolnet

One of the best sites for history. A rich resource for both teachers and students of British History. Schoolnet offers a wonderful depth of information on British history and a very complete web directory of related sites.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/

BBC History

British bias, links to interactive history web sites. Thematic sections. History for kids.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/forkids/

History Channel

A very user-friendly site, with a strong bias towards American history. Hosts Teacher’s Newsletter. History day-by-day – in the section This day in history you can find what happened on your birthday.

http://www.historychannel.com/

History for Kids

Searching through links or Google search box, lesson plans, teacher planning pages, ideas for projects.

http://www.historyforkids.org/

Eye Witness to History

History through the eyes of those who lived it, as the subtitle of the page claims. Yet very useful for quoted passages of historical documents, speeches, etc. Photo of the week, part of a rich photo gallery. Voices of the 20th century – recordings of several interesting speeches and radio broadcasts.

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/

The History Place. The Past into the Future

A very informative site, especially for American history, yet not only. Worth visiting regularly because of its topical sections: Photo of the week, Speech of the week, This month in history, and many more. Rich in visual materials.

http://www.historyplace.com/

Social Studies for Kids

An American site with some useful links to topics like The 13 American Colonies, etc.

http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/

Tudor England

Biographies, portraits, quizzes, links to other sources.

http://englishhistory.net/tudor.html

Tudor History

All about the Tudors.

http://tudorhistory.org/

The Victoria Web

A rich source on the Victorian period, including science, religion, visual arts and much more.

http://www.victorianweb.org/

Diverse websites mentioned in this paper

BBC website for schools

This site covers many subjects, including history, it is divided into ages 4-11, 11-16, 16 plus, and school work support, games, etc. Well worth exploring.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/

Michael Quinion’s website World Wide Words

http://www.worldwidewords.org/index.htm

Earth Calendar

http://www.earthcalendar.net/index.php

Calendars, holidays and date calculators

http://www.timeanddate.com/date/

Calendars through the ages

http://webexhibits.org/calendars/

Bibliography:

TOMALIN, B. – STEMPLESKI, S. Cultural Awareness. Oxford: OUP, 1993.

PhDr. Světlana Obenausová, MLitt

Katedra anglického jazyka PdF UP

Žižkovo nám. 5

771 40 Olomouc

svetlana.obenausova@upol.cz

Thanks for citing my work properly:

OBENAUSOVÁ, S. Incorporating Cultural Studies and History into English Lessons. In: S. Válková (ed.) New Trends in Educating Future Teachers of English III. Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého, 2007. S. 93-103. ISBN 978-80-244-1851-3