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      First published 1993

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      The authors and series editor

      Barry Tomalin is a writer, trainer, and broadcaster on educational matters, specializing in the use of educational technology, including video. He trained at International House in the UK, and has been a teacher trainer in Algeria, West Africa, and Paris. Since 1977 he has worked at BBC English in the BBC World Service and has lectured all over the world, training teachers in language teaching methodology, especially in the use of video. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including the self-study video course Follow Me, Video in Action (with Susan Stempleski), and Video in the English Class. His interest in the teaching of cultural awareness arises from his research into video and from working with different national groups in Europe, Latin America, the United States, and the Far East. He is married with one son.

      Susan Stempleski has been involved in EFL/ESL since 1966. She has been a Fulbright lecturer in Bolivia, and a United States-Spain Joint Committee lecturer in Spain. As an Academic Specialist for the United States Information Agency, she has conducted teacher training and development programmes in Turkey, Burundi, Chile, Czechoslovakia, Ecuador, Greece, and South Africa. She is based in New York City, where, in addition to teaching at the Hunter College International English Language Institute of the City University of New York and at Teachers College, Columbia University, she is a freelance consultant and writer. Her numerous publications include Video in Action (with Barry Tomalin) and Hello, America.

      Alan Maley worked for The British Council from 1962 to 1988, serving as English Language Officer in Yugoslavia, Ghana, Italy, France, and China, and as Regional Representative for The British Council in South India (Madras). From 1988 to 1993 he was Director-General of the Bell Educational Trust, Cambridge. From 1993 to 1998 he was Senior Fellow in the Department of English Language and Literature of the National University of Singapore. He is currently a freelance consultant and Director of the Graduate English Programme at Assumption University, Bangkok. He has written Literature, in this series, Beyond Words, Sounds Interesting, Sounds Intriguing, Words, Variations on a Theme, and Drama Techniques in Language Learning (all with Alan Duff), The Mind’s Eye (with Françoise Grellet and Alan Duff), Learning to Listen and Poem into Poem (with Sandra Moulding), and The English Teacher’s Voice. He is also Series Editor for the Oxford Supplementary Skills series.

      Foreword

      In Classical-Humanist models of language education, culture (which usually meant high culture with a capital C) traditionally occupied a prominent position. More recent models have tended to stress the behavioural aspects of culture, and in particular its role in communication (and communication breakdown). Indeed, the concept of ‘culture’ has become something of a fashionable cliché in language-teaching circles in recent years.

      This book strips away the layers of obfuscation which clichés invariably generate. It reminds us of why ‘culture’ is a valuable component of foreign-language programmes, and shows us how we might go about incorporating it into our teaching.

      The title is not without significance. It remains doubtful whether culture, high or low, can really be taught, though generations of learners have been taught about culture. This book attempts to show that what we can do is to raise awareness of cultural factors. In so doing, we shall aim to sharpen observation, encourage critical thinking about cultural stereotypes, and develop tolerance. These are educational issues which reach out well beyond mere language teaching. Cultural awareness-raising is an aspect of values education. As such it offers a welcome opportunity for transcending the often narrow limits of language teaching.

      The book might equally well have carried the title Culture as a Language-Learning Resource, for the activities, at the same time as raising cultural awareness, also offer a rich array of interesting and highly motivating language-learning resource material. The dual aims of the book are thus closely intertwined: to raise cultural awareness, and, in so doing, to promote language learning.

      The authors adopt a common-sense, pragmatic approach, allowing the materials to speak for themselves.