1. The Space Ship Perception: Workbook
Pages 3 and 4 in the workbook can be adapted easily for even beginning
level students. Simply explain that the word "suppose" means "think".
If you have Muslims or Koreans in the class, ask them not to explain
about the pictures until they have returned to their seats and are sharing
with their classmates.
In an ESL class, this exercise is wonderful to encourage students begin
to talk about their own cultures. A follow-up activity would be to have
students bring photos from their own culture and write their own
questions for their classmates to answer.
A Reading on Perceptions: Workbook
On page five of the workbook, the reading says that people from
different cultures or different families do not "see" things the same.
There are five things that people see differently. They are:
1. What we see. When we go to a new place, we do not see the same
things that people there see, and, at the same time, we pay attention
to things that we did not see back home.
2. Sometimes we pay attention to sounds, sights, or smells that we did
not have back home.
3. Words have different meanings in different languages. For example,
gordo in Spanish can be a nickname while its translation in English,
fat, is bad to say to people.
4. Our idea of what is good is sometimes different from other people.
5. Our culture teaches us how to be respectful, nice and friendly.