beyond the textbook
One of the essential areas of language instruction is the integration ofculture into the curriculum. Indeed,culture is often spoken of as the fifth component of language acquisition, to be added to the traditional areas oflistening, speaking, reading, and writirg.[...]There are, however, certain problems inherent in a course thatfollows the textbook assiduously with little variation or addends. First, forone reason or another, many students are not particularly interested inhistory, art, or classical music... Second, such courses do not familiarize thestudent with much of the contemporary culture of the countryor peoplesbeing studied. As mentioned previously, it is not possible fora textbook toremain current in recent events. A textbook cannot keep abreast of fadsand unexpected events. Nevertheless, the civilization course shouldcer-tainly include an awareness of the current reality Indeed, future teachersand business leaders should be trained in consulting and utilizingsourcesof informatien that deal with current events of the target culture. (Kathleen G. Boykin, The CivilizationCourse: BeyondtheTextbook)