Grade 12 - Understanding Culture and Society

This sub-organizer contains the following sections:
Prescribed Learning Outcomes
Suggested Instructional Strategies
Suggested Assessment Strategies
Recommended Learning Resources

PRESCRIBED LEARNING OUTCOMES

It is expected that students will:

demonstrate effective and culturally appropriate manners and behaviours in a variety of social and business settings
adapt language to suit cultural context
analyse cultural elements represented in a variety of Japanese-language resources

To view the prescribed learning outcomes for Understanding Culture and Society in other grades click on an icon below.

SUGGESTED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

In Grade 12, the learning outcomes emphasize awareness of and sensitivity to cultures different from the students' own. Students reveal their cultural understanding through daily activities and interactions with their classmates, as well as in their completed assignments. Students are expected to gain more insight into Japanese culture and society through analyses of characteristics such as uchi, soto, and tateshakai (vertical relationships).

Have students view a video about dining customs in Japan. Assist them in organizing an excursion to a Japanese restaurant. Before the outing, conduct role plays in which students order meals, discuss strategies for coping in Japanese (including conversation topics), and review appropriate dining customs and manners.
Arrange to have a local expert on Japanese culture demonstrate for the class the importance of presentation in gift giving in Japan. Have students introduce, welcome, and thank the visitor in Japanese. After the visit, encourage students to write and mail letters of appreciation to the guest.
Ask students to role-play common problems encountered by both Japanese and Canadian exchange students, incorporating the ideas of uchi and soto (e.g., improper terms of address). Have other students identify the problems being demonstrated and replay the situations differently, offering solutions to the problems.
Invite each student to research then role-play common events in the life of a Japanese woman or man. As a class, discuss how factors such as gender, age, occupation, and geographic location affect the daily lives of the characters students chose to play.

SUGGESTED ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

At this level, the complexity of students' ideas will far exceed their abilities to express themselves in Japanese. To elicit evidence of high-level thinking, provide opportunities for students to communicate using symbols, graphics, or diagrams as well as Japanese. Assessment should focus on students' sensitivity, interpretations, and analyses of cultural elements and contexts.

As students talk about their own and other cultures and respond to cultural elements in Japanese, observe and note the extent to which they:
- ask questions about other cultures and their own
- comment positively on elements of other cultures
- notice elements of culture in the materials they read and view
- show respect and support for diversity
- comment positively on elements of Japanese culture
- are open to their classmates' opinions or work
Encourage students to record and self-assess their behaviour in authentic and simulated cultural situations (e.g., visit to a restaurant, introducing and interacting with a guest, role-playing common problems). Provide an outline such as the following:
- The most important cultural considerations in this situation were _____________.
- I showed that I knew the appropriate language and behaviour when I _____________ .
- I was surprised when _____________ .
- If I had a chance to do the same thing again, I would change _____________ .
When students analyse Japanese-language materials, consider the extent to which they are able to:
- identify stylistic features that are unique to Japanese culture
- identify content that reflects Japanese culture
- identify similarities between the Japanese materials and those from other cultures
- describe differences between the materials and those from other cultures
- show interest in and respect for cultural aspects of Japanese

RECOMMENDED LEARNING RESOURCES

Print Materials

"Body" Language
Eating in Japan
Everyday Japanese
Haiku
A Homestay in Japan
In Japan
Japanese - An Appetizer
Japanese for Everyone
Japanese Society Today
Mangajin's Basic Japanese Through Comics
Nihongo Notes 1
Yookoso!

Video

Annual Festivities and Ceremonies
Working Women

Multimedia

101 Japanese Idioms
Japanese Language and People
Moshi Moshi
Pera Pera

CD-ROM

Exotic Japan

Revised: January 26, 1999

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