InTASC STANDARD Four: Content Knowledge: The teacher understands the central concepts,

tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) he or she teaches and creates learning

experiences that make these aspects of the discipline accessible and meaningful for learners to

assure mastery of the content.

Name of Artifact: Fiche de Lecture : Aya de Yopougon

Course: FRE 545 Topics in French Literature Adolescent and Children's Francophone Literature

Date: 23 November 2016

ACTFL Standards Addressed: Making Connections: Learners build, reinforce, and expand their

knowledge of other disciplines while using the language to develop critical thinking and to solve

problems creatively.

Rationale:

In my topics in French literature class, my professor gave the class questions to answer as

we read. This is a technique that allowed us to focus our reading. Our teacher knew that the

material may have been unfamiliar to us. Her questions helped us think about the material and

guided us to new cultural understandings. The French literature classes that I took in my

undergraduate degree were all centered on literature from France. The reading for which I

answered the questions takes place in Ivory Coast. The questions allowed me to reflect more

deeply on the text since the author was not present and could not clarify meaning (Shrum &

Glisan, 2015). I interpreted the text to expand my understanding of Francophone culture. This

skill is important for my intent to guide my students toward intercultural competence. Not

everyone that my students meet will be from the same culture as my students. They will need to

develop intercultural interpersonal relationships. This can be difficult since what is acceptable in

one culture may not be acceptable in another, or maybe it is not acceptable for a particular group
within the culture (Jackson, 2014). Developing intercultural competence is essential for effective

communication. In Principles of Language Learning and Teaching: A Course in Second

Language Acquisition, Brown recounts the difficulties one student from Japan had when he came

to the United States. The student was taught to never call a teacher by his or her first name or

speak unless the teacher tells him to speak. His teachers in the United States wanted him to

address them by their first names and work in small groups (Brown, 2014). These experiences

caused confusion because the student was not interculturally competent. I can help my students

avoid similar experiences by making sure that I continue to increase my intercultural competence

and guide my students to intercultural competence through reading and discussion. I can focus

students reading and discussion through questioning to ensure that my students consider

different perspectives as well as how and why different cultures may do things differently.

Another example of a cultural misunderstanding occurs in Butterflies when a student tells the

teacher a story about butterflies. The student tells her teacher that she kills the butterflies. The

teacher tells her student that butterflies are beautiful and that she doesnt kill butterflies. When

the student told her grandparents, the grandparents told the student that her teacher buys her

vegetables (Cazden, 2001). In the students familys culture the butterflies are pests that eat their

vegetables that they grow and in the teachers culture butterflies are beautiful creatures.

Studying the target cultures will assist me in making sure that my students are interculturally

competent. I also must keep in mind the different cultures in my classroom.

References

Brown, H. D. (2014). Principles of language learning and teaching A course in second language

acquisition (6th ed.). White Plains, NY: Pearson.

Cazden, C. B. (2001). Classroom discourse The language of teaching and learning (2nd ed.).

Potsmouth, NH: Heineman.

Jackson, J. (2014). Introducing language and intercultural communication (1st ed.). New York,

NY: Routledge.

Shrum, J. L., & Glisan, E. W. (2015). Teachers handbook (5th ed.). United States of America:

Cengage Learning.