Cultural Competancies

Practice living life in the French way.

No matter how good your language skills are, you will still never fit in or understand what's going on in a francophone
community if you don't understand French culture. Culture is what tells us what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and
where to do it. Cultural points of view explain who and even why everything happens in these ways. In short, language
includes all the words you say, but culture tells you how to actually use them.

A few reminders:
1) We never judge other cultures. It's expected that some things will be the same and some things will be different from the way you are used to doing them. This might make you uncomfortable or even upset until you get used to it. That is a normal reaction. However, it is never okay to use culture as a way to insult or belittle other people. In other words, it's okay to say, "Wow, this is really different and makes me uncomfortable" but NOT okay to say "Wow, this is a really stupid way to do that".
2) Culture encompasses everything people do, say, and think. While it is often easier for us to study culture by looking at its products (such as eating different foods), it is important to remember that culture is a mindset and NOT a physical thing. What kind of reasoning might these people have for doing things the way they do?
3) Please make sure that when doing your own research, that you are using authentic sources (as in, sources directly from France/another francophone country). This will help ensure that these sources are reliable! Please also remember that you need to be focusing on the main French culture and not a small sub-group; for example, don't try to argue that French people eat burritos because you found a recipe somewhere on a website that said "French food". Yes, I'm sure there are French people who do eat burritos, but they are definitely NOT a main part of French culture!

For your weekly journals, you must report on BOTH a current event in the news AND a general cultural topic. You may choose to use the cultural topics I've provided for you or look up information on something else you find more interesting on your own. Each report must be at least 50 words (for 100 words every Friday) and can be in either French or English.