Some rational strategies for teaching culture in English

«A Simple Life

If you want to be free? Learn to live simply.

Use what you have and be content where you are. Quite trying to solve your problems by moving to another place, by changing mates or careers.

Leave your car in the garage. If you have a gun – put it away. Sell that complex computer and go back to using pencil and paper. Rather than read every new book that comes along, reread the classics.

Eat foot grown locally. Wear simple, durable clothing. Keep a small home, uncluttered and easy to clean. Keep an open calendar with periods of uncommitted time. Have a spiritual practice and let family customs grow.

Of course, the world is full of novelty and adventures. New opportunities come along every day.

So what? The Tao of Leadership».

Culture is something well known and unknown at all, when the students do their best in order to penetrate through its values and treasures. The definition of Culture has been forming for years as something especially valuable for everything existing and acting in the world since the moment of its’ appearance on the planet. Nobody can live without Culture as something reliable and attractive, influencing the human being’s nature more, than the other external forces from the early childhood and to the last days of living. But Culture is a magic art, intellectual, emotional, psychological and spiritual substance, adopted and understood by different people separately, specifically, absolutely or partly, positively or not, in open or a secret way of recognizing, realizing and adaption.

During the longest history of mankind the teachers of foreign languages were the first on the way to sustainable development of the nations, because the very process began with opportunity of exchanging the cultural treasures of communication habits and skills due to spoken practice of multicultural worlds’ representatives of many generations of accumulated the effective teaching great experience, enriching it by introduction of modern methods of new technologies and information findings. The structure of teaching effectiveness process’ activated with applying effective approaches to training main spoken and written skills being offered.

Throughout our history the only constant meaning as the core of all important aspects of Culture in everything – has been change. In this situation the role of a Teacher as a tutor, trainer, psychologist, parent, educator, adviser, sometimes an artist and an actor, a producer always – has no analogs in the history of improving the world due to aesthetic and ethics laws of Culture. The Teachers have prepared generation after generation not only for pure intellect- knowledge-education skills of a student and for a student (cadet), but for the maintaining the best treasures of material and spiritual Culture in and for our fast- moving society, not only in the direction desired by our native culture, but influenced outside clips of another countries and cultures.

A military person is oriented to his leading role in the society by the very definition. It means to be in correspondence with all demands of educational, personal and cultural standards, being taught and educated not simply only enough, but above the standard level of elementary skills possession. The theme “Culture” in teaching and context of different disciplines in integration is extremely important as a sensitive educational material -information-outlook, giving to those taught opportunity not leave their future behind, survive the best in the culture of nation, enrich a widely developed personality (individuality), respecting humanitarian values, art treasures and great names of famous personalities belonging to national and world Culture. The modern world is multicultural, and people, possessing because they possess great opportunities and possibilities in their activity to observe, to enjoy, to admire, to keep, to save, to penetrate through unforgettable history and reality of Culture during studying and learning, feeling oneself as a participant and a creator of culture as existence’ foundation. To understand and admit it means to recognize oneself as being content due to cultural core and colors. Tao says:” Being content permits simplicity in life. What is common is universal. What is natural is close to the source of creation. This is traditional wisdom” [1, p. 39]. Culture is wisdom.

We reached a conclusion that our cadets are oriented toward themselves and their own vision of Culture as a part of their educational and intellectual field in connection with common Are the ideas aims and tasks of a team of the military servicemen in their surrounding sphere. With the help of the questionnaires in English, which were answered by many students we knew about level of their preparation on cultural subject and consider the questions to be rather useful and effective for analyzing the cultural situation as both subject and object. Here are some questions, may be useful and interesting for those interested:

• Does the student show a clear understanding of the notion “Culture” as the task of military education?
• Is there appropriate introduction and conclusion in every theme of the studies of different disciplines of the University?
• Are the students’ ideas concerning Culture well-organized and logically ordered?
• Is appropriate signposting and linking Culture language used?
• How do you understand the term “Universal Culture language” or “Language of Culture”?
• Are the ideas about Culture clearly expressed and easy to understand if they are divided in such groups as: Art culture, communication culture, personal culture, educational culture, intellectual culture, physical culture, engineering culture and so on?
• Does the student use a wide range of appropriate vocabulary and grammar concerning discussing Culture?
• Is the summary of an appropriate length? [2, p. 29].

Before designing any questionnaire, the teacher must evaluate “What is the student (the cadet) going to get out of Culture learning? (speaking (dialogue, monologue), reading, translating, annotating, listening to).

A teacher makes up a list of the researcher’s expectations of the student. (to read it later and compare with the student’s one). And even more. A teacher discusses with the participant of their communication (lesson, workshop, lecture, role-play, brain-storm, conference, seminar, etc.) what a learner may want from a teacher (a kind of Information about culture, film, poems, performance, plays, music or books, etc. A teacher completes the list of cultural values from the students’ perspectives, because his pedagogical and up-bringing aim is to want from the student as a participant of their common work on cultural education – Tangible reward as a productive result of communication.

The process of cultural values exchanging has been constructed between teacher and students with some obligatory teachers’ demands in accordance with students’ answers on the topic “Culture”. The teacher wants from the students a clear vision of the definite cultural aspects when they must:

• Demonstrate honesty;
• Take in reasons for the study concerning “Culture”;
• Follow the instructions in completing the study;
• Think through the issues before forming the answer;
• Get social benefits from seeing the culture’s oral and written research completed;
• Say good things about the rationale for culture research as discussing, explanation, definition, description of a topic in an essay, etc.

A constructivist approach to spoken and written skills is impossible without giving the students (cadets) opportunity of understanding themselves in the field of Culture as a Science of research investigation of Life and a Science as a communicative culture of a leader.

And “A constructive approach”. What is it, Culture? A phenomenon or a norm of right living? Or a soul of all deeds of a mankind? Firstly, it is a close communication process, of a teacher and students, when a teacher encourages learners (cadets) to work out meanings and functions from teacher demonstrations, course book and class activities. The both sides cooperate and communicate using both contexts – reality- situation (cultural communication) and co- text, as language situation. This style and method of communication encourage learners to think for themselves, use their innate language learning skills, becoming confident and competent independent learners.

The more people we appreciate while teaching-learning Culture, the more close they become to us, the more understandable and appreciated their history, art, literature, existence. Their motherland Culture. The World Culture. It is a bountiful harvest of acts of wisdom: we need to begin by simple acts of wisdom (Culture of thinking and communication) toward ourselves, realizing and recognizing our responsibility inside interpersonal and collective, intercultural by definition communication teaching as Insight [3, p. 8-11]. Cultural teaching is a true insight of educational process, oriented to Future World as a sustainable one.