Abstract:

Intercultural Studies is becoming increasingly important as a subject in schools in the Province of Buenos Aires and our University plays a crucial role in this respect. On the one hand, it accompanies the changes and trends of education and on the other, it contributes to the tasks related to professional development and those which take place in the classroom.
The project involves the design of materials from an intercultural perspective to be applied in classes given in state secondary schools in the Province of Buenos Aires. The subject in which these materials can be implemented is called Intercultural Studies and it forms part of the curricula for 5th and 6th form of secondary education. The project aims at developing Intercultural Competence in the ELT classes in schools in the Province of Buenos Aires which have an orientation in Foreign Languages as stated by the provincial law.
The development of the project is in charge of Professors of Didáctica Especial y Prácticas Docentes en Lengua Inglesa II from Universidad Nacional de La Plata in collaboration with student teachers in the teacher training course. The designed material will provide practical activities for teachers to be used in the classroom as a tool for understanding other cultures and promoting reflection in order to avoid cultural bias and challenge stereotypes. While promoting social awareness in our students, teachers will be encouraging social and cultural diversity through ethnographic study. The lessons will provide for engaging students in a cross-cultural reflection for the purpose of learning English as a language of international and intercultural communication.
Intercultural language education is becoming increasingly visible in courses and classrooms around the world, and the materials gathered in this educational resource pack will demonstrate the excitement and energy of intercultural language learning to be implemented in our schools. We hope that the ideas and tasks in this educational pack will inspire teachers to develop their own learning activities with a social slant to suit their own teaching situations.

Keywords:

Intercultural studies, schools in the province of Buenos Aires, material design, educational projects, University.