Johnson, G: Culture in Our Classrooms

Culture in our Classrooms acknowledges the role of culture in the English Language Teaching classroom and provides lesson content which is relevant, useful and engaging for students. Over 80 practical and easy-to-use communicative activities will help your students: become aware of the target-culture norms and behaviours understand better their own and other beliefs and values see beyond stereotypes and empathise with other cultures Culture in our Classrooms contains three distinctive parts which focus in turn on theory, practice and development: Part A: Examines definitions of culture. The authors examine the beliefs behind behaviours, and reflect on the inextricable link between culture and language – suggesting that culture as ‘classroom content’ involves students on many levels, enabling them to communicate about something deep, compelling and worthwhile. Part B: Contains a wealth of activities which encourage critical thinking in students and communication between students. They involve students in reacting and reflecting, sharing and comparing – and are grouped into four chapters which foster cultural awareness, focus on the cultural connotations of language, formulate thinking frames for study and, finally, fix their attention on an English-speaking country. Part C: Approaches culture in the context of Teacher Development and provides 16 practical exercises for staffroom sessions. The exercises span four major skill areas for personal and professional improvement – observation, listening, rapport building and empathy.