Raising The Mango Analysis

Discussion of the results
In this part of the paper, I would like to elaborate on the texts’ potential for development of intercultural competence. I will look on each of intercultural competence’s elements and discuss the relevance of Track’s texts in connection to this term.
1. Attitudes of curiosity and openness
Potential for development of attitudes of curiosity and openness could be seen in over half of the texts used in the book. Since this attitude aims to decentralisation, texts from the first chapter Raising the Mango and Mari, Mariken and Magnus: Going abroad, could be useful sources. The first text, Raising the Mango, is a short story about an American girl with Filipino background, might teach awareness of different values. The

Skills of interpreting and relating
This set of skills, which is useful in interpretations of other cultures, could be developed through work on the texts as No Speak English, Black and White and Canada: A Country of Contrasts. To be able to resolve eventual misunderstandings in intercultural communication, it is important “to be able to see how misunderstandings can arise” (Byram, Gribkova and Starkey 2002:8). All three texts provide examples of ethnic and cultural diversity and thus could be used as a point of departure in discussion of issues that may arise in such settings. Let us have a look on the short story No Speak English in particular.
No Speak English is a short story by Sandra Cisneros with a Mexican immigrant as a main character. The story, short and concise, gives a powerful example of the struggle that Mamacita experiences in the USA:
“Home. Home. Home is a house in a photograph, a pink house, pink as hollyhocks with lots of startled light. The man paints the walls of the apartment pink, but it is not the same you know. She still sighs for her pink house, and then I think she cries. I would” (Cisneros

The audio text Where Do I come from? gives opportunity to evaluate the English language spoken by persons from seven English-speaking nations: the USA, Scotland, Australia, India, Ireland, South Africa and Jamaica. Another text that also deals with different varieties within contemporary English, is Global English. Knowledge of world Englishes that this text might be a source of, is crucial for understanding of the spread of English. The text explains the concepts of Lingua Franca and Global English and provides historical reasons for the spread of English. What is more, the text includes information about new varieties of English from all Three Circles of English, for example, American English, British English, Australian English, Hinglish and Chinglish. It could be said that Global English and Where Do I Come From?, as well as several other Track’s texts are examples of the texts that can potentially contribute to development of several aspects of intercultural competence. The texts may, in addition to critical cultural awareness contribute to attitudes of curiosity and openness, cultural knowledge and skills of interpreting, relating, discovery and