2.15 Culture

Learners will be able to:

• use maps to identify the common cultural traits of different places 

• describe elements of surface culture and deep culture

• explain how people learn culture

  Vocabulary: Deep culture, language family, native speaker, religion, surface culture
  

​Lesson 2.15
Culture

Word Cloud

What do you think of when you hear the term "American Culture"?

What is culture, and how do people learn it??

​Essential Question:

Countries in the region of East Asia share a history of influence from religions and philosophies such as Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. They use writing systems with roots in the Chinese language. Their cultures generally place a high value on respecting older people and tend to focus on group unity.

​In contrast, countries in the region of Europe are more likely to have a Christian influence in their histories. Many of their writing systems use Latin letters. Their cultures tend to value independence and personal identity.

​Culture by Regions

Multiple Choice

True or False: Everyone that lives in the same REGION shares the same cultural beliefs.

• True

• False

• I don't really know...

Physical geography can influence culture. For example, in some places with warm climates, it is common for people to take a short break from work in the afternoon. This break, called a siesta, keeps them out of the sun during the hottest part of the day. Siestas are less common in cooler climates.

​Can Physical Geography influence Culture? Yes!

Multiple Select

Which statements are true about culture? Select all that apply.

• All people in a culture have the same values.

• Physical geography influences culture

• Culture can help people feel that they are part of a group.

• Culture involves the ways people interact with others.

​Surface culture is culture that is easy to observe.

​​Surface Culture

Deep culture is a culture's rules, behaviors, and ways of thinking.

​​Deep Culture

Open Ended

The image shows a Christmas celebration in Ukraine. What parts of surface culture can you observe in the image?

Fill in the Blanks

If you go to an Italian restaurant dedicated to Italy's Cuisine. Are you experiencing Surface Culture or Deep Culture? Write your answer below.

Deep culture is not as easy to observe. Rules, behaviors, and ways of thinking are parts of deep culture. Deep culture involves a culture's ideas about what behavior is morally right, what manners are polite, and how people should interact.

​

​Deep Culture

Deep Culture Questions:

• How much do people value group identity, and how much do they value individual identity? For example, in many Asian languages, people say their family name first, as in "Smith Chris." In many European languages, people say their individual name first, as in "Chris Smith."

• How are people expected to behave when visiting someone's home? For example, in Turkey, it is customary to remove your shoes when entering someone's home.

• How do age and gender influence how people talk or interact? For example, in some Jewish, Christian, and Islamic places of worship, men and women sit separately.

• How is it decided whom someone marries? For example, most marriages in India are arranged by family members or matchmakers.

• What roles and responsibilities are expected of different family members? For example, in some Latin American families, the oldest brother is expected to take care of his siblings.

Categorize

Options (5)

What clothes people wear

what responsibilities an older sibling has

what food people eat

how people are expected to speak to strangers

Language

Categorize the following into aspects of Surface or Deep Culture?

Surface

Deep

Geographers are interested in how languages spread and change. A language family is a group of languages that come from the same base language. Italian, Spanish, French, and several other languages are part of a language family called the romance languages. These languages have their roots in Latin.

​Language & Geography

Geographers also compare the number of speakers a language has.

• Some languages are used in small communities and have only a few thousand speakers.

• The language with the most speakers is English. Around 1.5 billion people around the world speak English. Most of these speakers did not learn English as their main language since birth, but learned it as a second language.

• The language with the most native speakers, or people who have learned the language since birth, is Mandarin Chinese. It has about 1.3 billion native speakers. Most Mandarin speakers live in China.

​

Hotspot

Which spot shows where Bantu is most common?

A religion is a system of beliefs and practices, especially related to beliefs about one or more gods.

Religion is an important part of deep culture. Religions share their beliefs with people on how they should live their lives and the difference between right and wrong. They teach ideas about God or gods and what happens after death. For many people, religion shapes how they live their daily lives and how they behave.

​Religion

Multiple Choice

Which religion is the most common is South America?

• Hinduism

• Buddhism

• Christianity

• Islam

​Family is usually a person's earliest influence. Adults teach children right, wrong, and how to behave. Children learn how to interact with others from how their family members interact.

​​family

​Schools can directly teach people proper behavior. For example, your school might teach you how to communicate respectfully online.

Schools also teach a culture's values. School assignments could encourage students to express their own ideas, or they could encourage people to imitate their teachers' ideas. Schools could teach values such as patriotism, diversity, or tradition.

School

• People learn what is acceptable behavior by observing the behaviors of the people around them.

• Communities keep traditions alive.

• People may act or talk similarly to the people they meet most often.

​​Community

• Characters in movies and television can serve as role models for what a society considers good behavior.

• News sources share information about what is happening within the community, country, or world.

• Media spreads surface culture, such as art and entertainment.

​​Media

Categorize

Options (4)

Gabriella's class learns about the values of freedom and equality in the United States.

Gerald's older sister advises him on how to get along with his peers.

Trang makes a new set of friends and gradually starts to talk similarly to them.

Tucker watches movies that show people using teamwork to solve problems.

Match the scenario to the influence it best represents.

school

family

community

media

Open Ended

Tell me something important you learned in this lesson.

Click the link on the next slide to learn more about the Japanese language and an interesting concept that it has.

​Hungry for more?!?!

Edio | Commonwealth Charter Academy

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