Defining Culture

Defining Culture
Oct 25, 2001, 10:06am

Sixth grade social studies class with their teacher Mrs. Gholam and visitor Ms Biard.

Mrs. Mary Helene Gholam’s Sixth grade social studies class wanted to define the word culture. To help them, they invited Ms Nadine Biard to visit their class and talk about her observations living in different cultures. Ms Biard is new to IC this year, teaching French at Ain Aar. Before coming to Lebanon she lived in Wales for ten years and so has experience with three different cultures including her native France.
She spoke of how important music is to the Welsh culture. Each village has its own choir and there are competitions among them called “Eisteddfod.”
In Wales it is compulsory to study Welsh, a language of Celtic origin, at least until the age of sixteen. English and Welsh are spoken in the country. “Croeso y Cumry” is welcome in Welsh.
When Ms Biard first arrived in Lebanon the first cultural feature she noticed was the warm hospitality, evident even in the airport. She finds she is attracted to all the balconies with their curtains and the red brick roofs on houses in the smaller villages.