A Postcards Approach to Addressing Culture

A Postcards Approach to Addressing Culture Joseph R. Weyers Postcards in the L2 Classroom Postcards beg to be explained. There is a story behind each vista that sheds light on the history and culture of the people and places we highlight in class. Once unraveled, the postcard's story deepens our students' connection with a place or tradition, giving life to history through tales of travel. With postcards, addressing culture in the L2 classroom follows an "if-these-walls-could-talk" design by telling the story of what "those walls" might say. A postcards approach is shown to enrich our students' cultural understanding. In many cases, it enhances their desire to experience the target culture on their own. Postcards have two important qualities that make them ideal for the L2 classroom. First, postcards are authentic materials—that is, cultural products—whose use in our language classrooms has long been lauded (ACTFL 2023c). Second, postcards are artifacts of travel, an area I believe is regularly underrated in our academic pursuit of presenting cultural information. Certainly, all language instructors coincide in our desire that our students use their language skills beyond our classroom. While some of our students may use their skills in a future professional domain, it is most likely that many more will do so while traveling. Teaching our students to be informed, aware travelers should play a role in our classes. Cultural lessons become more evocative when we share our travel experiences, inspire wonder among our students, and encourage them to explore the world. Postcards have that potential. Postcards can be integrated into specific lessons; they can illustrate a given cultural topic; indeed, they can serve as the backbone of a class dedicated to culture and history, as I outline here. This article has two objectives: (1) to describe the postcards approach that guides my courses on Mexican culture; and (2) to offer additional considerations on integrating postcards into class activities, cultural capsules, and the like. Postcard Pedagogy The collection and use of postcards in class aligns with the National Standards for Foreign Language Education (ACTFL 2022) that encourage language instructors to explore Products (what?), Practices (how?), and Perspectives (why?) of the target culture. My collection of postcards represents an assortment of cultural products. The postcards were made and acquired in the target culture. Moreover, they depict tangible (e.g., museums, plazas, churches) and intangible (e.g., gastronomy, music, dance) cultural products. The way those products are used to introduce each class's topic can readily overlap with practices (e.g., traditions, rites, behaviors). The art of storytelling—at which language teachers tend to excel—leads us to cultural perspectives, that is, a description of the values and beliefs behind products and practices. That is, the "picture perfect" postcards serve as the gateway to cultural topics of substance, not the endpoint. For example, I use two postcards that emphasize traditional Mexican gastronomy to speak generally about its ingredients and techniques and specifically about the importance of corn in [End Page 43] Mexican culture. Corn (product) is used regularly as an ingredient (practice) in Mexican dishes: in masas for tamales or sopes, or for corn tortillas, which are central to most meals. Why corn? One answer is found by digging back in time to the Popol Vuh, the Mayan book of creation. The Popul Vuh tells us that when the gods created humanity, they did so from corn. If we follow the Popol Vuh, we conclude that corn is the essential element of humankind. Ingesting corn can be equated to ingesting humanity. Indeed, this concept is not dissimilar to the rationale behind communion practices we find in religious rites. Thus, from two postcards, we describe the product and its practices, and unravel the story to arrive at an explanation (perspective) of the significance of corn. Postcards from Mexico When the opportunity to design an interdisciplinary seminar on Mexican culture for our Honors College arose, I chose to capitalize on my postcard collection as the basis for the topics I intended to cover. Construction of the syllabus led to the decision that each class would revolve around 1–3 postcards, which would introduce the day's topic as well as serve

Sociology · Global Education and Multiculturalism