Speakers
Description
Intercultural Communication in the USA: La Bamba, Big Bunny, and Beyond
(Quenby Hoffman Aoki, Rikkyo University)
Spanish has been used in the United States for over five centuries, and 20% percent of the U.S. population currently identify as Hispanic or Latino. While fluency in Spanish is by no means required of those who claim this identity, current events demonstrate that it is particularly important for language learners and teachers to come to terms with America’s linguistic and cultural complexity. The rich history of American popular music sung in Spanish is a thought-provoking and accessible way to achieve this goal.
Starting with the familiar tune “La Bamba,” this presentation will explore developments including the growth of salsa music in New York in the 1960s, the massive popularity of “Queen of Tejano” Selena in the 1990s, and the global fame today of artists such as Luis Fonsi, Cardi B, and Big Bunny. The focus will be kept to artists who are U.S. citizens. However, even with this limitation, there is a wealth of material which can be incorporated into many classroom contexts. Recommended resources will be shared, and participants will be invited to consider their own perspectives on American popular music and Spanish as a vital aspect of intercultural communication which deepens understanding of American language and culture.
Making Intercultural Topics Accessible without Losing Depth: AI-Supported Scaffolding in A1–B1 English Classes (Mohamed, Musa, Faculty of Communication, Tokyo Keizai University)
Intercultural topics can be difficult to teach in beginner EFL classrooms because learners often need substantial linguistic support to engage with them. However, when language is simplified too much, the intercultural content itself can become shallow. This presentation describes a classroom approach that used AI-supported scaffolding to help balance linguistic accessibility and conceptual depth in A1–B1 English classes at a Japanese university. AI was used to adapt prompts, simplify task language, provide vocabulary support, and help students organize ideas before speaking. The presentation focuses on how these supports were implemented in classroom activities and reflects on what appeared to work well, what required teacher adjustment, and where AI risked oversimplifying the topic. The session argues that AI can be a useful tool for making intercultural tasks more accessible, but that teacher mediation remains essential in order to preserve meaningful engagement with cultural issues. Practical examples and suggestions for classroom use will be shared.
Cultivating Global Perspectives Through Country‑Based Inquiry (Jennie Roloff Rothman, Kanda University of International Studies)
This presentation introduces student-driven research that cultivates intercultural awareness while deepening students’ cultural self‑understanding. At the beginning of the academic year, students select a country of personal interest. Over time, they explore aspects of that country before teaching others. The course material often begins with an analysis of Japan before moving to the higher-order thinking skill of application to their country of choice. For example, students learn about the cultural iceberg and apply it to Japan before creating one for their chosen country that identifies both visible cultural expressions and deeper, less observable values and assumptions. Through a series of short presentations, students share findings and insights with classmates, an approach that encourages curiosity and empathy. As the year progresses, topics increase in complexity (e.g., national identity, pathways to naturalization, the historical or contemporary influence of religion). Such topics prompt students to not only analyze other cultures, but also reflect on their own understanding of Japanese culture and its (and their) assumptions. Students gradually build confidence as cultural interpreters while becoming accustomed to culture as dynamic, multifaceted, and interconnected. Participants will see student examples of materials and explore how such tasks foster meaningful global perspectives in the language classroom.