rationale
Rationale for the content
Being a new immigrant is not an easy job. Almost all cultural adjustments involve a certain degree of tension, frustration,
confusion, and even embarrassment. As Pedersen and Brzeska (2010) note:
The attitude with which newcomers react to their new culture informs their outcomes. Newcomers who approach the
adjustment with openness, acceptance and trust develop coping techniques that allow them to observe, listen and inquire,
resulting in understanding and developing rapport with the new culture. Reacting with negativity, criticism, suspicion and
rationalization results in the newcomer becoming marginalized and isolated. (p. 10)
One of the roles of language instructors and front-line workers involved with new immigrants is to offer their support by listening,
discussing, and explicitly teaching Canadian culture per se and Canadian Workplace Culture in particular. Defining the term
integration, Holmes (2012) emphasizes that it does not involve burning bridges or replacing one's ways of thinking and norms of
behavior. He asserts that:
Workplace integration is the unique experience newcomers have of adapting their language, communication and other
cultural behaviors to the norms of their Canadian workplaces, in order to fully contribute their expertise and achieve a
meaningful sense of belonging in the Canadian workplace. (p. 3)
As the author of this project, I had a range of personal and painful experiences adjusting to Canadian culture and having multiple
struggles integrating in my first Canadian workplace. Being inspired by meetings with Dr. Lionel Laroche and Paul A. Holmes,
as well as reading their resources helped me overcome a lot of challenges by shedding light on Canadian culture workplace
culture and its expectations.
Rationale for the choice of technology
The content will be delivered with the help of the Website-based project, on Weebly. The website will contain weekly reading
resources, video lectures, You Tube videos, students' discussion board, reflective journals, online tests powered by quizzer.com, a
showcase page for sharing students' final assignments, my world of idioms page, and links for supplementary resources. This way
of delivery will be conducive to responding effectively to the challenge of culture learning by nurturing "...a move away from the
learner as a detached observer towards the learner as active participant in culture learning, and from a view of culture which is
static and distant, to a view which is more dynamic and directly engaged" (Levy, 2007, p. 108).
References
Holmes, P.A. (2012). Workplace integration. A desk reference for newcomers to Canada. Alberta Workforce Essential Skills Society. Retrieved
from https://blogs.rrc.ca/diversity/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/workplace-integration.pdf
Levy, M. (2007). Culture, culture learning and new technologies: Toward a pedagogical framework. Language Learning & Technology 11(2),
104-127. Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/vol11num2/levy/
Pedersen, M. & Brzeska, M. (2011). Culture shock. TESL Ontario, 37(1), 8-12. Feb. 2011. Retrieved from http://www.teslontario.net/uploads
/publications/contact/ContactSpring2011.pdf