Activity: Our own culture
[good for chapter on leisure activities]
1. Ask students to brainstorm elements of U.S. culture (shopping malls, Mickey Mouse,
Thanksgiving dinner).
2. In groups, students brainstorm as many elements they can in 5 minutes and decide on the
topics essential in a course for college age foreign students learning about American
culture. Discuss consensual elements as well as diversity (our culture may not be
homogeneous).
(Finkelstein, 1998)
Activity: Ethnocentrism
1. Elicit common behaviors from students: what is the best kind of music? What is the
right way to cut a steak? What is the proper behavior when you are introduced to a
relative?
2. Move to generational differences. Do your parents agree with your answers? What
about your grandparents?
3. Discuss how it is common for different groups to think that their way is the right way.
You might introduce the term “ethnocentrism” and how it blocks communication
(students might think of communication problems with their parents or grandparents!)
(Mantle-Bromley, 1992)
OR
1. Show students the picture of the old woman/beautiful woman on the next page. What do
they see?
2. Note that once you have seen something one way, it’s hard to look at it in another.
OR
1. Find a picture of two men or two women embracing or a picture of a food not commonly
eaten in the U.S. Ask students to react (negative comments may result).
2. Discuss the idea of ethnocentrism on the board and give some examples:
 You eat pizza with your hands and think it is crazy to eat it with a fork.
 You cut your meat with your fork in your left hand but switch your fork to the
right hand to eat. People who do otherwise are weird.
 Your friend’s family doesn’t eat dinner until 9:00 p.m. That is really crazy!
3. Have students give other examples of ethnocentrism (belief one’s culture is right and
others are wrong or illogical). Note that this is a common reaction to differences. It is
just important to be aware of it to accept difference as alternatives to our own ways.
4. Students can write about what they learned from looking at the picture of the old woman
or the picture of the embrace/food.
(Finkelstein, 1998)
After such activities, remind students that:
1. “People tend to see what they believe rather than believe what they see. Words/deeds of
another people, if not experienced and interpreted within the cultural context that assigns
their meaning, may merely attach themselves to the outside observer’s own sense-making
system.” (Galloway, 1999, p. 165)
2. We see things through own culture. For example, students were shown 2 pictures of a
Salvadoran family at home gathered around table or with the mother/daughter hanging
laundry on line. They were to write down one impression. They saw it as a poor family
due to the absence of things (no refrigerator, washing machine, small stove, water in
bowls, bathroom outdoors). They were “looking for” and not “seeing”. Students were
then asked to describe what was THERE and not what was MISSING. They then saw
items valued by the family (flowers, pictures, children, etc.) (Galloway, 1999, p. 161).
3. U.S. students center around the “taking in” of objects, ideas, and images from only their
own experiences. […] They assume “what does the new arrival want to know about us?”
(Galloway, 1999, p. 179).