Step 1: Warmup

Duration: 10 minutes

Purpose: Students will identify their own culture awareness or lack thereof.

This will give students an opportunity to dig further into their fears, misconceptions, and curiosity for exploring new cultures, people, and experiences.

Implementation:

Students will identify the ethnic and cultural communities that they are in contact with, associate with, or have experienced through their own education.

Ask the students if they:

• Can speak/read the language of these communities

• Understand the customs

• Identify differentiating aspects of that community that makes them unique

Ask students to write down one ethnic community that they would like to know more about, locally or internationally.

Resources/Materials:

• Slides 1-8 (overview of lesson, skip if appropriate)

• Slides 9-10 Warmup Activity

• Optional graphic organizer of piece of paper/ notebook

Assessment: Identifying cultures and ethnic communities that a person has had first-hand contact with.

Step 2: Instructional Activity

Duration: 20 minutes

Purpose: Comprehension of a person’s first-hand experiences. Being able to evaluate and synthesize a personal response to the material. Comparing and contrasting the interviewees experiences to their own.

Implementation:

Students will review Johnny Gogo’s two interviews and answer the following question in pairs/groups/individually:

• What were some of the things Johnny learned from moving around the world and the United States?

• What did he gain from being exposed to so many cultures at a young age?

• Was he able to fully understand and grasp the language and customs of the communities he was exposed to? Why would it be hard for him?

• What were some ways Johnny connected with different communities during high school and into his adult life? Why was it important for him to connect with people of different backgrounds in his personal and professional life?

• “In my opinion, there is strength in diversity. Diversity of thoughts, diversity of experience, diversity of backgrounds, diversity of practice, that just builds strength.”

• What do you think this means to Johnny? What does it mean to you? (note in particular that Johnny is a judge – why is his understanding of diversity particularly important given his role?)

Resources/Materials:

• Slides 11-16

• Johnny Gogo Oral History (transcript available on slide)

Assessment: Class discussion

Step 3: Group Work

Duration: 20 minutes

Purpose: Students will work as a team to learn about a particular ethnic community in their neighborhood/city and understand them more by exploring the shopping areas/restaurants, interviewing leaders and resource centers, and learning a new language.

Implementation:

Students will break into groups (4-6) and choose one of the following activities to do, how would they would allocate the duties and evaluate the outcomes, and organize a plan to complete it in a week or two:

Group 1

• Review the San Jose website and the Koreatown Santa Clara Eater link (or another local ethnically dense location) and choose a neighborhood to study and visit. Recommend that students choose a neighborhood that has strong ethnic/cultural representation from a population they are not familiar with.

• Use websites like Yelp and Google to look for cultural shopping centers, markets, and restaurants they can visit, try out the wares and create a 2-3 page report of their experiences: sights, smells, tastes, sounds etc. with accompanying photos.

Group 2

• Students will locate, contact, and visit a community center and/or museum that supports and serves a specific ethnic community in the area. Students will connect and speak with a staff member/docent and learn about the history of the center/museum and specific facts about the community they serve. Students will be asked to write a 2-3 page report of what they learned from their visit with accompanying photos.

Group 3

• Students with public library cards will sign-up for either Mango Languages (San Jose Public Library, Santa Clara City Library) or Rosetta Stone (Santa Clara County Library). Students will choose a language of a community that is located in their neighborhood/city.

• Students will complete at least two Chapters/Lessons. Please instruct students to write down what they have learned. Students will demonstrate what they learned by either speaking a few phrases they have learned or working with a partner to demonstrate a conversation they learned. Each group will provide a 2-3 page report about their experience learning another language. Was it hard? Easy? Fun? Would they continue learning the language? Practice it in public?

Resources/Materials:

• Slides 17-21

• Weblinks

• Library Cards (if relevant)

Assessment: Immersing themselves within culture, language, and senses of a community they are not familiar with.

Step 4: Visit a Cultural Club/Attend a Cultural Event at Your School:

Duration: 10 minutes

Purpose: Have students think outside the box and get out of their comfort zones. Learning about another culture can happen at school.

Implementation:

Students will be asked to explore a cultural club or cultural event at their school. Have students meet with club advisors and leaders and learn about:

• The club’s history

• Their social events on campus

• In what ways they help to promote their cultural heritage to the public

• In what ways can students support their efforts

• Students are encouraged to join and/or support the club, but this is optional.

Alternatively they can visit the foreign language department and interview a teacher on how they teach their lessons and immerse their students within the culture(s) the language comes from.

Resources/Materials: Slides 22-23

Assessment: Visit and learn about a cultural club at your school.