Unit 5: Cultural identity

Communication and Culture

Communication

Migration and cultural identity

1. Listen to a talk by Mr Ben Wilson, a sociologist and psychologist, about preserving migrants' cultural identity. Answer the questions.

Nghe một cuộc nói chuyện của ông Ben Wilson, một nhà xã hội học và tâm lý học, về giữ gìn bản sắc văn hóa của người di cư. Trả lời các câu hỏi.

Click tại đây để nghe:

1. What are migrants encouraged to do in a multicultural society?
2. What do migrants want to do when they settle down in a new culture?
3. Summarise the two ways for migrants to pass down their culture to the next generation.

Hướng dẫn:

1. They are encouraged to maintain their cultural identity.
2. They want to assimilate into the new culture, but they also want to maintain their own culture.
3. The first way: encouraging all family members to speak the mother tongue at home; travelling to the home country regularly.
   The second way: attending festivals celebrating the migrants'culture.

Audio script

The topic of my talk today is the problems many migrants have to face when living in a place which is not their homeland. Migrants can be immigrants who settle down in another country. But migrants can also be those people moving from one place to another within the same country, like... moving from the countryside to the city.

In a multicultural society like ours, migrants are encouraged to maintain their own cultural identity. When people migrate, they do not leave their beliefs, customs or cultural practices behind. They want to assimilate into the new culture, but they also want to maintain their own. However, their children and grandchildren, I mean the next generations, find it difficult.

There are mainly two ways for migrants to pass down their culture to the next generation. First, they should encourage all family members to speak the mother tongue at home. This will help the young ones to communicate with people in the home

country when they have a chance to visit their homeland, in s also means that it's necessary to travel to the home country regularly. There is no better way to learn about a culture than to experience it first-hand. Second, they should attend festivals celebrating their culture, such as the Lunar New Year for some Asian communities. On these occasions, everybody can enjoy traditional food, wear traditional clothes, sing folk songs, and exchange best wishes in the heritage language. People will have a chance to get together, and maintain and further develop their sense of cultural identity.

2. Discuss the question with a partner.

Thảo luận về các câu hỏi với một người bạn.

What should people do to preserve their cultural identity when they move to a new place? - Mọi người nên làm gì để giữ gìn bản sắc văn hóa của họ khi họ di chuyển đến một nơi ở mới?

Gợi ý trả lời:

When people move to a new place, they can preserve their cultural identity by

• organising and participating in traditional festivals or practices in their community,
• cooking traditional food for the family,
• teaching children to speak their native language at home.