Culture CALL Activity

Joe, Erin S., and I came up with this activity in class on Wednesday. Joe typed it up and I am copying and pasting it below.

Our group's idea is to have adult or advanced level students explore the culture of the United States by browsing dating websites.  This would expose students to the great variety of personalities, values, and wants of individuals in the U.S.  Here is what we would do:

1. Give students a worksheet.
2. Have students join three dating websites (tall friends, farmer's, and okcupid).
3. The worksheet would guide them in searching for individuals in a certain range.  We would pre-screen the search parameters to avoid explicit posts. Students would search for individuals who are:
1. the same age as them
2. older than them
3. younger than them
4. from different parts of the country
4. The students would select a few people and describe:
1. What their interests are.
2. What their religious views are.
3. What their hobbies are.
4. What they want from a partner.
5. Students would then be asked to compare their home countries' values to what they have found; compare the similarities and differences between the age groups for their home country and what they have found.
6. Present their findings on a discussion forum.