15 minutes
Presenters: Sophia Zevgoli, Deree-The American College of Greece
Take a look back at Sophia Zevgoli’s session on experiential learning and culture teaching especially in language classrooms. Integrating real-world experiences has been widely emphasized in the literature (e.g. Andersen, Boud & Cohen, 2000; Byram & Grundy, 2003), but they say the extent this has been practically implemented has received less attention. The presentation aimed to demonstrate how cultural immersion experiences can be integrated in second language classes to promote active learning and that these activities can be adaptable to a wide variety of educational settings, especially those employing project-based and task-based learning.
The presentation provided an overview of an experiential activity designed for college-level beginner learners of Modern Greek as a second language. It discussed how this active learning activity helps learners:
- grow confidence in using the target language in real-life settings;
- develop a better appreciation of the target culture, which in turn enhances their intercultural competence;
- critically reevaluate “self” and “other” and reassess their own cultural biases, stereotypes and values;
- redefine their identity as members of local and global communities; and
- reinforce their sense of belonging in expanded learner communities.
Specifically, the activity consists of three stages: a preparatory stage involving student observation of Modern Greek everyday culture and participation in a relevant class blog, an experiential class at a café, where learners actively engage in and take responsibility for authentic interactions with members of the host community, and a meta-cognitive stage involving critical reflection on the cultural immersion experience.
The Active Learning Network 