Kuma 11 and 12

Both Chapter 11 and 12 brought up issues that we have disscussed in ENG 343.  The first point was that English is a Global Language and also highly stigmatized by the rich and wealthy.  Even though Kuma does not say this, he says that the term standard English comes from "those who control the social, political, and cultural power centers within a nation" (242).  Even where English is highly regarded as a first language, or the language of politics and therefore schools like Singapore and India, the language dialect must sound most like a British/Australian dialect in order to be seen as proper.  I like what Kuma had to say for the reasoning behind the stigma that standard English has.  He says, "ELT...is a product of colonialism not just because it is colonialism that produced the initial conditions for the global spread of English but because it was colonialism that produced many of the ways of thinking and behaving that are still part of Western cultures" (243).  Another thing that we talked about in the 343 class is the Ebonics debate, and whether or not people are disadvantaged in learning the origins and dynamics of their home language.  To a bilingual education major, I don't care which language you are learning or speak at home, if those two languages are different you should be values as a learner of two languages, not just the one dominantly spoken by the "well educated" people of society.  Kuma goes on to prove that there are strong support for L1 and L2 to be used in the classroom. 
Cultural consciousness in the classroom brings up ideas discussed in 343 as well.  The complexity of culture for example, and how defining or narrowing this complex idea is not what culture is in its entirety.  Culture cannot even be limited to a context, even within a particular language, nation, or religion.  For example today in my tutorial class at the ELI we had a good discussion on body language and in particular, greetings.  In Saudi Arabia, specifically in the Muslim community, women will not shake the hand of men that are not their family members.  Women will also cover their face only sometimes this is something that depends on the background of the family.  When in the United States sometimes men and women struggle with these customs, but sometimes find similarities.  My students compared their tradition of women covering their hair similar to the nuns in the catholic church that cover their hair.  One point that Kuma points out is cross-cultural encounters.  I believe that these are very important in culture teaching.  In order for students to understand culture they must experience the differences and similarities first hand.  How can we foster that in a EFL classroom?