Culture in our Classrooms
Teaching language through cultural content
- Book
| Authors: | Gill Johnson, Mario Rinvolucri |
| Series: | Delta Teacher Development Series |
| Published: | April 2010 |
| Tags: | culture, DTDS, theory |
Key features
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.
Reviews
This book is innovative and practical, building on previous material in the field of intercultural studies. Inspiring.
Peter Sharma
EL Gazette - Book of the month, July 2010 PDF
...this is a book that successfully fills in a gap in EFL teaching and learning literature by giving a very significant cultural dimension to lesson planning and practice.
Alberto Gaspar
APPI Journal, Spring 2010 PDF
Teachers seeking effective ways to explore cultural content in the modern classroom are sure to find this book an essential asset.
Chris Williams
IATEFL Voices, March-April 2011 PDF
I find “Culture in our Classrooms” very thought-provoking...I think the book is an excellent way to understand and learn about opening up to the world, while teaching language at the same time.
Barbara Bouysse
Teacher, France, March 2011 PDF
Considering the intricacies and multi-layeredness of cultural issues it seems extremely challenging to provide "over 80 practical and easy-to-use communicative activities" - as the authors claim -that help students to see beyond stereotypes and empathise with other cultures. Gill Johnson and Mario Rinvolucri have mastered this task most successfully.
Christiane Luetge
IATEFL YLs SIG Newsletter, Spring 2011 PDF
Component ISBNs
| Book | 978-1-905085-21-7 |


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