The Intercultural Approach To Teach English As An

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Student: Laura Griboff The Intercultural Approach to Teach English as an International Language “I am Argentinian. Why do I have to learn English? I love my country and I don´t need to know anything about the Yankees”. These were the words of a high school student attending his first English class in a prestigious San Luis High school. He was expressing his disagreement on learning the language of the ones who seem to be imposing their culture in this globalized world. “I reject everything that comes from America, their music, their values, their international policies. They do not mind our culture, why do we have to mind theirs”. And it seemed perfectly understandable what he was talking about. After listening to similar viewpoints in that classroom, it appeared to be important to define whether we as Argentine EFL teachers should adopt an Intercultural approach, which main purpose is to raise critical cultural awareness, to teach EIL when teaching in Argentine High Schools’ classrooms. The Argentine Educational System includes English as a Foreign language as part of the curricula since primary school. However, It has not been properly stated what the purposes of this inclusion would be. Then, which cultural approach should teachers of EFL adopt in Argentine classrooms? The theoretical basis of the Argentine educational project is not enough clear in this respect. As a consequence, undesirable situations of intolerance and even discrimination towards students’ culture can be seen in our classrooms due to this blurred scenario. Numerous EFL teachers appear to ignore how to deal with the existing cultural barriers that condition Argentine students’ learning. Many students all over the country look to be compelled to learn not only the target language, but also the Anglo-culture in conflictive classroom situations, in which they seem to feel

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