Drafts, Slippers and Mother in Law

Title of Activity
Prejudice and stereotypes

Description of educational activity

Duration: 2 x 45 minutes

Student age: 17 – 18 (Junior year)

Student class organization: group work

Lecture goal:

To encourage the development of cultural understanding and breaking stereotypes and prejudices

Developing empathy

Supporting materials

Internet
Teaching leaflets
Croatian phraseological dictionary

Highlights:

3 texts
sticky notes

Activity:

reading, interpreting, and discussing the text

I. Activity before reading

Allows for motivation, sharing of personal impressions, and group cohesion

Students are divided into groups of four. Every group get one task

a) Prejudices

Examine photographs of famous people that are somehow attached to specific prejudice and individually answer question related to their unknown side of life

Example:

What does the owner of Amazon ride, the richest man on the world?

What is the IQ of once the most beautiful blond Sharon Stone?

What is the profession of Zvonimir Boban, captain of the bronze soccer team in 1998?

(Honda accord, built in 1999., member of Mense, IQ 154, history teacher)

Discuss the answers together and compare them with the correct information provided. Explain why certain prejudice emerged when mentioning these famous people.

b) Ethnic stereotypes

Together explain the following ethnic stereotypes: act like an English man, correct as a Swiss watch, every gipsy praises his horse, there are as much as the Chinese, valuable as Japanese.

Individually suggest examples from everyday life about ethnic negative stereotypes and together try to break them.

c) How do I feel

Look at the pictures and individually describe a similar personal experience and the emotions that came with it.

Presentation of group results and short discussion.

II. Activities during and after reading in groups.

Groups receive parts of the text and class leaflets (every group reads their given part)

1^st chapter – Croatia: Where Russia is not, str. 10 - 11

The underlying task:

What does the sentence mean: We are situated between two huge oceans and we are just prone to placing everything on the other side somewhere over there.

What are the author’s opinions about spaces and people ‘somewhere over there’? What are the Croatian views about Americans? Explore the meaning of the terms Cold War, Bipolar Political World, Iron Curtain and explain them in the context of fragmentation.

Analysis: stereotypes and Prejudices; attitude towards the unknown

12^th Chapter - Neighbors, pg. 82 – 86

The underlying task :

Compare the American phrase: ‘good fences make good neighbors’, with the Croatian version ‘thin walls, hallways full of echo and open windows make good neighbors.’ Explain the sentence ‘It sounds crays, and annoying, but comforting to know that people know who you are, what’s happening in your life and if any help is needed.’ What are the differences between life in a community and life on a separate small island?

Analysis: cultural differences; community and individuality; alienation

c) 23^rd chapter – Sharing a bill, pg. 144 – 145

The underlying task:

What stops the author not to enjoy lunch? Why does he come with such beliefs? Examine the sentence ‘The board in me just flipped, everything just went blank, the music stopped and I am in shock.’

Analysis: beliefs; cultural differences; prejudices and stereotypes

III. Common activities after reading

Presenting group work results.

Dramatic methods

The Hot Stool: the group is examining a participants life, behavior, and motivation (Possible questions: How do you feel in the new environment? What people's actions make you feel uncomfortable in your environment? What behavior do you not understand?)

The Rashomon effect – a hot stool variant – every character tells the story based on his/her experience (possible questions: fitting in a new environment; social events; interpersonal relationships etc. - talks from the writers perspective, wife’s, neighbors and acquaintances ...)

Evaluation and Assessment Method:

Professors Role - Prepare Materials and Act as a Moderator

Evaluation of group work - questionnaire: evaluation and self-evaluation

Students are assessed on the basis of their abilities:

Reading with understanding and recognition of cultural differences, stereotypes and prejudices
Participation in a argumented discussion
presentation of group work - systematic and structured presentation

The Impact of Activity on Reading RSP:

The activaties encourage the development of empathy and tolerance of the student, understanding differences and accepting different cultural concepts and thus breaking stereotypes and prejudice.

Connection to curriculum

Grade: 3^rd (junior year)

Curriculum:

Linguistic Expression - Formation of Expression

Ethics

English language

Geography

Sociology

Knowledge:

better understanding of yourself and the world
recognition and acceptance of others and their cultural characteristics
critical thinking about the world, family, values, customs, cultural differences, stereotypes, and prejudices
enjoying the experience of reading world literature

Skills:

- collection, selection and evaluation of information

- reading, interpreting and evaluating literary texts

Competence:

- communication competences

- ability to work in a team, and acceptance of someone different

Knowledge:

- better understanding of yourself and the world around you

- Critical thinking about the world, society, religion

- Enjoyable reading experience

Skills:

- collection, selection and evaluation of information

- reading, interpreting and evaluating literary texts

Competence:

- communication competences

- intercultural competences

- ability to work in a team, and acceptance of someone different

Bibliographic reference to be used during the activity

Cody McClain Brown, Draft, Slipper and mother in Law

Publisher: Algoritam

Translation to Croatian: Vladimir Cvetković Sever

06/2014.

186 pg., soft cover

ISBN 9789533167749

Results

Expected outcomes:

Students will be able to:

- express opinions clearly and reasonably as well as actively listen to others

- recognize and understand cultural differences

Recommendations

The work is appropriate for students because it speaks about topics close to them and enables them to have a better cultural understanding and insight into different perceptions of social norms, customs and values. The theme and simple writing style makes it easy to understand and encourage them to read the continuation of the book (Croatia hits back) or similar works.