Welcome to the Teacher's Guide for Pancho y las momias!
This guide presents a new way to look at the teaching of culture.
Two years ago, I was reading an early version of this book with my students. There were so many "neat and interesting" aspects of Mexican culture to share. One of my students turned to me and said in an awed voice, "Wow, Mexico has a lot of culture!" At the time I said, "Yeah, it does!" I was proud of my work. I thought I was changing stereotypes and broadening minds. Instead I think I was just reinforcing a stereotype that Mexico was different and exotic. Was that the message I really wanted to send? |
I always hoped that learning a language would make my students more aware, empathetic, and capable in cross-cultural interactions at home and abroad. |
Instead I think I was just reinforcing a stereotype that Mexico was different and exotic. |
There was something missing when I said, "Many Mexicans like to buy tortillas fresh every day from a tortillería. (Isn't it neat and interesting and different?)" Instead, what if we said,
"Now that you know about tortillerías, are there any foods that people in your culture insist on buying fresh for the day? Why?" Will students be able to recognize their parents' Starbucks addiction in this context? Or the insistence on buying freshly made (ramen, bagels, pho, paczkis, etc?) Will they understand that the reasons behind these food decisions can be very similar? Can we discuss the diversity of opinion in our own community and realize that the same diversity of opinion exists everywhere? |
This type of critical thinking about culture, and seeing one's own culture from an outsider's perspective, is just the foundation of building Intercultural Communicative Competence. As a teacher, I always hoped that learning a language would make my students more aware, empathetic, capable in cross-cultural interactions at home and abroad. I think that using the concept of Intercultural Communicative Competence, we can build the attitudes, skills, and knowledge needed for this much more deliberately.
Others will probably recognize many of these ideas and strategies. Many teachers and teacher's guides already teach culture much more effectively than I ever did. My goal with this site is to give an example of how I used a comprehensible graded reader as a springboard for intercultural language teaching in my TPRS/CI classroom. TPRS/CI teachers may find that they are already fostering the kind of dialogue, interaction, and reflection that intercultural language teaching promotes. My hope is to simply make this learning more purposeful and give us a common language for planning these experiences. |
Using the concept of Intercultural Communicative Competence, we can build the attitudes, skills, and knowledge needed for this much more deliberately. |
This website part of my final project for the Masters in Foreign Language Teaching program at Michigan State University.
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Read my full paper on Using Readers for Intercultural Language Teaching HERE.
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About the book
Pancho is feeling lonely after the loss of his mother and a move to a new city. When a potential new friend convinces him to sneak into the Guanajuato Mummy Museum at night, unexpected events send them on an adventure around the city. A novel written in comprehensible Spanish for early intermediate Spanish students. Both present and past tense versions of the story are included. This is an intermediate-level story about two boys, creepy mummies, and Mexico’s history and culture but it’s also about peer pressure and gathering the courage to stick up for those who need help. Includes a glossary. |
Review
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