Global cultures

A detailed Summary of Global cultures

Begler, Elsie. "Global Cultures: The First Steps Toward Understanding" Social Education. September 1998, 62(5) pg. 272-275.

In Begler's Article a discussion on how educators should go about teaching culture occurs. The article starts out by giving a definition of what is meant by culture and the different aspects of culture. The Author sets up the guidelines for which she will interpret and use culture. The definitions of culture are presented very clearly so as the reader can fully understand where the author is coming from in the rest of the article.

The author spends significant time discussing the World Culture Model, which could be a very useful tool to a teacher that is developing a unit on culture or just incorporating aspects of culture into the classroom. The model that is presented can be particularly useful when comparing cultures because one of the hardest aspects of comparing different cultures is the fact that there are no common grounds to judge the different cultures. The model breaks down culture into easy to look at portions, which makes it easier for both student and teacher to study.

The end of the article is dedicated to giving a lesson plan and examples of how to use the model and implement culture

The example of how to use the model was very interesting to me and I would have never thought of this idea. The example went into how to use the model when visiting a culture fair that only has to do with food. The questioning that Begler presents with just food alone enters into some great ideas that any class could use to study any culture. I never realized the amount that could be learned about a specific culture just by looking at how that culture views food. I found this particularly interesting.

As a whole I would have to say that this was a very interesting article that really sparked my interest in the culture aspect of my particular content area. I always assumed that culture would be part of most units but no I can see where with the right questions and the right modeling a culture can drive virtually any unit. Again I would like to reiterate the importance of making culture an important part of every students education. With so many cultures existing and changing in the USA alone it is hard to believe that the citizens will be able to peacefully coexist with out a basic understanding of culture differences. That what Begler's method, as well as the general teaching of culture does, they open up individuals to be more receptive of others, making the individuals stronger within their own culture as well as amongst other cultures.

Going back to the author's d

Some common words found in the essay are:
Social Studies, Culture Model, Begler's Article, Education September, little culture, study culture, World Culture, culture refers, world culture model, looking culture, culture classroom, aspects culture, tool teacher, world culture, own culture, culture model,

Approximate Word count = 931
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History