Refelction on the teaching plan ( Artefact 2)

 Reflection on the teaching Plan: 

(Artefact 2) 

Intercultural Communication for 5th Grade

This teaching plan is a thoughtful and well-structured introduction to intercultural communication aimed at developing intercultural competence in young learners. It successfully aligns with both the theoretical frameworks and didactic principles relevant to foreign language teaching, particularly the work of Michael Byram and the communicative language teaching approach outlined by Henriksen et al. (2020).

The plan is grounded in a clear pedagogical intention: to foster openness, tolerance, curiosity, and critical reflection about cultural diversity. From the very first lesson, the students are asked to reflect on the concept of culture through visual stimuli and  interactive games. This corresponds well with Byram’s attitude dimension, which highlights the importance of curiosity and openness towards others (Henriksen, 2020, p. 125). The mingling activity “Find someone who…” further engages the students in peer-based knowledge construction, where they share personal and family experiences related to cultural elements, at the same time they are creating a basic foundation for intercultural learning, based on their own knowledge.

Lesson 2 forces the students to compare and interpret cultural practices, such as greetings, which again encourages the students to think a little deeper and more thoroughly about different cultural elements. This is in line with Byram’s skills of interpreting and relating, because the students start to learn to understand different cultural practices in relation to their own culture. Role playing supports this by letting the students experiment with different cultures and their ways to fx greet eachother.

Lesson 3 digs a bit deeper into intercultural engagement and understanding by showing a child’s daily life in another culture. This video-based approach supports the knowledge dimension in Byram’s model, because the students  gain an insight into everyday life across the cultures, beyond the more stereotypical representations. The follow-up task — a comic strip — helps the students apply their understanding creatively and reflectively. At the same time, it cultivates skills of discovery and interaction, which Byram sees as important when it comes tointercultural encounters.

Lesson 4’s “Cultural Dilemmas” activity challenges the students tothink about their own values and possible misunderstandings in cross-cultural situations, which has to do with critical cultural awarenes. The tudents are expected not just to learn about differences but to talk about them respectfully.

The writing task (“Letter to a new friend”) and a “Cultural Show & Tell” supports their own language production in an intercultural contexts. These tasks are communicative and perfectly fit with Henriksen’s four criteria for communicative tasks: there is a clear purpose, new information is exchanged, students use their own linguistic resources, and meaning is the focus (Henriksen et al., 2020, p. 71). The use of authentic communication tasks helps the students, particularly relevant as the students prepare to welcome Spanish visitors. This real-world connection motivates and gives them a good reason and a will to apply their knowledge.

In sum, this teaching plan demonstrates a good understanding of how to work with intercultural competence in the english classroom.

Literature:

  • Henriksen, B. et al. (2020). Hvorfor gør jeg det, jeg gør? Samfundslitteratur.

  • Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence. Multilingual Matters.

EMU (2024). Faglige mål og vejledninger for engelsk i grundskolen. https://emu.dk/grundskole/engelsk

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