Eren Keles Eren Keles

Business English: Cultural Diversity
Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate level

Description

In this lesson Ss will examine the effects of a culture on doing business through comparisons among the countries.

Materials

Abc Figure (Process and stages of cultural competency)
Abc You and Your Culture
Abc Survey
Abc Debate Topics

Main Aims

  • Share our similarities, celebrate our differences. - M. Scott Peck

Subsidiary Aims

  • To provide gist in the context of Diversity at workplace

Procedure

Warm-up (15-20 minutes) • To set the lesson context

Write CULTURAL AWARENESS on WB and ask Ss what they think this expression might mean. Divide Ss into pairs, reflect the figure(Process and stages of cultural competency) to the WB and instruct Ss to come up with some explanations to those stages. (T answer: Cultural Awarenes: 'cultural awareness refers to an awareness of one’s own culture as well as being able to recognize differences with other cultures.' / Cultural Preparedness: 'Being culturally prepared is accompanied by an open, non-judgmental attitude and a respect for cultural differences.' / Cultural picture of the person: 'the participants not only recognized cultural differences among individuals from different cultures, but also differences among individuals from the same culture.' / Cultural responsiveness: 'People need to have awareness of different cultural needs and preferences so that they can respond appropriately in a non-judgmental way and make provisions for these differing cultural needs and preferences.' / Cultural readiness: 'By this stage, the participants were psychologically, behaviorally, and attitudinally ready to deal with clients from a wide variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds and felt entirely at ease with these.' / Cultural Competency: 'have a clear appreciation of their own cultural identity and a deep understanding of cultural differences that enables them to respond effectively when working with those from cultural backgrounds the same as and different from their own.') After explaining the stages, inform Ss that today they are going to discuss cultural diversity at workplace and its pros and cons.

Discussion (10-15 minutes) • To provide an opportunity to share ideas

Write DNA and CULTURE on WB and ask Ss which one they think have been the most important influence on them or if they can come up with other factors that have affect them. Elicit some responses from Ss. Distribute the HO(You and Your Culture) and ask Ss to read every statement and decide which ones have been the most influential ones on their life. Elicit some responses from Ss. (Focus particularly on 1,3, and 10.)

Discussion: Corporate Culture (20-25 minutes) • To provide Ss an opportunity to express their ideas

Write the following statements on WB: "showing that you are emotionally involved in your work, making eye contact with hierarchical superiors, wearing fairly casual clothes to work, making jokes in meetings, disagreing with superiors in meetings, socializing with superiors and/or subordinates" and ask Ss whether these issues are acceptable in their company, or in their country in general. Elicit some responses from Ss. Then, ask Ss their opinions if they think there is something wrong with these issues and why they think so. Write GROUP/TEAM WORK and INDIVIDUAL on WB and Referring to the in-class activies, ask Ss if they enjoy pair works and group works or not. Then, ask Ss if they would like work in a group/team or work individual and why. Elicit responses from Ss. Instruct Ss that they are going to be given a survey, there are 10 questions regarding working in group/team or individual, and each S is supposed to complete the survey individually. Distribute the Survey HO, and let Ss complete the survey. When Ss have finished responding the survey, divide Ss into pairs to share their results with their peers. Gather Ss for WC FB.

Video: Diversity (15-20 minutes) • To provide an opportunity to analyse a video

Write DIVERSITY on WB and ask Ss if they are familiar with this word. [T answer: Diversity is all about empowering people by respecting and appreciating what makes them different. One of the aspects of it is using appropriate inclusive language.] Instruct Ss that they are going to watch an animation named "PURL"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6uuIHpFkuo], while watching the video Ss need to take notes on two questions "1: What it is about, 2: What problem in the workplace it shows." [Pre-teach: YARN, WEAVE, CROCHET] Play the video and let Ss watch it and after having finished watching the animation, tell Ss to keep their notes. Then, tell Ss that they are going to watch an interview with the writer-director of Purl[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nK6mSsO6M8] and instruct Ss to watch the interview and compare and check their answers to see if they were right. Gather Ss for WC FB.

Debate and Productive Task (10-15 minutes) • To provide an opportunity to create arguments

Divide Ss into pairs and tell Ss that they are going to be given a debate topic on diversity, with their partners they are supposed to prepare arguments in favour or against to the topic. Distribute the Debate HO and let Ss create their arguments. Gather the Ss for WC FB.

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