Source Culture Material: Rationales and Classroom Activities

1. Source Culture Material: Rationales and Classroom Activities

  1a. Rationale in Bringing Source Culture Material into the Participants’ Teaching

  In bringing source culture material, the participants have their own reasons that encourage them to do so. Seven themes are found here, namely, the participants‘ effort to preserve Indonesian culture, their expectation that students will be good culture agents in the future, the textbook used in school, the school where one of participants work carry a title from the government, the participants‘ personal values, the students‘ familiarity to this kind of culture, and relating the value from the past and now.

  The first rationale is preserving Indonesian culture. Two participants, ID and WA considered this reason to bring source culture material in their teaching. Their concerns are presented in the excerpt below.

  ID: Because even though we learn foreign language, we need to keep some moral value that we have, such as politeness. Its function is to preserve our culture from western culture that we learn. (Interview session, June 17, 2017). (Excerpt 27)

  WA: It is important to instill our culture because our students nowadays are not aware of their own culture. (Interview session, July 11, 2017). (Excerpt 28)

  ID is aware of language learning (English) facilitates culture learning (the native speaker‘s culture). Her awareness encourages her to keep the Indonesian‘s moral value, which is politeness. If the students have strong foundation about their own culture, they will keep the moral values even though they learn other language and culture.

  WA has another reason of why she brings source culture material. She wants the students to have enough understanding about Indonesian culture which will enable them to share about the beauty of Indonesian culture, for example Wayang. The different reason from ID and WA to bring source culture material into the classroom aim at the same thing, that is preserving local culture. They hope that students will keep their culture even though they learn many languages along their life.

  Preparing students to be a good culture agent is another reason the participants bring source culture material into their teaching. WN, FJ, and OI share this idea, as seen in the excerpts below.

  WN: Indonesia is our country; students need to understand their culture in order to be a culture agent. (Interview session, June 22, 2017). (Excerpt 29)

  FJ: I tell them to put themselves bring our culture, be a good culture agent. (Interview session, June 23, 2017). (Excerpt 30)

  OI: Indonesian culture is our characteristic. So, when students go to other places, they need to bring their nationality in their identity. (Interview session, June 21, 2017).

  (Excerpt 31)

  The participants envision that when they bring the source culture, one day in the future students will present our culture into people or community outside this country. This is very likely to happen as it is possible for students to go to other countries and meet people from different cultural backgrounds. Bringing source culture materials helps the students to reflect on their own culture in order to share it with people internationally, and at the same time building respect on other‘s culture (share Indonesian culture without underestimating the other‘s culture). Choudhury (2013) supports this idea by stating that the values of students‘ own culture determine how they see the world. If students have deep understanding about their own culture, they are encouraged to respect other culture and to deal with that other culture properly. In this case, students also train themselves to appreciate differences.

  In bringing source culture material, textbook availability in school is part of the participants‘ consideration. One participant who expresses this kind of reason is AR. The excerpt below explains the AR‘s reason:

  AR: Textbook used in the school based on Indonesian culture, it is seen from the tag line of the book ―Think Globally Act Locally.‖ (Interview session, June 20, 2017).

  (Excerpt 32)

  She explained that school where she teaches uses a textbook for English subject and it contains a great number of Indonesian culture. In addition to that, AR also showed that her school has policy related to what textbook can use. The textbook should contain Indonesian culture.

  The same participant, AR, explains another reason why she brings source culture material into her teaching, which is the school, where AR teaches, carries

  a title from the government of being “Pioner Kebangsaan.” The idea can be explored in the excerpt below.

  AR: School‘s title as ―Pioner Kebangsaan‖ makes us need to implement Indonesian culture. (Interview session, June 20, 2017). (Excerpt 33)

  This title demands the school to present Indonesian culture in the subjects include English. From several chapters, Indonesian culture is discussed. As the writer mentioned before, contents presented in the textbook used also represent Indonesian culture. It requires her bring source culture material into her teaching.

  Applying her personal value as a Javanese is another reason explained by AR. Her cultural background that shapes her individual now is what she shares to students, as can be seen in the excerpt below.

  AR: Personally I have culture background, I am Javanese and live with culture from Java, so I bring value from my culture and I absorb the positive value to be applied. (Interview session, June 20, 2017). (Excerpt 34)

  AR stated that her personal experience influences her teaching to implement culture in this present situation. She also explained that in this globalization era, not all of Javanese culture can be applied, but she can adapt it based on present circumstances. This implies that she is aware of the importance of culture and brings positive values from that culture.

  Another participant, MR, explained another reason to bring source culture material into her teaching, which is the familiarity of students with the material. She mainly brings culture in narrative text, so, the familiarity of students with the Another participant, MR, explained another reason to bring source culture material into her teaching, which is the familiarity of students with the material. She mainly brings culture in narrative text, so, the familiarity of students with the

  MR: Indonesian culture is close with students, mostly students have already known the story, and the teacher‘s work is guiding students to understand the moral value. (Interview session, July 3, 2017). (Excerpt 35)

  The teaching is becoming relatively easier due to the shared background knowledge. The students are able to access the texts better and faster. Participant‘s task is guiding them to get the moral value. Besides guiding the moral value, when students have difficulty in vocabulary, the participant also helped in explaining the meaning because students already know the characters, plot, and the other intrinsic part of the story. MR implied that students have sufficient background knowledge of Indonesian culture, and bringing Indonesian culture into the classroom is possible to make the lesson more fun.

  The last main reason explained by the participants is relating value in the past and present time. It is personally experienced by AE. She defines her idea in the excerpt below.

  AE: I give them information that how to act in the past and now is different, there are things which are allowed now were not allowed to do in the past. (Interview session, July

  17, 2017). (Excerpt 36)

  In the interview session, AE explained that she taught folklore and discussed the value in the story. For example Bawang Merah dan Bawang Putih, she tried to explain the value in the story and relate it in the present time. The discussion came to the conclusion that some values which are allowed in the past time are not allowed in present time. Yet, sometimes the conclusion was vice versa. It implies In the interview session, AE explained that she taught folklore and discussed the value in the story. For example Bawang Merah dan Bawang Putih, she tried to explain the value in the story and relate it in the present time. The discussion came to the conclusion that some values which are allowed in the past time are not allowed in present time. Yet, sometimes the conclusion was vice versa. It implies

  1b. Classroom Activities in Bringing Source Culture Material into the Participants’ Teaching

  After explaining the rationales of the participants to bring source culture material into their teaching, in this discussion, the writer will explain about classroom activities conducted by the participants in the classroom to bring source culture material. The common activities are reading text, watching videos, group or individual project (presentation, making invitation or greeting card, writing an essay, and interviewing a person), and group or classroom discussion with the topic of comparing other‘s culture and Indonesian culture.

  The example of the activities conducted in class is group discussion or classroom discussion. The participants usually play the role as the mediator or take part in the discussion. They start the discussion and students actively involved in the discussion to make the classroom more interactive. They also give project for students outside classroom meeting related to culture.

  The interesting projects that the writer found from the participant is interviewing person. The participants asked the students to interview local people about folklore around them in the first project. They last write an essay about folklore based on the information that they gathered from the local people. In second project, participants asked the students to interview their parents about ten The interesting projects that the writer found from the participant is interviewing person. The participants asked the students to interview local people about folklore around them in the first project. They last write an essay about folklore based on the information that they gathered from the local people. In second project, participants asked the students to interview their parents about ten