Ann Maura Kopel <akopel@pcc.edu>

Dat      April 10, 2007 2:32:11 PM PDT

To    ELCIVICS@listsmart.osl.state.or.us

Subjec    Civics Report 2007

-Civis

 

 

Civics Report: Winter Term 2007

 

Ann Kopel, instructor at Portland Community College - Southeast Center

 

Competency Area: Community Resources – Diversity

 

California Objectives: 

2.)   Write scripts needed to ask about cultural aspects (survey)

3.)   Interview classmates using a script (survey)

8.)   Write a personal narrative

10.)  Interact with other students and take notes

13.)  Research and describe how different cultures resolve an issue 

(house hold chores)

 

Description:

1.

Students watched the Crossroads Cafe video #3 – Worlds Apart

2.

SS wrote about a relationship in their lives and analyzed how they 

are the same and different from the other person

3.

Class read an adapted version of “The Politics of Housework” by Pat 

Minardi

4.

Class designed a survey, gave it to apporx. 70 other ESOL students

5.

Class worked in small groups to analyze the results by country of 

origin

6.

Students studied good paragraph construction and then wrote a person 

essay on the topic “How the women and men share house hold duties in my 

culture.”

 

Positives:

How we divide house hold tasks is something that affects us all 

regardless of our cultures. Therefore there was a lot of interest in 

creating the survey and analyzing the results. In addition, this was a 

collaborative project on every level. Students worked with each other 

to design, revise, and analyze the survey and then worked with students 

in other classes to give the survey.  The ESOL teachers also had to 

collaborate. 

 

Next Time:

The survey was lengthy and difficult to analyze. Next time it would be 

better to simply it. It would also have been nice for the surveyed 

class to have had more information in advance of being surveyed.

 

Student reaction:

The students seemed to enjoy this project on many levels. They liked 

using English for a real purpose. They were curious about the results 

and therefore were vested in designing and analyzing the survey. The 

project generated many thoughtful essays and the topic provoked more 

writing than is generally seen in low intermediate students.